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You'll have to correct my innocent misunderstandings.
>* pre-television cartoon shorts
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You mean like the early Mickey Mouse stuff? Betty Boop and all that? I must admit I'm not terribly familiar with the pre-Bugs Bunny era of animation. I HAVE seen some old experimental films that played around with stop-motion, but in terms of Mickey Mouse and other iconic cartoons of the era, I have next to no familiarity. If there's a Library of Congress website or something that has a bunch of these, I'd be more than willing to watch.
>* 1960s/1970s TV shows
Again, not 100% sure what encompasses this, but I was a big fan of the older cartoons I'd see on Cartoon Network as a kid (that kinda shows how young I am, I remember as a kid when Cartoon Network came on the air...Comedy Central too for that matter), like The Flintstones, The Jetsons, etc. I liked those because they were very much like sitcom situations, only due to the displacement from your traditional setting and due to the multitude of visual gags you can allow with animation, it elevated them to new levels (not saying that The Flintstones is better than The Honeymooners, but it's on a totally different plane). I loved those, and I watched those with my dad a lot. Also, I watched a lot of action/adventure shows, like Birdman, Space Ghost, The Herculoids, and some other ones that came in short doses. My favorite, and what has to be one of my favorite animated shows in any context in any time period is Jonny Quest. I LOVE Jonny Quest. The other action/adventure shows I watched (again, not sure if they fit the era you describe) were all amusing on a corny level, but Jonny Quest I always thought was fantastic. And as a guilty pleasure, I always watched Scooby Doo, so I'm a fan, though now in my older years it's MUCH easier to sit through episodes of Jonny Quest without getting bored than it is to watch Scooby Doo. Again, I hope I described shows in the era you mentioned, because I have no proper timeline.
>* modern-day TV shows
What I like about many modern-day TV shows is the fact that ever since South Park (and to a degree, this was realized first when The Simpsons came on the air), the dialogue has become more important than the level of sophistication of the animation. This stems of course from always starting with a lower budget, and The Simpsons and South Park both have increased the amount that they use spectactular visuals in their shows, but it's more important to keep the dialogue fresh and the characters interesting. Adult Swim has basically no shows with really great animation to watch (except Futurama), but they're all interesting shows. In terms of anime, I am 100% unfamiliar. I realize those shows have a lot of emphasis on the spectactular visual that the animation provides, but again, I watched VERY little anime, so I can't talk about it much really.
>* Disney animated features
I grew up on them. The Little Mermaid is the first Disney feature I remember seeing as a child, so I came in right on the good wave. I don't know if anyone can beat in my eyes (well, in 2-D animation anyhow) the string of Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King (which I do like, but the appreciation of which has also gone down as I get older). Four fantastic movies with great animation, great characters, and beautiful music and direction. Certain recent 2-D features I think are grossly underrated when it comes to how they should be viewed in the long run of Disney films (in PARTICULAR, Mulan), and you know that I'm a big fan of Hercules which no one else seems to like. The older Disney movies...I can appreciate them on the level of importance in cinematic history, and the wonderful storytelling, and the sheer detail in the animation, but I don't watch them as much as others, because the stories, while they capture the imagination, are more girl-oriented, so I never watched Snow White or Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty as much as I watched Peter Pan or 101 Dalmatians or something like that. Because I didn't really watch them as much as a kid, I don't hold as special a place in my heart for them. But I have seen them since, and I do appreciate them very much, and if I have a daughter one day, they will be the first movies I show her. But if I have a son, I'd bust out Peter Pan or Aladdin first.
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>* other animated features
Dreamworks, with the exception of Antz, has NEVER impressed me with animation. I LOVE Antz, I dislike all of the other ones. People can love the Shrek movies now, but they are FAR from timeless, which is why I love the Pixar movies 10000000000000000000000x more. Shrek movies are ALREADY dated. Shrek 2 was dated before it came out, with its Livin La Vida Loca ending. Also, it seems like their animation is never near the level of sophistication that Pixar has. The ocean was amazing in Finding Nemo, I could've pet Sully in Monsters Inc., and The Incredibles is one of the first animated films I've seen where it feels like a live-action film. The direction, the animation, the character interaction, it's all flawless. I've loved most incidences where contemporary animated TV shows have made a movie. Beavis and Butthead Do America I thoroughly enjoy, and South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut may be the best movie musical of the past 2 decades (and I say this as a HUGE musical theatre fan).
If you want me to expand on any ideas or answer more specific things, I'll do so to the best of my knowledge. I have a limited knowledge of how animation is made, so technical questions probably aren't really for me, but in terms of its use or the industry as a whole or specific features, I'd be glad to answer more. My movies: http://russellhainline.com
My movie reviews: https://letterboxd.com/RussellHFilm/
My beer TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebeertravelguide
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