(Cover) - EN Movies - John Lasseter thinks some of the greatest animated characters are those which don't speak.

The 54-year-old US animator-and-director is chief creative officer for Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios.

John is passionate about animation, although he feels that many characters who don't have voices in the genre often get overlooked. He cites Disney animation Tangled, which was a huge hit in the US last year, as one picture where people should pay more attention to the animals.

"Often in animated films, everybody talks about who's doing the voices, but some of my favourite characters in the history of animation are characters that never talk - the animal characters or the pantomime characters - and we have two characters in Tangled that really steal the show," he beamed in an interview with Total Film.

"Maximus, the horse, or Max, as his friends call him, is fantastic. He's like a giant puppy dog trapped in a horse's body. He is hilarious. And he has this great story arc, a great friendship arc with Flynn Rider and with Rapunzel. It's one of the highlights of the film."

John greatly appreciated the work of Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi, who respectively voiced characters Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. He had a huge soft spot for one of the smaller characters too though.

"Rapunzel has a friend, Pascal, who's a little chameleon and this is one of the most original characters ever done in animation," he smiled.

"He is so appealing, so cute, so funny; this is one of the things I get excited about. It can only be done in computer animation. He's a chameleon and he blends in with the background all the time and it's so special and unlike anything you've ever seen. It's really unique and he is a truly memorable character." (C) Cover Media