You know, doing a list of the best animated movies is always difficult. Not picking the movies or even ranking them, honestly that is usually the easy part, and I do love when that is the difficult part. Unfortunately, when that is the easy part, the hard part is finding anything to really say about these movies. Like, you probably know why these movies are good, or you have probably heard people say similar things about why these movies are good. I guess you could make the same arguments about Worst lists, but I always find it much easier to explain why something doesn't work than why it does. I mean, I don't need to be a mechanic to see a broken chain on a machine, and I don't need to be an animator to know that some movies just don't work.
You know, I've been told a couple times that "You should learn to do something before you criticize it", well I learned how to animate, it's actually made me more critical of animation. In some strange way, you would think that would make me better at recognizing good qualities in movies, but ultimately, these type of lists aren't about what is "good" or "bad", those are things that measure the quality of the writing, acting, animation, cinematography, choreography and everything that goes into the movie, lists like these are ultimately about whether or not we liked these. Sure, some movies don't work and are "bad" because of that, but if that was the case one hundred percent of the time, Plan 9 From Outer Space would have faded into obscurity years and years ago.
None of this is really relevant to the list proper, all of it is really to say "If this list feels underwritten, please know I tried", on with the show.
5. Elemental
Is Elemental one of the "best animated movies of 2023"? Honestly... no. It's a good movie, but it is kind of a weak entry in Pixar's line-up. I'll be damned if I don't respect it a lot though.
Elemental seemed to be doomed from the get go, everyone was worried it would be Onward again, or Zootopia again, the trailers were not that great (Though really most animated trailers are pretty bad now-a-days), and on opening week the movie was underperforming like mad. Yet, someone at Disney or Pixar had faith in this movie, and... against all odds it did pay off. Elemental was a sleeper hit, and people seem to agree it's a fine movie. It's the kind of movie that I'm glad succeeded, because it does lessen my worries about Pixar's treatment by Disney.
This actually is similar to last year's list where I put the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie Rehydrated at number ten, where even though I wouldn't argue it as one of the best movies, I had enough respect for it to want to give it a shout out. Elemental deserves a shout out for... not being Onward.
4. The Boy and The Heron
The Boy and The Heron is an interesting movie. It's interesting in that, I do like it, but I also kind of hate it. I mean, it's a Miyazaki movie, and his standards are usually pretty high. I love the slower pacing and quiet ambience of the movie, it's pretty much a hallmark of Ghibli movies that they're gonna take more of their time and have plenty of moments where you just let the scene sink in. Honestly, Miyazaki is kind of like the anti-Baz Luhrmann in my opinion. I think the moment I knew I was going to put this movie on my best list was a really small scene, just the lead character lying on a bed and breathing. The animators actually animated his body rising and falling to his breathing, and that's the scene, it's not really a scene you would find in any typical American animated film, though I can't say that for absolute sure.
But the second half, I honestly really began feeling the length of this movie, like the first half, nearly an hour went by and it felt like ten minutes, but the second half went by and it felt like an hour went by. It kind of became a movie akin to Suzume or Night is Short, Walk on Girl at the end, just a bizarre and strange trip through... something? I did like those movies fine, but this isn't really what I watch a Ghibli movie for, I watch Ghibli movies because they are usually ambient and let the mood sink in, and it's not like the second half wasn't that, it just expected us to take in a lot of stuff at the same time. I mean, it is definitely a movie worth watching, but I don't know if I'd say this is Miyazaki's "Magnum Opus".
Oh yeah, I also watched the Subbed version, in case anyone is Curious.
3. Suzume
Between The Boy and The Heron and Suzume, I think I have to pick Suzume as my favourite anime movie this year, even though it is technically a release from last year and it got a theatrical release in the West this year, look one day release dates aren't going to matter too much for most people.
Suzume is the kind of movie that really shows what animation can be and can do. It is a visual delight that has charming characters and an interesting story. This is from the same guy who directed Your Name and The Garden of Words, so if you're into Makoto Shinkai's work, I think this is definitely gonna be up your alley. If you're new to his work, I don't think this is a perfect starting place, but being a newcomer myself, this movie definitely tells me to keep my eye on his future works.
2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Poor Spider-verse, forever stuck as my second favourite animated film of the year. Into the Spider-Verse was just topped by Isle of Dogs, and now Across the Spider-Verse ranks as number two on this list. Like last time, it was a pretty close call, but there are a couple things that keep it from being number one.
Across the Spider-Verse genuinely feels like this was what the first movie was building towards, little things that carried over from the previous movie and a deeper exploration of this universe-portal technology all feel like a natural step for these movies, and the introduction of these new Spider-Heroes like Spider-Byte, Spider-Punk and Spider-Man 2099, among others is fascinating. Spider-Verse, both into and across, feel like movies made by people who love Spider-Man, and it shows. The focus on Gwen is also a welcome shift, but it doesn't take away from Miles' story, it balances out, and it gives me high expectations for the second part.
Which brings me to why I can't justify putting this film at number one. Production sounds like it was a bit of a nightmare for a lot of the staff on this movie, to the point where the second part is said to be delayed from it's original 2024 release. This is a good thing, I would rather have a movie be made under fair conditions than not, and I hope that 2023 is a wake-up call to many executives and filmmakers that the staff that don't get their names celebrated are just as important to the film.
I can't justify putting Across the Spider-Verse at number one, because there is one movie that has a better ending to it's production nightmare, and don't act like you didn't see it coming.
1. Nimona
I mean... how could I not have chosen Nimona as my favourite animated movie of 2023? It has been my most anticipated movie since it was announced, and all my fears and worries have been quashed by a string of fortunate events. I was worried Blue Sky was involved, than they made Spies in Disguise, a really good movie. Blue Sky shut down, then Netflix picked Nimona up. I was worried about Netflix's involvement, then 2022 had a string of really good Netflix releases, so finally the only worry I had to deal with was that this movie would not meet expectations.
Nimona was everything I wanted it to be, fun, exciting, dramatic, and kept the theme of the book. Sure I would have liked a more one-to-one adaptation, but I like to view them as the same story told two different ways. I compared it to Coraline in my First Impressions blog, saying that Nimona was a different story but kept the theme close to the book that it didn't feel that different. Really, the only thing I can say I didn't like about Nimona, is that it isn't a complete one-to-one adaptation, but that does mean that the characters, animation, story and writing are all such top notch work, it stopped mattering that Nimona the movie was different from Nimona the graphic novel.
Congratulations Nimona, you crawled out of Development Purgatory and became one of the best movies of the year. Your success makes me hope for two things, that Bob Chapek is kicking himself that he's the reason this can't be a Disney movie, and that other cancelled projects have a shot at redemption. Looking at you Warner Bros.
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