Creating the "Illusion of Life" - The Most Important Phenomenon in Animation

Going back to the first day of class with Luxo Jr., the most important phenomenon in animation is first, bringing to life something that was not previously alive (or giving it the “illusion of life” so to speak), and second, making the audience feel emotion for or about that animation.  The most recent and strongest example of this working successfully for me, is Pixar’s UP, which had most of the people I was in the theater with crying about 10 minutes into the film.  Pixar also did this with Finding Nemo.  To me, this is an incredible feat, and it doesn’t go without recognition; Pixar wins Oscars by the bundle almost every year, for successfully achieving this phenomenon.  To do this, one must consider all that has been taught by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston; one must remember all the rules and the steps to make successful animation, because if one watches both UP and Finding Nemo, and makes a checklist of all the rules followed, I can guarantee Pixar’s animators did not skip a single step; this is why they are successful.