One of the most controversial moments during 2022’s 94th Academy Awards ceremony happened during the presentation of the Best Animated Feature. Presented by Lily James, Naomi Scott, and Halle Bailey — three actresses known for their appearances in live-action remakes of classic Disney animated films — the category of Best Animated Feature Film was dismissed as a category only for children.
While Disney is known for being a family-friendly company and has won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature 16 times since the category’s creation in 2001, it is reductive to think that animation is “just for kids”. Animated movies can appeal to people of all ages, as recently seen with the success of Pixar’s Turning Red depicting intergenerational trauma and exploring complex mother-daughter relationships. Animation is not a genre, but a style. It’s a way of telling stories and a cinematic art form that can be used to explore adult themes.
‘The Mitchells vs. the Machines’ (2021)
A notable contender for Best Animated Feature at the 94th Academy Awards, The Mitchells vs. The Machines was considered one of the biggest Oscar snubs of the night as the award went to Disney’s Encanto instead.
In the latest film from Sony Pictures Animation, The Mitchells vs. the Machines follows quirky and ambitious young filmmaker Katie (Abbi Jacobson) and her dysfunctional family as they are all caught up in the robot apocalypse. Almost as if the film was made by Katie herself, The Mitchells vs. the Machines implements what the creators call “Katie-vision” with 2D doodles and stock footage overlaid on the CG animation. The Mitchells vs. the Machines is a movie about embracing your unique personality, and the creative animation style perfectly captures the heart of the movie.
‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ (2009)
Adapting Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book, Wes Anderson brings his skill for carefully curated shots and picturesque cinematography to his first venture in stop-motion animation with Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Following the titular Mr. Fox (George Clooney) planning an elaborate heist to provide for his family, Fantastic Mr. Fox delves into what it means to be a good father and husband. With its rugged animation style and mature themes, Anderson’s animation reveals that children can be mature just as much as adults can be childish.
‘Flee’ (2021)
Making history as the first film to be simultaneously nominated for Best Animated Feature, Best Documentary Feature, and Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards, Flee is a Danish animated documentary directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen following a man under the pseudonym Amin Nawabi as he shares his hidden past and the time he fled his country of Afghanistan.
Flee is a groundbreaking animated film with its distinctive style, mature themes, and LGBT+ representation, it expands the very definition of what it means to be a documentary.
‘Grave of the Fireflies’ (1988)
Studio Ghibli films are known for their whimsical aesthetics underscored by mature themes. Set during World War 2, Grave of the Fireflies is a tragic film with anti-war sentiments following a boy and his younger sister struggling to survive in war-torn Japan.
With loss, destruction, and death at its core, Grave of the Fireflies is a difficult film to watch as the children lose their mother and their home but still hold onto their hope. An eloquent and deeply depressing film, it’s a prime example of animated movies' capabilities of providing mature social commentary.
‘Klaus’ (2019)
While a movie about Santa Claus may not seem like a movie made for adults, Klaus is more than what it appears to be. Becoming one of the first animated films from a streaming service to be nominated for an Academy Award, Klaus is a groundbreaking animated movie for both its themes and animation style alike.
When a postman arrives at a small Arctic village, he befriends the reclusive carpenter Klaus (J.K. Simmons) and employs his help in distributing toys and spreading joy to the lonely inhabitants of the town. Making the most of new technology available, the animators behind Klaus brought its characters to life by using lighting and texture to make the characters appear 3D despite being a 2D film. Painting with light, Klaus’ unique animation style conveys emotion through light and shadow, achieving a feat thought impossible in 2D animation.
‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ (2018)
Considered one of the best Spider-Man movies ever made, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse revolutionized animation for Sony Pictures Animation as producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller engrained the film with a unique style.
Combining computer animation with traditional hand-drawn comic book techniques, the film employs numerous techniques to make the most of the animated medium. By alternating the frame rate between 24 frames a second and 12 frames a second, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has a unique sense of rhythm to its movement. As the multiverse opens, multiple animation styles collide bringing together the cartoony style of Spider-Ham (John Mulaney) with the anime style of Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn) and the noir aesthetic of Spider-Noir (Nicolas Cage). With its innovations in animation, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse not only makes the most of its medium but also celebrates it and acknowledges the breadth of its creative potential.
‘Akira’ (1988)
An early entry exemplifying innovations in animated cinema, the dystopian Japanese cyberpunk world of Akira was brought to life by Katsuhiro Otomo in the 1988 animated film.
Made in the 1980s before computers became the dominant means of animating, every frame of Akira was hand-drawn, with a technique known as cel animation. With 24 frames in a second and the movie’s two-hour runtime, there are over 172,000 hand-drawn frames in Akira. This painstaking process resulted in a smooth animation style that brings every detail of the world of the film to life.
‘Waking Life’ (2001)
An experimental animated film written and directed by Richard Linklater, Waking Life makes the most of developments in technology by creating a rotoscoped film. Rotoscoping is the process of animating over pre-recorded video footage one frame at a time.
Waking Life was animated by numerous artists, resulting in the film’s aesthetic changing scene to scene and creating a surreal and shifting dreamscape. With its uncanny style, Waking Life uses animation to embellish live-action cinema by making the realistic appear unrealistic.
‘Shrek’ (2001)
While many animated movies are targeted directly at children, that doesn’t stop the creators from cleverly hiding adult jokes. Putting a modern twist on wholesome childhood fairytales such as Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty, DreamWorks’ Shrek is full of references and dirty jokes that definitely went over kids’ heads.
Whether it’s the vulgar allusion to the name “Lord Farquaad,” or Shrek’s (Mike Myers) comment about Farquaad “compensating for something” with his larger-than-life castle, Shrek is full of adult humor. Shrek’s creative wit imbues the film with a more mature comedy that can be relished by older viewers who are left to fill in the blanks. Shrek acknowledges the intelligence of its audience and uses its adult humor to add a layer of enjoyment to the film that stands the test of time, seeing adults returning to the film with a newfound appreciation.
‘Sausage Party’ (2016)
While the thought of inanimate objects coming to life sounds like the perfect kids' movie echoing the themes of Toy Story and Beauty and the Beast, Sausage Party is definitely not suitable for children.
Created by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and Jonah Hill, Sausage Party is an adult animated film set in a world where products inside the supermarket are alive. Featuring characters such as a sausage named Frank (Seth Rogen), an attractive hotdog bun named Brenda (Kristen Wiig), and a Jewish bagel played by Edward Norton, Sausage Party is creative in directing the film toward an adult audience. Being the first 3D computer-animated film to be rated R, Sausage Party thrives off of innuendos and puns geared toward an adult-only audience and emphasizes that animation is a medium that can be enjoyed by adults and children alike.