Animated films are a special production for a mainly children's audience, with few exceptions. Nevertheless, the effort and cost required for their creation far exceed what is expended on live-action films featuring actors. This applies to works using the traditional hand-drawing style, as well as modern computer-generated animations.
Throughout 2023, a wide array of animated films were released, varying in production styles and themes. Here are some of the standout animated films of the year.
The Boy and the Heron
In 1986, Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki founded the legendary Studio Ghibli with "Castle in the Sky," and thereafter produced films that became landmarks in the art of animation. He announced his retirement in 2013 but began sketching a new feature film in 2016.
Promotional poster for "Castle in the Sky" (Al Jazeera)
"The Boy and the Heron" is Japan's highest budget animation project, seven years in the making with a team of 60 artists. It marked Miyazaki's return from retirement and has delighted millions of Japanese animation or "anime" fans.
The narrative follows a young boy named "Mahito" who enters a fantastical world after his mother's death and encounters a talking heron who becomes his guide to overcome his profound grief and see life differently.
With a plot deeply rooted in Miyazaki's childhood, the screenplay explores his favorite themes of adolescence, complexity, and dealing with a world defined by conflict and loss. The film has received widespread critical acclaim, a Golden Globe nomination, and is a strong contender for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
From the United States, comes "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse," ranking third in the highest-grossing global films for 2023, even surpassing its record-breaking predecessor.
Promotional poster for "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" (Al Jazeera)
In this film, the young Spider-Man "Miles Morales" returns to his world, where as a son of a struggling middle-class family, he secretly uses his superpowers to save the world. However, his actions inadvertently give rise to a powerful villain who can turn parallel worlds upside down. At the same time, Morales encounters a cosmic alliance of Spider-Men and Women, initially embracing their leadership under "Miguel O'Hara," only to soon realize that individuality and personal creativity are concepts he must forsake to continue with them.
Similar to the first installment, the film features a tightly-woven and dynamic screenplay that manipulates the rules of parallel universes in ways never before seen in live-action Marvel films, complemented by a soundtrack and songs that bring vitality to every scene and the detailed character development, especially the differences among the Spider group.
Four Souls of Coyote
Hungary's "Four Souls of Coyote" garnered the Jury Prize at the "Annecy" Animation Festival. The tale begins in the United States, where a group of Native Americans protests against an oil pipeline project. That night, the grandfather begins to tell the story of human civilization.
Promotional poster for "Four Souls of Coyote" (Al Jazeera)
The choice of director "Áron Gauder" to set the film in the United States was ideal, spotlighting it as the most polluted land in the current era by Western industrial civilization. Also, as a place where the indigenous lifestyle connected to nature had been replaced by selfish capitalist ideologies concerned only with monetary growth.
The film distinguished itself with intricate animation that established a balanced world reliant on humanity's connection to nature, and a contrasting world inhabited by white men who have constructed a class hierarchy based on skin color and personal ownership. The story, with its intelligent script, is designed to engage audiences of all ages.
White Plastic Sky
Another film addressing the human relationship with the planet and nature is "White Plastic Sky." It paints a devastating future where plants have ceased growing due to severe pollution, leading to a solution where trees are grown from humans themselves, and a law stating that anyone over the age of 50 must have a seed planted in them, which turns them into a plant after several days.
Following the background setup of this dystopian world, the real story begins with "Nora," a woman who recently lost her child and decides to become a tree while still in her 30s. She undergoes the planting procedure without her psychiatrist husband's knowledge, who then kidnaps her and sets off to find the technique's creator to remove the seed from her. This film premiered at the "Berlin" Film Festival and then at the "Annecy" Animation Festival in France, before being shown at the El Gouna Film Festival.
Promotional poster for "Wish" (Al Jazeera)
Wish
"Wish" successfully combines modernity and innovation, drawing inspiration for its watercolor-style animations from old Disney films, while also employing computer animation to tell a delicate story of a girl living on a remote island. Her king controls the wishes of his subjects, fulfilling the worthy and postponing the rest indefinitely. "Asha" confronts this tyranny with the help of her friends, family, and a magical star.
Directed by "Chris Buck," known for "Frozen" parts one and two, the film has "Ariana DeBose" as the voice of "Asha" and "Chris Pine" voicing the king. "Wish" is nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature.
These films stand out for tackling significant concepts in a simplified manner while simultaneously targeting both adults and children. They use animation as an artistic form to express their creators’ concerns about the environment, tyranny, and capitalism.
