More Animated 80's Classics

Hello, it's me again, your fellow nostalgic Dalmatian fan.

You know, I do love the 80's. I also love animated movies. To all of you who are a fan of my articles, I'm sure a lot of you recall my article where I listed my picks for the Top 10 80's Animated Movies. Well, for this article, I've decided to take a look at some other classic animated features from the 80's that didn't make my list. If you'd like to see my Top 10, then just click on the link to it under my profile. I was going to recap my Top 10 right here for reference or post the link to the article, but then I figured most people would find that pointless, and I don't want to take the risk of getting my article sent to the back page.

Anyway, a lot of these are favorites to most people, but there are also a lot here that are overlooked gems. Okay, all you 80's fans, be prepared to take another jog down memory lane. Here are some of my honorable nods for the best animated movies from the 80's!


I'm going to start off with this one, because I have gotten a lot of requests to review this movie. To start things off, this one didn't make my Top 10 for two reasons: 1) I haven't seen it, and 2) I didn't even know it existed. Part of the reason why may be because I never was a G.I. Joe fan. I may be an 80's fan, but I'm a child of the 90's; I didn't grow up with G.I. Joe, Transformers or He-Man, like most boys of the 80's did. I managed to catch some clips from it on YouTube, and now I see what makes it so awesome. I actually find it to be way cooler than the actual TV series. I had the same feelings towards the Transformers movie. I find it interesting that the Hasbro toyline series' have a way of making movies better than the TV shows. Still, I really don't have much to say about it, since I never was a G.I. Joe fan, but this is definately a film that the hardcore fans will enjoy.


This is another movie with a pretty big fanbase. After watching it for the first time, I now see what makes it so good. This is a really dark movie that really makes you feel like an adult. I always got chills from watching "The Secret of NIMH" and "The Black Cauldron", and "The Last Unicorn" gave me that very same feeling! I've heard a lot of people tell me that unicorns only exist in fairy tales, but this movie made me think that maybe they do exist in real life. It's said in the movie that only women can see unicorns, and men only see them as white mares. Anyways, if you enjoy dark animated films, then you'll love this one. Add it to your Netflix queue if you haven't seen it yet.


I've said this before, but I'll say it again. For those of you who remember, one of my earliest articles stated this to be one of the top 10 worst movies I've ever seen in my life, but in case you forgot, I did put this one pretty low on the list because afterall, I have seen worse ones. I did enjoy this movie when I was a little kid, but looking back at it, it is admittingly really weird, but the songs in them are beyond cool. I can deal with talking animals, but talking appliances is kind of...eh...freaky! At least animals do have minds of their own. For those of you who have seen the movie and like it, I'm cool with that. I don't really love or hate it, but it's somewhere in the middle for me.


As far as Disney movies go, this one is one of the cutest. Even though I haven't seen it a lot, it's still ranks as a good movie in my opinion. It is fun to see Todd as a cub and Copper as a puppy playing together, but sadly, they grow up before the movie is even halfway through. There are also a lot of big voice actors in this movie like Mickey Rooney, Kurt Russel, Pearl Bailey, Pat Buttram, Paul Winchell, Sandy Duncan and Jack Albertson. It also has some great quotes that really touch your heart. "The Fox and the Hound" earns my reccomendation.


This movie is incredible! It's a shame that not many people know about it. This was part of a series of movies, which were made in Australia, about a girl named Dot who understands the language of animals. Included in this series were films such as "Dot and the Kangaroo", "Dot and the Bunny" and "Dot Goes to Hollywood", but of all the Dot movies, I think the best one was "Dot and the Whale". I consider this to be one of my childhood movies. Even though it wasn't released theatrically in the U.S., I've seen it a couple times on the Disney Channel and in school during my elementary years. This one's about Dot who is going out of her way to save the life of a whale. Man, wouldn't it be shameful if someone tried to rip off a plot like that? Oh, wait, they already did! (*points at "Free Willy"*) Well, my recommendation, if you're a fan of animation, marine life, and serious hardcore dramas, then this is a movie for you.


I'm having a little trouble remembering what Bugs Bunny's first two movies were. I think they were "Looney Looney Looney: The Bugs Bunny Movie" and "The Bugs Bunny Road Runner Movie". This one actually had a nice plot to it. Here we have a movie about Bugs Bunny accidentally showing up in some Arabian palace, and the sultan, who is Yosemite Sam, is forcing Bugs to tell 1001 stories to his bratty son, or else he'll be sentenced to death. These stories that he tells all happen to be past Looney Tunes classics. Who knew that you could just take a bunch of those and throw them together to make a feature-lengthed film? Well, it works, and for people who love classics, it's satisfying.


When Cartoon Network was broadcasting Mr. Spim's Cartoon Theatre, they've shown a lot of really bizarre animated films, and this was one of them. This strangely-animated film was created by George Lucas and was about these people of a company called Murkworks who are trying to control time so that they can take over the world. The hero of this movie is this dog named Ralph voiced by Lorenzo Music (of Garfield fame). Ralph also has all these strange sidekicks, including a mime with a visible heart. The animation used in this movie was known as "Lumage", as in everything looks like paper cut-outs, much like how South Park is animated. This is overall, not a film I'd reccomend because of how strange it is. As far as Lucas films go, I would pick Star Wars, Indiana Jones or even American Grafitti over this any day.


A lot of you may know me to be a Care Bears fan, but believe it or not, this is a movie from my childhood as well. Here, we have a movie about the ponies trying to get rid of some sort of unstoppable substance known as Smooze. The Smooze was made by these three witches (one of which was voiced by Madelline Kahn); they may be pretty funny characters, but I don't really care for them that much. The ponies also have this little dragon named Spike; I'm not really sure what he's supposed to be doing in this movie, but he's still a great character. Also, believe it or not, Danny DeVitto is in this movie. I don't know how many surviving My Little Pony fans there are out there, but this is a good movie for those kinds of fans.


As far as Disney movies go, this isn't one of the absolute masterpieces, but there are a lot of people who like it. Disney has a way of retelling famous stories and disguising them as brand new experiences, and this one shows a great example. I did really like this movie as a kid, and it does have some pretty good elements to it. For one thing, I really like the animation; it reminds me of "Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers" in some ways. The characters are all well made too (even though most of them are extras): Basil is a great hero, Olivia holds the plot together well, Toby is cute, Fidget makes for a good comic relief, but the character everyone talks about is Rattigan. Rattigan is a cruel yet humourous villain, but it's the voice of the late Vincent Price that really makes the character. Overall, not a bad film.


Here's a movie based on another cartoon series, but this one is actually a prequel to the series telling how Henry Bigg first met the Littles. It has been a while since I've seen this movie, but from what I recall, a lot of the moments in this movie are mildly funny while other parts of it are somewhat questionable. This was the first feature-length film produced by Dic Entertainment. I'm actually surprised that Dic didn't make an Inspector Gadget movie with it's high ratings and all (and no, I'm not talking about that piece of crap 1999 movie with Matthew Broderick!). Yeah, as far as how I'd rate this movie, I can't really say that I love it, like it, dislike it or hate it; this is one that I'm just...not too sure on. Fans and haters, you all have a right to love and hate this movie, but I'm going to stay out of it for the time being.


Never heard of this movie? Well, there are some children of the 80's who did. Disney made this made-for-TV film in the mid 80's sometime. They were intending to make it into a TV series, which sadly never came through due to poor ratings. It's an enjoyable film about these five dogs from an alternate universe and have the power to open interdimensional doorways, and they stumble onto Earth and now need to escape some evil miser. What's even sadder about this film is that it was only shown once on television on it's debut and one more time about ten years later, and then it was never seen again since. If you haven't seen this film, try and search for it on YouTube, because it's worth checking out. For those of you who have seen it, if you have it recorded onto a tape, don't you dare tape anything over it! What you have on that tape is nothing more than a priceless piece of television history!


Do you want to see a real "twist" on Oliver Twist? Well, look no further. This late 80's Disney film really has a way of making a twist on the Charles Dickens classic. Here, we're in New York City and see the story of a stray kitten who joins a group of dogs and is adopted by a little girl. Also, the songs in this movie are done in a rocking 80's pop style, plus one of the characters is voiced by Billy Joel. It is a shame that this movie's popularity was so short-lived.


Babar was slightly well-known in the late 80's and early 90's, but ever since then, nobody ever seems to talk about him anymore. This movie is played out pretty much the same way an episode of the TV show would play out where King Babar would tell a story to his children about when he was a child relating to a question he was asked. The only difference is this was made into a feature-lengthed film rather than a half-hour episode. This time, after their annual Victory Parade, Babar tells his kids the story behind it. Compared to the TV series, the movie is a bit darker and has more action in it. It's not a mind-blowing movie, but it's not bad. However, compared to most okay movies, this one has a lot of entertaining moments. I reccomend checking it out.


In the 60's, Hanna-Barbara had a family of the past (The Flintstones) and a family of the future (The Jetsons). The Flintstones have had several of their own movies like "The Man Called Flintstone", "The Flintstones Meet the Frankenstones" and "I Yabba Dabba Do!", but I would never think that in the Jetsons' first feature-lengthed film, they would meet the Flintstones (The Jetsons did get their own movie a few years after this). It's been a really long time since I've seen this movie, but if I remember correctly, Elroy Jetson made a time machine so that he and his family could see what the world would be like in the future, but they accidently go back to the past and meet the Flintstones, and then, somehow, the Flintstones go to the Jetsons' time period, and the two families are forced to live their lives in each others' periods. Who would have thought that such would happen? But what a great concept. This never really was one of my biggest favorites, but it's still a memorable piece.

Okay. There you have it, folks. Movies of the 80's are all in all incredible. The animated movies of the time were also great ones, and it's a shame that a lot of them are not looked at enough. But there is one movie in particular that I'm sure everybody wants me to review. Well, to tell you the truth, I don't think this one should necessarily count as an animated film, but I'm going to talk about it anyway, because if I don't, I'll probably never hear the end of it! Are you ready? Alright. Here it is! For the sake of the fans, here is my take on...


Most people think this one counts as an animated movie just because it has animation in it, but I consider it to be a live-action/animated hybrid. Of all the animated movies that came out in the 80's, I believe that this one has the biggest fanbase of them all! (Well, maybe not the biggest, but it's quite a big one.) I agree with the fans. This truly is a great movie! The Disney company did an incredible job mixing animation in with live action; this was the introduction of characters, Roger Rabbit, Baby Herman and Jessica Rabbit, plus this movie has great acting. In addition, a lot of other famous cartoon characters make cameos in this movie Disney and non-Disney! Without a doubt, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" is a must see film for Disney fans, cartoon fans, gangster fans...any fans!

Okay, I hope you all enjoyed this extension to my Top 10 80's Animated Movies article. I look forward to your responses. Until next time, I'll see you around.