Animation is a medium for powerful movies, and these are perfect from beginning to end.
Some of the greatest movies ever made are fully animated, and the art form has garnered such prestige over time that a feature-length work is often expected to be more than just a long cartoon. Disney and Studio Ghibli are probably the most famous production companies out there for the medium, and with good reason. However, other studios and individuals are producing stellar work as well.
Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs showed that animated films could garner commercial and critical success. Then Fantasia came along in 1940 and showed that the possibilities were more or less endless for the artform. If the perfect animated picture not only looks wonderful but tells a cohesive story just as gracefully as the perfect live-action film, then the following movies fit the requirements and then some. These animated movies are pretty much flawless, proving that the medium can tell stories with more emotional power and impact than any film genre.
10 ‘Bambi’ (1942)
Supervising Director: David Hand
Based on Felix Salten’s novel Bambi, a Life in the Woods, Bambi introduced audiences to one of Disney’s most iconic characters. Many people falsely believe Bambi’s mother dies in the beginning, but it’s actually about 40 minutes in. That the audience gets to know her so well is part of what makes her death so painful, and it’s essential to the story’s insistence on showing the darker side of life in the woods. The forest fire, the hunters—they all provide necessary life lessons for Bambi that also touch on humankind’s disrespect for wildlife.
Something as simple as an April shower is able to enrapture the “young prince,” and the gorgeous animation makes the viewer feel that same sense of awe for nature. Along with that, Thumper’s stomping and Bambi’s first attempts to walk on wobbly legs are just a few of the many charming details in a film both parents and children can enjoy. One of the best movies of 1942, the ever-enchanting Bambi proves that a realistic setting could be just as magical as a fairy tale, and it still is today.
Bambi
- Release Date
- August 21, 1942
- Cast
- Hardie Albright , Stan Alexander , Bobette Audrey , Peter Behn , Thelma Boardman , Janet Chapman
- Runtime
- 69 minutes
- Writers
- Felix Salten , Perce Pearce , Larry Morey , Vernon Stallings , Melvin Shaw , Carl Fallberg
9 ‘Flee’ (2021)
Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Flee is an animated documentary by way of an interview. After many years, Amin finally tells the story of his escape from Afghanistan to post-Cold War Russia, searching for a better life. Flee wisely lets the viewer see what’s happening behind the scenes of the interview: the locations, Amin’s PhD, his search for a house, etc. Without the decision to go meta, the audience wouldn’t know that it took six months after the interviewing began for Amin to feel comfortable enough to talk about what happened to his father.
Details like this are essential, as they convey the nuance and struggle of his experience, not to mention the pressure Amin felt to keep his story secret. He hadn’t even told his partner, another fact that makes Flee so much more moving than most conventional documentaries. As Collider‘s Matt Goldberg wrote: “It removes the macro view and stereotyping of some threatening other and puts forward an individual who moved through a non-existent system where they managed to survive brutal conditions no one should be forced into.”
Flee
- Release Date
- December 3, 2021
- Runtime
- 1 hr 30 min
8 ‘Grave of the Fireflies’ (1988)
Directed by Isao Takahata
Isao Takahata‘s Grave of the Fireflies is based on a semi-autobiographical short story and paints a tragic depiction of civilian life during wartime. In one of the darkest openings in any animated movie, a young man named Seita (Tsutomu Tatsumi) dies of starvation in a train station. The story of how he wound up there shows how his mother fell victim to a bombing raid in World War II and doesn’t spare the viewer from seeing what remains of her body. Seita and his little sister, Setsuko (Ayano Shiraishi), try to cope with the horrors of war and survive on their own.
The shot of all those planes approaching the beach while Seita and Setsuko are trying to have some fun is one of many that convey war’s devastation of youth and innocence. The mass firefly grave is another heartbreaking image, and the stunning animation only makes the story more upsetting, not less. It’s one of the most unflinching anti-war movies ever made and one of Studio Ghibli’s unforgettable works. Although quite demanding, Grave of the Fireflies remains a masterful picture, offering definitive proof of the medium’s unique power.
Grave of the Fireflies
- Release Date
- July 26, 1989
- Cast
- Tsutomu Tatsumi , Ayano Shiraishi , Akemi Yamaguchi
- Runtime
- 89 minutes
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7 ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ (1988)
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki‘s My Neighbor Totoro is literally the face of Studio Ghibli, and it’s easy to see why. A man and his two daughters move into a new house with small, sooty puffballs in the walls and weird creatures in the garden. Mei (Chika Sakamoto) claims the path in the bushes leads to a huge tree and a giant sleepy monster named Totoro. The film doesn’t have much of a plot, opting instead for impressions of the girls’ rural life, but the narrative simplicity is key to its power, allowing the setting and characters to speak for themselves.
Few movies rival My Neighbor Totoro‘s ability to depict the magnificent connection between the natural world and imagination. The bus stop scene is delightful even before the cat bus arrives, providing a wonderful contrast to what started as a sad wait in the rain. Mei and Satsuki’s (Noriko Hidaka) mother is sick in the hospital the whole film, but an engaging father (Tatsuo Kusakabe) and kind neighbors (spirits and humans alike) help these sisters nevertheless experience the thrills and comforts of childhood. Miyazaki’s filmography is legendary, and My Neighbor Totoro is one of his strongest efforts, a magical and enchanting effort about the importance of imagination and childhood bliss.
My Neighbor Totoro
- Release Date
- April 16, 1988
- Cast
- Noriko Hidaka , Chika Sakamoto , Shigesato Itoi , Sumi Shimamoto , Tanie Kitabayashi , Hitoshi Takagi
- Runtime
- 86 Minutes
- Writers
- Hayao Miyazaki
6 ‘Finding Nemo’ (2003)
Directed by Andrew Stanton
Finding Nemo fearlessly starts with one of the most devastating first scenes in animation history: the death of Nemo’s mother and siblings. The trauma of this event crucially sets the stage for Marlin’s (one of Albert Brooks‘s best performances) paranoia and over-protective parenting of his only son, Nemo (Alexander Gould). But Nemo’s capture forces him to face things that anyone would be terrified of, including several sharks in a recovery group whose amusing pledge never gets old: “Fish are friends, not food.”
The American Film Institute called Finding Nemo one of the ten greatest animated movies of all time, and they’re not wrong. Every inch of the film is splendidly animated, and every narrative second is absorbing. Equally terrifying, suspenseful, exhilarating, touching, and hilarious, Finding Nemo movie demonstrates the value of perseverance with humor and heart (“Just keep swimming!”). It also boasts one of the worst dentists in animation history, which is a big plus, for sure.
Finding Nemo
- Release Date
- May 30, 2003
- Cast
- Albert Brooks , Ellen DeGeneres , Alexander Gould , Willem Dafoe , Brad Garrett , Allison Janney
- Runtime
- 100
- Writers
- Andrew Stanton , Bob Peterson , David Reynolds
5 ‘The Incredibles’ (2004)
Directed by Brad Bird
Written and directed by Brad Bird, The Incredibles is about a superhero family living in a time when heroes are outlawed. Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) has just been working in an office lately, and his mid-life crisis compels him to throw his boss through the wall. His need to get back into the superhero game again drives the narrative forward, but everyone else in the family is just as complex and fun to watch. That includes the baby Jack-Jack, whose poor babysitter will never be the same.
The Incredibles is hilarious, visually striking, action-packed, and touching. Of course, a movie of this genre is only as good as its villain, and Jason Lee does a stellar job as Syndrome. Not even based on a comic, this critical and commercial success is one of the best superhero movies of all time, proving the genre can be more than fancy action setpieces; at its best, superhero movies offer insight into what it means to be different and the unrelenting power of the human spirit.
The Incredibles
- Release Date
- October 27, 2004
- Cast
- Craig T. Nelson , Holly Hunter , Samuel L. Jackson , Jason Lee , Dominique Louis , Teddy Newton
- Runtime
- 121
- Writers
- Brad Bird
4 ‘The Wolf House’ (2018)
Directed by Cristobal León and Joaquín Cociña
La Casa Lobo (The Wolf House in English) is a Chilean adult stop-motion animated horror film that demonstrates how you don’t need gore or jumpscares to scar your audience for life. Directed by Cristobal León and Joaquín Cociña, this disturbing masterpiece is somehow their respective directorial debuts. It is based on the real-life case of Colonia Dignidad, a monstrous cult founded by Germans in Chile post-WWII. A member of a similar cult has just escaped and found an abandoned house to hide in, and the narrative becomes a horrific spin on the Three Little Pigs.
The Wolf House
is easily one of the best experimental horror films ever made, a surreal and haunting experience that brings its disturbing exploration to life with chilling yet thought-provoking results.
The animation constantly shifts and reconstructs both the characters and their environment. This approach is essential to the mood, as most viewers can get used to looking at any kind of style eventually, so when everything is constantly changing, the viewer never stops feeling viscerally uncomfortable. Winner of awards including Best Animated Film at the Boston Society of Film Critics Awards and the Audience Award at the Valdivia International Film Festival, The Wolf House is easily one of the best experimental horror films ever made, a surreal and haunting experience that brings its disturbing exploration to life with chilling yet thought-provoking results.
3 ‘It’s Such a Beautiful Day’ (2012)
Directed by Don Hertzfeldt
Don Hertzfeldt‘s independent stick-figure masterpiece It’s Such a Beautiful Day was made by taking three of his award-winning short films about Bill and editing them together. Immediately hilarious in its everyday awkward interactions and mundane details, this marvelous work effortlessly blends humor with surprisingly affecting and existentially troubling moments about a man whose mental health deteriorates before the viewer’s eyes. The scene when his mother tries to cut a piece of fabric off his collar, for instance, says so much with so little.
Gradually, the story builds until it becomes a darkly comic meditation on time (similar to Kurt Vonnegut‘s take on Slaughterhouse Five), memory, family dysfunction, and humanity’s place in the universe. The black space that often surrounds Bill is a constant reminder of the inevitable void, but It’s Such a Beautiful Day also evokes a sense of wonder and appreciation for life that surpasses most other movies—animated or not. Without a doubt, it’s one of the best indies of the 2010s.
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2 ‘The Tale of The Princess Kaguya’ (2013)
Directed by Isao Takahata
A breathtaking challenge to the starry-eyed happy ending most princess movies present, Isao Takahata’s final film is about an adventurous girl who comes out of a bamboo shoot. She grows up so fast that the kids call her the English equivalent of “Little Bamboo,” though the couple who take her in call her “Princess.” Studio Ghibli’s co-founder uses a form that is unusual for him that is nonetheless immaculate; every impressionistic frame of this watercolor-style fable belongs in a museum. The sounds of birds, crickets, and cicadas likewise evoke a love for nature that goes hand in hand with the ephemeral joy of childhood.
Based on the Japanese folktale “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter,” The Tale of the Princess Kaguya presents the materialistic and patriarchal values forced upon the princess. Societal expectations of palace life gradually stifle her personality, alter her appearance, and leave her wishing for the freedom of her rural days. One of the most telling scenes is when she is supposed to sit in a separate room alone during a male-dominated banquet, which was ironically made in her name. With such beautiful music throughout, it’s no wonder that The Christian Science Monitor called it “a marvel that is lyrical and heartbreaking in ways that most live-action movies never approach.”
1 ‘WALL-E’ (2008)
Directed by Andrew Stanton
WALL-E is about a robot who smashes garbage into cubes with his chest and stacks them up into enormous piles all day. His head is shaped like ET’s, his personality is just as friendly, and he, too, has been abandoned on Earth. Except he was built by people hundreds of years ago, and it doesn’t appear that they’re coming back for him. The viewer could watch this lonely fellow for hours, rolling around an environmentally devastated Earth with his cockroach buddy and clicking on old musicals in his charmingly inventive home.
But that’s only the first act. When a much more advanced (but not less emotionally expressive) robot arrives, the setting launches into outer space and into a ship where what remains of human civilization lazes around while technology does everything for them. WALL-E and EVE’s terrific chemistry is only surpassed by the film’s spectacular animation; the robots floating around in space with a fire extinguisher are just one of many masterful scenes. A sci-fi movie that’s perfect from start to finish, this animated classic serves as a child-friendly warning of what humanity’s future is gravitating toward every day.
WALL-E
- Release Date
- June 22, 2008
- Cast
- Ben Burtt , Elissa Knight , Jeff Garlin , Fred Willard , MacInTalk , John Ratzenberger
- Runtime
- 103
- Writers
- Andrew Stanton , Pete Docter , Jim Reardon
This article was originally published on collider.com