My Favourite Animation Movies

Hello & Happy Monday Everyone! I hope you are all having an awesome start to the first week of November... where has this year gone!? Only two months left! What's something that you're looking forward to for the rest of 2019? For me, I can't wait for all of the yummy foods that pop up around Christmas Time, especially lebkuchen (a traditional spiced German Christmas biscuit - I've eaten some already and it's only the 4th of November!). Before I get carried away with myself talking about food XD... Did you guys know that a week ago today, it was International Animation Day? I obviously had to show my love for the wonderful world of animation art and decided talking about my favourite animated movies would be a fun way to celebrate the occasion (albeit seven days late!). I've decided to discuss my top non-Disney movies, because as much as I adore Disney's multitude of amazing flicks, I wanted to show appreciation for some of other superb animated classics out there! I hope you all enjoy reading and that my post sparks a lovely trip down memory lane! I know it did for me, writing about the masterpieces that captivated me in my childhood. 

Princess Mononoke (1997) 

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you will probably already know that Princess Mononoke is one of my all-time favourite movies, or at least that I'm a huge fan of Studio Ghibli- an iconic Japanese production company that have created the most outstanding animation movies since the 1980's. I have been a lover of these epic movies since I was around fourteen, and to be honest it is very tough to rank them! They are all so good!! However, Princess Mononoke is just one that I cannot help but feel a pull towards. The nature/wildlife theme appeals to me because I'm a nature nerd through and through. Plus it is, in my opinion, the one Studio Ghibli film that is aimed at more mature audiences, although Japanese movies always tend to include more serious subject matters and content (even those who's primary target audience is children) VS western movies. Princess Mononoke includes weaponry, fighting and some mild gore, and it's just phenomenal. 

Also if you love mythology and folklore then you should totally check out this movie. Almost all of Ghibli's productions have an element of folklore because it is an integral part of Japanese culture & history, but for Princess Mononoke it is the main focus of the movie. And oh my gosh, the animation is so stunning!!

Pokemon: The First Movie (1998)

It will also come as no surprise to my returning readers that this has made it to my list of top animation movies. Pokemon has been a part of my life since I was six years old, so it has had an influence on the development of my interests for most of my life. Pokemon: The First Movie is one of the first movies that I can recall having such a big emotional impact on me (anyone who's seen this gem will know which scene in particular I'm referring to). Broke my little otaku heart :'). 

It is such a heart-warming story of friendship and doing what's right to help others. Mew & Mewtwo are fabulous, as well! Ever since watching this movie, Mew has been one of my favourite Pokemon. It's so cute!! I'm trying to keep spoilers to a minimum in this post, but I'll need to reveal some content details to tell you guys why I love each of the movies. There's a short scene in Pokemon (1998) where Mew is playing on a windmill and it's too cute, I'm gonna die!! Pokemon, the entire franchise in general, is a masterpiece and so is this movie! Fight me if you disagree :D 

FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992)

It feels even more special that this beautiful movie was released the year I was born :) When I was quite young, maybe around six, my grandma bought me the VHS tape for this movie that my parents had never heard of before, and it was spectacular! I might be biased because I've forever been a nature lover, but the storyline of this movie resonated with mini me so much and still does to this day. FernGully: The Last Rainforest seems to be one of those films that either someone has never heard of before OR anyone who has seen it, adores it. It's lesser-known and I want to do my part to fix that! It is surprising since two superb actors voiced characters in this movie; Robin Williams and Tim Curry. I grew up loving the sound of Tim Curry's voice before I ever discovered it was the fabulous actor who played Dr Frank-N-Furter in the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I have such a thing for voices though, which my best friend likes to refer to as my 'voice fetish' XD... although I can't argue with that definition, haha! Is anyone else the same? Tell me a voice in the comments that you find super attractive.

So yeah, even as a little kid, I loved the sound of Tim Curry's voice and I couldn't help but enjoy this movie... he has a song it in that is excellent! But aside from that, the movie itself is stunning! The animation, the fantasy theme (which surrounds fairies) and the message are what make it a firm favourite of mine, even as an adult. It's got a charm about it, and this is in many ways thanks to Robin William and his character Batty. Again, I don't want to say too much, but to those who've watched FernGully, I used to feel so cool that I knew all the words to a certain musical piece by Batty XD I wouldn't stop reciting it to everyone who would listen! *insert sunglasses emoji here*. 

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The Pagemaster (1994) 

This movie came on TV one Sunday evening (if my memory is correct, after all this time) when I was eight or nine, and I thought it was one of the most incredible things I'd ever set eyes on. I know this post is very much nostalgia-fuelled but that shows just how good these movies are. They are timeless classics to me and will forever be treasured, never losing their magic no matter how many times I watch them. Do you have any favourite movies like that? 

So anyhow, The Pagemaster has such a unique story that is executed in a way that I've never seen in any other movie. Sure, I've seen similar concepts, but none quite like The Pagemaster. If you hadn't gathered yet from the title, this movie has a bookish theme, which as someone who has enjoyed reading and also writing their own stories since childhood, found it to be very much my cup of tea. The story incorporates so many literary classics and *spoiler alert* the Jekyll & Hyde scene really freaked me out way back when :O 

Like for most fantasy fans, there's just something so captivating (when done well) about the idea of being an ordinary sort of person living a typical, mundane existence, and then suddenly being immersed in a magical world, that is so appealing! And the events of The Pagemaster were delightful food for the imagination for kid me, so I fell in love with the movie. The characters were so loveable, too. And dragons were always my thing!  

The Pebble and the Penguin (1995) 

This is definitely an underrated animation movie, but with so many awesome 90's movies, there's lots of fantastic ones that got loss in the cracks, or however that saying goes. It's such a shame! The Pebble and the Penguin is so lovely; the main character is the sweetest! It's another movie that appealed to me because of the nature theme, especially because the intro has a documentary feel to it and I watched many of those from being old enough to talk. I like that the premise of the Pebble and the Penguin is somewhat rooted in reality, and is based on the behaviour of Adelie Penguins, of which the male of the species searches for the perfect stone to present to a female in an attempt to wow her with his rock-finding abilities :D 

The movie is about a penguin who is desperate to impress the girl of his dreams, who's also being pursued by this huge bully of a penguin (voiced by the legend Tim Curry) - there I go again, subconsciously lovin' all movies featuring Tim Curry's voice XD It is another tale of friendship, love and finding your inner strength, no matter how small or insignificant you feel. The protagonist risks everything to get the most precious pebble for his sweetheart, and even though he's the misfit of his colony, he ends up on top in the end :) 'Never give up' is the key lesson of The Pebble and the Penguin, and I can't recommend it enough. 

The Land Before Time (1988) 

Not gonna lie, it was a challenge to settle on a sixth favourite because there were a few contenders. Eventually, I chose the marvellous 80's movie, The Land Before Time because of the amount of times I watched when I was younger. I have always been a fan of dinosaurs, I mean who isn't? They are amazing! So it's impossible for me not to love this movie, which is set in prehistoric times and follows a group of little dinosaurs that are separated from their loved ones and must embark on a journey writhe with dangers to be reunited with them. It is beautiful and compelling, and so heart-breaking in parts. The five dinosaurs whose journeys we follow in The Land Before Time are brilliant and we get to see their species differences and unique personalities clash as they struggle to get along but through the hardships they face, their friendships blossom and it's wonderful to see. My favourite character has always been Petrie, a tiny Pterodactyl. I didn't know that I had anxiety when I was a young child, but Petrie's character is the one I most related too and he's a little ball of nerves so I can now understand why I liked him so much! This first movie was so well-received that it lead to there being thirteen others made!! And although I haven't seen them all, the ones I have have been great! I remember having a PlayStation game based on the 9th movie, Journey to Big Water (2002), with the game being called 'Big Water Adventure'. Does anyone else remember playing it? 

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So those are six of my absolute favourite non-Disney animation movies! I hope you all enjoyed reading what I had to say about them. I have two honourable mentions that I can't not list, as well. One being The Road to El Dorado, a Dreamworks production from 2000 that is so good, with two hilarious lead characters and a wonderful sound track, performed mostly by Elton John. The second being a very short but sweet movie released in 1995 by Jetlag Productions, many of whose movies were animated in Japan, including this one, so are visually beautiful, especially when it comes to the attention to detail in depictions of nature. Heidi is a classic tale that has been retold and adapted time and time again because it is so well-loved, and this version made me feel so uplifted whenever I watched it. There's a song at the beginning of the movie called 'Start with a Smile' that still makes me instantly happy when I listen to it :) I think both of these movies deserve more credit and you need to give them a watch. If my post inspires you to watch any of the movies I've mentioned, then please let me know :) I'd love to hear your opinions on them. I'm going to finish up my post here because I've already written too much! 

Thankyou for reading! 

♥ 

What are your favourite animation movies?

I'd love some recommendations! 

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Horror Movie Tag

Hello everyone! I hope all of you are having a marvellous weekend! It's 19 days into October and I'm only now posting something Halloween-y. This is shocking behaviour and I thought it was about time that I fixed it!! Over the last week or so, I've been trying to come up with spooky post ideas, so it was perfect timing for the lovely Kim over at Chimmyville to tag me in this Horror Movie Tag! Be sure to head over to her blog and check out her post :) I hope you all enjoy reading my answers! 

1. What is the first horror movie you remember watching?

When I was around 10 or 11 years old, I was hanging out at my friends house and being the weird little vampire-obsessed kids that we were back then (totally not changed much, haha!), we decided to watch Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). I felt like such a rebel because I knew I wouldn't have been allowed to watch it at home :D In all the excitement, we then wanted to watch another horror, and ended up choosing Alien (1979) next. Are there any movies that made you feel cool when you watched it as a kid? 

2. What is your favourite horror movie?

My more well-known favourite horror movies are A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), Rob Zombie's The Devil's Rejects (2005), and 2017's IT movie (Chapter 1). I also LOVE a much lesser-known horror by Wes Craven, The People Under the Stairs (1991) and a more recent fantastic, and often underrated, movie called The Witch / The VVitch: A New-England Folk Tale (2015). Any fellow Black Phillip fans reading? :D 

3. What's your favourite horror movie genre?

I love slasher movies best. I also thoroughly enjoy a good old psychological horror/thriller, especially The Silence of the Lambs (1991). 

4. What genre scares you the most?

I don't get scared by horrors, but there's definitely things that make me cringe (and not in a 'gosh, that's bad' kind of way). When it comes to some gore, I always have cover my eyes but of course, I'm peeping through my hands because I'm too curious for my own good, haha! One scene that comes to mind is from House of Wax (2005) when a character gets their Achilles tendon cut with scissors... eeeek! 

5. What is the last horror movie you watched that actually scared you?

As I said above, I don't really get scared when watching horror. I just love them! But I've jumped a couple of times... I'm not a fan of that clown doll in Poltergeist (1982) that pulls the kid under the bed! I also once watched one of those dramatized 'based on a real story' style thrillers, called Megan Is Missing (2011) and there's a dead body scene in that which looked so realistic the first time I watched it that I jumped! Anyone ever seen this movie? 

6. Who is your ultimate Scream Queen?

I think Drew Barrymore was brilliant at the start of Scream (1996)… did you know that she was originally offered the lead role but she couldn't do it, so Neve Campbell was cast? I love Neve Campbell's performance though so I'm happy it worked out that way! I'm gonna have the iconic 'Hello Sidney' line stuck in my head for ages now XD One of the best horror movie intros ever! 

Maika Monroe's role as lead character in It Follows (2014) is fantastic, too! I know it's not a movie, but Sarah Paulson is always epic in American Horror Story :) Who else watches the show? If so, do you have a favourite season? Mine's Season 4: Freak Show. I love Anya Taylor-Joy as well; she's fabulous in the Witch and Split (2017), and I can't wait to see her in more horror/thriller movies. 

7. What's a concept that you'd like to see in horror?

I'm not sure, because to be honest I am a sucker for certain tropes, even if they've been done time and time again. What can I say? I'm a creature of habit :) It's always a welcome surprise to see a unique twist to the stereotypical storyline of most slasher movies though! I love unique concepts, such as the one for It Follows, which you really need to watch if you haven't already! Oh, and I would love a good cult movie, that isn't cheesy af. I've not watched Midsommar (2019) yet... If you have, what did you think? 

I have started to enjoy sci-fi horror a lot more after discovering that they are not all about aliens... which are not really my cup of tea when it comes to horror. I enjoyed Splice back in 2009, for example. It would be great to see more like this, that have more focus on the science side of things, if that makes sense. 

8. What is your favourite on-screen kill?

Oh wow, there's so many! What horror fan doesn't have a long list of favourites!? (or maybe I'm just weird...). To name a few: the scene in Child's Play 2 (1990) when the guy gets his eyes impaled in the factory's doll production line, the end of Hostel: Part 2 (2007) when the protagonist gets her own back!, the puppet scene in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3, Paris Hilton's characters death in House of Wax, the chair torture scene in (I think) Hellraiser: Deader (2005). I could list more... but I'll stop now before you'll all think I'm weirder than you already know I am XD 

9. What's your favourite franchise?

I adore the franchise by Rob Zombie that includes House of 1000 Corpses (2003), The Devil's Rejects and I am yet to watch the newest addition, 3 From Hell (2019). RIP Sid Haig T_T. I am also a lover of all the A Nightmare on Elm Street movies. Most of the Hellraiser movies are awesome, too, as well as the first few Child's Play movies. 

10. Who's your favourite horror director? 

Wes Craven and Rob Zombie are my all-time favourites. Clive Baker too, of course, for Hellraiser. I know that Guillermo del Toro is more well-known for his creepy fantasy but the Spanish horror The Orphanage (2007) is brilliant and he's another of my favourite directors, so I'm including him anyway. Who else loves his work? 

Well, those are my answers to the horror tag! I very much enjoyed writing about my favourite movie genre, and I now want to re-watch, for probably the 50th time, the horrors that I mentioned. However, I am currently doing a Horrorthon challenge, where I watch a horror movie that I have never seen before each day of October. I'm having a lot of fun with that, and I'll be sure to blog all about it at the end of the month. Are any of you guys doing a spooky movie marathon this month, whether it's a horror one or not? Before I finish up today's post, it's time to nominate some of my fabulous fellow bloggers to join in. I tag: Jess, Natalee, Eleanor , Vikki and Kiah to do the Horror Movie Tag. I'm looking forward to reading your answers guys! Feel free to answer this even if I didn't tag you, and please send me a link so I can have a read of your post :) 

Thankyou for reading! 

♥ 

What's your favourite horror movie? 

What is the last horror movie you watched & was it any good? 

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What I've Been Watching: July Edition

Hey lovelies! If you've been a reader of my blog from the beginning, you may remember that I did a couple of posts titled 'What I've Been Watching' and it was my idea to make these a monthly thing. If not, you can check them out here & here. I didn't keep up the posts because I let my worries get the better of me. I didn't think the posts were interesting enough and felt nervous that I was just gonna bore everyone. Eek! Although, my anxiety can still cause me to freak out before I share a post, especially if it's a new regular 'series' idea, I am a lot more confident in my writing than I was back when I originally shared the posts in question. 

Watching movies (and TV shows) used to be one of my favourite hobbies, I mean it never wasn't but depression likes to get in the way of you doing the things you love. It likes to creep in and drain all of your motivation to do fun things & it sucks! :( Recently though, I've been really trying my damned hardest to not let depression dampen my passions, and so I've been determined to get back to watching movies and TV shows. I even included 'watch 20 new movies' in my summer goals this year as a motivator. So far, I've been doing pretty well. This got me thinking that it would be nice to document this and what better way than to pick up my 'What I've Been watching' monthly posts. I won't include every single thing I watch, only the ones that I liked the most. Here's my 'first' post of many, and I hope you all enjoy them!  

I'll try to keep spoilers to a minimum, but my post will include a overview about what the movies & tv shows are about and I'll probably discuss some characters and maybe some of my favourite parts, so sorry if I end up saying too much! 

 Silent Hill (2006)

I am ashamed that as a horror fan, it took me so bloody long (no pun intended, haha) to finally watch the Silent Hill movie, oops! The movie is an adaptation of the well-known Japanese video game of the same name. If you're unfamiliar with the plot, it's about a mother called Rose who's little girl is having nightmares about a place called Silent Hill. She's adopted and Silent Hill is the name of the town where she was born, so in an attempt to help her daughter she decides to take her back there to see it. She soon discovers that there was a massive coal mill fire disaster in Silent Hill which left the whole town adandoned. It is now inhabited by strange ghostly creatures (which are awesome by the way!) and she has to endue them when her little girl goes missing in the town. We are introduced to several characters and learn about the eerie goings-on in Silent Hill as the main character Rose tries to find her daughter, as well as a horrible tradegy that took place there, but I won't say anymore. You'll have to watch it to find out for yourself :) I was happy to discover that the little girl was played by Jodelle Ferland who is the perfect actress to play the part, as she makes the best horror movie child! I remember watching her in Stephen King's adaptation of Kingdom Hospital when I was around 12. If you're a fan of horror movies, you should definitely check out this movie. 

The Handmaid's Tale (2017)

This new TV series is absolutely brillant! I really wasn't sure what to expect after watching the short trailer on an advert. Due to the way the characters were dressed, I assumed it was a period drama/history-based drama, which I'm a big fan of so I added to my 'to watch' list. However, I soon discovered that it was actually a dystopian drama, and I was super happy about this because I have been really into this genre for a few years now. The drama is set in a future were the fertility rates across the world are severly low. The show takes place in what was formerly North America, that has now been taken over by a Christian totalitarian government who have created a society that is made to conform to a strict, Biblical-like regime. All of the woman who are fertile and/or have had children before have been forced into servitude as 'handmaids' who are brutually forced to work and bear children for the upper class families, who are the official leaders of the government and their wives. The story is told through the eyes of a handmaid called June, and it's so so good! It has such an intricate story with lots of strong female characters. I can't recommend it enough and I have a mighty need to read the book by Margaret Atwood that it's based on now. It's a 10 out of 10 from me!

Voice From The Stone (2017) 

If you don't know this already, I am massive nerd when it comes to Game of Thrones. As a result, I have become a huge fan of the actors who portray my favourite characters from the Song of Ice and Fire novels by George R.R. Martin so well, and will often follow which other movies they are in. Emilia Clarke who plays Daenerys Targaryen on GoT was the main character in the newly released movie, Voice From The Stone which is categorised as a psychological and supernatural thriller. It tells the story of a British nurse who specialises in the care of children with mental health problems from weathy families, and she travels from home to home helping to nurse the children back to health before moving on to the next. After the death of his mother, a young boy has refused to talk for many months and so Verena (the nurse) is hired by his father to help him. We find out that there are some ghostly occurrences happening in the house and that the young boy is convinced that his mother's ghost is trapped in the stone around the families estate. There's a reason why the stone is significant but I don't want to reveal too much. I chose to watch this movie mostly because I like to see my favourite Game of Thrones actors and actresses in different roles, but also because I like history-based movies as well as thrillers. It was a pretty good movie, even though it took a while to develop the storyline. Emilia Clarke did a great job though! 

 The Keepers (2017)

I've absolutely loved Netflix Original documentary series ever since I watched 'Making a Murderer (2015)' which was a fantastic crime documentary produced by Netflix discussing secrets and corruption within American law enforcement and the judicial system surrounding several crimes supposedly involving a man named Steven Avery. I just really like how Netflix do their documentaries and so when I learnt about The Keepers I was very much looking forward to watching it. Crime documentaries have been a favourite of mine ever since I become interested in criminal psychology in my early teens. The Keepers is a really good watch! There's seven hour-long episodes investigating the murder of a Catholic nun called Sister Cathy Cesnik in the late 1960's. She was a teacher at a religious high school which has a history of teachers being involved in the abuse of students. There were some conspiracies about the head priest at the school being involved in her murder, because they wanted to cover up the abuse that was going on of which he was the main suspect. Some of the former students of Sister Cathy are working together to help uncover the truth about what happened to their teacher. I don't want to tell you anything else so not to spoil the series for anyone who's interested. I seriously can't wait for the next Netflix crime documentary series!

 Brimstone (2017)

This is another movie that I originally wanted to watch solely because the cast includes Kit Harington who Game of Thrones fans will know plays Jon Snow on the show. My friends will also know that Mr Harington is one of my celebrity crushes (I mean just look at him!). After watching the trailer though, I discovered that this western thriller is right up my street! It's another historically based movie which also happens to be a thriller so I was expecting to really enjoy it. I wasn't disappointed! Carice van Houten also stars in the movie, and she plays the Red Woman/Melisandre on GoT. I was interested to see how actress Dakota Fanning would do in a thriller role, but I think she was great! Okay, that's enough about the cast... here's more about the movie itself. It's set in the old American western days, a time when small towns were being converted to Christianity and people's lives were governed by traditional gender roles and Biblical teachings. The movie is told through the point of view of the main character, Liz (played by Dakota Fanning) who cannot speak and so communicates with sign language. As the movie starts, we see Liz as a midwife with a family and her life is tough, but it gets even worse when a Reverend turns up one day in her hometown. She is terrified and its clear that she knows this man. We discover how and why he makes her so fearful as the movie goes on. The movie is a long one, over two hours and something that I love about it is that it's broken down into four sections, which are titled: Revelation, Exodus, Genesis & Retribution. Each section tells a differnt part of Liz's life. I'll stop here before I end up revealing the whole story! I really liked this movie, and I'd definitely rate it a 7/10. 

The Girl With All The Gifts (2016)

The Girl with all the Gifts is categorised as a post-apocalyptic horror movie because it contains zombies, but I wouldn't personally consider it as one. I'd say more that it has elements of gore and violence but it is mainly post-apocalytic dystopian movie. It is set in a future where society has been plagued with a infection that turns people into zombie-like creatures and the military are experimenting to find a cure for the fungal infection outbreak that as wiped out a massive percentage of the population, and the rest are zombies. The story begins in a military base in the South of England (which I liked because I haven't been a movie set in England for a while), where children are the experimentation subjects. These children are the second generation of zombies, born from people who were infected so they are being used by a scientist at the base to create a vaccination. The children who look like ordinary children and act like them too when they are not exposed to the scent of human flesh are kept like prisoners and are dehumanised by many of the soldiers at the base. There is one particular child (Melanie) who stands out from the rest; she is very intelligent and appears to be more human than the other children. This causes the school teacher at the base to become very attached to her and makes her really question the treatment of the children. One day, the army base perimeters are breached and the zombies attack everyone! A group manage to escape: the teacher, the main research scientist involved in creating a cure, the head soldier at the base and few others, as well as Melanie. The team are now making their way to the next closest army base and the movie follows their journey there. There's so much I love about this movie and it's so tough not to type away about it, but I can't tell you. The movie is based on a book by M.R. Carey which I need to read since there's so many things that I felt could have been explained more in the movie. However, it's still great and you should totally give it a watch!

So, those are my favourite movies and tv shows of July. I also watched a few other horror movies and the last few episodes of the Starz series 'American Gods (2017)' Season 1. I started watching this back in May, after finding out that the gorgeous Ricky Whittle was in it. He stole my heart when I watched him play Lincoln in another series, 'The 100 (2014)'. I'm not sure if I like American Gods as a whole all that much, some parts I really enjoy but then I get bored with others. I'll decide when I've watched the next season :) The highlight of July for me was obviously the start of Season 7 of Game of Thrones, which has been amazing so far! I hope that you all enjoyed this post, and that I've encouraged you to watch some new movies/tv shows. Let me know if you do and what you think :) I'd also love to hear your opinions if you've already seen any of the movies/tv shows I mentioned in today's post. 

Thankyou for reading!

 ♥

What have you been watching lately?

 Here are some related posts if you wanna check them out: 

| Five Animation Movies I Loved As A Child | My Favourite Vampire Movies |