GGB Reno’s “Non-Disney Animation” August Brunch Recap

As geek girls, it’s hard NOT to love animation. Usually though, people assume you’re talking about Disney! At GGB Reno’s August “Non-Disney Animation” Brunch, we discovered just how much amazing and beloved animation, both past and current, comes from sources outside the Mouse House.

Paola started everything off with a special mention of one of her favorite animated movies of all time – Megamind! She also is a big fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender and grew up with shows like Hey, Arnold!

First time brunchette Kim, introducing herself as a fan of Doctor Who, Disney, musical theater, video games, and cross stitch & knitting, loved Anastasia growing up, and she also loves the American Tail movie series.

Abney’s a fan of Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and The Last Unicorn. Oh, and she can’t let us forget Titan AE.

Kate brought up a film that many of us remembered from our childhoods – Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest. She’s also brought up many DreamWorks films like Shrek, the Despicable me movies (which her kids love), and one of her favorite animated film series – How to Train Your Dragon.

While Chenetta also loved Anastasia growing up, she wanted to focus more on some more recent independent animated films, Laika Studios’ stunning Kubo and the Two Strings, Song of the Sea, Secret of the Kells, and The Fantastic Mr. Fox. And the table generally agreed that Fantastic Mr. Fox WAS better than Isle of Dogs.

Janet, our resident animation guru, was raised on the early Don Bluth movies, classic Looney Tunes, the Mind’s Eye short film series, The Iron Giant, and a way-too-long list of anime (although Spirited Away started it all off!). She also recommended the fascinating documentary about the first animated film ever made – Quirino Cristiani: The Mystery of the First Animated Movie – and it isn’t about Disney’s Snow White! She also suggested Silent Voice, one of the best movies she’s ever seen, although it’s extremely hard to watch.

Savannah grew up watching Veggie Tales & Care Bears. She loves stop motion movies like Coraline and the Tim Burton/Danny Elfman movies. She also loved Thumbelina as a kid. She’s a big fan of Adventure Time too!

Anzia was gifted one of the Barbie animated movies as a joke once…which led to an unexpected huge love of the series! She loved all the 90s (and early 2000s) cartoons as a kid, like Ninja Turtles, Hey Arnold!, Animaniacs, Invader Zim, and Tiny Toons. And of course, Sailor Moon!

Beth brought us back a bit, reminiscing about more classic animation like Beany and Cecil, Rocky & Bullwinkle, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and Scooby-Doo. More recently, she’s enjoyed The Croods, Despicable Me & Minions, Epic, and the How to Train Your Dragon movies. We also want to thank Beth for contributing all the raffle prizes!!!

Julie, Beth’s daughter, said “Mom taught me well” – she ran around with sticks playing GI Joe, She-Ra, and He-Man as a kid. She loves the new She-Ra: Princesses of Power Netflix show, because it’s SOOOOO GOOOOOOD! She also grew up on TMNT, Tiny Toons, the Powerpuff Girls, and – who can forget Toonami?!

Jan was also raised on (now) classic toons, like all the Hanna Barbera series, Jonny Quest, and Casper The Friendly Ghost, which she used to watch in college! She also loves Pinky and the Brain, Batman the Animated Series, and the movie Mask of the Phantasm (one of the best Batman movies ever!!). She was surprised no one had yet mentioned “marionation” (marionette/animation) like Thunderbirds, or more recently, Team America: World Police.

Vanessa, Jan’s daughter, wanted to go last, since she brought a monster list of animation that she wanted to be sure was covered. Her biggest animated obsession recently is the Trolls movie! Her list included Thundercats, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (not a Disney property when it first aired!!), The Simpsons (1-12 only, please), Futurama, Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, Rick & Morty, The Adventures of Gumball, The Lego Movie, South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut (one of the best musicals EVER in her opinion), and the oft-forgotten DreamWorks masterpiece, The Prince of Egypt (cue everyone raving about how great the songs are!).

Geek Girl Brunch Reno shall return for our Stranger Things September Brunch!