Five Under Appreciated Animated Films (Outside of Disney)

I've done three genres of films in this series already, but now I want to look at a different medium of film altogether—animation.

Animated films are interesting to me because they have looks and tones which live action films don't have. There's also a greater amount of freedom with animation. Not everything has to make sense so you can just do whatever you think needs doing—within reason.

Now Disney is probably the best-known studio for animated films, but not all animated films were Disney products. There are a number of animated films out there that just don't get the attention that the Disney ones do. So, without much further ado, let's look at five under appreciated animated films outside of Disney.

Rules are pretty simple, any animated film counts, but anime and Disney films will not be included. They need a list of their own.

Let's get on with it!

5: 'Titan AE' (2000)

Produced by Fox Animation Studios, Titan AE is a sci-fi action film that combined traditional cell animation and CGI to create an interesting look.

The story is simple:

An alien species called the drej destroy the Earth, 15 years later a crew of space-faring misfits go looking for the titular Titan—a ship that can create a planet. Yes, really.

The film boasted a star studded cast, Drew Barrymore, Bill Pullman, John Leguizamo, Matt Damon and others. These guys really gave their all trying to make it work and while the film is enjoyable it was ultimately a box office bomb. In spite of the cast's best efforts and an interesting enough premise; the film resulted in $100 million loss for 20th Century Fox.

It's not a bad film, there are a number of problems with it, but if you haven't seen it I'd say give it a shot and see if you like it.

This was the second and final animated film that Fox Animated Studios did after Anastasia in 1997.

4: 'Anastasia' (1997)

Speaking of Anastasia, this was one of my all-time favorite films growing up. My sisters and I would sit and watch the film and sing along with the characters whenever they burst into song.

The film follows an alternate history of sorts where the princess Anastasia Romanov has survived the Bolshevik Revolution of 1916.

In 1926, 10 years after the revolution, the princess has lost her memory and is going by the name of Anya. She teams up with a conman named Dmitri and his friend Vlad to travel to Paris to uncover her past while fending off the evil Rasputin.

The historical inaccuracy aside, the film is pretty good. There are many flaws in this film but it's a lot of fun and the songs are seriously catchy. My personal favorites are, "There's a Rumor in St. Petersburg" and "Once Upon a December."

If you haven't seen this film, I would highly recommend it.

3: 'Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman' (2003)

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm was almost on the list but ultimately I thought this was the better option. Not that Phantasm was bad, but looking back the anti-hero/villain character of the Phantasm had a pretty obvious identity. This one was a bit more of a brain bender—for me at least.

Batman and Robin find themselves chasing down a mysterious Batwoman who, unlike Batman, seems to have no problem using lethal force. Who is she? Where did she come from? What does she want?

The film was released in 2003 and was based on the New Batman Adventures. It serves as a standalone sequel to Batman and Mr. Freeze: Subzero and Mask of the Phantasm. From what I could find, the film had a mixed reception but has a bit of a cult following. It's a pretty solid film and a fun watch that is well worth your time whether you're a Batman fan or not.

2: 'Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost' (1999)

I don't know anyone who doesn't know who Scooby Doo is. For almost 50 years now, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby Doo have been entertaining kids and adults alike. It doesn't look like they're going to stop any time soon either.

Starting out on September 13, 1969, Scooby Doo, Where are You? featured the aforementioned teens and their talking Great Dane solving apparently supernatural mysteries.

The series was a runaway success and several similar shows were aired around that time. In the time since Where are You? completed its run in 1970; a number of Scooby Doo series and films have been produced featuring the gang doing what they do best.

Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost is one of the first direct-to-video films produced in the franchise being released in 1999 after Scooby Doo on Zombie Island the year before. Like Zombie Island,the Witch's Ghost features a slightly older cast of characters dealing with a genuine supernatural threat.

The film follows the gang as they join an author (played by the legendary Tim Curry) as he returns to his hometown to find its being haunted by the ghost of his ancestor—who was executed for witchcraft.

The film's darker tone is perfect for Halloween viewing—I can't believe I didn't do a Halloween film list, oh well there's always next year. Anyways back to the film, it's a cool watch but there is a bit of a problem, it's really dark. I mean it literally a dark film; the amount of dark blue and black in this film makes it very hard to distinguish things in certain scenes.

Still one of my favorites and well worth watching if you haven't seen it.

1: 'Heavy Metal' (1981)

Now, this is probably going to surprise a few of you readers but I can't really recommend this one; which is a shame because I kinda liked it.

Heavy Metal is a Canadian-American co-production which was released in 1981. Unlike the other entries on this list, there is no clear plot. It's an anthology film—several stories presented together. The stories all linked by the presence of a green orb which calls itself 'the sum of all evil' and narrates a portion of each segment.

Reviews at the time of its release were mixed. Some critics loved it and others hated it. Still, the film was a financial hit grossing $20.1 million on a budget of $9.3 million.

This film took me a while to get through. It's a mixed bag of a film if ever I saw one. Some sequences really look good (Taarna and B-17 come to mind). Others, like Grimaldi are okay and some are just bad. The soundtrack is fantastic and there are a lot of interesting ideas that sadly don't really go anywhere. All that said, however, I have to say that once I'd gotten into it I had fun with it.

So, if I had fun with it; were the critics wrong? No, but then again there are no right or wrong answers when it comes to your opinions. One critic, Leonard Maltin summed up the film quite nicely calling it, "Uneven, but great fun on a mindless adolescent level."

That quote pretty much sums up Heavy Metal in a nutshell. So, why can't I recommend this film? Well, it's not so much a case of I can't as it is a case of I wouldn't. This is a film that will cause serious tonal whiplash; every segment is different in look and tone and it doesn't always blend well. The animation is, as I said earlier, a mixed bag some of it's good and some of it isn't.

That said, if you want to watch it go ahead. It's worth giving a try but if it isn't your thing then you might prefer to watch something else.