Obscure Animated Feature Films - Part 1: The Directors

Independent Directors

Ralph Bakshi

Simultaneously the most infamous and one of the more beloved figures in animation history, Ralph Bakshi exploded into popularity in the early 1970s when he released the unholy trinity of adult animated films - Fritz The Cat, Heavy Traffic, and Coonskin, - all of which received R and X ratings from the MPAA. He took advantage not only of the drought of animated features following the death of Walt Disney in 1967 and the winding down of the "Silver Age," but the perception at the time that family-friendly cartoons had become stagnant and oversaturated.

He branched out into fantasy films starting at the end of the decade, including directing the one of the original installments of the animated Lord Of The Rings trilogy, until the unmitigated failure of Cool World drove him into (a second) retirement. Following decades worth of teaching new generations of animators, as well as producing various television projects, he ran a successful crowdfunding campaign for Last Days Of Coney Island, released in 2015.

I myself have yet to see all of Bakshi's work, but I thoroughly enjoyed those that I have and plan to do so in the near future.
I have especially fond memories of Fritz The Cat, as a personal recommendation.

 
Don Bluth

Don Bluth's story, on the other hand, is in many ways the opposite of Bakshi's. Bred and raised in Disney's own ecosystem, he led an exodus of devoted acolytes out of the studio (delaying the production of Fox and the Hound for months), citing dissatisfaction with the development of their artwork and style. This new company debuted with The Secret Of Nimh in 1982, a critically-acclaimed film that stole the thunder away from any of their competitors, including Disney.
The collaborations with Steven Spielberg would continue to top either the box office or home video rentals, success that would endure throughout the 80s until Disney's The Little Mermaid jumpstarted their so-called Renaissance era.

The Bluth films that followed in the 90s would come no where close to their predecessors in terms of financial or critical accomplishment, and are often regarded as some of the worst animated films of all time as well as contributing the decline of the medium into the later end of the decade. Though it seemed he would be making his comeback at the time, after the successful release of Anastasia in 1997 through 20th Century Fox, this hope would be dashed away by the failure of the criminally-underrated Titan A.E. in 2000.

Ironically, Bluth also launched his own Indiegogo not long after the completion of Bakshi's, proposing a feature-length version of the Dragon's Lair arcade games that came out amidst the video game crash of the early 80s. As is what happens with far too many crowdfunding projects, it would appear that he has taken the money and run, claiming that he is pitching the concept to Hollywood executives rather than producing the work himself.

Take from his catalogue what you will; Titan A.E. is still one of my personal
favorites, though the rest range from "not that bad" to "not very good."

 
Bill Plympton

Unlike other entries in these lists, most people will likely have never seen the works of Bill Plympton, as his films are typically showcased in independent festivals and then sold as DVDs directly to his fans. However, I would also likely have a mob of animation geeks hounding me if I neglected to include the guy. Though I've never watched his movies, most others haven't either; preferring any one of his numerous short films that have propagated across the internet, not unlike his contemporaries such as John Kricfalusi, Don Hertzfeldt, or Adam Phillips.

 
Rene Laloux

I have no idea who either Rene Laloux is, or what his films (all released between the 70s and 80s) are like. I do know
that they are frequently included in other recommendation lists for animated films, so they are here for posterity's sake.
I will likely enlighten myself at a later time, provided there are translations or subtitles in English.


Richard Williams

Ah, yes. The legendary animator who didn't really contribute nearly as significantly to the medium as his faithful proclaim. His "filmography" is populated mostly by television specials and title sequences for live-action films, that is until he supervised the animation on Who Frame Roger Rabbit, directed by Robert Zemeckis. Through a single film (produced and mostly through the efforts and funds of both Disney and Steven Spielberg), he achieved his immortality, as it was highly regarded for its innovation in animation technology and helped lay the groundwork for the resurgence that would occur in the early 1990s.

On Williams' part, however, it was a means to help support his ongoing magnum opus: The Thief and the Cobbler. It had been in development hell for three decades by the time that Miramax seized the film and released it prematurely in order to recoup their losses. It was seen by those few of the public who happened to come across it on home video as not only dreadfully dull, but ironically as a shameless ripoff of Disney's then recently released Aladdin, even though many of the animators on that film were previously fired by Williams in one of his many bouts of impotent rage. 

However, It recently re-surfaced on the Internet under the guise of The Recobbled Cut, as an attempt to refurbish Williams' often tarnished and largely forgotten legacy. However, this restoration only serves to prove just how egotistical Williams was in his approach to animated features, and one needs to look no further than the documentary The Persistence of Vision to see exactly what his former colleagues thought of his attempts at playing director, producer, and writer all at once. Today, most animation students are introduced to basic techniques through his required textbook "The Animator's Survival Kit," insuring his protection from further scrutiny at the academic level.

Other Directors

Heavy Metal (1981) was directed by Gerald Potterton (Yellow Submarine and Raggedy Ann), and produced by Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters) and Leonard Mogel, the original publisher of the namesake magazine. Not unlike other works from animation's "dark age," it's front-to-back loaded with profanity, violence, nudity, and old dad-rock, and it's awesome.

Steer clear of the sequel, though.

When The Wind Blows (1986) was directed by Jimmy Murakami, the man behind the classic British animated short-film, The Snowman. It came out alongside other sensationalist nuclear war dramas at the time, including The Day After and Threads, and is one of the few animated depictions of such events besides Japan's Barefoot Gen.

Felix The Cat: The Movie (1988) is one of the odd ones out on this list, not only being based on a mostly forgotten mascot from the bygone Silent Era of animation, it was also produced in Hungary of all places. Regardless, few if any have seen this film or the television series that followed, and most of those that did mostly hated it upon release. Felix The Cat remains buried in an unmarked grave beside Betty Boop and Oswald The Rabbit to this day.

Stay tuned, the Golden and Silver Ages are next!