Since the release of its debut feature film Toy Story in 1995, Pixar Animation Studios has solidified itself as the dominant force in computer animated entertainment. However, over the past few years, Pixar has had a bit of a creative lull, allowing other studios to move in and take a slice of the animation pie. Although Pixar still has the strongest lineup of films and franchises, there have been a good number of excellent films released by other studios, particularly DreamWorks Animation and Disney, over the last decade that have started to approach the Pixar films in terms of quality. Pixar is definitely not the only legitimate name in the animation space anymore, with the following 10 films being output from other studios.
10. Happy Feet
As its title implies, Happy Feet is indeed a joyous affair. In this Warner Bros. film, the empire penguins of Antarctica mate and communicate through singing. Mumble (Elijah Wood) is a young penguin who is an outsider from the rest of his kind because he dances rather than sings. Happy Feet is, at its core, a very basic film about being an outsider and not fitting in, but the film skews towards a younger crowd, so its simplicity can be forgiven. The film loses its footing (no pun intended) in the 3rd act, which sees the introduction of humans, whose addition feels jarring given the cartoonish feel of the rest of the film. Fortunately, there are enough entertaining moments throughout to make up for this lull and the late, great Robin Williams harnesses his Genie vocal talents once again with a show stopping performance.
