When Pinocchio filmmaker Guillermo del Toro accepted the Best Animated Film Oscar at the 95th Academy Awards, he proclaimed that “Animation is cinema. Animation is not a genre. Animation is ready to be taken to the next step.” While the medium is often looked at primarily for the entertainment of kids, the best movies of 2023 crafted from paper, a computer or clay show that the capacity for storytelling in animated movies is limitless.
As the year comes to a close, let’s delve into the best animated movies to come out. In a year when Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros became the first billion dollar hit before Barbie took the top spot, which films best employed the use of the medium? Take a look at our picks:
10. Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
To start things off, we have Netflix’s hilarious Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget. The sequel comes over 20 years after the original hit theaters from British’s Aardman Animations as its first feature prior to the stop-motion studio later producing the Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep movies. The welcome return of sharp-humored farm chickens sees them hatching a rescue mission from their old enemy. Albeit critics’ thoughts were a tad mixed on Dawn of the Nugget, it’s not only a comforting watch for fans of the 2000 classic, but a stunning feat of claymation artwork to behold in a 97-minute package.
9. Wish
Walt Disney Studios turned 100 years old this year and decided to celebrate the occasion with a tribute album of a movie called Wish. The animated film drew on the company's century of history, including its tropes and clichés, to bring to life an original story of a young woman who makes a wish on the night sky and gets to meet the star she made her plea to. Between Ariana DeBose delivering a new classic with “This Wish” and Chris Pine delivering on an especially dark and delicious villain, Wish may not break new ground for the studio, but it is an entertaining nostalgia trip.
8. Unicorn Wars
One particularly under-the-radar animated movie of 2023 that falls in the camp of 'movies in the medium not meant for kids' is the Spanish-language film Unicorn Wars. The movie that comes from Spanish comic book artist Alberto Vásquez Rico is essentially a satirical war movie about a civilization of teddy bears who are in an ongoing conflict with unicorns who are residing in a magical forest. The rather violent animated horror comedy tackles rather nuanced topics of military fascism and deforestation with boldness and wit.
7. Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia
After 2012’s Ernest & Celestine became a critically-acclaimed hit, the titular grizzly bear and mouse are back together for Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia. The French-language animated film based on a series of children’s books has the unlikely friends going on a journey to his home of Gibbertia to repair the beloved violin Celestine breaks on accident. It’s a tender and delightful family film that is a lovely followup to the decade-old original.
6. Suzume
Following Makoto Shinkai catching the attention of anime fans with 2016’s Your Name and 2019’s Weathering With You, the Japanese filmmaker returned with another well-received fantasy animation film in Suzume. This movie follows a 17-year-old high school student named Suzume who meets a stranger in Souta Munakata whom she teams up with to prevent a series of disasters across Japan through magical doors. Along with Suzume being a visual feast, it’s also a deeply moving and emotional addition to this year’s animated releases.
5. Elemental
After a stint of streaming-only Pixar films and the commercial disappointment of Lightyear, the animation studio found its footing again this year with Elemental, which not only performed better than expected at the box office, but is one of the best animated movies of the year. Can fire and water mix? On a practical level, the answer to that question is simple, but in Pixar’s imaginative world of Element City, it makes for an enticing and fantastical romantic comedy between a flame and puddle of water that somehow also speaks authentically the immigrant experience and spoke to those in interracial relationships.
4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise has lived as a comic book, Saturday morning cartoon and a live-action movie series, but this year, it was given its best treatment yet with Mutant Mayhem. The Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg-written and produced animated comedy gave the beloved four mutant turtles a stylish, cinematic edge against an all-star cast including Ayo Edebiri, Jackie Chan, Ice Cube and Giancarlo Esposito, and an engaging, original piece of animation splendor to behold.
3. Nimona
After reports came in last year that Disney shelved Nimona after pushing back against its LGBTQ+ storyline, the adaptation of ND Stevenson’s graphic novel of the same name was given a new life on Netflix, and we’re so grateful it did. Set against the backdrop of a futuristic medieval world, Nimona redefines the fantasy adventure by telling the tale of Riz Ahmed’s Knight Ballister Boldheart, a hero who becomes a villain in an instant when he's framed with a terrible crime in front of his kingdom. As he tries to remain in the shadows, he meets the titular shapeshifter and they team up to prove his innocence. It’s a fun family-friendly film with a valuable message about daring to question things and rewrite one’s own story.
2. Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse
Speaking of rewriting one’s story, it's time to talk about a masterpiece of not only the animation genre, but the superhero landscape with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. The Into The Spider-Verse follow-up from Sony Animation is a jaw-dropping feat of animation creation once again from directors Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson that continues Miles Morales journey as Spider-Man across a multiverse of infinite Spider-heroes he’s being exposed to. Across The Spider-Verse is not only another entertaining and emotional chapter for Miles that stands out amongst piles of Marvel Studios movies, it’s a towering moment for mixed medium artistry in blockbuster films.
1. The Boy And The Heron
Lastly, the best animated movie of the year is Hayao Miyazaki’s first movie in ten years, The Boy and the Heron. The two-hour hand-drawn animated film that was made across seven years is not only inspired by the legendary Japanese filmmaker’s own childhood, but feels like an amalgamation of his over four decades of impact on the animation industry. Between lovable fantastical characters, breathtaking landscapes and scenes of tables of food to the film’s exploration of the nature of existence and the cycle of life and death through a sprawling adventure that expands through the fabric of space and time.
Across 2023 new movie releases, it’s been a strong year for animated movies. We can’t wait to see what the 2024 movie schedule has in store for the medium.
