As a follow-up to last week’s post about the my favourite Disney movies, here are my favourite non-Disney movies. Sad as it is, there are by far not as many movies in this category. In fact, I had to cheat a little bit to get to ten movies… Damn Disney’s monopoly [and Scott’s Monopoly, while we’re at it]!
Again, this is not a critical look at these movies, just a nostalgic celebration of my favourites.
10. Casper and Who Framed Roger Rabbit
They get spot number 10 because they’re only half animated. And they have to share because they’re only half animated.
Casper hit me at exactly the right age – I was ten and I could still appreciate the ghosts and the a bit juvenile humour, but I could also sigh already about the romantic story. Plus, I can always relate to an underdog story, and here we have two.
Ah, prime example of how a movie with animation isn’t actually for kids, but nobody cares because hey, it’s animated! See – Roger Rabbit is a funny guy
So much of it was lost on me until I re-watched it a couple of years ago. But I still liked to see it as a kid and I was entertained, so I guess, no harm, no foul…
9. Anastasia
It’s been ages that I saw Anastasia. I have a video cassette, but it’s Russian. (Somehow I didn’t expect that I unlearned my Russian before I couldn’t play tapes anymore… hmmm… well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.)
Anyway, I like Anastasia’s story and my family is a little tilted in the Russian direction in any case. And the dog is really very cute. :)
8. All Dogs Go to Heaven
All Dogs Go to Heaven is bitter-sweet at best and scary at worst. But it has a very special place in my heart, maybe just because of that.
7. Les douze travaux d’Astérix and Astérix et le coup du menhir
I don’t know how well known Astérix is outside Europe, but here he’s pretty big. And cool. The movies are pretty bonkers and I do have my theory where Goscinny and Uderzo got their ideas from, but that doesn’t reduce the enjoyment. Quite to the contrary.
5. The Nutcracker Prince
Based on the story by E. T. A. Hoffmann, filmed with the wonderful music by Tchaikovsky, this movie is not only a romantic and sweet story, but also a cultural experience. [God, does that sentence sound like a blurb or is that my imagination?] I got it from my grandmother for Christmas about 15 years ago. I still have the tape and watch it from time to time. I just love it.
4. An American Tail
An American Tail is an amazing story. Already as a child I loved the idea of mice emigrating just like people. And Fievel is so cute! [Actually, I know a boy who looks a bit like Fievel.] Of course, the whole “America is the greatest country in the world” storyline undermines itself and even as a child I wondered about that.
3. The Land Before Time
I just want to clarify that I’m only talking about part 1 and not part 2 through 600. But part 1 was genius. I don’t think that any other movie is so actively referenced in my family like this one – the way we used to mispronounce the dinosaurs’ names etc. etc. And it’s just a wonderful story. Makes me cry regularly.
2. The Nightmare Before Christmas
Do I need to explain?
Yeah, I didn’t think so.
1. The Last Unicorn
A wonderful story, epic in proportions and so very sad. [I have to admit – to my shame – that I have never read the novel by Peter S. Beagle. But I plan to.] Another movie I didn’t get half of when I watched it as a child. But that’s not so bad because I re-watch it regularly. Christmas without The Last Unicorn? Doesn’t happen.
kalafudra's Stuff 
So many wonderful memories.
My sis actually knows Anastasia by heart. We loved it.
We already talked about this, but I feel the need to repeat myself.
You have to watch “The Secret of NIMH” (Don Bluth, of course), and “Watership Down”.
Anastasia is great.
I did see Watership Down, I just wasn’t a kid anymore, therefore it wasn’t eligible. :) But I will see that I get The Secret of Nimh.
Awww, the land before time ^^
I was so fond of Cera the triceratops. And the part where littlefoot’s mom dies is so sad…
thanks for putting this up!
Exactly… I also liked Cera. And Petrie. And Littlefoot. And everybody. *sigh*
wahnsinn, ich hab ganz vergessen wie deprimierend die filme aus unserer kindheit waren. mhm.
und watership down hast du nie gesehn? ich dachte daran kam niemand in unserem alter vorbei…
ohh und was vielleicht fehlt (zumindest auf meiner liste ;)) waere felidae, kennst du den?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8ZGTrgiCLU
das war echt heftig. und vorallem nix fuer kinder, eigentlich…
Stimmt, es sind eigentlich die meisten total deprimierend…
Watership Down hab ich erst mit 18 oder so gesehen – wie ich dem vorher entkommen bin, weiß ich nicht so wirklich.
Felidae kannte ich nicht, den Film. Ich bin mir aber relativ sicher, dass ich irgendwann das Buch gelesen hab.
[Wenn dir sowas weiterhin taugt, wirf einen Blick auf das Comic Blacksad!]
OK, so my record on this list is beyond shameful. Guess I have a lot of catching up to do. And you know/knew Russian, too? How many languages DO you know??
And Asterix is very big here, all my friends have read pretty much all the stories, and I have quite a few back home (as paper, I mean; I have all of them as ebooks); my father loved them too, and we only stopped buying after they became insanely expensive. What are your theories? :)
Oh yes – if you haven’t seen all of the movies on the list, you should. :)
Well, I really speak 4 languages (German, English, French, Portuguese), and have basic knowledge of another 3 (Russian, Croatian, Lingala). But except for German and English, all of my knowledge is dormant at the moment. Happens if you don’t really use the languages, unfortunately.
Interesting and cool that Asterix got that far… :)
My theories involve locked rooms and a lot of illegal substances… especially for the movies. The comics are not that bad. Mostly. ;)
[Btw, also my theory for Murder by Death and the old Casino Royale. And some of the older Woody Allen’s. Amongst others.]
Hate to say this but roger rabbit is disney, they even have a ride for it in disney land…. its one of my favourites :P so is the The Nightmare Before Christmas :/ soooooorry
Roger Rabbit is not officially Disney and The Nightmare Before Christmas is only Disney in the 3D version.
soooooorry yourself. ;)
Both Roger Rabbit and The Nightmare Before Christmas (yes, the original one) came from Touchstone Pictures – which is part of Disney Studios.
Well, for me that still doesn’t qualify for this list. But we could argue about that. :)
The Nightmare Before Christmas is Disney, it was a Walt Disney Picture when it first came out in 1993. Who Framed Roger Rabbit was sort of Disney but not really
:) i’m 21 now… but i’ve seen most of the cartoons of your childhood.
i was a disney fan when i was younger, i still am, but i didn’t know anastasia was not a disney. now i know :)
All dogs go to heaven, The Land Before Time, An American Tail… all these seen in Italian :P
and i think Roger Rabbit is Disney :P.
there is another film that stunned me when i was a kid. It’s called: We’re back, a movie about dinosaurs in New York. That one “hit me at the right age” :)
nice top.
greetings from romania
I just can’t believe that someone from the other side of the world (I’m from Argentina) love’s the same old non-Disney movies that I love… I’m impress and touch… Love all this movies and got it in my house, I can’t see them because the recorder doesn’t wornk and if u want to buy one is SO EXPENSIVE (so much more than dvd players…)
But thank you for posting this, I’m really happy to see all those films in the memorys. Thank you!!
If there’s one cool thing about the cultural imperialism of American movies, it’s that it actually connects people from around the world… :)
I had completely forgotten about The Last Unicorn! I loved that movie as a kid, I grew up in a really small town, and one of the only animated movies they had for checkout at the library was The Last Unicorn….I would seriously get it at least once a month back then! AND, I just found it on iTunes! So I plan to watch it as soon as it finishes downloading!
Glad I could refresh your memory.
Wonderfull,.. never think that i could realize what the title of the unicorn movie i ever saw when i was a kid. And now i found it here. Very very impressive,… i still remember how the unicorn try to fight “Fire-Bufallo”,.. nice movie,..
Totally love that movie. :)
I was in a low mood. Just stumbled upon this post and… you know what happened next. Thanks for posting. My mood is lifted. I’m happy :)
I’m glad I could make your day a little brighter. Sometimes only a small thing is needed. :)
The nightmare before christmas was actually a disney film but was released under their ….subdivision if you may- Touchstone pictures. They thought children would be scared if it were a disney film. lol!