Most underrated movies I've seen
Submitted by pmcollector on Mon, 01/30/2006 - 08:10
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- The Fox and the Hound--Gets overshadowed by the later "Broadway style" Disney movies and the earlier "Golden age" movies. Has a lot more going for it than people give it credit for.
- The Land Before Time--Overshadowed by the equally brilliant Secret of Nimh.
- Cats Don't Dance--Did the critics and I see the same film?
- Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow--Highly stylized works of art that are also returns to the emphasis on fun are in short supply. Apparently this movie didn't click with a lot of critics.
- The Grudge--No whiny screaming teenage overacting slaughterbait. Gets under your skin really fast. How did this fail at the box office again?
- Brotherhood of the Wolf--Part period piece. Part wire-fu style film. Part detective story. Part horror. All good fun.
The Grudge failed at the box office?
From a teensy production budget of $10m, it went on to make a total domestic gross of $110m, and a worldwide gross of $186m. The sequel was greenlit the Monday after it opened!
But anyway, yes, I agree that this is very underrated. I found it quite scary and atmospheric. It may not be as good as the Japanese original, but any movie during which I can pretend that Sarah Michelle Gellar is still Buffy is cause for much rejoicing and celebration.
I also completely agree with you on The Land Before Time. Before its legacy got raped and murdered by unnecessary--and unending--direct-to-video sequels, it was to be remembered as a very enjoyable, very entertaining non-Disney near-classic. One of the few decent animated movies Universal put out.
Can't agree with you about Sky Captain...I found it very fake and boring, with a remarkable lack of wonder despite all of the wonderful things happening. It felt tired.
You're not alone on Sky Captain, but I was just sick of all these big Hollywood movies just trying so hard. Sky Captain was a "window to a time period in comic book form" type movie like Dick Tracy but much better. I saw Sky Captain as the work of a man completely enamored by the old camp serials like Buck Rogers or Superman, and I like the look the sepia filter gave the movie and how the robots looked. I also thought the movie had a meaningful message about Man's relationship to science and nature. But that's just me.
Always nice to find some love for Brotherhood of the Wolk. I'm never surprised (or entirely unsympathetic) when I hear bad reviews of that movie, but I loved it.
The Land Before Time, on the other hand, was a bit of a disappointment. My girls are 8 and 4, so I get to watch and/or revisit a lot of these animated classics, and TLBT didn't really click for any of us (kids or grown-ups) that particular movie night. The primary problems (for me) of the uninteresting characters and dialog aside, I know Don Bluth gets a lot of praise as an animator, but his work has just never grabbed me. Perhaps his budgets have been smaller, and that has made the animation less smooth or something, but his movies always look a bit Saturday-morning-cartoon to me.