Animation is a form of filmmaking that is often related to second-tier status, something just for kids. This is by both the organisations giving out the awards and also by the very guilds that are meant to be promoting their member’s work. However, they are not second-tier films, and in many ways, it is the animated films that are pushing the frontiers of filmmaking and what is possible, and they should be championed for the work that they do.     

Animated films can be hand-drawn, stop/clay motion, computer-generated, it does not matter, but all of them show amazing techniques of hundreds of artists that bring the work to life.

So without further ado, these are the animated films that showed us the glory of animation in 2019. Be warned that there may be some slight spoilers ahead for the films in question. Also, click on the banners to go to the full reviews of each of the films 

Abominable

A charming film about gallivanting around the Chinese countryside with a walking carpet that can turn fields into waves.                

Directed by – Jill Culton & Todd Wilderman
Written by – Jill Culton
Art Direction – Paul Duncan
Production Design – Max Boas

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

The end of a story that is just as beautiful as the start.  

Directed by – Dean DeBlois
Written by – Dean DeBlois
Art Direction – Joseph C. Moshier
Production Design – Pierre-Olivier Vincent

Invader ZIM: Enter the Florpus

It both works as a nostalgic look to the past but also as the start of something new and it is great at both.

Directed by – Haeyoung Jung,Young Kyun Park & Jhonen Vasquez
Written by – Jhonen Vasquez,Breehn Burns & Eric Trueheart
Art Direction – Jenny Goldberg
Production Design – Gab-Hee Han

Sound & Fury

A surreal combination of music, animation, and story that shifts and weaves with every short story jumping from animation style to animation style without losing a beat.
Directed by – Michael Arias, Masaru Matsumoto, Jumpei Mizusaki, Kôji Morimoto, Elsa Nakamichi & Henry Thurlow
Written by – Jumpei Mizusaki & Sturgill Simpson

Toy Story 4

An epilogue of sadness that I didn’t know I needed or even wanted but in fact, I did.  

Directed by – Josh Cooley
Written by – Josh Cooley,John Lasseter,Andrew Stanton,Josh Cooley,Valerie LaPointe,Rashida Jones,Will McCormack,Martin Hynes & Stephany Folsom        
Art Direction – Craig Foster, Daniel Holland, John Lee, Albert Lozano & Laura Phillips
Production Design – Bob Pauley  

Weathering with You (Tenki no Ko, 天気の子)

An exploration of love and loss and what floats up in the sky above.  

Directed by – Makoto Shinkai
Written by – Makoto Shinkai
Art Direction – Hiroshi Takiguchi

And the Winner is!!!!!

Given that the whole How to Train a Dragon series featured heavily in our Best Films of the Last Decade list, it should be no surprise that the final entry would make it onto this list and win. It is such a gorgeous film from start to finish and works as both an ending of a trilogy and a film in its own right. It is a film series that I will always treasure and Hidden World provides the best ending I could have hoped for.                

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

What are your favourite cinematic moments from 2019?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day. 

Credits – All images used were created by the respective studio and artists of each film