Alternate Animation

02-07-2008 11:03

This weeks sees Dreamworks' domination of the animation section of the movie market continue with the release of Kung Fu Panda, which the company hope will enjoy Shrek-like success.

And later this summer Pixar, Dreamworks' biggest rival and the leader of quality animation in recent years, release their new project Wall-E, which has already topped the American box office.

In recent years, and with the major competition between Pixar and Dreamworks, the animation market has slowly become saturated as other studios jumped on the band wagon creating below par cinema that still enjoyed success.

For film lovers who are becoming a little tired of the mainstream animation that is currently on offer, no matter how technically superb Pixar have become, FemaleFirst has dug out some alternative cartoon cinema to celebrate and enjoy.

Leading the way is Japanese Studio Ghibli as Hayao Miyazaki's anime movies Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle have broken into Western cinema in the last few years.

2001's Spirited Away, about a ten year old girl who finds herself in a fantasy world and has to save her parents, was the first anime picture to win an Oscar and was the first movie to gross $200 million before opening in America.

Miyazaki followed this up with Howl's Moving Castle about Sophie, an eighteen year old girl who meets a mysterious wizard called Howl.