Animated Movies for Grown-Ups
Animation is a technique, not a genre, and some of the best films ever made with it were never meant for children. These are animated films for adults: some are R-rated, some are too sad, strange or slow for kids, and a few are family-friendly films that grown-ups get far more out of.
The useful question is why each one is for adults. Anomalisa, Perfect Blue and Predator: Killer of Killers have sex or violence you wouldn't show a child. Grave of the Fireflies, Flee and Waltz with Bashir are about war and loss, and would simply devastate one. And Robot Dreams, Flow and Fantastic Mr. Fox are fine for kids from about seven or eight but pitched at adult sensibilities: melancholy, dry wit, long stretches without a word.
Expect subtitles on many of these: there's anime here, and films in French, Hebrew and Danish, though several have good English dubs. If you only try one, The Boy and the Heron or Memoir of a Snail shows what the list is for. For animation the whole family can share, see Best Animated Movies; for live-action films in other languages, Foreign-Language Films Worth the Subtitles.
The Boy and the Heron
Movie · 2023Hayao Miyazaki's late, personal film about a boy grieving his mother in wartime Japan, who follows a talking heron into a dreamlike other world. Looser and more puzzling than Spirited Away, and it grows on reflection. In Japanese, with a strong English dub. Won the Oscar for animated feature.
Flow
Movie · 2024A cat, a flood and a boat full of other animals, with no humans and no dialogue at all. Made by a small Latvian team, it beat the big studios to the Oscar for animated feature. Children from about seven can watch it, but its wordless tension and ambiguity land hardest with adults.
Anomalisa
Movie · 2015Charlie Kaufman's stop-motion film about a lonely customer-service author in a Cincinnati hotel who hears everyone in the world with the same voice, until he meets Lisa. Funny, sad and uncomfortably honest about middle-aged loneliness. There's a frank puppet sex scene; it's R-rated for a reason.
Memoir of a Snail
Movie · 2024An R-rated stop-motion tragicomedy from the director of Mary and Max, about a girl in 1970s Australia separated from her twin brother after their father dies. Grim, very funny and finally hopeful, with Sarah Snook voicing her as an adult. Strictly for grown-ups.
Robot Dreams
Movie · 2023A lonely dog in 1980s New York builds a robot companion, and a day at the beach separates them. No dialogue, a simple hand-drawn look, and Earth, Wind & Fire's September used in a way you won't forget. Gentle enough for kids, but really about adult friendships and how they end.
Flee
Movie · 2021An animated documentary in which a man tells, for the first time, how he escaped Afghanistan as a boy and reached Denmark. The animation protects his identity and goes where cameras couldn't. Mostly in Danish and Dari, and nominated for Oscars as a documentary, an international film and an animated film at once.
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
Movie · 2022Not the Disney version. Del Toro sets it in Mussolini's Italy and makes it a stop-motion fable about grief, war and accepting death. Rated PG, but it opens with a child's death and the darkness never fully lifts. Won the Oscar for animated feature.
Isle of Dogs
Movie · 2018Wes Anderson's stop-motion film about dogs exiled to a garbage island off a near-future Japanese city, and the boy who comes looking for his. Deadpan, gorgeous and darker than it looks. Some critics objected to its handling of Japanese characters, who mostly speak untranslated Japanese.
Your Name
Movie · 2016Two teenagers, a girl in a rural town and a boy in Tokyo, start waking up in each other's bodies. It begins as a comedy and becomes something much bigger, and the skies are beautiful. In Japanese. A good date movie, and one of the gentlest picks on this list.
I Lost My Body
Movie · 2019A severed hand escapes a Paris laboratory and crosses the city to find its body, while flashbacks tell the story of the young man it belonged to. Stranger and far more tender than that sounds. In French, and one of the most original animated films of recent years.
Look Back
Movie · 2024Under an hour long: two girls bond over drawing manga, and the film follows their friendship across years. From the writer of Chainsaw Man, but nothing like it. In Japanese. A turn late on hits very hard, so don't start it if you need a light night.
Mars Express
Movie · 2023A French sci-fi detective story set on 23rd-century Mars, in which a private investigator and her android partner chase two missing students into a conspiracy about robots and minds. Think classic cyberpunk anime with a European look. In French, and barely seen, which is why it's here.
Predator: Killer of Killers
Movie · 2025Three warriors from history, a Viking, a feudal Japanese fighter and a Second World War pilot, each face a Predator in their own century. Bloody, fast and beautifully designed, with almost no setup, and you don't need to have seen any of the other Predator films.
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Movie · 2009Wes Anderson's first stop-motion film turns Roald Dahl into a midlife-crisis comedy about a fox who can't give up stealing chickens. Kids enjoy the animals; adults get the jokes about marriage, ambition and ego. Every swear word is replaced with the word cuss, which is funnier.
Persepolis
Movie · 2007Marjane Satrapi adapted her own graphic memoir of growing up during and after Iran's revolution, in stark black-and-white. Funny, angry and personal, and far more engaging than a history lesson. Mostly in French. Teenagers are a particularly good audience for it.
Waltz with Bashir
Movie · 2008Ari Folman, an Israeli veteran of the 1982 Lebanon War, interviews old comrades to recover memories he's lost. The animation is dreamlike until the final minutes, which switch to real footage and are among the most shocking in any documentary. In Hebrew.
Perfect Blue
Movie · 1997Satoshi Kon's psychological thriller about a pop singer turned actress, stalked by an obsessive fan and losing her grip on what's real. Black Swan is often compared to it. Contains violence and a disturbing sexual assault scene staged for a show within the film. In Japanese.
Akira
Movie · 1988The film that made Western audiences take anime seriously: biker gangs, military experiments and psychic power tearing Neo-Tokyo apart. Every frame is hand-drawn and crowded with detail. Violent and confusing in places, and still astonishing to look at. In Japanese.
Grave of the Fireflies
Movie · 1988Studio Ghibli's war film, about a teenage boy and his little sister trying to survive after the firebombing of Kobe. A beautiful film that very few people watch twice, because it's devastating. Pick a night when you can handle it. In Japanese.
Mary and Max
Movie · 2009A claymation story about a lonely eight-year-old in Melbourne and a middle-aged New Yorker with Asperger's who become pen pals for years. Toni Collette voices the grown-up Mary and Philip Seymour Hoffman voices Max. Deeply sad and very funny, and tender about mental illness.
Still can't decide? Let us pick →
More lists like this
Romantic Comedies That Actually Work
Rom-coms that earn both halves of the word, from When Harry Met Sally... to Palm Springs and Rye Lane.
20 picksSci-Fi Movies Worth Your Evening
Big ideas that also make a great night in, from The Martian and Dune to Project Hail Mary and a few small gems.
21 picksAction Movies With Real Craft
Action you can actually follow: real stunts, clear fights and set pieces built with care, old and new.
21 picksMovies That Are Actually Funny
Comedies that get real laughs, not polite smiles: Game Night, Airplane!, Friendship, Hoppers and more.
20 picksCrime and Heist Movies
Heists, mob sagas and getaway drivers: the best crime films, mostly recent, plus the classics they borrow from.
20 picksDocumentaries Worth Watching
Real stories that grip like fiction: the best documentaries and docuseries, from a ropeless climb to a lost festival.
Picks are editorial recommendations. Streaming availability changes by region and over time — the “where to stream” links check current availability on JustWatch.