Thursday Movie Picks: Animated Movies

It’s another Thursday, which means a new entry to Thursday Movie Picks, hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. This week’s theme: animated movies. I love animated movies - I thought I would have grown out of them by now but nope! I don’t think I’ll ever outgrow them. There are so many to choose from! Here are my picks this week:

I decided to go with foreign animated films for this week, starting off with Ernest & Celestine. It's about an unlikely friendship between a bear and a mouse. I like the way this was drawn, the color palette was mute and yet the characters and the surroundings are quite charming. 

I wanted to go with a Studio Ghibli film, but decided to write about the craziest Japanese animated movie I've seen so far. To make things simpler, Paprika is similar to Inception, in where Paprika (her alter ego) would enter people's dreams and try to work out their psychological problems. This is done via a machine, and this method (as well as the practice itself) is still in experimentation mode. There are still glitches in the machine, particularly when anyone else can infiltrate the person's dream, and the machines are being used for unlawful reasons. It's quite vibrant and even I myself am finding it difficult to explain without going through the whole plot, so this is something that you have to see for yourself. 

Chico & Rita is a love story that spans through decades, touching on Cuban culture and music. It basically narrates the different stages and challenges of their lives. It's charming and I like how alive it looked and felt. 

19 comments:

  1. Absolutely love the fact that I've not seen any of these. I've heard of Paprike, but had no clue what it was about. I'm now very intrigued by the premise as you laid it out. Great job!

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    1. I read the book where Paprika is based on and was very interested on how it'll play out onscreen. The interpretation was very vibrant.

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  2. I've only heard of Paprika from this list. I'm definitely sold for Chico and Rita because Cuban culture seems interesting!

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    1. Chico & Rita touches more on the music (he is a composer, she is a singer) but it does wave in Cuban culture quite nicely.

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  3. In Paprika could you enter someone's nightmares? Would that threaten in infiltrator? Anyway, sounds very interesting.

    I've heard of Chico and Rita, one of my favourite film Critics, Mark Kermode, likes it very much.

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    1. Yes! Paprika usually enters during the REM stage, and the process is done so that she can find the underlying problem of the people she works on. It does threaten her but the movie explores the whole premise in a much bigger way.

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    2. Cool. Maybe she could work out why my nightmares regularly feature huge tidal waves. I'm not a strong swimmer but I have no fear of water or drowning even though I'd rather avoid experiencing the latter.

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  4. I've not seen any of these, but they're all on my watch list. I've only heard great things about each of them. Ernest and Celestine looks so gorgeous.

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    1. I liked how Ernest and Celestine was done; I loved the color palette and the animation style used.

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  5. I've never heard of these, but Paprika sounds really intriguing. I may have to check that one out!

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  6. Foreign animated films (except for Waltz with Bashir and Persepolis) are a bit of a blind spot for me. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

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    1. Always happy to contribute. I get to put new movies on my watch list because of the series.

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  7. I've only seen Ernest & Celestine and I really liked that one...so soft and sweet and charming. I need to see the other two, for sure!

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    1. Ernest & Celestine had its moments, really loved how it was done.

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  8. I haven't seen any of these. I'm not good for animated movie conversation. Just haven't seen that many outside of Disney and Pixar. Ernest & Celestine looked great when I saw a trailer for it. Really should start trying to watch more stuff like that.

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    1. I really like exploring animated works from other countries; some of the movies really deserve recognition.

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  9. I really wanted to see all three of these films - especially Paprika - looks like detailed, delicate animation

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