Stop motion animation is something that has been lost in media usage these days with the abundance of CGI; however, this tactic of bringing to life larger than life creatures and designs has such a nostalgic and unique style that it makes me wish we would see more of it. The recent Primevals was a glorious love letter to this age of film, and there was one master above all else that put stop motion on the map: Ray Harryhausen. His stop motion work produced several iconic films and impressed each time his projects were put to film. With a look back to the classic age of stop motion, these are my top 5 favorite films of Ray Harryhausen that I found most well done and most impressive.
5. The Valley of Gwangi
As a major dinosaur I was more than excited to check out The Valley of Gwangi and was very impressed by what I saw. This was a time we saw a lot more dinosaurs in film than just Jurassic World, and their usage in Valley of Gwagi was a very fun plot that saw these ancient creatures put up against cowboys of the old West. The creatures were as life-like as stop motion could make them, and was a true boon for dino fans.
4. Mysterious Island
Mysterious Island was a wonderful exploration into a crazy world where animals tiny in our world were humongous and more dangerous than ever before. From interactions with a massive mollusk, to the beach encounter with the crab, not to mention the mesmerizing honeycomb/bee sequence, Harryhausen's stop motion work astounded with these creatures alongside an adventure film that holds up very well.
3. The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
One of the sentinel Kaiju films of American history, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms employed stop motion as opposed to the suit-mation Japan so frequently used. The result was a very thrilling monster film with a beast from the arctic soon wrecking havoc upon the city, all with beautiful stop motion featuring the beast ripping through buildings and stomping along the streets. I would love to see the Rhedosaurus captured in action figure form as well by either a Kaiju toyline or Dinosaur (as the creature was presented as a Dinosaur in the film).
2. Clash of the Titans
These next two films can easily be called the jewels of Harryhausen's stop motion career, with Clash of the Titan's legacy speaking for itself. This film is iconic and has produced several follow ups, with so many easily recognizable creatures appearing that can be recognized even to this day by movie fans. The gorgon creature, the dreaded kraken, so much of this movie astounds and wows with its special effects to this day alone with a great story that the stop motion work elevates further.
1. Jason and the Argonauts
Watching this film is what really inspired me to make this list. Jason and the Argonauts is my absolute favorite out of all of Ray Harryhausen's work and it is accompanied by a well written adventure that thrills and certainly stands as a colossus as the poster above states. There is so much to love in this movie with the giant statue they encounter, the fun sequence seeing Triton parting the clashing rocks, and this movie can't be mentioned without bringing up the astounding skeletal battle scene towards the end of the movie. The stop motion and special effects work of this movie was truly ahead of its time and this alone cemented Harryhausen in history as an iconic piece of film history.
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