Modern animation in the United States from 1986 to 2004 is referred to as the renaissance age of American animation. During this period, many large American entertainment companies reformed and reinvigorated their animation departments, following a dark age during the 1970s to mid 1980s. During this time the United States had a profound effect on animation worldwide.
While the history of animation began much earlier, this article is concerned with the development of the medium after the emergence of celluloid film in 1888, as produced for theatrical screenings, television and (non-interactive) home entertainment.
Spümcø, Inc. was an American animation studio that was active from 1989 to 2005 and based in Los Angeles, California. The studio was best known for working on the first two seasons of The Ren & Stimpy Show for Nickelodeon and for various commercials. The studio won several awards, including an Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject for the music video of the song "I Miss You" by Björk.
Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is a 1997 direct-to-video animated Christmas musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It is the follow-up to Disney's 1991 animated feature film Beauty and the Beast. The film sold 7.6 million VHS tapes in 1997. This is the first of two sequels to Beauty and the Beast that were released, with the other being Belle's Magical World (1998).
All Dogs Go to Heaven is a 1989 animated musical fantasy comedy-drama film directed by Don Bluth and co-directed by Gary Goldman and Dan Kuenster. Set in New Orleans in 1939, it tells the story of Charlie B. Barkin, a German Shepherd that is murdered by his former friend, Carface Carruthers. Charlie escapes from Heaven to return to Earth where his best friend, Itchy Itchiford, still lives, in order to take revenge on Carface. Instead, he ends up befriending a young orphan girl named Anne-Marie. In the process, Charlie learns an important lesson about kindness, friendship and love.
Donald Virgil Bluth is an American film director, animator, production designer, and animation instructor, best known for his animated films, including The Secret of NIMH (1982), An American Tail (1986), The Land Before Time (1988), All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989), Anastasia (1997), and Titan A.E. (2000), for his involvement in the LaserDisc game Dragon's Lair (1983), and for competing with former employer Walt Disney Productions during the years leading up to the films that became the Disney Renaissance. He is the older brother of illustrator Toby Bluth.
Cats Don't Dance is a 1997 American animated musical comedy film directed by Mark Dindal. The film features the voices of Scott Bakula, Jasmine Guy, Matthew Herried, Ashley Peldon, John Rhys-Davies, Kathy Najimy, Don Knotts, Hal Holbrook, Betty Lou Gerson, René Auberjonois, Mark Dindal, and George Kennedy.
Tarzan is a 1999 American animated adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 37th film produced by the studio, and the tenth and final released during the Disney Renaissance era, it is based on the 1912 story Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs, being the first animated major motion picture version of the story. The film was directed by Kevin Lima and Chris Buck and produced by Bonnie Arnold from a screenplay by Tab Murphy, Bob Tzudiker, and Noni White. The film stars the voices of Tony Goldwyn, Minnie Driver, Glenn Close, Rosie O'Donnell, Brian Blessed, Lance Henriksen, Wayne Knight, and Nigel Hawthorne.
Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park is a 1978 American television film starring American hard rock band Kiss and produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The movie's plot revolves around Kiss, who use their superpowers to battle an evil inventor and to save a California amusement park from destruction.
Fritz the Cat is a 1972 American independent adult animated black comedy film written and directed by Ralph Bakshi in his feature film debut. Based on the comic strip by R. Crumb and starring Skip Hinnant, the film focuses on Fritz (Hinnant), a glib, womanizing and fraudulent cat in an anthropomorphic animal version of New York City during the mid-to-late 1960s. Fritz decides on a whim to drop out of college, interacts with inner city African American crows, unintentionally starts a race riot, and becomes a leftist revolutionary. The film is a satire focusing on American college life of the era, race relations, and the free love movement, and serves as a criticism of the countercultural political revolution and dishonest political activists.
All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 is a 1996 American animated musical fantasy adventure film, and a sequel to Goldcrest Films' animated film All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989). Produced by MGM/UA Family Entertainment and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Animation, it was co-directed by Paul Sabella and Larry Leker. Dom DeLuise reprises his role from the first film, alongside new cast members Charlie Sheen, Ernest Borgnine and Bebe Neuwirth, respectively. New characters are voiced by Sheena Easton, Adam Wylie and George Hearn.
Todd McFarlane's Spawn, also known as Spawn: The Animated Series or simply Spawn, is an American adult animated superhero television series that aired on HBO from 1997 through 1999 and reran on Cartoon Network's Toonami programming block in Japan. It has also been released on DVD as a film series. The show is based on the character Spawn from Image Comics, and won an Emmy Award in 1999 for Outstanding Animation Program.
Grass Roots is a proposed British-American adult clay film based on the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers underground comic strip created by Gilbert Shelton.
Evil Toons is a 1992 American live-action/adult animated comedy horror B movie written and directed by Fred Olen Ray. The film is a light spoof of traditional haunted-house films.
Jay Wade Edwards is an American film director, television producer and editor.
Nora Twomey is an Irish animator, director, screenwriter, producer and voice actress. She is best known as the co-founder of Cartoon Saloon, alongside Tomm Moore and Paul Young, an animation studio and production company, based in Kilkenny City, Ireland. She is best known for co-directing The Secret of Kells and directing The Breadwinner. Her work on both films earned Academy Award nominations for Best Animated Feature.
Don Hertzfeldt is an American animator, writer, and independent filmmaker. He is a two-time Academy Award nominee who is best known for the animated films It's Such a Beautiful Day, the World of Tomorrow series, and Rejected. In 2014, his work appeared on The Simpsons. Eight of his short films have competed at the Sundance Film Festival, a festival record. He is also the only filmmaker to have won the Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize for Short Film twice.
It's Such a Beautiful Day is a 2012 American experimental animated film directed, written, animated, photographed, and produced by Don Hertzfeldt, his first feature film.
Hazbin Hotel is an American adult animated musical series created by Vivienne "VivziePop" Medrano. The series revolves around Charlie Morningstar, princess of Hell, on her quest to find a way for demons to be "rehabilitated" and allowed into Heaven. She opens a rehabilitation hotel that offers demons a chance at redemption and to be better people. The pilot episode, which was released on YouTube on October 28, 2019, was made entirely by freelance animators and was largely financed by Medrano's Patreon followers. The series' first season was produced by independent entertainment company A24.
Arthouse animation is a combination of art film and animated film.
