Animated movies for adults: 20 films worth watching

Animation is a format, not a genre. Some of the most moving, inventive and grown-up films of the last few decades happen to be animated, and plenty of them aren't made for kids at all.

This list mixes anime, stop-motion, big-feelings Pixar and a few bold experiments. A handful are rated R; we've noted the rating on each.

Studio Ghibli and anime

From gentle and beautiful to dark and mind-bending.

  • Still from Spirited Away (2001)1
    • Animation
    • Family
    • Fantasy

    Spirited Away

    8.5 TMDB rating20012h 5mRated PG

    The Studio Ghibli classic worth seeing at least once.

  • Still from Princess Mononoke (1997)2
    • Adventure
    • Fantasy
    • Animation

    Princess Mononoke

    8.3 TMDB rating19972h 14mRated PG-13

    Ashitaka, a prince of the disappearing Emishi people, is cursed by a demonized boar god and must journey to the west to find a cure. Along the way, he encounters San, a young human woman fighting to protect the forest, and Lady Eboshi, who is trying to…

  • Still from Your Name. (2016)3
    • Animation
    • Romance
    • Drama

    Your Name.

    8.5 TMDB rating20161h 46mRated PG

    High schoolers Mitsuha and Taki are complete strangers living separate lives. But one night, they suddenly switch places. Mitsuha wakes up in Taki’s body, and he in hers. This bizarre occurrence continues to happen randomly, and the two must adjust their…

  • Still from Akira (1988)4
    • Animation
    • Science Fiction
    • Action

    Akira

    7.9 TMDB rating19882h 4mRated R

    A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.

  • Still from Perfect Blue (1998)5
    • Animation
    • Thriller

    Perfect Blue

    8.3 TMDB rating19981h 21mRated R

    Rising pop star Mima Kirigoe quits singing to pursue a career as an actress. After she takes up a role on a popular detective show, her handlers and collaborators begin turning up murdered. Harboring feelings of guilt and haunted by visions of her former…

Stop-motion worlds

Handmade, odd and often very funny.

  • Still from Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)6
    • Adventure
    • Animation
    • Comedy

    Fantastic Mr. Fox

    7.8 TMDB rating20091h 27mRated PG

    The Fantastic Mr. Fox, bored with his current life, plans a heist against the three local farmers. The farmers, tired of sharing their chickens with the sly fox, seek revenge against him and his family.

  • Still from Isle of Dogs (2018)7
    • Adventure
    • Comedy
    • Animation

    Isle of Dogs

    7.8 TMDB rating20181h 41mRated PG-13

    In the future, an outbreak of canine flu leads the mayor of a Japanese city to banish all dogs to an island used as a garbage dump. The outcasts must soon embark on an epic journey when a 12-year-old boy arrives on the island to find his beloved pet.

  • Still from Anomalisa (2015)8
    • Animation
    • Drama
    • Romance

    Anomalisa

    7.1 TMDB rating20151h 31mRated R

    An inspirational speaker becomes reinvigorated after meeting a lively woman who shakes up his mundane existence.

  • Still from Coraline (2009)9
    • Animation
    • Family
    • Fantasy

    Coraline

    7.9 TMDB rating20091h 40mRated PG

    Creepy and beautifully made. A good first scary movie for younger teens.

  • Still from Mary and Max (2009)10
    • Animation
    • Comedy
    • Drama

    Mary and Max

    7.9 TMDB rating20091h 32m

    A tale of friendship between two unlikely pen pals: Mary, a lonely, eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max, a forty-four-year old, severely obese man living in New York.

Big feelings

The ones that make adults cry more than kids.

  • Still from Up (2009)11
    • Animation
    • Comedy
    • Family

    Up

    8.0 TMDB rating20091h 36mRated PG

    The first ten minutes get to everyone.

  • Still from Inside Out (2015)12
    • Animation
    • Family
    • Adventure

    Inside Out

    7.9 TMDB rating20151h 35mRated PG

    Funny, and much deeper than it looks.

  • Still from Soul (2020)13
    • Animation
    • Family
    • Drama

    Soul

    8.1 TMDB rating20201h 41mRated PG

    Pixar's thoughtful, uplifting take on what makes life worth living.

  • Still from WALL·E (2008)14
    • Animation
    • Family
    • Science Fiction

    WALL·E

    8.1 TMDB rating20081h 38mRated G

    After hundreds of years doing what he was built for, WALL•E— a robot designed to clean up the earth—discovers a new purpose in life when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. EVE comes to realize that WALL•E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to…

  • Still from Grave of the Fireflies (1988)15
    • Animation
    • Drama
    • War

    Grave of the Fireflies

    8.5 TMDB rating19881h 29m

    In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving…

Bold and different

Animation that does things live action can't.

  • Still from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)16
    • Animation
    • Action
    • Adventure

    Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

    8.4 TMDB rating20181h 57mRated PG

    Visually unlike anything else, even if superheroes aren't your thing.

  • Still from Persepolis (2007)17
    • Animation
    • Drama

    Persepolis

    7.9 TMDB rating20071h 35mRated PG-13

    In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Satrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the…

  • Still from Waltz with Bashir (2008)18
    • Animation
    • Documentary
    • Drama

    Waltz with Bashir

    7.7 TMDB rating20081h 30mRated R

    A film director from Israel interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.

  • Still from Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)19
    • Animation
    • Adventure
    • Fantasy

    Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

    8.2 TMDB rating20221h 43mRated PG

    Puss in Boots discovers that his passion for adventure has taken its toll: He has burned through eight of his nine lives, leaving him with only one life left. Puss sets out on an epic journey to find the mythical Last Wish and restore his nine lives.

  • Still from Tokyo Godfathers (2003)20
    • Animation
    • Drama
    • Comedy

    Tokyo Godfathers

    7.9 TMDB rating20031h 32mRated PG-13

    An anime about three unlikely friends who find a baby on Christmas Eve.

Still can't decide? Let the random movie generator pick one for you.

How to pick one together

  1. Pick by mood: beautiful, funny, emotional or something completely new.
  2. Check the rating if you're watching with others; a few here are rated R.
  3. Watch the trailer. The art style alone usually tells you if it's for you.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best animated movies for adults?

Spirited Away (2001), Princess Mononoke (1997), Grave of the Fireflies (1988), Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) are among the most acclaimed.

Are there R-rated animated movies?

Yes. Akira (1988), Perfect Blue (1998), Anomalisa (2015) and Waltz with Bashir (2008) are all aimed at adults.

Is there an app to help pick a movie together?

Yes. In ReelMatch everyone swipes through trailers on their own phone and the app shows the movies you all said yes to. It's free on iPhone and Android.

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Images, ratings and runtimes from TMDB. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Ratings are US ratings.