The year 2000 … it was the beginning of a new millennium, and as far as movies are concerned, it was a time for change, with big franchises on the horizon and new classics waiting to be discovered.
Speaking personally, back in the year 2000, I was transitioning between my 2nd and 3rd grade years and was being exposed to a wider range of films along with the traditional family films I grew up with at the time including “Rugrats in Paris: The Movie” and “Pokémon: The Movie 2000”.
It was the year I found myself dabbling in comedies like “Me, Myself & Irene”, Science Fiction films like “Mission to Mars”, disaster Drama’s like “The Perfect Storm”, and even little splashes of horror with films like “Shadow of the Vampire”. With so many of my own personal favorite movies approaching 30 years, I wanted to celebrate and rank my own personal top 10 favorite movies of the year 2000.
Disclaimer … this was not an easy list to
assemble, as there’s so many big titles that came out from this year, including
Oscar nominated movies like “Traffic” and “Chocolat”, along with blockbusters
like “Mission Impossible 2”, “Dude, Where's My Car?” and “Scary
Movie”. As such, this isn’t a list of the objective best or most
significant movies to come out, just the ones that mean the most to me. With
all that said, let’s go back to the year 2000, and highlight my own personal
favorite movies of the year.
#10 “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”
Kicking off my list is the first of two movies on my countdown to be Nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. Following after the success of the previous year’s hit “The Matrix”, there was new generational interest in martial arts and the wonderment of slow-motion. Director Ang Lee then provided the next big martial arts picture to “wow” audiences with “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, a film set in the mythical past of China, and features supernaturally gifted warriors who can effortlessly defy gravity.
The result was astonishing slow-motion action sequences, rich
lore, and just enough compelling human drama to balance out all the wonderment.
While the movie lost its Best Picture trophy to another action epic that I’ll
be highlighting latter … “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” helped usher
in a new golden age of martial arts cinema from over in the East, and the film
still took home it’s well-earned Oscar gold for Best Foreign Language Film (Taiwan),
as well as launched interest in the talents of director Ang Lee.
#9 “Final Destination”
After receiving a premonition of a crashing airplane, a small group of teens are able to avoid a massive disaster … only to get on “Deaths” hit list, and as the tagline says … You can’t cheat death”. While this film can fit into the wheelhouse of cheesy teen horror films of the time, it was elevated with a creative premise, thoughtful topics and a sharp direction from James Wong, who was able to make the comfort of home feel terrifying … as any random object in the house can cause an accident if you’re not careful.
Also,
having a faceless entity like “death” as the mail threat was a brilliant creative
choice, and lead to a number of exciting domino effect scenarios. I’ll admit that the final act got a little too over the top for its own good, but the
sensational opening and sense of dread sustained most of the films good will
and momentum. It launched a mostly decent franchise and remains one of the
better early 2000’s horror pictures.
#8 “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”
While this film has never been labeled as one of the Coen Brother’s great classics, it’s still my personal favorite movie of theirs to date … certainly the one I’ve re-watched the most and have consistently enjoyed. The film is a curious amalgamation of “Homers Odyssey” set in the depression era of the late 1930’s, with an anything goes sense of comedy, and three wannabe travelers who encounter a slew of colorful characters. It’s all the more unique with its odd but fun tone, upbeat music and three very talented comedic leads.
There’s just a refreshing sense of comradery and
genuine charm that comes from these three talents and it’s an instant joy
watching them go from one crazy predicament to the next. No argument can be
made for “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” as the Coen Brothers objective
best movie … but it’s still my personal favorite of their collective works.
#7 “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”
For the longest time, I’ve labeled this as my biggest Christmas “guilty pleasure”, and the same applies with its placement among my favorite movies of the year 2000. I’ll admit this film is far from perfect and may be just a little too dark and unpleasant for some kids ... but I still love it wort's and all. No, it’s not as good as the original animated classic, but there are still so many things that I adore about this film. The jokes at times are funny, I like its otherworldly look and feel, and the musical score by the late James Horner never fails to lift my spirit.
Of cores, it’s the always fantastic Jim Carry who completely steals the show.
This movie came out at a time when I was obsessed with Jim Carry, and it’s still
remained one of his most entertaining roles all these years later. While this
live action remake certainly has its share of faults, I just can’t help but
adore it. There’s still a lot of warm holiday cheer, a good message to boot,
and Jim Carry shining in one of his most iconic roles.
#6 “Titan A.E.”
After Earth is destroyed by evil aliens, and group of humans set out on a journey to find a new home. While I wouldn’t write “Titan A.E.” off as an underrated masterpiece, it still has a secure spot ranked among my personal favorite animated pictures … and has the sentimental distinction of being Don Bluth’s final animated picture. Objectively viewing the film as an adult, I will admit that “Titan A.E.” is far from perfect, but even with that said, I still have a great deal of fondness for the film.
It’s a movie
that left an impression on my childhood, and it fits right in my wheelhouse of
laser shooting, Sci-Fi adventures through space. The stakes are high, the
action is thrilling, the animation is stunning, and it’s still to this day one
of my favorite outer-space designs I’ve ever seen in a film. There’s nothing
more to the movie than strait forward Sci-Fi tropes and eye-candy, but it’s
done just well enough that it continues to leave me with a highly satisfying
experience.
#5 “The Patriot”
When it comes to war movies to watch on Independence Day … one set during the Revolutionary War is an obvious yet fitting choice. While I’ve never placed Mel Gibson’s “The Patriot” among the all-time inspiring war movies, it’s still an engaging, and highly re-watchable experience, with an A-list cast, and no shortage of iconography on display. Gibson's valiant charge with the flag has always stuck with me as a memorable movie moment.
Directed by
Roland Emmerich … the same talent who directed “Independence Day” with
Will Smith … shows his range of talent in this picture and suggests he could
have done more outside of his disaster movie wheelhouse. While “The Patriot”
never achieved Oscar recognition like “Braveheart”, I still find it an exciting
and memorable action picture.
#4 “Remember the Titans”
Set in 1971, a Black Coach named Herman Boone aims to integrate an all-white football team with African Americans, despite being a highly prejudice time. As expected, they don’t get along initially, but soon … close friendships are formed. Thus, the real challenge isn’t if they’ll win a big football game or not … it’s if their newfound friendships can change the viewpoint of a highly prejudice town. This movie marked my own personal introduction to Denzel Washington, who knocked it out of the park in this film, and became a favorite of mine for years after.
The remaining cast all give equally strong performances and have excellent chemistry with one another. Despite following many of the same sports movie conventions, this film has an
extra human touch that makes it feel more meaningful than simply an underdog
team rising to the challenge. As far as the more serious and grounded sports
movies are concerned, “Remember the Titans” has always stuck with me as
a personal favorite, and I feel should have been nominated at the Oscars.
#3 It’s a tie between two animated movies … “The Emperor's New Groove” & “The Road to El Dorado”
(A.) Disney’s “The Emperor's New Groove”
Oh Yeah, got to include this film, it’s remained one of the funniest, and purely entertaining films to come from Disney’s animated studio. While previous animated Disney movies like “Aladdin” and “Hercules” had their comedic moments, “The Emperor’s New Groove” is the only one that had me laughing myself silly as a kid. The film contains every great cartoon, comedy cliché, and the personality of the characters leaps off the screen.
Despite
being more like a “Looney Tunes” cartoon than a theatrical animated
Disney movie, there is still a lot of heart in this film and a genuinely
touching reformation story about a selfish king that became a dignified man.
The characters are a lot of fun, with their zany personalities, and with just
enough meaningful depth to balance out. All in all, it’s just a joy experience wrapped
in one fine package.
(B.) DreamWorks “The Road to El Dorado”
Within the same year, we got another animated comedy with a similar backdrop … and I love it just as much. With the joyfully banter between voice actors Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh in the lead roles, some beautifully colored animation, a nostalgic soundtrack provided by Elton John, plenty of comedy, lots of character charms and exciting adventure scenes which allow “The Road to El Dorado” to stick with me as a very pleasant escape, and I still love returning to it years later.
While
this film doesn’t offer much in terms of epic storytelling, or deep moral
subtext, it’s just a pleasant viewing experience, and one of those special
films that can easily put me in a good mood … sometimes, that’s all an animated
movie really needs to be. Not too much else to say, I just really love the
characters, artistry, music and just about everything that the film has to
offer. It may not be solid gold, but I’ve always found this film a rich
experience in its own simple way.
#2 “Gladiator”
Here it is, the movie that won Best Picture of the year, and naturally it has a secure spot among my top favorites. Director Ridley Scott aimed high with his $100 Million budgeted production, in hopes to revive the genre of “Ancient Epic’s”. Needless to say, under his shinning direction, and bonded by a strong cast … this is the sword and shield classic that made the genre achieve its title of “EPIC”! At face value, it would almost seem that “Gladiator” had an easier time winning over both audiences and critics … but it actually had a lot to prove for itself, as the story is admittedly an amalgamation of various other epics.
Yet, through the films approach and presentation, it never
once felt like a run-of-the-mile action flick … at least not to me. I’ve seen
countless other movies throughout the millennium try to replicate the same
crowd pleasing, Oscar approving, adrenaline pumping power of “Gladiator”,
and not one of them captured the same effect that both Ridley Scott and lead
star Russel Crow delivered in that film. Beyond its brilliantly staged
Gladiatorial combat, there’s something at the core of “Gladiator” that’s
always felt human, and genuinely inspiring … “are you not entertained!”
Before I
reveal my number one favorite movie from the year 2000, here are some quick Honorable
Mentions …
Disney’s “Dinosaur”
“Cast Away”
“Space
Cowboys”
“Rules of
Engagement”
“The 6th
Day”
#1 “X-Men”
At last, firmly sitting at my number one favorite spot is the movie that kicked off one of the longest running superhero franchises, and the one that pulled me into the world of Marvel comic pictures. While certainly not the biggest comic-book adapted movie, I'll always regard this as the classic movie that started it all, the one that set the standard for all superhero movies in the following years to take inspiration from, and to lead us away from the campy affairs of the previous 1990’s decade.
Beyond that, while I was already fond of the X-Men comics and animated TV shows, it was seeing this live action film adaption at a young age that solidified my feelings for the “X-Men” as my personal favorite Superhero property. This is the movie that made me love comic book movies in general, a big Marvel fan, an even bigger “X-Men” fan than I already was, a big action fan, and a fan of the wonders of cinema.
Outside of my own personal connections with this film, it succeeded in bringing a crowded group of characters together, with charm, humanity, and a sharp narrative focus. To this day, it’s still one of my most important movie experiences that shaped me into the fan I am today … and things have never been the same since.
Thanks for reading my countdown ... and continue to enjoy the movies you Love!
