The Offenders: Every CGI animated film that immediately followed. You probably missed it due to Disney sneaking it into cinemas with little fanfare, but three years ago Winnie The Pooh was the last ever cell animation from the legendary Mouse House. This year saw the release of the The Wind Rises, Hayao Miyazaki's final film. It appears that after two decades on the brink, 2D animation is finally obsolete (in mainstream terms anyway). And it all began with Toy Story. 3D animation had been around for a long time and was used to tell stories as early as TRON, but it was the first feature in the medium from the geniuses at Pixar that sparked the revolution. It looks (and still does) amazing thanks to the decision to tell a story about plastic-y toys, which led to other studios such as Dreamworks and Disney to blindly begin going into CGI in an attempt to catch some of the gold. The results was mixed, mainly because they didn't quite understand the key to Toy Story's success (clue, it wasn't that it was made in a computer). Looking back at the early days, many misunderstood it as cute idea plus CGI equals quality product. Not quite. It was the story, with its relatable and well designed characters that caught the minds of kids and parents alike. Pixar knew this all along (why do you think The Good Dinosaur was delayed - it wasn't because the animation wasn't up to scratch) and with Frozen and How To Train Your Dragon it seems the initial imitators have caught up to.
