I’ve decided to group my best of ‘09 list by genre, just so I can get my bearings. I failed to write reviews for so many films this past year that it’s hard to make a complete master list right off the bat. I’m starting off with animation (not a genre, but still a distinct style) and I’ll work my way through fantasy, science fiction, horror, comedy, and lastly drama.

Superb

Pixar’s “Up” is brilliant, boldly planting its stake in the land of Character First. Everything is in service to the characters and never feels out of place, and it’s a testament to the artists at Pixar that I cried after I’d only known two characters for less than ten minutes. The action, the adventure, the excitement, the awe, and especially the sense of humor and fun are direct responses from the characters themselves. And let’s not even go into the animation on display. “Up” is a masterpiece.

Though it did not have a theatrical release, I caught Bill Plympton’s latest, “Idiots and Angels,” at the Newport Beach Film Festival. It’s a dark comedy about a complete scumbag who starts growing wings on his back. As he desperately attempts to hack them off only to find them sprouting anew each morning, he must also fight off those who ridicule and attempt to profit off of him. Is he capable of salvation? I am a huge fan of Plympton’s work; he’s one of the few standout voices in independent and experimental animation left and I love his use of angles and transitions, which is probably best demonstrated in his short film “Your Face.”

Great

“Coraline” is a wonderful movie, combining all the elements I love about fairy tales and your usual “life lessons.” I would love to see Laika become the Pixar of stop-motion animation, a style which actually looks great in the wholly unneeded 3D. They even got me to obsessively reread the book a few times.

Wes Anderson’s films leave me cold, but somehow his style and imagination translated to the world of stop motion perfectly with “Fantastic Mr. Fox.”

“Ponyo is one of Hayao Miyazaki’s weakest projects, but that is faint damning. It continues his fascination with the roles man and nature play in the grand scheme of things, and through his use of dream-like scenarios and drawings alongside casual social observations, the film becomes a flow of moments, each crucial to the overall momentum forward. It’s this journey that makes the film so magical. Each inconsequential moment and each surreal, “out there” bong hit captures the heart and soul of the characters. And who can’t help but smile when little Ponyo first calls out, “Ponyo loves Sosuke!”

Good

As a whole “The Princess and the Frog” is forgettable, yet it has great moments such as a ballsy death (for modern Disney) and an amazing villain—perhaps the best Disney villain of all time—that make it a significant step in the right direction for Walt Disney Animation.

Average

None.

Poor

The visual artistry on display in “9” is beautiful. The imagination is commendable. But whenever the female ragdoll named 7 leaps around all I can think of is Miyazaki’s “Princess Mononoke.” In fact the entire film is unoriginal, not to mention mired with plot holes and banal dialogue. Yet I can’t help but think the filmmakers’ hearts were in the right place. It’s disheartening to see such potential squandered.

“Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel” is a disaster. A complete failure of editing in a single scene during the climactic chase elevates it to legend.

It is perhaps entirely unfair to include “Monsters vs Aliens,” having seen it twice now and remembering nothing but the opening scene. Traveling the galaxy in 3D was breathtaking the first time, but this harmless film is downgraded for being the opening salvo in the current wave of 3D masturbation.

Trash

None.

Missed

I look forward to catching up on Robert Zemeckis’ continued downward spiral to motion capture Hell with “A Christmas Carol.”