Which kind of animation do you prefer?

[Dalekdino]

This poll is about which kind of animation we LBT fans like most.
For me I prefer hand coloured cel animation in the first 6 films.
I think the gang looked more cute and cuddle back then.
Sure the digital inked and coloured animation makes everything look brighter and shiny and new, but for me it killed the gang's cute factors stone dead, as half the in the digital animation they look goofy and silly, and sometimes a bit creepy... (Though there are some scenes in the 1st film were they look a little creepy) And the animation in the TV show is dreadful, half the time the characters  look like they haven't been drawn properly.
So yeah on the whole I like old school cel animation me, for one think I tend to ink over and colour my drawings by hand.

[Ducky123]

Well, this one is a bit tricky...

If we were talking about the Original only, I'd vote for the hand drawn animation. The animation style of the first few sequels was similar to the style of the Original but it wasn't as good as in the Original movie by far. The characters looked cuter indeed, but the animation itself wasn't that great imo.

On the other hand, we have the computer-made animation of the later sequels and the Tv-series. While I do like it, I don't think the animation has improved by much. The fact that the characters look brighter is a positive point in my view. Though I totally agree with you that some characters in the Tv- series are very poorly drawn.

I can't really put a vote, sorry.

[rhombus]

I can't really add anything that Ducky hasn't already mentioned.  Assuming that we are talking about a hypothetical where the quality of animation is ignored and it is only the kind of animation style that we are talking about, then I would prefer the computer-made animation of the later sequels.  If, however, we take overall animation quality, then I would prefer the cell animation of the original and first few sequels.

[Ludichris1]

Lol I can't vote either! After doing the "Littlefoot Styles" thread in character discussions, I'm able to tell the differences in each sequel a lot better now, but in choosing one 'half' over the other is just... too generalized for me lol  

[Petrie157578641]

I'm a HUGE fan of animation in movies 7-11 and I wouldn't want exchange it for anything else. I don't think it was the right decision to put the original movie in the list along with first 5 sequels. the first sequels simply don't have that level of quality the original had, nor they have the outstanding quality of the later sequels.
if I made this topic I'd make a lot more choices:
1. The orginal movie
2. movies 2-6
3 Movies 7-11
4 movies 12-13
5 the TV-series(I doubt anyone would vote for that though)
so I voted for the newer animation, I simply love it. it brought the new life to LBT, sure the characters aren't as cute anymore, but they can't be cute forever(it's not The Simpsons where kids don't grow up at all), and they gotta grow up, at least a little, bit by bit. I think it's great that they became more self-confident, more mature looking and acting, more capable of making their own desicions, and at the same time this animation is also bright and increadibly beautiful, so the world also looks great itself

[Mumbling]

Both have their own charm. I like bright colours, so I'm tempted to go for the 2nd option, but the animation was generally better and less repetitive in the first movie... so yeah : Difficult

[OllyDirectioner]

I'm getting INCREDIBLY sick of the decline in cartoon animation. I miss the days when the animation world was made up of really talented people, and no computers were necessary. They think it's cheaper and faster to produce movies the way they do (and maybe it is) but I really think that movies like Despicable Me and How To Train Your Dragon should NOT be considered cartoons like they are!  

[Petrie157578641]

I'm getting INCREDIBLY sick of the decline in cartoon animation. I miss the days when the animation world was made up of really talented people, and no computers were necessary. They think it's cheaper and faster to produce movies the way they do (and maybe it is) but I really think that movies like Despicable Me and How To Train Your Dragon should NOT be considered cartoons like they are! 

Although I agree that those movies would be much better in traditioal animation(and I personally hate 3D animation in general), this topic isn't about that. Later LBT sequels, drawn on computers, but using the traditional style of 2D animation are just incredble because of that. Mountains, highlights and shadings, highly detailed characters, and all that with 2D animation instead of 3D they would probably go with.
LBT sequels(7-11) is my favorite example of 2D animation of all time!

[LBTLover1]

I think it pretty much depends what you prefer to spend.  There are ups and downs to both Cell art and Digital art.  First being, it takes longer for Cell Art to work, because each character is drawn individually.  Plus, the background is constant and there are times where it doesn't actually complement the foreground of the characters.

In the same manner, digital ink is pretty much bright, vivid, and less detailed, in terms of the movies themselves, which isn't that great.  However, it is cheaper and quick to do, so it can help get sequels out in a short time's notice.

IMO, it's pretty much Cell Art for me, though, solely due to the fact it just looks nicer and more distinguished.

[GreyLizard226]

I definitely prefer the old animation. I know there are a lot of people who find the animation the series has had since 2000 to look smoother and more impressive, but I just don’t like it as much.

Obviously the original film captured the look and feel of the prehistoric world perfectly, and movies 2-6 manage to continue doing exactly that without being exactly like the original. Even though the sequels were technically meant for a younger audience than the original, they still looked (to me, anyway) like something everybody could appreciate.

But then, movie 7 happened.

Someone mentioned brightness (aka, over saturation) being the problem, but I don’t even think that was really a factor of the art shift. I was looking through some reviews recently and it’s actually between 4 and 5 that the films switch from a washed-out look to a more saturated one. While I definitely prefer the washed-out style, it didn’t effect the overall look of the films too much, imo.

The art shift in 7 did, however. Watching the stuff from this point on, I just don’t get that magical sense of being taken to a timeless prehistoric world anyone can appreciate; rather, I’m taken to a modern one that’s meant to appeal to younger kids. It’s shiny-looking, it’s contemporary, and it just doesn’t, well, put the timelessness in Land Before Time! I heard someone mention how the characters look better in the older movies. I agree; Petrie looks especially bad in later films.  Overall, I don’t hate the look of movies 7-14; two of my favorites (9 and 14) are from this era, and they still do a good enough job capturing a prehistoric world. But it it’s the actual land before it time I want to be taken to, the earlier films are going to be the ones to do the job.

[Nanotyrannus]

I might end up being an odd one out here

I'll get a few obvious ones out of the way first so I can disqualify them for being too easy as picks: the first movie's animation soars above everything that came after; the craftsmanship of the art and movement is extraordinary and the color direction is great; and the bulk of the TV series' animation is firmly at the bottom; no slack to be cut there, it's a bunch of crap.

From there, I think there are more, finer divisions to make than just pre/post-art shift, though that is still the defining line in all of this given how much changed after that (e.g. the T. rex designs). The pre-art shift sequels can be split up into two eras, one adjacent to the Roy Allen Smith-directed movies - the style in question is janky and limited but has a certain charm to it thanks to the decent artwork, the colors are also pleasant - and one adjacent to the Grosvenor-directed ones - they must have changed animation houses and it shows, the animation is even worse and the art takes a hit; the colors are inconsistent between the two movies, they're awful in V and relatively fine in VI.

After VII and the art shift, I think things splinter:

• The seventh movie is in a weird place; the animation itself is leaps and bounds above the previous sequels (especially the last two), but the art style is like a weird prototype for the later sequels, one with no shading whatsoever.
• The eighth, ninth and tenth movies all have a relatively consistent style; though I'd argue the animation itself is a hair below the seventh movie, the colors and art are definite improvements, with more agreeable colors and actual shading. I'm hard pressed to say it's good but it's decent for what it is; it's also worth noting that there's variation even between these three movies, especially with their use of extremely poor CGI (VIII uses very little, if any, IX flexes its muscles in that regard and X goes to town with the stuff).
• The eleventh movie tries to be a lot cartoonier than its precursors and fails miserably. This is most egregious in the climax where everyone turns into jello monsters while running away from the sharpteeth. Everything on display here is unappealing, I'd argue it's as bad as the earlier sequels but for different reasons.
• The twelfth movie does a fine job for what it aims for; it uses a lot of bad CGI, sure, but the animation is a lot more stomachable and the art is decently similar to the earlier post-art shift sequels, albeit with duller colors.
• The thirteenth movie is weird; all in all I'd say it's akin to the gasps of half-decent animation in the TV series, though it's still far from great and it dips in plenty of places. Worth mentioning is that the thing is utterly rife with animation and coloring errors.
• Journey of the Brave's animation is stilted and bad; the art is definitely off in places too. On a technical level, it's probably the worst of the 21st century sequels, though I'd personally rank it above XI, at least.

I'd say my favorite animation style of all of the ones depicted in the sequels is the mid-post art shift style depicted in VIII - X, though I'll readily admit that it's flawed.

[GreyLizard226]

I might end up being an odd one out here

I'll get a few obvious ones out of the way first so I can disqualify them for being too easy as picks: the first movie's animation soars above everything that came after; the craftsmanship of the art and movement is extraordinary and the color direction is great; and the bulk of the TV series' animation is firmly at the bottom; no slack to be cut there, it's a bunch of crap.

From there, I think there are more, finer divisions to make than just pre/post-art shift, though that is still the defining line in all of this given how much changed after that (e.g. the T. rex designs). The pre-art shift sequels can be split up into two eras, one adjacent to the Roy Allen Smith-directed movies - the style in question is janky and limited but has a certain charm to it thanks to the decent artwork, the colors are also pleasant - and one adjacent to the Grosvenor-directed ones - they must have changed animation houses and it shows, the animation is even worse and the art takes a hit; the colors are inconsistent between the two movies, they're awful in V and relatively fine in VI.

After VII and the art shift, I think things splinter:

• The seventh movie is in a weird place; the animation itself is leaps and bounds above the previous sequels (especially the last two), but the art style is like a weird prototype for the later sequels, one with no shading whatsoever.
• The eighth, ninth and tenth movies all have a relatively consistent style; though I'd argue the animation itself is a hair below the seventh movie, the colors and art are definite improvements, with more agreeable colors and actual shading. I'm hard pressed to say it's good but it's decent for what it is; it's also worth noting that there's variation even between these three movies, especially with their use of extremely poor CGI (VIII uses very little, if any, IX flexes its muscles in that regard and X goes to town with the stuff).
• The eleventh movie tries to be a lot cartoonier than its precursors and fails miserably. This is most egregious in the climax where everyone turns into jello monsters while running away from the sharpteeth. Everything on display here is unappealing, I'd argue it's as bad as the earlier sequels but for different reasons.
• The twelfth movie does a fine job for what it aims for; it uses a lot of bad CGI, sure, but the animation is a lot more stomachable and the art is decently similar to the earlier post-art shift sequels, albeit with duller colors.
• The thirteenth movie is weird; all in all I'd say it's akin to the gasps of half-decent animation in the TV series, though it's still far from great and it dips in plenty of places. Worth mentioning is that the thing is utterly rife with animation and coloring errors.
• Journey of the Brave's animation is stilted and bad; the art is definitely off in places too. On a technical level, it's probably the worst of the 21st century sequels, though I'd personally rank it above XI, at least.

I'd say my favorite animation style of all of the ones depicted in the sequels is the mid-post art shift style depicted in VIII - X, though I'll readily admit that it's flawed.

Nice analysis!

I agree that there are conspicuous differences even between films that use the same…animation, I guess? Not entirely sure about the correct term to use here, since in spite of the art shift, all movies are still hand-drawn, with some CG.

[chomper94]

To be honest, the true winner of best animation has to go to the original film due to that film having lots of fluid animation that makes the film really stand out to me.

As for other films, the animation from movies 2-6 look good too.  A downgrade from the original animation, but AKOM did a good job.

The 7th movie’s animation looks like it was done on Flash for some reason (that’s just how it looks to me) so I didn’t really like it.

Movies 8-14 had OK animation, just too many weird face expressions (Cera’s expressions from TLBT XI anyone).

The TV series animation looks fine when Wang Films does the animation, but when you tell Toon City Animation to do the animation, things go downhill from there.

Overall, like I said, the original film had the best animation.

[GreyLizard226]

The 7th movie’s animation looks like it was done on Flash for some reason (that’s just how it looks to me) so I didn’t really like it.

Interesting. It doesn’t feel quite like it to me; when I hear Flash animation, what comes to mind is something like the later Cyberchase episodes, where the movements of the characters look stiff and robotic. 

[somerandomfangirl]

Okay, I'm going to discount the first movie here because obviously it's animation is the best of the bunch. It would be because it was a Don Bluth production, was a theatrical release and so it was going to have a lot more time and probably money going into it. Of course it's going to be better than the DTV sequels.

I actually quite liked how 2, 3 and 4 looked, they had their charm. 5 and 6 were fine as well, but it looks like the animation got downgraded again.

I personally think the digital animation peaked with the eighth film, and if the rest of the films had looked like that, I would have been happy. I cannot stand the use of poor CGI mixed in with 2D animation. The ninth and tenth films were fine but X really went to town on the CGI. Some scenes in XI just look awful, especially with Cera's facial expressions and the really jumpy animation during the sharptooth chase scene. XII was definitely an improvement on that and I'd say it's probably the best of the post-X sequels, but again with the horrible CGI in places. XIII I think is similar but with more animation errors. I dunno what to make of XIV's animation. I think it started off fine but as it went on it became more obvious the animation was becoming rushed, especially at the end. And again, so much bad CGI.

[Rattymon]

I definitely prefer the look of I - VI. I'm a big fan of cel animation!

That being said, movies VII - XIV still look nice (when they're not using low quality CGI), as well as having some outright gorgeous moments, too! The TV show, while it doesn't look nearly as good as the movies, still looks nice for the most part (at least, in my opinion).

But, I just love the imperfect charm you get with cel animation! I feel it gives it more of a soul. 

I would love to learn cel animation, one day.