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Walt Disney can be credited with creating the first commercially successful animated character with Mickey Mouse. He also made the first full length cartoon feature film, Steamboat Wille. With color, he really was in his element.  He produced some of the great cartoons of all time.  Some of his works were The Sleeping Beauty, Dumbo, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia and Alice in Wonderland.  They were blockbusters then and they are blockbusters now as they are released every few years on video to a new generation of viewers.  Submit your Anime, Cartoon, or Claymation reviews.

Disney stayed as the main provider of the animated cartoons with movies like Aladdin and Pocahontas until the late eighties, when DreamWorks turned up the heat and produced blockbuster animated movies such as Shrek in 2001 and Shrek 2 in 2004.

Also, in the eighties clay animation became an alternative to hand drawn cartoons. 

In the nineties and beyond, the Japanese adapted the cartoon style and modified them to fit within their movie culture of war and violence.  The Japanese cartoons are known as Animes and they are notorious for violence and erotic content.   

Hundreds of Animes have been made by the Japanese producers for television and the silver screen.

Like the horror movies, the Animes have their own audiences.  Unlike the cartoons that are primarily aimed at younger audiences Animes are aimed at teens and older viewers.  They are too convoluted and violent for kids to relate to.

Almost all cartoons and Animes are made with computers so there is no artistry associated with drawing the pictures anymore. South Park characters have no artistic merit as far as drawing is concerned.  They do have a cult following and that is what matters nowadays.

Some of the better cartoons are the Toy Story and Toy Story 2, Madagascar and the Last Unicorn.  I also liked the Ice Age (2002) which was in 3D animation followed by Ice Age 2 in 2006. Thunderbirds in 2004 was based on a British produced series of the Sixties.  Some of the Japanese productions, I would like to mention are Princess Mononoke,  Avatar, the Airbender, Kiki's Delivery Service and Howl's Moving Castle.

 

The Golden rules of cartoon and Anime are:

Rule One. Anyone can produce a Cartoon movie given the software that is available on the market.

Rule Two. The more outlandish the subject matter the better the chances of success.

Rule Three.  It is better to have a story to tell but counter plots work as well.  I once saw a short cartoon where the Coyote eventually got the Road Runner and everyone in the audience gave it a standing ovation.

Rule Four. Whatever happens in one episode or movie has no effect on the next episode.  The characters never die. They can be killed many times.

Rule Five. The characters can do any job. In the Simpsons series, for example, Homer Simpson has tried his hand at many jobs none of them successfully. Will he keep our interest in the upcoming movie?