From the 1920's to the present...


1940's: The Golden Age of animation when Warner Bros, MGM, Disney, etc. were at their best and funniest. Also masterpieces like "Fantasia" & "Dumbo" from Disney.


Though the 1930's were OK, but most cartoons were bland  and Warner Bros were still trying to find their style. Disney & Flieschers (Popeye, Betty Boop) were at their best in animation. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy some Popeye & Betty Boop cartoons and Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse (mostly with him with Donald & Goofy), and several Silly Symphonies. Most animation studios were trying to copy Disney, though many ranged from mediocre to horrible.


1990's: Animation started to appeal more towards  adults (and kids) again with "Ren & Stimpy" and "The Simpsons" with edgy humar and great writing since most cartoons from the '80's were either toy infomercials or preachy.

The golden era of Disney in the 40s - 60s was awesome, but for me, the best era of Animation was the 80s.  The animation in cartoons seemed much smoother, and shows like 'Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears' and 'The Smurfs' are always fun to watch over and over :)

The Tracey Ullman Show to before South Park premiered.

Although, the traditional classics from the '40s are good too, like Donald Duck.

I love the Disney style of animation.

The colors are so rich and complex. Mary Blair's style (the person best known for designing "it's a small world...") really added vibrancy to many of Disney's films and cartoons. I do feel a strong connection to the cartoons I grew up on in the '80s-mid '90s and feel really indifferent to today's "unnatural" feel in animation.

I love the Disney style of animation.

The colors are so rich and complex. Mary Blair's style (the person best known for designing "it's a small world...") really added vibrancy to many of Disney's films and cartoons. I do feel a strong connection to the cartoons I grew up on in the '80s-mid '90s and feel really indifferent to today's "unnatural" feel in animation.


Yeah, c. 1994 was great for Disney movies, wasn't it? I loved stuff like The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast even if I felt a little too cool and too old to admit it to most people, lol. The early-mid '90s was sort of perfect in that it was just after animated stuff was beginning to aim for an audience beyond little kids, but was still nestled in an era before we had Spongebob, Finding Nemo or South Park.

Yeah, c. 1994 was great for Disney movies, wasn't it? I loved stuff like The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast even if I felt a little too cool and too old to admit it to most people, lol. The early-mid '90s was sort of perfect in that it was just after animated stuff was beginning to aim for an audience beyond little kids, but was still nestled in an era before we had Spongebob, Finding Nemo or South Park.


Exactly. Plus, being that "Toy Story" came out in 1995 and was the first Pixar full animated film, it really changed the direction of computer animation and now we're seeing so many copycats of that style.

I like the older cartoons like Buggs Bunny and Tom & Jerry, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.

I like a lot of the cartoons from the 70's, I guess because they remind me of my childhood.

Not a fan of the stuff from the 80's.

I really enjoy many of the of the computer animated movies like Toy Story and Cars.

Yeah, c. 1994 was great for Disney movies, wasn't it? I loved stuff like The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast even if I felt a little too cool and too old to admit it to most people, lol. The early-mid '90s was sort of perfect in that it was just after animated stuff was beginning to aim for an audience beyond little kids, but was still nestled in an era before we had Spongebob, Finding Nemo or South Park.


The cartoons from the early/mid 20th century were aimed towards adults,and also kids...but mostly adults, since they were played in theatres before movies like "Casablanca" & "Gone With The Wind".

The cartoons from the early/mid 20th century were aimed towards adults,and also kids...but mostly adults, since they were played in theatres before movies like "Casablanca" & "Gone With The Wind".

That's interesting, I didn't realize that they were actually more adult-centered. I guess movie theatres have had "coming attractions" like that forever, lol.


Exactly. Plus, being that "Toy Story" came out in 1995 and was the first Pixar full animated film, it really changed the direction of computer animation and now we're seeing so many copycats of that style.

Oh yeah, I saw that in the theatre and was amazed by the realism of it at the time. In a way, it still seems very modern, but with that old-school Disney feel too (I rooted for Woody in the scenes towards the end where they're driving the toy car down the street). :D The originators are usually better than the imitators - for an unrelated comparison, think of all the hair bands, lol.

That's interesting, I didn't realize that they were actually more adult-centered. I guess movie theatres have had "coming attractions" like that forever, lol.

Oh yeah, I saw that in the theatre and was amazed by the realism of it at the time. In a way, it still seems very modern, but with that old-school Disney feel too (I rooted for Woody in the scenes towards the end where they're driving the toy car down the street). :D The originators are usually better than the imitators - for an unrelated comparison, think of all the hair bands, lol.


Yeah, actually when I used to have Turner Classic Movies as a premium channel back in the day, they use to have some documentaries on how big a lot of those pre-movie cartoons were in the old days. One good example is how "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" had an animated short prior to the movie (if you saw it at the theatres) and then they started the movie afterwards. I remember seeing this at the theatre when it was released and that always impressed me because how often do we get that these days?? Not too often now. 

I never got to see "Toy Story" in the theatres, yet I did see "Toy Story II" at the theatre in 1999. But, when I got to see it (somewhere between 1996 or 1997), I, too was impressed with the clarity and sharpness of the images. Before that, we were so used to animation being mostly drawn or looking rather unrealistic if it were computer animated (such as Sega/Nintendo Games).

Yeah, exactly - all the copy cats have cool stuff, but it's still the story that counts. And if they can't make a good story out of something, it's still going to fall flat and not be memorable. I remember seeing the movie "Anastasia" in 1997 and really looking forward to it because I thought the soundtrack was really good, but the movie really fell flat once the music stopped. It's too bad...  :(

Also most of those cartoons dealt with pop culture (ie caricatures of celebs like Frank Sinatra & Groucho Marx) and topical issues like the Great Depression to WWII (ie ration, bonds, rubber/metal shortage).

The looney Tunes era, 30s,40s,50s.  And also I think the 80s too.

I loved 80's cartoons!!

>bump<

(technically I only like "Popeye Meets Sinbad"...which I probably qualified as "some"  ::) )

tv animation: 1990's

1960's... some for their camp value like early Hanna Barbera (especially the sound effects) and Jay Ward

It's hard to say because every era has had great animation and lousy animation. 

For mainstream animation, you can see a giant drop in quality when Hanna-Barbera developed cheaper methods in the fifties, which got really took over in the sixties.  Think Flintstones and Scooby-Doo.  The HB 'toons were developed for TV with kids in mind, whereas earlier cartoons were for the cinema for all ages. 

The Simpsons really started the cartoon renaissance in 1987 after a 30-year slump. 

It's hard to say because every era has had great animation and lousy animation. 

For mainstream animation, you can see a giant drop in quality when Hanna-Barbera developed cheaper methods in the fifties, which got really took over in the sixties.  Think Flintstones and Scooby-Doo.  The HB 'toons were developed for TV with kids in mind, whereas earlier cartoons were for the cinema for all ages. 

The Simpsons really started the cartoon renaissance in 1987 after a 30-year slump. 



Good observation. I think you have gotten me interested in researching about cartoons in the past!

Actually, "The Flintstones" was made for a general audience