I was going through the Twitter feed on Flickchart and waveofmutlation brought up a great point. Film should be categorized by its story and not it’s medium. For instance I would never put Bambi in the same category as American Pop, nor would I put Ninja Scrolls in the same category as Brother Bear.

If we go a step further into the computer age of film-making, I would not put Cars in the same category as Final Fantasy just because both movies are completely CGI.

Animated films for quite some time now have transcended childrens or family entertainment and have become a legitimate medium for contemporary stories with adult themes and scenes. We can thank the Japanese for this and some day we may catch up, though I doubt it.

Take a film such as Ghost in the Shell. This film should be sitting in the Scifi section of any video store and should be listed that way in any database. American Pop should be listed as a period piece. Vampire Hunter D should be in Horror. Ninja Scrolls should fall somewhere between Action and Fantasy.

Let’s go a step further.

If you look at Ghost in the Shell in the terms of story and character (yes I know I probably over use the “story and character” thing but it is the way I analyze film) it stands up against any classic Scifi film. The story is a high level think piece that deals with classic Scifi themes and ideas. Just because it is animated does not take away from the quality of the story or the quality of the characters that bring the story to life. By itself Ghost in the Shell in a work of cinematic art that perfectly blends story and character. The characters never step out of context of who they are and their place in the story and the story never steps out of the context of the characters that tell the story.

Yes again I will say it comes down to the big three. Story, characters and context. If you look the films that stand up over time they have these 3 things in common. You can enhance your story with visuals and you can play with the characters all you want but if you do not pay attention to context you will kill a good story and cheapen your characters faster than anything. For an example think of Live Free or Die Hard.

If this had been a standalone story it would have worked. However because it is a continuation of story and character it failed miserably. The studio wanted a PG-13 flick using an R rated character. They cheapened the John McClaine character and abandon the context of that character and the overall story. I will again say I do not blame Len Wiseman and Bruce Willis and I do blame the Studio.

Back to the point.

There has been tremendous strides made in storytelling and character development in the medium of animation (CGI or otherwise) and I think it is about damn time these films get the recognition they deserve.   What do you think?