Animaholics have selected for you what we call a basic filmografia for any enthusiast of animation, computer graphics and special effects.
     Of course a list of the " best " or " most important " from any area will always cause a lot of controversy. However the objective of this list is not to try to be definitive but to reveal some of the landmarks in cinema animation and effects that with their artistic and technological innovations have inspired and influenced, and will continue to inspire and influence all the other creators and technicians that work in this stimulating art form.
     We will endeavor to keep this list updated with the best of what currently exists, therefore we ask for any suggestions, ideas and criticism from you to our e-mail rodrigo@animaholics.com.br. We would be grateful for your contributions in making this list the most complete, interesting and up to date.

2001 A Space Odyssey - A classic of science fiction, it was innovative in the design of its spaceships and to the whole concept of space, escaping from the cigar shaped rocket and silver flying disks.

A Bug's Life - Another feature length 3D animation. The highlights are the scenes in which trees and plants are being moved by the wind, and for the Bloopers shown after the film.

Akira - A classic of Japanese science fiction, in the style of mangá, with scenery animated by hand.

Alien 1,2,3,4 - Excellent design by H.R. Giger for the monster that became the obligatory reference for computer games.

All Ray Harryhausen's films (Simbad and the golden fleece, Hercules, and other) - The master of masters in special effects, most of the time he created, produced and animated his own films.

American Werewolf in Paris - The highlight is the scene in which a werewolf made in 3D jumps from a fountain with wet fur. An extremely complicated result to achieve in computer graphics.

Antz - This time it is Dreamworks who create a story about ants. However, much darker than A Bugs Life. Observe the water that invades the anthill at the end of the movie. It was animated with software that          can simulate the movement of liquids.

Apolo 13 - Incredible realism in the release scenes and space of the ship accomplished with a mixture of techniques like models, real scenes and CG.

Back to the Future 1,2,3 - The fantastic flying cars done with miniatures and actor Michael J. Fox playing several roles in the same scene make this film worthwhile. They show the power of equipment such as the          truca of aerial image.

Batman - Principally the fourth film, the effects are half " fake " but the art direction is fantastic.

Blade Runner - Brought us the cyberpunk aesthetics of Philipe K. Dick to the movies. Being copied by countless other films, futuristic scenes of Los Angeles with its pyramidal buildings and flying cars are really incredible.

Brazil - Pure surrealism with excellent art direction.

Casper - Computer graphics break new barriers when transposing these characters, originally created as cartoons, into real life, maintaining their grace and original characteristics.

Contact - Excellent visual effects, scenes entirely done by computer and great composites of scenery done in 3D with real characters.

Death Becames Her - It established new standards in composition , motion tracking and created what we can call digital make-up, with the superimposition of images onto, and retouching of the actors' bodies.

Dinosaur - First feature film in 3D from Disney proper (the others were made by Pixar), 3 years work, with digital dinosaurs composed in real life scenes. However, the most incredible thing in the film is not the dinosaurs, but the hairy monkeys. Their hair looks very real and it behaves to the conditions of the environment, responding to the wind and water perfectly. A team of programmers and hair stylists were the people in charge of this task.

Dragonheart - One of the most impressive and complex 3D characters created for the cinema to date.

End Of Days - The entire church that appears at the end of the film is a super detailed model of almost two meters in height. One of the best effects is the scene of the morph between the women in the bed.

ET - Who doesn't remember the flying bicycles done with puppets the size of the palm of the hand.

Fantasia - An experimentation to the sound of classical music. Disney's first daring attempt at doing something different from a traditional drawing. First film with stereo sound.

Forrest Gump - Certainty the most incredible scenes in this film are the ones in which actor Tom Hanks is juxtaposed with historical figures like Nixon and Kennedy, in situations that never happened. Demonstrating that from here on in, no film or video can be used as irrefutable proof that something has actually happened.

Gladiator - A perfect reconstruction of old Rome. Many invisible effects like the coliseum in 3D, the attack of the lion on the main character and several digital matte paintings. The most impressive invisible effect, (that nobody noticed) is the composition of an actor's (that died during filming) face on the body of a double.

Hollow Man - Incredible effects from Sony Picture Imageworks and Tippet Studios making the most complex 3D human being in a film to date. Bones, muscles, veins, everything realistically modelled for the scenes in which the character becomes invisible in layers. The result was so perfect that the character's 3D mesh will be used to study anatomy in American medical universities. Beyond the fantastic work in CG, with its perfect integration into the film, many other effects were used such as simulating somebody invisible, covered by a sheet, washing the face, covered with blood, etc. Simply a visual show.

Independence day - The models of cities and automobiles exploding look like toys but the film has good image compositions.

Indiana Jones 1,2,3 - The chase of the ore-wagons inside a temple in the second film was one of the last great scenes in stop motion. For fans of the series, good news: It seems that George Lucas is preparing a fourth film.

Innerspace- Incredible trip inside the human body, this is a film that excels in the area of special effects from the pré-digital era.

Joe's Apartment - Blue Sky made the most entertaining cockroaches in cinema, disgusting, but funny.

Johny Mnemonic - Great simulations of virtual reality that have become a paradigm of three-dimensional futuristic interfaces.

Jurassic Park - A film where three-dimensional computer graphics definitively buried the techniques of stop motion and go motion as the way to create fantastic characters with realism for the movies.

King Kong - (the original of 19..) Probably the first use of stop motion in a feature film.

Le Cité de les Enfant Perdu - Crazy French film from the Caro brothers made in the style of Metal Hurriant magazine.

Lost In Space - (The movie) The scenes of space battles at the beginning of the film were done with 3DSMax software.

Mars Attacks- The madness of Tim Burton with first class effects in a film made in the style of a fifties B movie.

Men in Black - Lots of special effects and excellent retro design.

Metropolis - From Fritz Lang. Grandiose futuristic scenery done with models that influenced films like Blade Runner and a gold android that became the inspiration for the famous C3PO of Star Wars fame.

Nigthmare Before Christmas/James and the Giant Peach - Two films that revisited the techniques of puppet animation, or stop motion, in 90's. Both films possess excellent art direction.

Poltergeist - A landmark in horror films. One of those rare films that was able to blend what was the best in special effects of the time into a story without losing its suspense or the dimension of its plot line.

Roger Rabbit - Disney and IL&M developed a shading and toning technique to improve the look of cartoons placed into scenes with real life actors that today is known as " 2D and 1/2 ".

Sleepy Hollow - Many "invisible" effects. In all the scenes where the horseman appears, his head is digitally removed. An actors double wore a blue hood in order to utilise cromakey and as well as this the collar of his clothing was substituted for another identical one in 3D, using motion tracking 3D. The highlight of the final scene is that his face is reconstituted.

Snow White - First feature length colour cartoon. In this film Disney contracted physical theater actors, among others that, together with the most talented animators of the time, perfected the animation techniques that are still used today.

Space Jam - Used of the same cartoon with film technique as Roger Rabbit, adding to scenes in 3D with a cartoon style. It is also worthwhile for the priceless looney toons characters like Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, among others.

Spawn - Is a good example of a film in which several companies worked together to accomplish the effects. The results were good in some parts (the highlight being the transformation of Violator) and from ordinary to very bad in some others, leaving the film like a patchwork.

Star Wars - All. Each film in the saga was a landmark in special effects of its own time and, with certainty, the next episodes to be launched in 2001 and 2003 will continue to be. In fact, as everybody already knows Episode 1 has visual effects in 95% of its scenes.

Stargate - In spite of the commonplace use of the morph effect on TV, in movies and in advertising, in this film it was used with extreme creativity.

Starship Troopers - Grand production infested with special effects of many different types where the high point is the scenes with thousands of insects using CG animation software that simulates the behavior of crowds.

Stuart Little - The new Mickey Mouse. It established a new standard for animated characters and allows us to foresee what will come in the future.

Tarzan - Standard Disney animation whose action scenes in 3D contain camera movements never before seen in a cartoon.

Terminator 2 - With their experience acquired on "The Abyss", James Cameron and IL&M surpassed the limits of special effects creating a villain made of liquid metal.

The Abyss - The tentacle of water that transforms to become people's faces was a landmark in what we had imagined possible with special effects, introducing to computer aided animation a new and powerful tool that can be put into the hands of the scriptwriters and movie directors.

The Fith Element - An excellent science fiction film that has used the whole arsenal of visual effects available today.

The Lawnmover Man - First film with scenes made using 3D computer graphics accomplished using commonly available software. It was one of the films responsible for the lowering of production costs for special effects.

The Mask - The exaggeration of cartoon gags invades the movies with actors of flesh and bone.

The Matrix - Besides the design and the excellent CG effects, this film became famous for the effect of flow motion, where the camera rotates around the actors while they " stop in the air " during the fight scenes, breaking the physical rules of time and space completely.

The Mummy - Proof once more of what "the Popes of special effects" that are the technicians of IL&M, are capable of. The film is effects from start to finish.

The Perfect Storm - ILM impresses again. The almost entire sea in the film is digital, as well as the ship. Excellent work on the water particles, after all water is one of the most difficult things to create digitally with any amount of realism. The rescue helicopter is also 3D.

The Prince Of Egypt - Animation by Dreamworks that entered the market trying to break the monopoly of Disney in the production of great animation. A point for the more "adult " direction of the film that is not aimed soley at an infantile public.
   
The Ten Commandments - The one by Cecil B. de Mille with Chalton Heston. Does anybody know by chance how they made that scene of the sea opening up in 1930?

THX 1138 - One for the fans, George Lucas' first film, a science fiction short that he made at the conclusion of his university studies and that later became a full length film.

Toy Story - First animation film made entirely of 3D computer graphics. Accomplished through a partnership between Pixar and Disney, it opened up a new horizons for the cinema industry.

Trip to moon - From Georges Melies, considered to be the1st science fiction film ever made. Produced in 1902, Meliés, who was a magician and student of photography, introduced some cinematic tricks that are still used today.

Tron - The first film to use 3D computer graphics in the cinema.

Twister - Composites of 3D computer graphics and live action, with camera movements and tornado effects made up of millions of particles, demanding an incredible amount computation for the time.

What Dream May Come - With Robin Williams, another film that impresses with its art direction.

Willow - One of the first appearances of the effect "morph" that was later popularized and vulgarized in Michel Jackson's clip " black or white ".

X-men - Pleased the fans of the comics with this adaptation for the cinema. Many interesting effects such as the model of the city that is formed in sticks of metal, and the entire city of New York that was modelled to serve as scenery for film. All the filming were done in Canada. (And nobody notice that, did they?)

And for those who found this list too short, here is another list of films with good animation and effects: