A sampling of a few of the best animated movie highlights that won iconic movie awards. Full-length animated films in which animal characters show human personalities.
More Than Cartoons: New Award-Winning Animated Animal Movies
Animation is a cinematic creation that not so long ago was only designed for children. Today, animated films are becoming a promising genre, which is used by talented filmmakers to start dialogues with the audience in a new format. Modern full-length animated movies often raise quite non-kids topics, explaining in completely new forms things that are difficult to convey in documentaries and fiction films. Recent years have pleased movie critics and viewers with a range of freshly published novelties. We have collected some of the best animated films for you, the main characters of which are animals with human characters. All of them have already succeeded in conquering the platforms of respectable movie awards and found their loyal audience, who can look deeper and think more broadly, finding new real meanings in the painted shots.
Flow (Straume), 2024
This year’s newest film has already managed not only to collect several important cinematic awards and make its mark in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes 2024 Film Festival but also to become a nominee for Best International Feature Film from Latvia for the 97th Oscar ceremony. Young Eastern European director Gints Zilbalodis seems to be opening us up to a new visual style because you definitely haven’t seen anything similar before. The main character, a brave black cat who escapes from a flood goes on an adventure. The viewer can’t make the pet hero cat breeds test and understand whether the character of this animal is real or imaginary by the authors. But for an hour and a half, children and adults can not tear themselves away from the screens, watching as silent animal heroes show their completely human qualities. The cat finds real friends, and jointly overcoming obstacles in their path opens new facets of both positive and negative features, showing the way of mutual support and acceptance.
The Boy and the Heron, 2023
Last year, the cinema world broke the news that the last masterpiece of the legend of Japanese animation Hayao Miyazaki was released. “The Boy and the Heron” was the final fantasy project of the author, whose masterpieces hold a central place in the hearts of many fans of deeply meaningful animation. The unique specialty style of 2d pictures is guessed from the first pictures and sends the spectator into a fictional multiverse. At the center of the story is a boy named Mahito, who, experiencing the death of his mother, meets magical animals and a mysterious world into which he is led by a talking heron. The deep themes of loss, growing up and hope raised in the film are actually an autobiographical reflection of the author’s life story. Deep moments intertwined with symbolism and amazing magic, revealing philosophical and existential questions of life and death, good and evil, imagination and reality leave no one indifferent.
Robot Dreams, 2023
The robot and dog’s friendship became the basis of an exclusive animated tragicomedy. The story is almost silent, and the animation is very simple and uncomplicated, but the visuals, the musical accompaniment and the emotional coloring that the author gave to the story make this film meaningful and touching. The animated picture explores the theme of loneliness, true companionship and the sadness of parting. Insurmountable circumstances, before which are powerless that people, that animals, that even robots.
Not having time to come out on the cinema screens, Robot Dreams began to collect top awards at animation festivals and became an Oscar nominee in the category of Best Animated Film, and the film was shown at the 76th Cannes Film Festival.
Unicorn Wars, 2022
Despite its seemingly simple title and colorful animation style, this is a film that probably should not be shown to kids. After all, in his controversial project Spanish director Alberto Vázquez showed a real war drama, veiling complex and tragic problems of humanity behind the drawn conflict between teddy bears and magical unicorns. The bloody battle between the seemingly benevolent cartoon characters occurs because of the fight for the magic forest. The authors make the viewer see firsthand the results of cruelty, violence, fanaticism, militarism and political propaganda. The original concept of “Unicorn Wars” combined with complex social subtexts has earned this animated film a few respected awards in the film world and high regard from thinking audiences.
The Bears’ Famous Invasion of Sicily (La famosa invadee degli orsi in Sicilia), 2019
To finish our selection we decided not so new, but undoubtedly unique animated masterpiece of Italian-French cinematography. The story about bears, made in a unique graphic art style, colorful and lively, is based on one of the books of the beloved children’s author Gianni Rodari of the post-war years. The story centers on a group of bears who are forced to leave their native forests and travel along the Mediterranean coast in search of paradisiacal Sicily. Critics call the story one of the best feature-length animated films for family watching. The animal characters not only follow along with the audience on their long path to happiness but also show a full range of deep feelings and a story of loyal companionship.
