Dan:

While I was searching for images for a post I was writing for this site, I stumbled upon a blog called Taestful Reviews. I read through several of the reviews on the site, which focuses on animation, and really liked the voice of the writer, Kevin Tae.

I reached out to him to see if he’d be interested in collaborating, and knew after just a few emails that I had found a kindred spirit. He loves animation, maybe even more than I do, and he has a fantastic mind for film criticism.

Kevin and I brainstormed some ways to collaborate, and we came up with an idea inspired by Grantland’s “overrated-underrated-properly rated” series. We’re going to go through the three major American animation studios of the past twenty-five years (Disney, Pixar, and Dreamworks), go through each of their films chronologically, and each decide if we find the movies overrated, underrated, or properly rated.

The notion of evaluating whether a piece of art is properly rated is a somewhat ridiculous endeavor: The Internet is an age of infinite voices, and therefore infinite opinions. Everything is the best to someone and the worst to someone else. But Kevin and I agreed we could comment on whether or not we agree with the perceived consensus about each film. We’re giving it a shot.

I’m confident it will inspire some intriguing discussion. If nothing else, it will be a great chance for me to revisit some of my favorite animated movies and force me to finally get around to watching a few movies I’ve been procrastinating on watching.

If you read this site regularly, you probably know me pretty well. (If not, read my Top 100 Everything, and you’ll know me too well.) But since Kevin is new to Earn This, I wanted to give him a chance to introduce himself to readers.

Kevin: 

Hello everyone! As Dan mentioned, I am the creator of Taestful Reviews (yes, it is intentionally spelled incorrectly). Although I love analyzing movies, I also love discussions about movies, so it was almost impossible for me to decline Dan’s offer to collaborate on something. More importantly, I would like to say I am honored to be writing on Earn This. It has been a pleasure to work with someone for a change, especially someone as insightful as Dan.

In general, it is always exciting to meet people who respect animation as an artform, since it is often seen as a medium for children’s films. Animation should be the most respected branch of cinema, mainly because everything has to be made from scratch. All you need is a camera to start producing a live-action short. In traditional animation, you need at least ten drawings for every second, all the while lip-syncing the voice actor’s dialogue and providing every background. Did I mention that every sound, from quiet footsteps to loud explosions, has to be produced manually? The second most expensive film of all time is Tangled.

With that said, animation is not always accompanied by strong stories, largely due to its target demographic. Dan and I will attempt to sort the bad movies from the good movies in the context of their general reputation through this series. I hope you will join us in our evaluation of the explosion of animated films that largely originated from the Disney Renaissance and continues to dominate the box-office today.

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