Animation

And this one isn’t particularly close for me.

Kung Fu Panda is fantastic. Po has a great character arc, the action is legitimately good, and the “there is no secret ingredient” payoff is one of DreamWorks’ best emotional moments.

But Shrek changed the game.

It didn’t just succeed as an animated movie. It gave DreamWorks a personality completely separate from Disney. It mocked fairy-tale conventions while still delivering a genuinely emotional story about insecurity, rejection, and letting someone love you when you don’t think you’re worthy of it.

And nearly 25 years later, people are still quoting it, memeing it, watching it, and introducing it to their kids.

Round 2: SHREK.

Get outta my swamp, Po.

Hello Joshua Powell. I pick Shrek love both, though!

I’m voting for Shrek because it combined comedy, originality, memorable characters, and heart while making a fairy-tale world feel fresh and completely its own.

Shrek...the wait for true love's form....stopped everyone's hearts and souls for one brief, unforgettable, reality-suspending moment....that's what film aspires to do, at its core.

I like both, but gotta go with Shrek on this one. :) I think visually Kung fu Panda wins because the animation just looks better, but story wise I say Shrek and to me story matters more than looks. I am a sucker for a true love story and honestly, Shrek stays in the mind longer than the other film, well for me at least. After watching Shrek I find myself thinking about it off and on. After watching Kung fu Panda I think, "That was a good movie" and then don't really think about it later. So for me, Shrek wins.

Okay, so my favorite moments in animation are the ones that can really express a character's emotions through the world itself. A warrior struggling with people seeing him as useless gets chi-blocked by a bubbly teenage girl mid-strike, and suddenly his arm goes completely limp. Animation can make that warrior's arm look stick-thin in a wide shot-- conveying his disappointment, the effectiveness of her technique, and the comedy of the situation. All with one thin, limp arm. Beautiful.

I think that's when a world starts feeling alive to me: when its rules, characters, emotions, and visual language stop feeling like separate pieces and start communicating with each other.

Exactly. That’s when animation hits different. It’s not just showing movement, it’s showing emotion through the rules of the world. One limp arm can tell you the character’s confidence got crushed, the technique worked, and the moment is funny without needing a whole speech. That’s real visual storytelling.

Backgrounds that have a personality and characters that actually interact with the elements of their surroundings instead of just standing around waiting to talk.

Bob, I completely agree. A setting becomes much more memorable when it feels like part of the story rather than a backdrop waiting for the characters to enter.

For feature films, every single department works to "plus" the world, but much of the heavy lifting is by the visual development team, and they start with an enormous amount of research. Often the core leadership will take a research trip to the region that best depicts the world they will create. Whether it be a fictionalized world or based on an ancient culture or the wilderness, there is usually a real place to draw inspiration from. For example, the first Zootopia used a lot of geography pulled from the roads around Burbank and the greater Los Angeles area. The visual development team pulls from the research and it informs the elements of the world, down to the props and shapes and foliage.

Character designers are also guided by this, and scripts are often revised to reflect things discovered in the research phase. Composers (lyricists and any other music aspect) also prefer to be involved as soon as possible -- not waiting for post. Even sound designers at places like Skywalker sound (who do many of the feature films we see) want to be involved in the development stage.

So, to answer the questions: Is it the character design? The rules of the world? Music? Movement? Culture? Background details? Emotional storytelling?

It is all of the above working in synergy.

Oh I love both of these. All the hard work from both Team's to make these movies, I give nothing but love and respect to both. I'm a giant child who loves animation - and grateful these both came into the world. Left me with such fond memories watching them as a teenager and then introducing them to my own kids when they were small. Animation is a life long powerful tool!

Monsters, Inc. I love it for the simplicity of story line and the deep relationships that are formed . It's fun, it has a universal theme we all know (monsters under the bed) and it connects on an emotional level.

Monsters Inc shouldn’t be seeded at 7, this match up deserves to be closer to the final for me! Love both but my heart goes with the outlier in Monsters Inc, Billy Crystal one of the best ever to do it!

And the votes are in!

I definitely heard the Monsters, Inc. fans on this one! A few of you weren't too happy seeing it sitting at the #7 seed, and honestly, that's part of what makes these matchups so much fun. When a movie has touched the hearts of this many people, no seed is going to make everybody happy.

But the votes have spoken, and Toy Story wins this matchup pretty handily and advances to Pixars Final Four!

A lot of love for Mike, Sulley, and Boo in the comments, though. Monsters, Inc. may be out of the tournament, but it clearly isn't leaving quietly.

Next up: DreamWorks — Shrek vs. Kung Fu Panda.

And somehow... I don't think that's going to make choosing any easier.

“Great matchup, Joshua! Toy Story definitely earned that win. Looking forward to seeing how the Final Four plays out!”

I think the theme is very relevant today. The contrast between human tradition and AI automation feels timely, and putting that conflict into baseball gives the concept a unique angle. The Y2K techno-noir setting also sounds visually compelling. I’d definitely be interested in seeing how you develop the White Wolves and their journey.

I’m interested to know if your characters who resist automation ultimately triumph be remaining true to traditional methods? Or do they find a way to bridge the gap between the old and the new?

“I think the traditional vs. automated conflict fits the moment really well, and putting that debate inside baseball gives it a fresh angle. The real hook for me is the White Wolves—seeing how their human strengths compete against an AI-dominated league could create some great character-driven tension.”

I don’t know about right now but I saw some Russian animations from the 1970s that looked pretty cool. Otherwise I’m gonna be biased as hell and say Japan lol

Europe always has solid animation, like Spain and France.

I agree with Bob Harper, I've screened some amazing and interesting student animation made at the French animation schools Rubika and Pohl. I'll share and post a trailer on the Your Stage Lounge tomorrow. I also recently received a VIP screening for a Spanish animation that was at Annecy 2026. Outstanding work with a blend of 2D and 3D animation and an historical true story.

Kevin Jackson I'm realizing my answer is probably Europe, although I'm still expanding my knowledge outside the US and Japan. The US has made me accustomed to the polished 3D feature style we associate with studios like Pixar, while I've always admired the beauty and expressiveness coming from Japanese animation.

Europe seems much harder to put into ony stylistic box, though, and that's what I'm starting to find interesting. Spain caught my attention recently with Decorado. Also, Flow, coming primarily from Latvia with French and Belgian involvement, wasn't personally my favorite visual style, I found it harsh on my eyes, but I absolutely respect how different it looks from the mainstream.

So maybe my answer isn't one country yet. Europe is making me realize I need to broaden what I think animated features are supposed to look like. I'm definitely interested in seeing more.

Hey, @Chase. Stage 32 has a free pitch webinar called "Pitching Tips from the Pros: Your Blueprint to a Successful Pitch." www.stage32.com/education/products/pitching-tips-from-the-pros-your-blue...

Creating stories and writing can make you feel discouraged, get you down, and be lonely. That's one reason it helps to talk with other members on Stage 32 like you're doing with your comment.

Maurice Vaughan Thank you for mentioning and I purchased the free webinar. Now I can focus on that webinar either shortly or sooner.

You're welcome, @Chase. Hope you feel better soon and that webinar helps you with your pitches!

I'm done with pitching. I'm all abbout producing - no more waiting for "permission" to do my thang!

I have, and the biggest lesson for me has been that pitching is less about waiting until everything feels perfect and more about finding the right fit. PRAYPREY has gotten some strong responses recently, including an OWA finalist placement, a First 10 with straight 5s and a Writer Recommend, and a full-script request. My question lately has been "Who is actually built to understand and champion this particular kind of animated world?”

Bob Harper Absolutely! I’ve learned that with my own content too, sometimes you just have to release it and let the audience find you. Release it and they shall come!

Don't wait for permission.

Cyrus Sales, I certainly did not intend to put pressure on anyone. I am excited about the future, but do understand that things take time. The important thing is to get it right instead of rushing through.

Kevin Jackson Exactly.

Wyman Brent I understand, and I didn’t mean to imply that you were putting pressure on anyone. I was simply highlighting the differences between the two situations. I’m excited about the future too, and I agree that these things take time. Ultimately, getting it right and maintaining the relationships involved is more important than rushing to the finish line.

Kevin Jackson Sure, any tips to help I'd be grateful for as long as it's not AI-related please xD

No, not AI related LOL. That wouldn't be a tip. That would be an opinion. And it wouldn't be animating; it would be generating. You are trying to learn to animate not generate.

I am noticing a lot of missing animation principles.

-Anticipation

-Follow through

-Slow in Slow out

-Squash and stretch

My tips would be to set a facial expression and move the eyes, put an occasional blink. Set the facial expression and change it if you can, to communicate mood. You can do this by changing eyebrow lift and angle, opening and closing down the eyelids.

The other thing is that I would suggest adding anticipation in her body movement. We rarely as humans just move a limb from point A to B without something else moving first. For example, lift or drop her shoulders slighting before her arms move. Stagger her movement, meaning separate parts of the body moving at slightly different times.

Do not make her arms move at one speed. You can start the arms slow and end it slow but in between the key frames need to be closer to make the arms move faster in between. This gives the impression of weight. You can also start fast, end slow as well.

Follow Through her motions. When the arms swing down, make them swing back, overshooting their final rest position ever so slightly, before settling.

I hope that makes sense. Harder to describe with words, but these small things help the characters feel more alive.

Are you using Poser for the characters and Blender for animation?

Kevin Jackson Thank you for the advice. I’ll try to adjust it. It’s very hard, though they always seem to come out robotic. But what you’re saying does make sense it’s just about adding those little details and learning how to do it. I still can’t animate a walk yet, even though I’m always walking!

Kevin Jackson And I animate everything in Daz. I do wish I had learned Blender, though, as I’ve been told it has better animation tools.

Mike Boas I really like this question because I think animation sometimes gets put into a strange box when it comes to festivals. A lot of general film festivals will have an animation category, but there is something different about being in a room where the programmers, filmmakers, and audience are already coming in with an appreciation for the medium itself.

For me, I don't think it necessarily has to be animation festival or a regular film festival. There can be value in doing both

My latest short has been accepted into 16 festivals, with four wins so far. If nothing else, they serve as a litmus test for whether your concept appeals to some audience.

Congratulations to you and everyone who worked on the short, Bob Harper!

I have not submitted in a while but I am working on some new stuff for 2027