What Makes a Movie "The Best?"

Obviously there is something that separates Hedgehog in the Fog from a Pixar movie or even Dreamworks, but what is it? Normally, I'm on board with trying to understand why a movie that Leeper shows us is so good, and I like to broaden the cultural side of my mind, but this one I didn't understand.

Let me clarify. I liked Hedgehog. I thought it was great. But what makes it better than Up or Finding Nemo? What makes it more substantial than The Lion King or Spirited Away? All of those animated movies are, in my opinion, the same if not more entertaining to watch, and I found a moral and lesson within their stories too. However, these are not the films that were dubbed "the best ever" and I find that more curious rather than infuriating. I can accept that the animation I grew up with isn't what the art world is considering as "the best." After all, I'm only eighteen and I'm willing to admit that my taste in films might not be up to par with Leeper or the rest of the film industry. But I really am curious as to what makes a film "one of the best" and why Hedgehog is seen as a truly artistic and amazing animated film, but those other movies were not even mentioned.

I wonder if it's about selective audience? All the films we've watched in Leeper's class have been relatively unknown to me. I think I have heard of maybe two films prior to watching them in that class. I feel like a lot of people could agree that for the most part, the films being shown to us are not something we have heard about a lot, if at all. So while they may be insanely popular in some fraction of the world and the art community, they are not widely popular among the average middle class American families such as mine.

Does that smaller audience have an impact on the film itself, and even the filmmaker? I mean, it can't be argued that any Pixar film is more popular and vastly seen that Hedgehog, yet it's Hedgehog that Leeper said was one of the best animated films of our time. I honestly don't know, and I hope Leeper touches on the mechanics of what makes the films he's showing us so substantial to the film industry. I truly want to understand, but right now I don't, especially with the animated films.

I think this all comes back to the conversation about mainstream vs. art house. What makes one better or worse than the former. Why are art house films so highly acclaimed, but it's mainstream that is pulling in larger audiences. Why can't the two cross sides? I think I'm just reopening old conversations, but the questions are truly fascinating: What is it that makes respectable filmmakers, film professors, and artists call Hedgehog in the Fog one of the best animated films? What is it that makes a film "the best?"

- R.