US animation that has FAILED.

This is a list of US animation that attempts to break the barrier of the kid/teen demographic, usually by featuring more sex, violence, or "coolness" in some way. In most cases, these fail to gain any respect, yet at some point someone must have said "this will raise the bar for US animation and usher in a new era of mature, sophisticated animated films and series that can be enjoyed by the masses in an uninhibited form of creative expression that knows no bounds."

-Invasion America, short lived miniseries by Steven Spielberg, used typical WB animation but attempted to be more mature than the average saturday morning cartoon by having a somewhat serious storyline and an occasional risque comment. Nobody cared because it still looked and felt like an average WB cartoon, and wasn't particularly groundbreaking.

-Heavy Metal 2000, attempted to revive the cult hit Heavy Metal while adapting a story from its magazine. Rather than provide unique stories from multiple authors, it became a typical "testosterone-driven female kills and maims in a world full of sex and violence." Little character development or backstory (for example, her tight red outfit and cool sword simply appear with little explanation). Suffers from "trying to be hardcore" syndrome.

-Sin: the movie, based off the game, attempts to deliver an interesting and somewhat epic story in the style of anime. It actually has an interesting feminine character, and at least a little plot. But mostly its an excuse for tons of action scenes, and still suffers from "tries to be hardcore" syndrome. It also has a poor resolution, as the main villainess simply falls off camera, whispering "I'll be back if they ever make a sequel." Another strange note is the subtitles for the Japanese version have completely different dialogue in some places.

-Anastasia: Could have been a serious and dramatic period piece. Actually it was, but it was incredibly superficial and didn't address important historical issues such as death. It tries to be epic, but since it tones down and kiddifies the truth, and ends up being more like a Disney movie than anything else.

-Titan A.E: While not an adult movie, the previews at least implied it could have been en epic, serious sci-fi movie. Instead it turned into a WB style teen movie with limited plot or depth. Typical mindless unsympathetic villains, no real drama or emotion attached to the loss of Earth, and annoying attempts to be hip and cool through the middle. The amount of money spent on this and Anastasia caused the sutdio to go bankrupt.

-Final Fantasy: the Spirits within: Expectations included: Epic sci-fi movie, epic plot in the style of FF games, and a groundbreaking CGI movie that could revolutionize animated movies in the US for an older audience. Instead, it aspired to be a B-grade hollywood movie.

-The Animatrix: Eh. Some parts were cool. Not all of them were that great. Might have carried the "adult animation" genre forward, or widened its audience, but not significantly.

Movies I haven't viewed: Lady Death, Van Hellsing: The London Assignment, and Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury.

Conclusion: The animation market wants to expand to an older audience. It tries to breakthrough into the mainstream, in hopes that ones of its features will be immensely popular, create a fanbase, and make lots of money for its producers. But it hasn't, due to the following challenges:

-Hardcoreness. The assumption that "more mature" means more sex and violence, and that a huge teen/adult male audience will flock to it. The faultiness here is that bad action movies already exist. Good ones at least have a plot and likeable characters.

-Broadening genres. Besides action and sci-fi, there isn't much. Perhaps they feel there isn't room to cater to more niche audiences, such as a female oriented drama, comedy, or satire.

-Licensing. Most of these are licensed to tap into some preexisting fanbase. One would assume this means "built in audience," but it also means "limited audience." You're taking "people who like watching X movie" and taking only a small percentage of those who'd watch an animated feature based on it. There are plenty of other sources to tap into, especially comics like in Japan. But hollywood would much rather spend money on a live action adaptation of a comic due to its broader appeal. The challenge is making an animated feature as good or better than a live action equivalent (Batman: Mask of the Phantasm vs Batman & Robin). Also, there are hundreds of independant comics that can be adapted, just look at any comics catalog. But companies are probably too scared to put any "risk" into telling a story with views that don't have mass market appeal.

-Perception of characters. We still use archetypes such as the muscleclad superhero and superheroine. There haven't been too many "normal" characters with interesting backstories, and I think part of this is fear of looking "weak." If you had a truly feminine girl with quirks and shyness, or a timid guy, then you wouldn't have an invincible flawless herop character. I think some people are afraid of showing a character who isn't perfect, or can't defeat the bad guys with one hand. There needs to be flaws and quirks and interesting backstories and personalities and little details, rather than assuming peole will like "generic invincible girl/guy."

-Curves. For some reason, people cannot draw curves. Ever see an ad or artbook that attempts to mimic the "anime" style? There's always something not quite right about it. I believe it has to do with social perception in different cultures, such as "we're tough and unyielding, so we have square jaws" vs "pretty cherry blossoms and kittens = soft pillowy cuddly girls that are excessively cute." Or, they think if females aren't presented as hard and strong, it makes them automatically look weak. But everything needs some amount of femininity to make it more believable. I think this conflict between "should I draw her like a soft harmless animal" or "should she act and talk like a guy" is what subtly seperates curved characters from WB geometric faced characters.

-Lack of funds. If it takes money to make money, how can you work on a more "independant" film if you don't expect it to break through the mass market? You create something cheap, with mass appeal, that has the potential to be wildly popular, so that you can gain capital and hopefully make that more unique, thought provoking epic you dreamed of. But step A never happens. Because the cheap mass market idea os too obivous, too superficial. And if you're going to do that, why make an action movie? Why not make animated porn?

Answer: Because you can only draw chicks that look like guys.

Disclaimer: The above opinion happens to be biased. And an opinion.

How about "Atlantis"?

>>1 is a very interesting post... I approve of it

Actually, about that man-women thing. I wouldn't guess that most people here play with barbies, but I'm a big collector. Lately barbies have been getting more flat chested and more man-faced. Not to mention those ugly-ass Bratz dolls. I can tell they tried to get somewhat of an anime style with Bratz, but they're just disgusting and look like transvestites.

I can't find it anymore, but I could have sworn I saw Japanese versions of the Bratz dolls on HLJ once. I don't know whether they're originally Japanese toys, though. In any case, what the fuck they're the ugliest things I've ever seen in my life.

I just want a serious US-produced cartoon that doesn't make me feel ill every time I watch it...but then again, if it was *that* serious, it wouldn't neccessarily be called a cartoon then, would it?

I miss Kitty Bebop :(

>>6

The Incredibles is still running, you know!

Cartoons that try to emulate anime are about as successful as Americans that try to become Japanese by listening to The Pillows and pretending they like nattou.

Even the fact that they're CALLED "cartoons" shows an American bias that animated shows are kids-only fare, or at best a U-rated family show (read: Disney). There's barely any of the animation industry outside of Japan that even knows how to do animation that isn't a kids' show.

Well, most of Japan views their TV shows as for kids as well. The mature ones really only make up a minority.

Nice read, thanks!
But... there's nothing left to discuss..?

Oh yeah, and you really should watch The Incredibles, it was really great!

The adult in me says...: Yeah I watched it. Good movie. It might pave the way for more mature animation, or it might not. It's definitely in a class of its own though.

But the kid in me says...: That movie was totally sweet!

Watch the unedited version of the Batman Beyond movie. That was some pretty deep stuff for a cartoon.

>10

That's still more than America has.

>>13
right on, that was surprisingly good, still a little convoluted but much better than the rest of that series was

The key is making shows and movies which can be enjoyed by children, but has something to serve to adults. The Incredibles does this. Batman does this. Justice League does this. Naturally, both Simpsons and Family Guy do this. Hell, to some extent Teen Titans does this.

>>16

That is not "the key" that is what they have been trying to do, and that ultimately fails.
What they should do is make a clear choice, adults or kids, none of that average demographic stuff, it makes the movies unbalanced and rediculous.

US animation needs a change in style, Pixar has picked up the torch for the bounce rubber ball animation style, while it works good for children's comedy, it is dreadfull for serious adult works.
Look at the serious works from Japan, and you see what they all have in commen, besides the style of animation or designs, they also have a clear point and clear ideas/concepts driving the films, they dont act like some UN of animmation trying to have some kind of agreement among demographics like the US animation tries to do.

When you start to listen to your audiance, that's when you fail as an artist, and you become a salesman, and at that point, you get animations like the ones mentioned in the initial post.

But if you don't know what your audience wants, and aren't successful as a result, surely that makes you a flat broke artist.

Your conclusions sound based on your own impressions. On IMDBpro it clearly shows that some made a profit (or they lie about cost). I can give arguments for each tittle in your list but the one that bothers me the most is Animatrix, it made a huge profit, the animation was best in years technicaly and the stories were actually better than the matrix trilogy to me (and yes i'm an adult if you wonder).

An animated series that clearly did succeed in your ideal (except for the profit but what the hell) would be Invader Zim. Produced in America, very innovative style wise, and good (insane) stories. I still think its a miracle the makers got the funding from nickelodeon ofcourse not for too long.

BUY THE DVDS :)

>>18

and welcome to the cliche "starving artist" which is not cliche at all, it is a reality, so that means reality is cliche? :o

I major in animation at my school. All the teachers there involved in the industry, and are usually stuck up pricks. Seriously, I'm not just saying that cause I'm a student either. I haven't met a teacher there YET who is willing to accept something that's really innovative or creative, without finding some way to bash it or change the premise entirely. I always thought that it was just their way of trying to keep our projects simple and easy for us, but the more I witnessed it the more I felt they were purposley trying to get us to to adhere to some formula that they themselves are already used to. I'm not saying I haven't seem some great things come out of that place, but it get's real tiring seeing so many Jhonen V. Knock-offs, and machismo driven storylines.

I think it's something that's ingrained in our culture really. Mostly everyone in the U.S. has the perception that cartoons or animation is a thing for children.

Great post.

I think you forgot Titan A.E. in your list. that was surely as bad as Anastasia, but at least anastasia had a cute talking animal (that albino bat-thing, Bartok). Bartok was the only thing that was nice in Anastasia (later got his own movie, Bartok's great adventure, which they managed to screw up as horribly as Anastasia).

Anyway, there are more truely horrible example's of US animation out there. Need i remind you of every single cheapquel disney has ever made? i think not. Or how about that horrible CG Popeye the sailorman that's currently being produced? that's going to suck ballz as well.

oh, and "the Polar Express"? not even TOm hanks could save that one.

I'd kinda like to ignore the CG revolution here and look at the death of cel or even cel/cg mix animation in America.

I jsut saw Animattrix last night and would contend with >1 that was pretty damn good. It was really different and got some really good talent ont it. Then again, it was a bunch of shorts and not a full movie. Also, it was mainly Japanese directors and artits mixed with US talent, so it's not fully American anyway. Though it was released here. Plus it falls into that pit fall of the movie tie in, though I think this is the best one.

I agree with yoru other failures, though I did like Titan AE as well as Atlantis (the Secret of Blue Water) despite their shortcomings.

As for the Van Hellsing short, I caught it once. It was surprisingly good, not that great, but decent. I skipped the movie as it looked terrible, but this short wasn't bad. It was about the quality of an ep of Gargoyles.

Now there's a good series, Gargoyles. It had it's limitations being a Disney cartoon on in the afternoon, but it did try to be more and I think it did a fantastic job creating a solid animated series.

Also, I love Zim, but dear crap is it getting a bit overrated and Jhonen V and his fans are sometimes annoying. I acutlaly prefer Roman's Dirge's Lenore to Johnny and there are a number of Lenore flash toons floating about. If only that came to TV instead of just web toons.

>>5 Brats toys
They might as well call them Stupid Rich Whores and have Paris Hilton hawking them.

One mroe thing, I think there is thankfully a good amount of comedy toons in the US. With now TV staple Simpsons you got one oddity of acceptance, but there seem to be more shows with stuff like Family Guy and Adult Swim. Adult Swim is getting quite a following and I think has enough of one to almost be mainsteam. I know it's popular among college kids, but I think it does get noticed by other people and press as well. Personally, I think Venture Brothers is one of the funniest shows on TV.

Then again you do have a number of failed comedy and odler shows like Clone High (which my roomates got me into) or a nubmer of failed MTV comedy toons. The stuff they tried way after good stuff like The Maxx of Aeon Flux.

>>23Also, it was mainly Japanese directors and artits mixed with US talent, so it's not fully American anyway.

The only shorts that had any US input with the visuals was Final Flight of the Osiris, that was the last film that studio made before it went bust (thanks to FF:Spirits Within) and that Peter Chung thing.
The rest of the animations...were 100% directed, produced, designed and animated in Japan by Japanese, you cant really say "mixed with US talent" with too much confidence, since the only ones where there was some kind of mix were the two i mentioned above (and only the directors too) the rest is 100% japanese.
If you count the producers and middle men...sure....you can say with lots of confidence that it was a mix production ;)

And also brings another point to the table...US animation is in such a dire situation that the only time they actually produced something that can be considered a step forward is when that thing is heavily influenced by Japanese animation, and 95% made by Japanese....come on, an industry will not survive like that.
And then to bring on the current situation in hollywood to remake foreign films, or interprete foreign history.

Which can only give you one conclusion....culturally, the US has nothing more to give to Hollywood and its various entertainment industries, when the best(highest grossing) "US" animation film of the last 10 years was 95% foreign made, and the best live action films in the last 6 years are interpretations/remakes of other cultures/foreign films...there is only one conclusion you can have, the Hollywood machine is culturally exhuasted and cant provide anymore inspiration to their own artists, so they seek inspiration elsewhere, but the problem is..that when interpreting culture or remaking films of other cultures...you have one significant flaw, YOU ARE NOT FROM THAT CULTURE. so they ultimately fail due to translation.

But, some things are inherent to all people, regardless of culture.

Viva la Revolucion!

Er, if any of you guys have the capital. I'm sure one of you has some funds. Otherwise you wouldn't have time to stare at imageboards all day, right?

I think a lot of us here are examples that culture doesn't always play a role. Most of us watch anime and/or read manga, and the majority are probably WASPish. So, why do we like anime? Are we just different from the rest of our societies?

Or did you mean that Hollywood is distorting what they see? In which case I agree.

I'm not talking about consuming culture, i'm talking about creating culture, can you >>27 really say that you can create a movie/anime that will even make the Japanese think that it was made by a Japanese person?
You were born and raised in the west(i assume), not in Japan, your influences are completely different, the culture is completely different, i highly doubt any person here will succeed in making a film which will fool a 60 year old japanese farmer into thinking its a japanese film.
Just like there is no Japanese that can make a film about the west and pull it off.

And yes, Hollywood distorts foreign films/culture, the most idiotic thing i saw was when someone i know got a bit exited when she saw a movie she thought was "The Last Samurai" and was like "oh! you have that too?" then i said "No, its a japanese film called 'Twilight Samurai'" and then she was like "oh, i dont wanna see that" and started laughing at it...
This is the kind of thing we are dealing with, i've seen it more often, most people dont want to see culture how it truly is, they want to see their own interpreted versions of that culture, which is why that girl prefered "The Last Samurai" over "Twilight Samurai" and guess which is the better film about samurai...

Not to mention the perception that cartoons are automatically kids entertainment, that is probably the largest hurdle for western animation, they have no market of adults like in Japan, the (very small) adult animation market in the west watches Japanese cartoons!
And most do not like western cartoon aesthetics, the only market for western cartoons is the children's market, which is what is holding them back, and there are no companies brave enough to take a chance.
Only WB tried with Animatrix, but that's only becuase they already knew it would make money thanks to The Matrix franchise.

In Japan you are always 100% sure that your film will sell at least to the otaku market, in the west, they have no otaku market...the otaku market is a Japanese animation otaku market, not a western animation otaku market.

Actually I enjoyed Sin a fairly large amount, liked it alot.

There are a few exceptions to the "American animation" scene, such as a whole world of absolutly insane flash cartoons, (look around eatpoo.com, someone is making a comic into a flash animation, it is seriously nuts) and various other entities.  I believe that the whole problem isn't so much that american artists lack skill, so much that they are just lacking in general, and don't want to make "anime" as much as they do plain. old. cartoons.

There are some EXTREMELY good cartoons out there, that many people don't realize how good they actually are, such as.. say..   Freakazoid, something that has made me laugh more then any other cartoon in the history of mankind, then there is more "mainstream" nowadays things such as Ed, Edd, and Eddy, which makes me laugh pretty often as well, and all of these are very much as animation as anime is.  When you say "animation" include everything, not just anime.

>>27
"I think a lot of us here are examples that culture doesn't always play a role. Most of us watch anime and/or read manga, and the majority are probably WASPish. So, why do we like anime? Are we just different from the rest of our societies?"

I believe people like us are attracted towards anime because we dislike the MTV rap & street-life image.  For whatever reason, the 'popular clique' teenagers of America want to copy the black people (African American if you prefer, I'm trying to offend no one) and MTV follows their lead, essentially giving the mob what it wants, and that in turn influences more teens to envy the African-American ghetto culture.  I don't think there's a gigantic amount of people actually living in a true-to-life ghetto, living amongst crime and poverty, who actually see their lot in life as privileged.  And yet millions of suburban teens copy their dress and slang, and the corporations that cater to the teen demographic deliver for their own profit's sake.

Ah, I'm rambling on.  My point is, we see the absurdity of trying to be a certain way because it's popular.  Some of us anime-watchers and 4channers might be unpopular, picked on, depressed, fat and ugly, losers, or just plain low on the social hierarchy.  Anime offers us an alternative to the culture we see as rediculous.  We identify ourselves more closely with the anime-watching, manga-reading lifestyle than the buying expensive name-brand clothes, $200 shoes, club-hopping, get-drunk-and-get-laid-every-Saturday-night lifestyle.  (God damn, I love hyphens.)

Ironically, many American otaku fall into the same trap of envying the culture that isn't theirs that they simply go too far.  I'm sure you know of people who absolutely cream their jeans for anything and everything Japanese, regardless of how useless, idiotic, or shitty it is.  They are out on the extremes, just keep in mind to strive for all things in moderation.

As for the topic of U.S. animation that failed, I can't say i've know of a lot of failures.  Years ago I loved Animaniacs, half of the pieces were crap but there were some absolute masterpieces, either well-written or good comedy.  If you haven't hear Yako singing the countries of the world, it's definately worth looking for on google or kazaa.  Adult swim seems to be doing well and I'm glad for that, but really they're lumping anime, traditional animation (is venture bros hand drawn?), and flash (such as sealab 2021 and athf) into one demographic.  I don't have a problem with this, I like most of AS's program lineup.

I think that we're going to see an improvement in American animation thanks to the flash (.swf) revolution.  Flash makes it easy and inexpensive to animate, and it compresses well too.    Part of the comedy of Sealab 2021 is its crappy cell-rotation animation style, and it also it proves that shows can focus more on writing and voice acting, while abandoning the hugely expensive animation process.  Soon more studios are going to follow the lead of Williams Street, and if they realize they can leave the kid's market, will produce quality shows.

>>28
I don't see much reason to make an animation that would fool a Japanese person. Japanese animation may be the standard for a lot of us, but it's not perfect. I'm sure it can be surpassed, or at least equalled. And anime isn't that amazingly complicated or different either. I'm sure that some skilled film student out there, who loves anime, could some up with an entertaining likeless given the chance.

Now, whether Hollywood and the ilk can do it is another question. I think we can all agree that Hollywood as it is now is simply incapable of such a thing. But there are some people out there who surely could, if they only received the funding (which probably won't happen anytime soon).

Of course, I'm not all that qualified to comment. I threw my TV out a few years ago and rarely go to the movies anymore. Why bother when I know it'll suck? If anything good comes out my friends are sure to insist I drop by.

And what the hell happened to name cookies? --

>>31

You didnt quite understand me...what i mean with all that is that you should not try to emulate a culture you dont know, its ok to take some inspiration from that culture and add it to your works, but to try and mimick them is the wrong way to do it, which is what hollywood has been trying to do.

And i would like to see such a person who can mimick another culture so well as to fool even the most patriotic individuals of that culture.

>>17

No, animation in general does not have to draw a line between children's works and adult's works.  Do you like Fullmetal Alchemist?  One Piece?  Gundam?  Sailor Moon?  Well whether you do or not, all of these anime are designed to appeal primarily to young to teenage viewers, while giving at least something for  people who are older.  And if you disagree, there's about  10000 fans or so who would say otherwise.

Animation aside, works in general do not need a clear divide between appealing to children and appealing to adults.  Or are you the kind who go "LOL NINTENDO IS FOR KIDS?"  I'm going to assume you are not, because I hope for a world where that sort of dumbassery doesn't exist.

And there is nothing wrong with listening to your audience if you are an artist.  You do not ruin your artistic integrity by doing so.  If your audience has valid opinions, they have valid opinions and it is only to your benefit that you at least hear what they have to say.  Don't agree with it?  Fine.  Do you want to REALLY know how to make any artwork you produce stagnate?  You don't listen to anyone.  You let yourself be closeminded, shunning any form of criticism, only believing yourself to be better than your audience. 

>when the best(highest grossing) "US" animation film of the last 10 years was 95% foreign made
Shrek 2's the #3 highest grossing box office movie after Star Wars & Titanic.  Besides martial arts, wanna know where the Matrix's is really stolen from including its 2.5 billion dollar lawsuit? 
http://www.slccglobelink.com/news/2004/10/28/Entertainment/mother.Of.The.Matrix.Victorious-785067.shtml

Somebody up there mentioned that as an animation student most of his animation teachers instruct him to conform to the general cartoony themes and kiddy feels.  Damn.. I really give up on western animation now.  One of the reasons I love anime is because the creators don't treat me like I have RETARD stamped on my forehead. 

How the creators of Western animation think vs eastern thought in animation and movies just gets to me, western seems so much less developed like they've been reading comic books their whole lives to tell them what complex and deep is.

To make one big comparison, Walt Disney made his cartoons for the kids not for use as some deep meaningful medium.  Osama Tezuka, when he made his comics he made them because he couldn't make film, sure as hell he made kiddy stuff but he also made comics where a girl could take a pill become a woman and learn about how her body works (Tezuka was studying to be a doctor at the time) or the weird pinoccio story where the fake boy has to kill for his body parts with many modern war overtones.  What if Walt Disney tried to do mature things like that?  I think the people who came to rule the animation industry today would be so much more mature in turn creating more developed product.. instead we get the typical american response to kids that protecting them is to close their eyes or make jokes with inneundo that goes over their heads.

The japanese put some real content in their shows, they respect what they're making.  The producers here just come off being like they're going for mainstream whatever that is. 

I really look down on the western directors, sometimes I think if they could do better action like some of the stuff I read in manga maybe the shows would be worth watching but nothing really ever gets my blood pumping.  Every hit is predictable and nothing blows me away.  Batman the animated series was awesome, but that was over 7 years ago when it was a show aimed at adults & aired primetime on FOX.  Today's Justice League is pretty kiddie from a directorial point of view.  Again one of the differences in thought between east and west animators.  In the west animation=cartoon and disney or comicbook, japanese animation=film (or next best thing).  Beacuase I want to be at directing I take a good look at how these cartoons are put together, what shots, what camera angles, length of cuts in fight scene, closeups and ultimately how much impact is made on the viewer.  Always asking if I were making this instead what could I have done to make it better, and I always come up with more stuff with western shows.  Japanese seem to know their stuff, western directors feel so sophmoric. 

Oh yeah, one last comparison fow how one side thinks vs another. King Kong against Godzilla.  Completey mindless destruction giant monster b-movies westerners, both of em.  Nothing could be meaningful here. 
King Kong dies, monster is dead, everyone is happy.  Hooray its another scary movie.
Godzilla dies, everyone cries, everyone is sad.  what the hell?  Take a closer look. 
Godzilla comes out of nowhere (the sea), has some strange bizzarre RADIOACTIVE breath, is big, GREEN, lumbers around tokyo destroying everything by just walking around, people cry at the end because japan is in ruins. . .
hint: the movie was made after an ATOMIC bomb hit them from certain country, and the MILITARY of a certain country occupied their land...
(strange that in later movies Godzilla becomes something of a defender of Japan)

read this is you don't want to suck
http://www.awn.com/mag/issue3.4/3.4pages/3.4chung.html

>>27

Although I agree with you that animation does not need to be blood-irificly mature to appeal to adults, I feel that animation should at least have a few well known, good works that are mature.  Right now, animation is not a respectable medium to use for mature film making because of the 'kiddy' label it has.  People see animation (cartooning in particular) as a medium for kids, and will avoid seeing mature animation because of that 'kid' label.  Now, if someone were to make a ground breaking beautiful animated film, this will probably change people's opinions on animation. Hopefully the film will inspire others to create similar works of art which will increase the awareness of the potention in animation, and in time, people will see animation as another medium to use in mature film making, rather then just for children.  After that notion is set, then of course animation can be used for general demographic films, whether it be used for adult film or kid oriented programming, both should not be looked down upon because the content is animated. Instead, the quality of the work

should be judged.

Aborn!

zepher = in my county we call those people Diplomats ;P
No seriously, i agree that there is no need to totally emulate other countries styles, i think it is the content that matters not the way it is packaged.
People who thinks that animation is a media for kids are probably either insecure with themselves or have had their childhood whipped out of them at an early age. For an example here in Sweden a whole lot of people watch the disney christmas special that they send every year, and from what i have seen mainly the adults are the ones who wants to watch it year after year.
Even if you argue how drawings have been our oldest way of communicating except for speech or how mature comics can be and such there will allways be people who doesn't like them. Just like there will be alot of people who doesn't like alot of other things, be it because of religious, cultural or personal ideas and ideals.
Now on a very sepparate subject what i'd like to see is a good old dark and creepy detective animation without any superpowers or occult, but the thing about animation is that you can do so much more with them then with normal movies so i guess that hope will be washed away as the big companies try to smack in even cooler looking 3D renderings.

Last I heard Disney axed its entire 2D animation division. In other words, we won't see any more out of then.

Of course, I personally believe that Disney Inc lost its edge at least a decade ago, if not when Disney died. The guy was an oddball, but he did make classic animation.

The cow thing was the last 2D animation of Disney.