This is written by annetteboardman, who just showed her parents the new Wallace and Gromit.
My Dad, in his mid 80s, thinks that the finest animation is Miyazaki's "Spirited Away" and "Ponyo" which I have not seen. He likes anime, and he did like "Up" which he thinks was the best of the Pixar ones. Of course he is fond of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" -- he went with his friend Mel, and they went to movies almost every weekend. Double features.
In those years, he says, half the American population went to a movie house once a week. Take it with a gain of salt, of course, as he makes up statistics left and right (he also thinks that 10-15 percent of Americans go weekly these days).
My Mom liked "Aladdin," but doesn't really have much to say about others (she always wanted to study Arabic at college). She also enjoyed "The Lion King" and "Ratatouille" and of course they both like Wallace and Gromit (the best of those, for my taste, is "The Wrong Trousers"). She also enjoys the classic Disney ones -- "Pinocchio" and "The Jungle Book." A good friend of mine has the soundtrack of "The Jungle Book" and is playing it at dinner parties these days. It is hard to stop your toes from tapping.
I generally enjoy classic style flat movies -- I loathe 3D, and would rather see movies not in 3D, if I had the choice. That, as much as anything, is why I didn't go to see "Avatar" (there was no choice). I would kinda like to see some of the upcoming movies, but when they advertise as 3D I know that it is unlikely they will come to town as anything else (Coraline never came to town, for example). I gave in and saw "Up" and enjoyed it but had a headache for a day afterwards.
I generally like Tim Burton's stuff, and enjoyed Ratatouille when I saw it on the teevee. If they only play animated movies as matinees, then I won't go to see them as they have too many kids in the theatre (I tend to like relatively empty theatres). Kids make too much noise and talk and talk and shout... I went to see "Shrek 2" in a theatre at a matinee and that was a big mistake. I missed a lot of the movie's dialogue because of the incessant noise. I did like "Shrek" though. I went to see it at a late show on my birthday many years ago. Popcorn and everything.
The last animated picture I saw in the theatre was "Waltz with Bashir" which was an Israeli film about the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Hardly a children's film. I am glad that animation is expanded beyond children's movies, and generally would like to see more of it. But if it fades into gimmicky 3D stuff they will have lost me again...