List of Animated Movies You Should Watch

Hey all! Here’s a little list of animated movies I recommend. I should say that there are a couple of movies on this list that I have heard are fantastic, but I haven’t seen them myself. Much of this list makes up my favourite movies of all time though, so without further adieu…

1) Anything directed by Hayao Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli. Studio Ghibli is just a genius team of people who make some of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen. For me the most notable films are Princess Mononoke (my personal favourite), Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky, Nausicaa and My Neighbour Totoro.

2) Summer Wars. Did anyone watch the Digimon movie when they were younger where a Digimon (Diaboromon) infects the internet, and his actions on the net affect things in the physical world? Well the director liked that concept and wanted to explore it in greater detail, thus Summer Wars was born years later! I absolutely love this film and cannot recommend it enough.

3) The Girl Who Lept Through Time. This is form the same director as Summer Wars and it definitely shows in the art style (which I love). The Girl Who Lept Through Time is basically about a girl who well… leaps through time. She starts using her time leaping to improve her everyday life, but gets reckless and doesn’t initially realize that improvements in her life can bring about negative consequences for others. It’s an all around wonderful, beautiful movie.

4) 5 Centimeters Per Second. Don’t watch this unless you’re prepared to be depressed for the next couple days. I was quite literally in a fog for like three days because of a MOVIE. It really got to me. Something especially notable about this film is that every single frame looks like a gorgeous work of art. It might be the most beautiful film just visually speaking that I’ve ever seen. If you’re a bit of a romantic, watch this.

5) Evangellion movies part 1 and 2. Once upon a time there was an anime called Evangellion. It’s  one of those shows where for whatever reason fifteen year olds have to control giant robots known as “Evas” to fight off monsters in Japan. I’m totally cool with this concept (for some reason) but if you’re not, this isn’t for you. Anyway. the anime was pretty cool and I found it really ascended in quality the more you watched… until the ending. The ending is actually laughable. You can’t really have a conversation about bad anime endings without Evangellion coming up. But the good thing about these films are that it just recreated Evangellion in higher quality, slightly nicer artwork, and INCLUDES  A BETTER ENDING. Yay. I haven’t watched these yet but I’m definitely going to soon, and I’ve only heard good things about them.

6) Tangled. Disney time! If you’re one of those people who stopped watching new Disney movies because you feel the quality isn’t what it used to be, just watch Tangled. It’s fantastic, easily in my top five Disney movies of all time.

7) Brother Bear. Another Disney movie! I don’t remember this film getting much attention when it came out. I only just watched it for the first time a month ago or so, but it’s so great! Juuust watch it.

8) Akira. This is an anime classic. To be honest, I don’t love it, but I do think it’s worth watching. I know a lot of people who do love it though, so I guess it’s just not for me. It’s got a post-apocalyptic vibe going, creepy children with powers, out of control teens, and of course trying to save the city from doom!

9) Metropolis. This is actually based on the Metropolis film made way back in the 1930’s. The original had to do with class difference, illustrated by a huge city where the upper class live on the upper level surrounded by greenery and beautiful architecture, and the lower class live in the lower level of the city, surrounded by machinery and forced to work unfair hours in dangerous jobs. The animated Metropolis takes this a step further where there are three levels, and the robots live on the lowest level. I much prefer the animated version. While the original is classic, it’s pretty goofy. I feel much more of an impact from the animated Metropolis.

10) Grave of the Fireflies. I have never seen this film, largely because I haven’t been brave enough to watch. All I have ever heard is that this is a beautiful, yet tragic film. It’s about Japan in WWII, but we don’t really see much of the war, we see how the war affects the people back home who aren’t fighting. I know it will be difficult to watch, but it is very highly rated and I know I’ll get around to it one day.

So there you go! Now you have no excuse to be bored. Can’t think of something to do? Watch one of these!

-WIndie