Best Animation Movies of 1984

The evil is set to damper another Christmas season for the children's home. Can the Scooby gang warm his heart?

The Autobots are running low on Energon, they leave their home planet of Cybertron to search for more sources. The Decepticons follow them and attack the Autobot's ship. The ship crashes on Earth and ends up inside a volcano. Millions of years later, Teletran One, the ship's computer activates and revives them. The Decepticons are determined to exploit Earth's resources for their own needs. The Autobots are just as determined to stop them.

G.I. Joe: The Revenge of Cobra is the second G.I. Joe miniseries based on the successful Hasbro Toys and Marvel Comics property. Using a laser core stolen from G.I.Joe, Cobra activates the Weather Dominator, an incredible weapon which controls the forces of Nature itself, Cobra Commander targets Washington for destruction, but the Joe team repels the attack and the Weather Dominator explodes into three parts setting off a chain reaction of natural disasters around the world. Can G.I.Joe recover the Weather Dominator in time to beat Cobra and save the world. It aired in 1984 and most of the 1984 and even some 1985 products are given plenty of screen time. Like the first miniseries, A Real American Hero, The Revenge of Cobra was written by Ron Friedman who created the series for television, and wrote all four miniseries.

Hopeful job candidate Buck Boom is dynamic, forceful, confident and creative. But can he convince Mr. Mudgin, the personnel manager, to hire him? You see, Boom is an animated character in a live-action world and Mudgin is not used to dealing with someone who is different.

First published in 1922, Margery Williams' enchanting story about a toy rabbit is a classic of children's literature. This gentle rendition comes alive through Meryl Streep's soothing narration, George Winston's beautiful music score, and David Jorgensen's charming illustrations.

Two 20th century youngsters, Andy and Karen, are accidentally transported back to the year 100,000,000 B.C. by their father's time machine. While dodging dinosaurs, the kids find a loyal friend in the form of Bunjee, a lovable, purple-haired creature who resembles an elephant with suction cups for feet. After escaping danger, Andy and Karen bring Bunjee with them when they return to the present. Alas, Bunjee is hardly ready for modern civilization, and vice versa.

A bold synchronization to the transcendental music of Franz Liszt.

Garfield is taken on a camping trip by Jon, much against his will. A series of very funny disasters follow. But not all is well, as a panther has escaped from the local zoo and is stalking them. Will our hero survive to eat another lasagna and kick Odie off the table again?

In Prague, a professorial puppet, with metal pincers for hands and an open book for a hat, takes a boy as a pupil. First, the professor empties fluff and toys from the child's head, leaving him without the top of his head for most of the film. The professor then teaches the lad about illusions and perspectives, the pursuit of an object through exploring a bank of drawers, divining an object, and the migration of forms. The child then brings out a box with a tarantula in it: the professor puts his "hands" into the box and describes what he feels. The boy receives a final lesson about animation and film making; then the professor gives him a brain and his own open-book hat.

Colorful hallucinogenic trip in a cartoon fantasy world, or, as Timothy Leary put it, "Cheery pop images and mellow lyrics".

A talented, but doomed, gentleman tries to participate in a properly British game of charades.

An Oscar-nominated short from 1985 by Ishu Patel, which raises the question – which is preferable, a beautiful gilded cage, or your freedom?

The story begins as the peaceful ponies of Dream Valley are attacked by monsters, led by Scorpan, who kidnap several ponies and take them away to Midnight Castle. Enraged, Firefly, a Pegasus pony, takes to the skies to try to find someone who can help them defeat Tirek, a centaur-like demon whose plan is to use these ponies to pull his chariot of darkness. On her way, she crashes into 12-year-old Megan's well and asks her for her help. Megan is at first reluctant to go but after being confronted by the monsters, she sets out with the ponies to rescue them.

The Smurfs engage in athletic competition to settle a dispute between both ends of the village over misquoted compound words, which turns deadly when the medal Clumsy is awarded actually causes an earthquake.

Donald is shown in both animated and costumed form, interacting with emcee Dick Van Dyke and other cast members. The film not only shows Donald's life, but also depicts an extensive international tour that Donald went on in 1984 as well as showing various celebrities of the day wishing Donald happy birthday. The tour culminates in a parade in Donald's honor at Disneyland.

In this musical adventure, Alvin develops an alter ego after Brittany rejects his offer to the Valentine Ball. In a dream state, he becomes a dashing Don Juan, the Valentine heartbreaker extraordinaire CAPTAIN CHIPMUNK. Brittany is quickly won over and eagerly accepts his offer to the Valentine Ball. Hilarious consequences follow when Alvin wakes up at the dance and realizes he’s not the dashing debonair Captain Chipmunk.

The story begins at a big football game where Snoopy wins a game from Peppermint Patty's team. That night, Snoopy gets out a radio, learns some 80's dance moves, and becomes Flashbeagle

The Cabbage Patch Kids have their first Christmas adventure!

A series of source objects are presented, defined, demonstrated, discussed, spoken about, juxtaposed and progressively re-invented during the course of a multi-layered visual and aural "conversation".

A short animation set to and inspired by The Cure's One Hundred Years. Max Anderssons debut animation film won 1st Prize at Melbourne international Film Festival, 2nd Prize at Los Angeles Animation Celebration and a special prize at Berlin Film Festival.

"In life you have to work fo what you want," Shando's wise old teacher tells him. Shando wants to become a music ant but first he must earn the kabump that all working adult ants have. However, Shando spends his time daydreaming and instead of earning his kabump, he acquires a fake one. He soon learns that true success comes only with hard work and honesty.

Dot comes to the aid of her native animal friends when Bruce the koala tells her of plans to build a massive dam that will destroy their environment. But the local farm animals believe that the creation of the dam will catapult their small country town into the 21st Century. With both sides fighting for what they believe is right, Dot’s plans to wipe out the dam are jeopardised by the local detectives Sherlock bones and his offsider Watson the cat!

A kind-hearted mouse dentist and his wife find a clever way to treat a crafty fox who comes to them with a sore tooth in this Oscar nominated short, adapted from William Steig's children's book.

Rose-Petal Place is an abandoned Victorian mansion surrounded by a garden. Little Rose-Petal was created one day when her mistress, in a moment of distress, cried upon her garden and her tears crystallized, bringing her to life.

The Gang participates in the annual scavenger hunt to win their own ice cream flavor but the stakes are made even higher when Bingo makes a bet with Catchum that if he wins, he and Leland get the Gang's clubhouse.

Two Australian children chase a cat and a dog into a swamp near thier homes. Here they find a treehouse which they never noticed before. Inside the treehouse is a trapdoor which brings them to a wild and wonderful world with pirates, talking trees and bunyips!

Poochie, a little pink dog who runs a newspaper advice column for her owner, receives a letter from a little boy who has literally lost his father in Cairo, Egypt. Poochie and her robotic servant, Hermes, travel there to help him and end up finding a lost city that would prefer to keep its secrets.

The frantic opacity of being alive.

Young Ali and his camel-driver grandfather Moussa take part in an expedition through the Australian Outback. Faced with prejudice, Moussa's knowledge and the hardiness of his camels in the punishing conditions quickly prove vital to both the success of the expedition and the survival of its members.

A Merry Mirthworm Christmas is an animated television special, produced by Perennial Pictures. It premiered on the Showtime Cable Network in 1984. The film features a cast of Mirthworms which are described as cuddly little critters about two inches long, who live in the tiny town of Wormingham.

A digitally made short film, compiled from short clips made by different institutions.

Animated short by Marv Newland

An adaptation of the book by Verna Aardema

This animated short tells the story of a young boy who finds an injured snow goose and nurses it back to health. Constant companions through the sun-filled days of summer, the two sadly separate in the fall when the bird obeys the call to join its flock for the annual flight south. Will the friendship endure?

The magical fingers of master animator Co Hoedeman, whose film The Sand Castle won an Oscar in 1979, has created yet another world of piquant creatures. Papier mâché puppets ride machines and manipulate robots strange to the human eye. A great masquerade is in the planning, and the air crackles with excitement. Plunged into the joys and frustrations of creating costumes, the zealous puppets produce a bumper crop, each one more elaborate than the last. The film illustrates the creative process, with its inevitable pitfalls and rewards. It says that to create is to be alive.

The adventures of a teen-aged boy and his friend, a runaway slave, as they float down the Mississippi River on a raft.

The classic fictional tale of Little Nell and her grandfather, animated by Burbank Films Australia.

Set to the rousing notes of Schubert's Military March, this animation film is an ingenious example of how a single point can be the building-block for a multiplicity of shapes and configurations. Lines and forms grow out of the point, eventually covering the entire screen in splashes of colour. This is geometric wizardry at its colourful best. A film without words.

TV Short for Robo Force, included in Challenge of the Gobots DVD set.

One of the most famous works in the history of fictional literature is brought to life in this animated feature. This is the classic tale of a selfless Englishman who generously gave his life for one courageous French nobleman. Learn about the heroic men and women who struggled for their freedom during the French Revolution.

Documentary with animated sequences about that massive Hungarian exodus to the US which went on from the end of 19th century till the outbreak of WW1. The history of the nameless crowds presented in the film submerged under the surface of official history.

An animated allegory densely packed with fast-moving images, this film is about fear. A dissenter masks his true colours. Chameleon-like, he blends in with his surroundings. Because he lacks the courage to act on his beliefs, he cheats himself and others. He dies as he has lived, unnoticed.

Polish avant-garde animation featuring vanishing staircases and desperate searchlights with occasional breaks for a digital clock and a stone face.

Inspired by a trip to the London Zoo, Menagerie reflects on the experience of animals in captivity.

This work is a retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in the style of a Greek vase. When his wife Eurydice dies, Orpheus descends into Hell and by charming the gods of the Underworld with his singing wins Eurydice back, only to lose her again at the threshold of the Overworld'.

Ryo is sent out by the people of a village to kill the monster which has been attacking the villagers. It is rumored that this monster is a cat-woman named Bagi. As Ryo waits for the monster to come to its watering hole, he thinks back to how he first met Bagi as a kitten who learned how to write, and later reenters his life on a quest to discover who and what she really is. But now she has gone wild, and as the time of her arrival approaches, he strengthens his resolve to kill her.

Two people think they hear a BARK in the DARK.

Shells create intricate patterns in this short stop-motion animation.

A Chaplinesque mime goes through the pixilated motions of his workaday existence. Functioning inside a black frame that manipulates him and restricts him to his daily routine, he struggles to free himself. Through an act of creative energy, he stands his life on end and starts anew. A wonderfully fresh and freewheeling film that tells a serious story lightly.