Old School Lane presents Kevin's Top 100 Favorite Animated Shows (100-90)

Hey everyone, welcome to a very special top # list courtesy of Old School Lane. We were due for a top # list since I posted my Top 10 Pee-wee Herman moments of 2011 back in New Year’s Eve. Kevin worked hard narrowing down his favorite cartoons to 100, but he finally finished it. As for me, I probably won’t get to it just yet, as I’m working really hard on something really, really special for the summer. Anyway, here’s Kevin’s favorite cartoons from 100-90. I hope you enjoy it. 

Regardless on when you werer born, animated cartoon shows have been a part of our childhood in some point in our lives. Whether you watched it for the story, the silliness, the characters, the life lessons, the violence, the jokes, or the animation, we all watched it on Saturday morning while eating our favorite sugary cereal or after school after we finished our homework. Narrowing it down to 100 cartoons wasn’t easy, so please don’t be disappointed that your favorite cartoon isn’t on the list or ranked higher than you would have liked it to. This is my list, not yours. So, sit back and relax as we look at the first 10 of my 100 favorite cartoons of all time.

100. Kappa Mikey (2006)

The story involves with a 19-year-old named Mikey Simon moving to Japan after winning a contest to star in an anime called LilyMu. While the beginning and end covers the footage of LilyMu, the majority of the show involves Mikey trying to fit in the Japanese culture and lifestyles. This cartoon clashes with anime and American drawn cartoons, similar to what Who Framed Roger Rabbit combining Warner Bros. Disney, and Hanna Barbera cartoons into one. It’s got an interesting premise, it’s very clever, and funny as it makes fun of American pop culture, Japanese pop culture, and anime. The characters were interesting, funny, and unique. It also spoofed popular anime shows at the time such as Sailor Moon, Pokemon, DBZ, Naruto, One Piece, Chobits, and HiHi Puffy AmiYumi. 

99. The Secret Show (2006)

Originally released in Children’s BBC in 2006, The Secret Show was shown in Nicktoons in 2007. The show involves two secret agents named Anita Knight and Victor Volt who works for a secret organization called U.Z.Z. alongside Professor Professor and Special Agent Ray. They are against the evil organization T.H.E.M. (The Horrible Evil Menace) led by Doctor Doctor who’s main goal is to, you guessed it, take over the world. I love The Secret Show because it pokes fun of the stereotypical spy series, the characters were great, yet clutsy, and the storylines were funny.

98. Speed Racer (1967)

There were so many versions, remakes, and reimagining of this classic anime, but my favorite will always be the original. The simple premise of Speed Racer competing in races with the Mach 5 was very entertaining and fun. The Mach 5 is one of the most iconic cars in pop culture history; it’s right along side the DeLorean from Back to the Future, the Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters, and the Turtle Van from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The show had action, gained a huge cult following, and the characters were memorable, especially Speed Racer.  The relationship between him and Racer X was emotional since in reality you knew that Racer X was Speed’s brother, Rex Racer, and he couldn’t reveal his identity to him. Overall, it’s still to this day a fantastic show.

97. Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990)

The story of 5 kids coming from different countries to save the Earth from polluting villains was indeed a show that still holds well into my heart. It focused on the factspollution was a terrible thing for the planet, always clean up after you litter, memorable characters, and epic storylines. It had a great cast of celebrity voice acts, such as Whoopi Goldberg, LeVar Burton, Edward Asner, John Ratzenberger, Jeff Goldblum, Meg Ryan, and so much more. A lot of people found it to be too preachy, but I didn’t think so. I think it had a nice balance of showing the damages of the environment and having a suttle touch to it and talking about why it’s terrible to not be aware of our actions to the Earth. Also the show took risks in adding Linka into the show in a time when Russians were not in cartoons as much since it was the final years of the Cold War. Captain Planet was great; he was like Superman in a way. Although a lot of people don’t like this show, I still find it to be good.

96. The Quick Draw McGraw Show (1959)

Not much to say about this cartoon except that it was a classic Hanna Barbera show, the gags were original and not cliche, which is huge since it’s a western. The characters were funny, the stories were engaging enough, and the jokes were humorous.

95. The Yogi Bear Show (1961)

Not much to say about this either, but the fact that the character of Yogi and Boo Boo were clever, strategic, and sly when it came to stealing picnic baskets from families and campers. Ranger Smith was also a great character as well, although he had always failed in preventing Yogi from stealing baskets from people. Overall, another Hanna Barbera classic.

94. Teen Titans (2003)

Although it was based on the comic book series of the same name, I was first introduced to Teen Titans from the 2003 Cartoon Network animated show. Man, did I ever love it. It was a mixture of a dark atmosphere and a light Japanese-like comedy. It shows Robin as a kickass leader capable of leading a group of young superheroes. It was one of the best animated Robins ever. It was the first time that I was introduced to the main characters Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire and I loved them all. Slade was kickass and he’s one of the best villains ever. The stories were great, the characters were great, and the action were great. Definitely one of the best shows that Cartoon Network ever had. 

93. The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack (2008)

As of now, I have not heard a lot of people say that they like this show. A lot of people have said that they hated and say that Adventure Time was way better. I don’t think that’s true, in fact, I hate Adventure Time. I think that Flapjack is really underrated. First of all, Adventure Time doesn’t make sense to me. With Flapjack, it takes you back to the past around the late 1800’s where pirates and sailors were the norm. I love the character of Captain K’nucles. He was beyond hilarious. I also like the way the show substitutes alcohol with candy and maple syrup. The character of Flapjack was like SpongeBob plus a bunch of people that I actually knew. They were optimistic, enthusiastic, and they had always had a goal set on their mind and wouldn’t quit until they acheive it. Overall, I still find it to be a great show. 

92. The Pink Panther Show (1969)

Similar to the character Yogi Bear, the Pink Panther’s actions speak louder than words, literally. Although he rarely spoke, he gave off a cool, swave, laidback sort of personality which I feel is what makes him awesome. The animation was good, the other characters were good as well, and the theme song is just pure classic awesomeness. This is one of the few cartoons based off a movie series that was unique and different compared to the movies it was based on, which is a plus for me to see some originality. Now if only Nickelodeon can do that to Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda.

91. The Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy (1988)

Based off the dolls and the book series beginining in 1918, the story of Raggedy Ann and Andy, two rag dolls who came to life when their owners left, would explore into a weird parallel world and save the citizens from an evil sorcerer named Cracklin. It was definitely ahead of its time for toys coming to life similar to Toy Story and Winnie the Pooh. 

90. The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show  (1983)

What can be said about the Peanuts characters? They are iconic, classic, and smartly written characters with simplistic stories about the ho-hum down-to-earth Charlie Brown and his friends Linus, Lucy, Schroder, Pepperment Patty, Marcie, Snoopy, and Woodstock. Based on the original comic strips by Charles Schultz, it’s transitioned to TV very well, keeping what made the Peanuts strips great. The TV specials and movies were classics and so is this show. 

That’s it for now. Stay tune as we put in more classic cartoons. Do you have fond memories for these cartoons? Post in the comments and let me know. Hope to see you around the Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading.

-Kevin

Movie Review: The Lorax

Hey everyone, welcome to another movie review courtesy of Old School Lane. When I did my First Impressions on The Lorax back in January, I knew that from looking at the poster and trailer, I was going to hate it. The movie looked too colorful, too light, and didn’t really focus too much on the environmental issues. I knew that I had to see it eventually, but I was literally dragging myself to approach the theater to watch it. As for Kevin, he simply refuse to watch it, so I will be giving you my opinion on this movie. 

As of now, there has not been any full movie adaptation based on Dr Seuss’ classic books that has been quite mediocre or just plain bad. Will this follow the same path or will this movie take me by surprise?

Story

The story involves with a 12 year old boy named Ted Wiggins who lives in a city named Thneed-Ville, a place in which everything was artificial; the trees, the grass, the flowers, everything. He goes out of his way to impress a girl named Audrey. When she tells Ted that what she always wanted to see a real tree, he makes his way to find out how he can find them. When he talks to the mayor, Mr. O’Hare, who owns a bottled oxygen company, about where the trees are, he’s told to not worry about it and stay in the town. Then Ted hears from his grandmother that a creature known as the Once-ler, who lives outside the city in a polluted and empty wasteland, may know about the trees.

When he leaves Thneed-Ville and confronts the Once-ler, he tells the story about a time in which the wasteland was once filled with Truffula Trees, animals, fish, and the grumpy, yet understanding guardian known as the Lorax lived happily. The Once-ler, in his younger years, sees the Truffula trees and their tufts, called Thneed, and loved it enough to make a business out of it by making them into clothing. When he chops one of the Truffula trees, the Lorax approaches him and warns him to not chop anymore trees and ruining his home.

The Once-ler begins to keep his promise and uses them sparingly, but he makes a lot of money from his products and he hires his family to increase his business. The family tells him that in order to make more money, they need to chop more trees, so he ended up chopping more trees than he thought. The Lorax and the animals try to tell the Once-ler about his evil corrupted ways, but he’s too busy and greedy to even notice the damage he’s doing to their home.

As time went on, all the trees were depleted, the valley is polluted, the family members left, the business was bankrupt, and the animals and the Lorax left for a new home. The Once-ler was left alone looking at what his actions had done to this once green land. Back to the main story, he gives the last Truffula tree seed to Ted telling him to take care of it, plant it, give it fresh water and air, and making it grow. But when Mr. O’Hare hears about Ted finding the seed, he feels threatened about being out of business with his oxygen company and stops at nothing to prevent Ted and Audrey from growing the tree.

In the end, everything works out well and the trees begin to grow and the Lorax and the animals begin to come back. Everyone lived happily ever after. The End.

Animation

The animation was CGI and it looked okay. It was nice and colorful, but that’s pretty much all I have to say about it. I don’t really remember seeing anything that made me say “Wow” when I saw it compared to The Secret World of Arrietty even when I saw it in 3D. The 3D is not needed for this movie. There, I just saved you 6 extra dollars. You’re welcome. 

Overall, it wasn’t the worst animated movie I’ve ever seen. It was a bit funny and quite cute, which is a huge disappointment when comparing it to a story that was as dark and shocking about the destruction of the environment in the original book. The main reason why Ted wanted to save the trees was not for the trees itself, but to impress Audrey. That’s a pretty weak reason why to do it. Also, they didn’t really focus that much on the love story, so I think that it shouldn’t have been part of the story. However, that was pretty much the main clutch, so the movie missed a big opportunity to tell the original story’s true meaning on what the moral was in the first place. For them to do that, this movie fails to capture the charm of the original story and that’s a real letdown for me. But even then, when they do talk about the environment, they lecture too much on it. There were a couple of times in which I said to myself, “Shut up, I already know”. It really dragged on for a bit.

Also, the Once-ler described the Lorax as a grumpy creature. Well, yeah, I would be grumpy too if you destroyed my home, you jerk. But the movie depicted the Lorax a lot more grumpier than necessary. The original Lorax was calm, persuasive, and tried his very best to stand up for the trees. I didn’t feel bad for him not even one time. He was up-in-you-face, threatening, loud, and brash and that’s not who the Lorax is. The voice didn’t even fit right for the Lorax. As much as I like Danny DeVito, he wasn’t the right voice for this character. I really couldn’t connect with him, I’m sorry. 

If you want to watch a great animated movie fun for kids and adults that teaches about the environment without sugar coating it or lecturing too much on it, watch WALL-E. It’s a much better movie in every way coming from one of the best animation companies of all time. 

That’s all for now. Thanks a lot for reading this. Tune in as Kevin posts his top 100 favorite cartoons of all time and a new First Impressions on a new video game coming out this year. Hope to see you around the Old School Lane real soon. 

-Patricia

First Impressions: Frankenweenie

Hey everyone, welcome to another installment of First Impressions. Today we’re going to wrap up the topic of the movie trailers that I saw last weekend when seeing The Secret World of Arrietty. We already talked about The Pirates! Band of Misfits! so now we’re going to talk about the upcoming stop-motion animated movie Frankenweenie, the remake of the 1984 movie of the same title by Tim Burton.

The plot is similar to the original; a young boy named Victor Frankenstein has a dog named Sparky, whom he befriends and loves more than anyone. Then one day, an unfortunate event happens that causes Sparky to lose his life. Victor decides to resurrect his dog back to life by harnessing the power of science and lightning. While the experiment works successfully, Sparky escapes and causes trouble around the town.

After seeing this trailer, I was beyond ecstatic. Similar to the original Frankenweenie and Ed Wood, the entire movie is in black and white. It looks dark, yet atmospheric and beautiful with its shadows, unique angles, and odd shapes just like Tim Burton’s previous work with his older movies. Also, similar to Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride, it’ll be stop motion animation, which is awesome. As I said previously in my First Impressions on The Pirates! Band of Misfits, I’m getting tired of seeing every animated movie and TV show being CGI and miss seeing 2D hand drawn animation, stop motion, and claymation.

But the cherry on the sundae for me is the casting. Actors and actresses who had previously worked with Tim Burton such as Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Martin Landau, Martin Short, and Christopher Lee will be part of the new voice cast in Frankenweenie. That’s awesome! It’s been so long since we’ve seen them in a Tim Burton movie and it’s definitely a nice break from seeing Johnny Depp and Helena Bonhan Carter all the time. 

In a way, it’s like Tim Burton is kinda going full circle when revisiting Frankenweenie again. Although this was the same movie that got him fired from Disney for it being too scary for kids, this was the same movie that inspired Paul Reubens to hire Tim to direct Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. So, it’ll be really nice to see a newer, longer, and artistic take on this classic short movie that should be appreciated more for what it had brought for Tim. Here’s the trailer and let me know if you’re excited about it.

That’s all for now. Thanks for hanging out with us at Old School Lane. Stick around and expect a big top # list from Kevin. It’ll be a lot of fun. Hope to see you soon.

-Patricia

First Impressions: The Pirates! Band of Misfits

Hey everyone, welcome to another installment of First Impressions. In my movie review of the Secret World of Arrietty, I had mentioned that I was going to give my impressions on some of the trailers that I saw before the movie. Before it began, I saw 4 trailers to 4 upcoming movies; The Lorax, Mirror Mirror, The Pirates! Band of Misfits! and Frankenweenie. As for The Lorax, I already did my First Impressions on it a while back so I don’t need to repeat myself when it’s not necessary. Here’s the post if you want to check it out.

http://oldschoollane.tumblr.com/post/16356913748/first-impressions-the-lorax

As for Mirror Mirror, Kevin sent me a hilarious text message on my phone when he saw the trailer for it. It was more funnier than anything I would have came up with. He said, “Mirror Mirror has the evil queen turn a guy into a bug and she picks him up and laughs at him. That is so fucking stupid!” Now we have two upcoming live action interpretations of Snow White this year. If I was to make a bet, I’m guessing that Snow White and the Huntsman would suck the least, even though that chick from Twilight, Kristen Stewart, is going to be Snow White. At least Charlize Theron would make a much more convincing evil queen than Julia Roberts. Also, she was awesome as a guest judge in Top Chef: Texas. 

Today, we’ll be discussing one of the two trailers that I saw, The Pirates! Band of Misfits! a new Aardman Animations movie coming out in April 27th. 

This is the first movie since Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit that Aardman Animations has used stop-motion clay animation in their movies, which I missed very much. I’m sick of watching only CGI animation all the time, since I always loved a variety of animation in children’s movies from 2D hand drawn animation to stop motion and claymation. So you can guess how excited I was when I saw this trailer. My sister and I are huge Wallace and Gromit fans and I enjoyed Chicken Run very much, so you can see that I love the work that Aardman Animations has done.

The story follows a terrible pirate captain and his equally terrible crew trying their best to beat another pirate captain in a race to see who can find a lost treasure. The winner would receive the honor of being named Pirate of the Year! 

The movie is based on the first two books in The Pirates! series, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists andThe Pirates! In an Adventure with Whaling! written by a British author named Gideon Defoe. As of now, there are 4 books in the series, with a 5th one on the way. 

Yeah, you know this book series is awesome when Eric Idle himself says it’s awesome. 

I’m really looking forward to seeing this movie when it comes out and I’m hoping that the same unique charm that Aardman Animations has done with their previous movies would be present in this one. Here’s the trailer of the movie and let me know what you think of it.

That’s all for now. Stay tune where I give off my first impressions on the remake of Tim Burton’s 1984 short film Frankenweenie. Hope to see you around the Old School Lane really soon. Thanks for reading.

-Patricia

First Impressions: Beware the Batman

Hey everyone, welcome to another installment of First Impressions. Today, Kevin will be discussing a reboot based off a comic book superhero. I will be having my 2 First Impressions done either by today or tomorrow. Until then, sit back, relax, and enjoy. 

Hey guys, Kevin here. Today, I’m going to start you off with a quote: 

“But pain is the beginning of perfection”.

-Professor Pyg: Batman and Robin: Issue #1 (Summer 2009)

CGI animated shows are becoming a hot commodity now. With Nickelodeon coming up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot, Cartoon Network’s upcoming Green Lantern The Animated Series, the upcoming CGI Ben 10 movie, and Hub’s continuing Transformers Prime series, I wouldn’t be surprised if eventually traditional hand drawn animation would be obsolete for good. However I am intrigued to see how cartoons would fan CGI form. That brings up the topic regarding about the new Batman cartoon titled Beware the Batman.

Like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, I was very skeptical about this incarnation. We have several Batman cartoons, what makes this one so different? The chairman from Warner Bros. studios said, “I can’t live in a world without Batman movies”. He had mentioned that after they premiere The Dark Knight Rises in theaters, there will be a new animated Batman reboot released in Cartoon Network. I agree to what he said and I can’t see myself living in a world without Batman cartoons. Beware of the Batman is the new CGI series part of Cartoon Network’s block. It will bring Batman back to his dark roots and will introduce new villains that haven’t been introduced in the Batman world. Batman will have a new sidekick, Kitana, a samurai warrior who will help Batman fight crime, similar to Robin. They will also change the appearance of Alfred, who will be a machine gun weilding sidekick. While we’re contend to seeing familiar villains like the Joker, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Two-Face, Penguin, and Mr. Freeze, the series will start fresh with a new main villain in the show.

Enter Professor Pyg, a villian who looks like Leatherface from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series. He was created by Grant Morrison, a comic book writer who had written many comics, including the first 16 issues ofBatman and Robin that was released around Summer 2009. He’s known for being a perfectionist by injecting a drug that gets people to be modified with special masks fused into their faces turning them into genderless beings called Dollotrons.

I have no idea how Beware the Batman is going to pull off Professor Pyg. He’s one of the most insane and sadistic Batman villains that I’ve seen in a while. Especially this scene which is an homage to the apostle Peter’s crucifixion in which he felt unworthy to die the same way Jesus Christ did. That is beyond creepy.

Overall, I have high hopes for the series and believe it will be very good when it comes out. That’s all for now. Hope to see you around the Old School Lane soon. See ya!

-Kevin

Movie Review: The Secret World of Arrietty

Hey everyone, welcome to a movie review courtesy from Old School Lane. One of the many things that I love is anime, especially anime movies done by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. I refer to Studio Ghibli as the Pixar of Japan; they both release wonderful movies that appeals to children and adults, they have memorable characters, interesting themes in their stories, creative premises in their plots, and have an amazing atmospheric feel. I wish that many other animated movie studios would take a page of their work. I’m looking at you, Illumination Entertainment. I was very excited when I first saw a trailer of The Secret World of Arrietty in a commercial about a month ago. It looked like a exact anime replica of the classic book The Borrowers written by Mary Norton.

The Secret World of Arrietty wasn’t directed or produced by Miyazaki, only co-written. Does it make it fall short of a masterpiece or is it a wonderful rendition of the book with some creativity? 

Story

The story is about a young boy named Shō (Shawn in the American version) who moves into his mother’s childhood home to live with his great-aunt Sadako (Jessica in the American version) and her caretaker Haru (Hara in the American version). But they’re not the only ones who live in this house. A family of Borrowers, a group of very small people who borrow small things from humans without being caught, live there as well. The couple, Pod and Homily, and their 14 year old daughter Arrietty. Pod sees that Arrietty is old enough to be a Borrower so he takes her to the humans’ home and steal a few minor things such as sugar and tissue paper. I really liked that segment of the movie because it shows you how creative they get from place to place and how big everything is compared to them. It’s really atmospheric.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t turn out very well when Arrietty is seen by Shō and they had to run away before any of the other humans see them. Throughout the course of the movie, Arrietty and Shō become friends and there are some revealing stories as to why he’s living with his great-aunt and the stories he’s heard from his mother about the “little people” living in her house. There are some very shocking moments in the movie that I don’t want to spoil, so let’s move on. Along the course of the movie, they meet another Borrower named Spiller, who’s actually quite funny, Haru slowly begins to find out about the Borrowers, which also becomes quite funny, and the family is being threatened to move from their home since Shō knows about their existence. 

Animation

The animation is classic 2D animation with a bit of an Asian look, just like the other Studio Ghibli movies. I love how the colors of the flowers and the greenery seen in the trees and grass look. The rain falling looks big and drippy, the house from the Borrowers’ perspective is really big, and the humans’ house itself is really nice looking. It makes everything pop and your eyes never get bored when looking at the surroundings, it’s beautiful. It’s quite a refreshing look given the fact that most kids’ shows and movies nowadays are CGI. It gets quite tiring when you’re looking at it over and over again. I haven’t seen an American kids’ movie that doesn’t use CGI since 2009’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. If you haven’t seen that movie yet, I highly recommend it. It’s awesome! 

Overall, the movie is really good and is highly recommended to see if you’re a Studio Ghibli fan, a Miyazaki fan (to some extent), or are interested in seeing an animated movie that doesn’t dumb down to kids and is also enjoyable to adults. However, it’s not quite in par with Spirited Away, so it kinda falls short of a complete masterpiece for me. The ending kinda let me down a bit, especially. Nonetheless, it’s still good and it follows the original book quite well while mixing in some new things to the story. But, unlike Ponyo, it looks like you’re watching an animated movie of The Borrowers, so it’s kind of a let down that there were no risks taken to making it a completely different story. Oh well, for what it is, it’s really good, so no more complaining and nitpicking. 

I’m quite surprised that there were a lot of families who came to see this when I was there, in fact, there were barely any seats available when the movie was about to begin. I was sitting right between a father who brought his two sons with him and a group of young adults who seemed to know about Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli’s movies. In the end, everyone seemed to have liked the movie and left talking about some of the things they liked. However, some of the kids were getting a bit bored with some of the more quiet moments in the movie, but it wasn’t for very long that they got into the movie again. 

That’s all for this movie review. I hope that you enjoyed and stay tuned when I review it again when it comes out on DVD on a new segment of Old School Lane called Second Take. It’s when me or Kevin talk about a movie that we’ve seen in the theaters and see it again when it comes out on DVD to see if we feel any changes on our reaction to the movie. We also will give out the characters and plots in more detail. 

Also, stay tuned for two new First Impressions from me regarding about the new trailers I’ve seen before I sawThe Secret World of Arrietty and one from Kevin about a new animated TV show coming up next year. Hope we see you soon.

-Patricia