海角大神

In Pixar鈥檚 newest film 鈥淭he Good Dinosaur,鈥� forget everything you thought you knew about the prehistoric world.聽

Dinosaurs survived, for one. In the movie, which is now in theaters, a dinosaur named Arlo befriends a Neanderthal named Spot. The depiction isn鈥檛 what a moviegoer might expect from a man-and-animal tale 鈥� Spot is crouched and growls, while Arlo is the more sophisticated one.聽

The film is the second to be released by animation studio Pixar this year, a rarity. Pixar had skipped producing a movie in 2014.聽

The studio is also coming off a massive hit in 鈥淚nside Out,鈥� which was released this past summer. 鈥淚nside鈥� became a box office smash and was incredibly positively received by critics.

Moviegoers are being given the opportunity to see animated films of very high quality in recent years when one examines the output of, for example, American animation studios. The term 鈥済olden age鈥� in terms of American animation has been assigned in the past to a time period in which Disney was starting out after releasing the first feature-length animated motion picture, 鈥淪now White and the Seven Dwarfs,鈥� in 1937. That particular 鈥済olden age鈥� usually encompasses Disney鈥檚 output from 鈥淪now鈥� into the 1960s.

The studio鈥檚 fortunes revived in the late 1980s with the release of 1989鈥檚 鈥淭he Little Mermaid,鈥� and critically acclaimed films like 鈥淏eauty and the Beast鈥� and 鈥淭he Lion King鈥� soon followed.

Disney, once the titan of animation, soon entered troubled creative times, however, with films like 鈥淢eet the Robinsons鈥� and 鈥淐hicken Little鈥� failing to win over critics.聽

Meanwhile, studios Pixar and Dreamworks were both beginning to produce creatively satisfying content. While Dreamworks鈥� track record is far shakier than perennial winner Pixar, critics and moviegoers alike praised Dreamworks鈥� 鈥淪hrek鈥� series (more so the earlier installments) and the 鈥淗ow to Train Your Dragon鈥� and the 鈥淜ung Fu Panda鈥� movies, both of which still continue to be produced. (The studio is by no means perfect, however 鈥� recent projects like 鈥淢r. Peabody and Sherman鈥� and 鈥淗ome鈥� were negatively received by reviewers.)

Pixar, meanwhile, has barely had a stumble since releasing the studio鈥檚 first movie, 鈥淭oy Story,鈥� in 1995. While some have gotten better receptions from critics than others, there were only one or two movies that got mixed or negative reviews.聽

Disney, in the meantime, has caught up. Recent films like the 2012 film 鈥淲reck-It Ralph,鈥� the 2013 movie 鈥淔rozen,鈥� and 2014鈥檚 鈥淏ig Hero 6鈥� all got good notices and have made Disney a power player again in the world of animation.

By this point, calling our era a 鈥済olden age鈥� of animation seems somewhat limiting. In fact, if we鈥檝e been in an animated Golden Age, then we might have to decide what our definition of an 鈥渁ge鈥� would be 鈥� it would have stretched 20 years by now. That鈥檚 when Pixar released 鈥淭oy Story鈥� and became a force on the scene. While Disney and Dreamworks鈥� fortunes have gone up and down, right now, we鈥檙e in a time period where the two 鈥� especially Disney 鈥� are more consistently putting out good content.

Producing good movies is a tricky alchemy, of course, and the successes of the last several years have been the result of certain talent being in the right place at the right time. But at the moment, multiple studios have made animated films an enjoyable and creatively sophisticated choice for a night out.