What's Your Favorite Live Action Film with Animation?

[Goliath]

and the whole Uncle Albert scene, upon my last screening on BBC1 a week or two ago, seems a bit needless;

That's the only scene in the film I don't like.

[Goliath]

Margos, you were right about VTA: it was released in theaters, for the general public to see. From Wikipedia:

On December 8, 1941, Disney studios were essentially converted into a propaganda machine for the United States government. While most World War II films were created for training purposes, films such as “Victory Through Air Power” were created to catch the attention of government officials and to build public morale among the U.S. and allied powers. Among the notables who decided after seeing the film that Seversky and Disney knew what they were talking about were Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Disney studio sent a print for them to view when they were attending the Quebec Conference. According to Leonard Maltin, "it changed FDR's way of thinking—he agreed that Seversky was right." Maltin also adds that "it was only after Roosevelt saw Victory Through Air Power that our country made the commitment to long-range bombing."[4] Roosevelt recognized that film was an effective way to teach and Disney could provide Washington with high quality information. The American people were becoming united and Disney was able to inform them of the situation without presenting excessive chaos, as cartoons often do.

Quite impressive.

[jediliz]

Enchanted! Then Bedknobs and Mary Poppins are tied at a close 2nd. Haven't seen SoTS since I was 7


I can't stand Roger Rabbit anymore.

[Avaitor]

I like how this is a multi-vote poll, so my need to pick either Mary Poppins or Roger Rabbit isn't so tough.

A lot of goodies here, but these two are tops for me.

[Elladorine]

Roger Rabbit, hands down. It was very exciting to be a twelve-year-old Disney animation fan that year.

[slave2moonlight]

Roger Rabbit is my all time fave film, so this is easy. I do love the others though. Mary Poppins would probably be second, then Pete's Dragon and Enchanted, then Song of the South and Bedknobs and So Dear to My Heart are kind of all tied.

[a-net-fan]

Am I the only one surprised at how many ppl like Roger Rabbit?? I kinda feel like Iv missed something. I always found that movie really annoying and stupid.

[Elladorine]

Am I the only one surprised at how many ppl like Roger Rabbit?? I kinda feel like Iv missed something. I always found that movie really annoying and stupid.

Different strokes.

As I said in my previous post, I was 12 when the film was released and even back then, animation was an enormous part of my life. Plus I was always in love with the idea of bringing cartoon characters together with real life people as I'd seen in Pete's Dragon and Mary Poppins, but this was done at a whole new level. It was also an enormous hit in its day, one of the films credited to bringing back an interest of animation to the general public (which was further cemented by The Little Mermaid the following year).

The special effects and interaction between the characters is just awesome. It was also amazing to get to see so many characters together from so many different studios. We had the gorgeous, lush animation and heart of Disney, the Warner Bros. characterizations, and Tex Avery humor all rolled up together in an homage to classic 1940's theatrical animation, all of which I've been a lifelong fan of. And the sheer amount of work and talent that went into the film is staggering and most likely will never be attempted again in any film animated by hand.

Something else I like is how it's commentary on racism, although it's a subject that most seem to completely miss. The whole "Sam Spade" detective-type genre has always been cool to me. Bob Hoskins is great in this, totally believable in his dismissive/annoyed response to the toon characters and world around him, and I like the little sub-plot about his life going downhill after losing his brother. Christopher Lloyd has a great voice and presence as the evil Judge Doom. Roger may be a little manic, but is still sympathetic, and I love how Jessica is not what Eddie (or even we, as an audience) assumes.

Anyway, this film is obviously a labor of love by people who were very passionate about the history animation . . . and because of this I find it hard to believe any die-hard animation fan would find it annoying and stupid, no offense.

[dvdjunkie]

I think that this poll is very misleading. It should have the word "Disney" somewhere in that title because you missed some of the best non-Disney Live Action/Animated features which are among my Top Favorites of all time.

Anchors Aweigh which starred Gene Kelly and featured him dancing with Jerry the Mouse.

Space Jam featuring a plethora of Warner Bros. cartoon characters along with Michael Jordan.

Back In Action starring Brendan Fraser, again featuring a lot of the Warner Bros. cartoon characters.

Cool World starring Kim Basinger from 1992.

Pete's Dragon from Disney, another not on your list. This is a very good movie with lots of rewatchability.

Flight of the Navigator another one from Disney that was not on your list.

And how about all of those "Alice" comedies from the early thirties?? Those were classic live-action/animated films.

[Mooky]

"Enchanted" for me, no contest. Second place goes to "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" which I always preferred to "Mary Poppins".

And like a-net-fan, I never understood the appeal of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". Aside from all those animated cameos, it always bored me to death.

Ranking:
1. Enchanted
2. Bedknobs and Broomsticks
3. Mary Poppins
4. Song of the South
5. Pete's Dragon
6. Who Framed Roger Rabbit

I've never seen other films from the poll.

[merlinjones]

Without question "Song of the South" would be my first pick in this category - - but my second would be "The Three Caballeros" - - why is that missing from the list?

[Margos]

As I explained to Goliath, Merlinjones, The Three Caballeros is a DAC. This means that Disney has acknowledged it as an animated film, not a live-action one, and indeed, it has a far greater percentage of animation in it than any of these.

And Dvdjunkie, if that was my intention, this would NOT have been in the "Disney Discussion" category. As for "Flight of the Navigator," I've only heard it described as live-action, and was unaware that it had any animation at all.

And, if you noticed us discussing this before... My exclusion of Pete's Dragon was accidental, and I have no idea how to fix it. So, a lot of people are just slipping it into their lists anyway, even though they can't vote for it.

[jlppr]

i won't rank them this time but i went for who framed roger rabbit

[slave2moonlight]

I don't think Flight of the navigator has any traditional animation in it. I have the DVD and have seen it enough even beforehand that I think I'd remember that.

[Elladorine]

Flight of the Navigator wouldn't qualify for this list, and being that this is the Disney section of the forum, I don't see a need to include the non-Disney titles.

[pap64]

Am I the only one surprised at how many ppl like Roger Rabbit?? I kinda feel like Iv missed something. I always found that movie really annoying and stupid.

Different strokes.

As I said in my previous post, I was 12 when the film was released and even back then, animation was an enormous part of my life. Plus I was always in love with the idea of bringing cartoon characters together with real life people as I'd seen in Pete's Dragon and Mary Poppins, but this was done at a whole new level. It was also an enormous hit in its day, one of the films credited to bringing back an interest of animation to the general public (which was further cemented by The Little Mermaid the following year).

The special effects and interaction between the characters is just awesome. It was also amazing to get to see so many characters together from so many different studios. We had the gorgeous, lush animation and heart of Disney, the Warner Bros. characterizations, and Tex Avery humor all rolled up together in an homage to classic 1940's theatrical animation, all of which I've been a lifelong fan of. And the sheer amount of work and talent that went into the film is staggering and most likely will never be attempted again in any film animated by hand.

Something else I like is how it's commentary on racism, although it's a subject that most seem to completely miss. The whole "Sam Spade" detective-type genre has always been cool to me. Bob Hoskins is great in this, totally believable in his dismissive/annoyed response to the toon characters and world around him, and I like the little sub-plot about his life going downhill after losing his brother. Christopher Lloyd has a great voice and presence as the evil Judge Doom. Roger may be a little manic, but is still sympathetic, and I love how Jessica is not what Eddie (or even we, as an audience) assumes.

Anyway, this film is obviously a labor of love by people who were very passionate about the history animation . . . and because of this I find it hard to believe any die-hard animation fan would find it annoying and stupid, no offense.

I agree 100% with this post. I don't remember how old I was when I first saw Roger Rabbit, but before I saw it I saw The Three Caballeros and Mary Poppins, films that had animated characters interacting with live action characters. Yet, Roger Rabbit blew my mind away.

Like E explained, the interaction between the live action characters and the animated ones is seamless and extremely believable. The way the characters are drawn according to the camera angles and the shading just adds more realism to it all.

I also loved to see many of my favorite characters together. As a cartoon loving kid this made me really happy. I mean, when Dumbo first appeared I was like "THAT'S DUMBO! MOM, DAD, LOOK AT DUMBO!". And it kept going and going. The piano duel between Donald Duck and Daffy was incredible. The whole Toon Town sequence is unforgettable in its very loving tribute feel.

I was also struck by how deep this movie is. Many of us thought the film would be harmless since it was about cartoon characters and their antics with live action people. But there's murder, betrayal, infidelity, conspiracy, racism, sex (really, the scene with Eddie in his underwear and Jessica all over him was very sexually awkward...), raunchy humor (Baby Herman wiggling his fingers when he passes through a woman's skirt). Very heavy for a movie about cartoon characters.

So once more, its no surprising why many fans love this film. Its just a well made movie with incredible special effects and a fantastic story to boot.

[Elladorine]

Oh yeah, that's something I didn't even really bring up, but you're definitely right about the raunchy, more adult humor.

I can still remember watching WGBO way early in the morning back in the fall of 1988 and seeing the trailer for the first time (what a full-length movie trailer was doing on TV that early in the morning I'll never know). I was completely mesmerized in seeing that cartoon characters were basically cast alongside real people! The depth, the shading, the interaction of the look alone completely floored me. I shook my mom, who'd been sleeping on the couch, so I could show her the trailer of the film I knew I'd be begging to see for the next few months! She got all annoyed, remarked that it didn't look like a movie suitable for someone my age after giving it a quick glance (once again, I was 12), then went back to sleep.

Damn . . . I wish I still got that excited about upcoming movies. Either I'm not a kid anymore or they don't have anything so fresh and exciting to look forward to.

[pap64]

Maybe its because everything good and innovative has been overplayed to the point where it loses all novelty and so going to the movies becomes more of a "chore" than an evening of fun.

Going back to the raunchy humor... DVDjunkie mentioned Cool World. This is a film clearly inspired by Roger Rabbit in many aspects. You have a detective character helping cartoon characters (whatever character Brad Pitt played... ), you have a hot cartoon bimbo (Holly Would) and an entire deranged universe that both celebrates and makes funs of cartoon culture. Yet, it tries to be more raunchy, more sexy, more adult and more controversial.

Funny enough, when I saw the film as a kid I wasn't shocked or amused by it. I think Roger Rabbit was more effective in its humor because it is balanced with action, drama and humor, so when it happened you were completely surprised by it (I mean really, the idea of a human doing a cartoon girl was more off putting in Roger Rabbit than in Cool World). Cool World, on the other hand, drenches you in its shocking humor so much that you aren't affected by it. You come to expect it, and you see it as trying too hard.

[jpanimation]

The raunchy humor in Roger Rabbit is true to the style of cartoons back then (with the movie taking place in the 40's). Even with the Production Code in place, they were still more raunchy then any of todays cartoons. Some how in the public's eye it has come to be that cartoons/animation is just for kids (unless its a sitcom), and that leads animation companies to self-censor animation more then they ever did with the Hollywood Production Code in place.

I didn't like Cool World that much. Its supposed to be comics instead of cartoon characters but there is no ignoring the inspiration from Roger Rabbit. Paramount really didn't give the animation a budget (where's all the wonderful shading Roger Rabbit pioneered years earlier?) and the story is just weak, full of clichés, relying on shock value (what do you expect from Ralph Bakshi, the guy who gave us Fritz the Cat?).

[pap64]

I like how Ralph Bashki is highly celebrated as a guy who "pushed" animation beyond its misconceptions, yet most of his films are bashed, ridiculed and criticized.

But we are going way off topic here