The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

The American Film Institute has named “America’s 10 Greatest Films in 10 Classic Genres“, among them Animation, Fantasy and Science Fiction. Unsurprisingly Walt Disney dominates the Animation top ten – Snow White and the Seven Dwarves took the number one spot and while there are more interesting animations (even if we only restrict ourselves to American film) I can’t honestly say I object to it taking that top spot. Whatever many of us may think about Disney (and his treatment of some of his artists) that film remains a visually ravishing piece of art, whether you are a kid or an adult. The rest of the Animation list has some great films in it (like Toy Story – hardly the first major use of CGI animation but arguably one of the first to show the huge commercial appeal of it if done well – and it was done well) but it is also very mainstream and a little dull in places to my thinking.

(ah, the days when a girl having seven small men around her bed didn’t constitute some kind of strange fetish perversion website… scene from the AFI’s top choice for American animated movie, Snow White, (c) Disney)

The Fantasy top ten I found a bit odd – I’ve no arguments with the Wizard of Oz being in there (re-watching the BFI’s restored version in the cinema the other year made me remember just how wonderful that film is, we sometimes forget because it gets repeated on TV every bank holiday). I’m sure some Kiwis might dispute Lord of the Rings being in an American list – it may be American money but its a lot of New Zealand work in the creation of it, with the country itself practically becoming a character in its own right, but that’s the nature of international media – what constitutes an American movie, or British movie these days, when actors, crew and studio money comes from all over? Jimmy Stewart gets two movies in there with Harvey and It’s a Wonderful Life, both lovely films but I think there are other fantasy movies which I’d have put in their place, but that’s always the way with these lists.

(scene from the glorious Technicolor fantasy segment of the Wizard of Oz. Oh don’t look at me like that, go on, dump your cynicism and admit it, you love it too)

The Science Fiction top ten, I’m sure, will get some debate going on the SF site. No shock to see Kubrick and Clarke’s 2001: a Space Odyssey taking the number one position, with the original Star Wars in second place, then ET at number three. But really, are the latter two better than Blade Runner, Clockwork Orange or the Day the Earth Stood Still? And no Matrix in there? And despite the massive box office success not a sniff of any superhero movie in either Fantasy or Science Fiction? As I said, I’m sure plenty of folks will take issue with some of the choices and some of the movies which didn’t make the list, but that’s always the case in these lists – still, I can’t help but think, especially in the Animation category, it would have been good to see a more diverse array of movies included. (link via SF Signal)

(he was starting to think Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowen’s new look for their home was lacking in atmosphere)