Well, specifically I'm talking about CGI, since that's what I spend a lot of my spare time doing, but I guess we can talk about animation in general. And while I do realize that there's quite a bit of diversity in animation, especially coming out of Japan, by and large, here in the West, it's very much a children's medium. Why is that? Do you see animation becoming something more here? I feel that it can do quite a bit more, since it's not limited by the realities of what we can accomplish in live action. And let's be honest, many effects in live-action movies are making extensive use of CGI anyways.

I'm curious about what people think.

Are you talking about animated movies (Ice Age, Toy Story, Despicable Me) or CGI/special effects usage? Because your post doesn't seem clear about that, at least to me. When you talk about diversity, which animations are you talking about? Can you cite some? Are they focused on really big markets or are they simple or niche works?

Also, why do you think it is under-utilized? What do you mean by "something more"? Are you talking about plots/themes or animation styles?

To me, animation usage is increasing really quickly, but high quality CGI animation is still very expensive. That's why you see a lot of short stories in animation (check CGBros on Youtube, for example) with many different themes (some more serious, some not), but almost never a full length movie with those themes. Big budget movies need to sell and making a movie like Arrival or 12 Years a Slave in CGI would probably not be worth the cost.

Pretty much every Hollywood film is CGI nowadays. Does Forest Gump count as a CGI film? Is Game of Thrones a CGI series? Why not?

Both CGI and animation in general are incredibly common, you may need to explain what you mean a bit more.

Why do you think animation is "a children's medium"?

I think the OP is asking why here the animation is mostly targeting kids (although with adult themes subconsciously such as Cars, etc). But in Japan, CGI, and cartoons (such as anime) does cover adult story as a market ( brutal / violent CGI and anime).

I guess the answer is "market"? 

8 hours ago, jbadams said:

Both CGI and animation in general are incredibly common, you may need to explain what you mean a bit more.

Why do you think animation is "a children's medium"?

As @Fable Fox said, what I meant is that most animated movies (like Ice Age, Wall-E, etc.) that are pure animation are primarily targeted at kids at least in the West. When I say animation, I don't mean special effects, which are arguably only increasing. 

10 hours ago, TerraSkilll said:

Are you talking about animated movies (Ice Age, Toy Story, Despicable Me) or CGI/special effects usage? Because your post doesn't seem clear about that, at least to me. When you talk about diversity, which animations are you talking about? Can you cite some? Are they focused on really big markets or are they simple or niche works?

Also, why do you think it is under-utilized? What do you mean by "something more"? Are you talking about plots/themes or animation styles?

To me, animation usage is increasing really quickly, but high quality CGI animation is still very expensive. That's why you see a lot of short stories in animation (check CGBros on Youtube, for example) with many different themes (some more serious, some not), but almost never a full length movie with those themes. Big budget movies need to sell and making a movie like Arrival or 12 Years a Slave in CGI would probably not be worth the cost.

When I say that it seems under-utilized, I mean plots/themes. We always see that we've got the plots aimed at children, etc. The movies you cited are good examples of what I mean.

I've seen some great work on CGBros on youtube, actually, which gives me hope that there may be more change coming soon in the field of animation.

2 hours ago, FableFox said:

I guess the answer is "market"? 

But I wonder why? What is so different about markets here in the West as opposed to Japanese markets specifically?

This question doesn't have a simple answer. You could probably write a thesis on why.

Certainly one of the major reasons is this idea that cartoons are for kids (in the Western world). It's engraved into everyone's heads. If some friends came up to you and said "hey dude, let's go watch a movie. It's this cartoon that [...]" your brain would immediately conclude in this moment that this movie is going to be lame and for 12 year olds. That seems to be the natural reaction.

It's interesting that we are so quick to judge cartoons like this, despite there being quite a few cartoons that are not for kids (Rick & Morty, South Park, The Simpsons, etc.)

4 hours ago, TheComet said:

Certainly one of the major reasons is this idea that cartoons are for kids (in the Western world). It's engraved into everyone's heads.

My wive laughs at me if i watch a CGI movie.

She also laughs at me if i play computer games. Because it's childish she says, allthough 90% of my playtime is with HER on... Super Mario, sigh. It does not help to tell her the average gamer nowadays is 35. She still laughs.

Maybe it's easier to bring what you like about CGI to games? Games seems to have a much faster growing acceptance in society, at least.

But currently, both have one in common: If you like them, you almost need to keep that a secret it seems.