Here are Cinephile Corner’s 10 recommendations for movies like Abominable:
The Wild Robot
The overall package of The Wild Robot is ultimately quite honorable and noteworthy. The animated genre offers just a few great movies a year, and The Wild Robot falls into that category. It’s probably the frontrunner for Best Animated Picture at the Academy Awards, and I’d add that we’ve had much worse winners should this take home the prize. It’s sweet and effortlessly likeable, even if you can see the mechanisms of it working behind the scenes.
The Legend of Ochi
A24 tries its hand at a family adventure with The Legend of Ochi, and the result is a handsome film that struggles to find a pulse. Isaiah Saxon directs with a painterly eye and an obvious affection for creature features that nod to E.T. The images shimmer. The story rarely does. It keeps the studio’s clean sheen and an illustrative sense of wonder, but the emotional throughline never quite takes.
Luca
Whether its shortcomings are the result of its direct-to-streaming release or broader creative decisions, Luca ultimately stands as Pixar’s weakest effort of the 2020s so far. It’s not a misfire, but it is a forgettable entry in a filmography that typically sets the standard for original animated storytelling. For all its good intentions and lighthearted charm, Luca just doesn’t make much of a splash.
Strange World
It’s not that Strange World is bad, it just should’ve been much better. The movie has a third act with its positives (I particularly liked the main twist that I’ll avoid spoiling in this review, but it gave me some nice food-for-thought), but not enough to redeem a story that takes too long to set up without much fun or promise. Jake Gyllenhaal and Dennis Quaid lead a mixed voice cast.
Elemental
Elemental acts as a surprising return to the roots of Pixar. It’s a movie with a host of relevant themes and messages rolled into a sincere and effective love story. It’s been a a minute since Pixar landed an original story with such a clear balance of narrative and comedy.
The Super Mario Bros Movie
The Super Mario Bros Movie offers an overflowing amount of family entertainment, but at what cost? It sacrifices story to incorporate as much “Mario” as possible – for better or for worse.
Turning Red
Despite feeling a bit like Pixar is borrowing heavily from their contemporaries, Turning Red is the first movie from the studio to actually move the needle in a while. It’s a story for generations to enjoy, and I always prefer when Pixar aims to appeal to older audiences in conjunction with the usual kids demographic.
Wish
Disney’s newest animated movie Wish proves to be a frustrating and occasionally grating cinematic experience. The sporadic moments of enjoyment, courtesy of lively voice acting and catchy tunes, are overshadowed by the movie’s misguided conceptual foundation and lack of narrative cohesion. Ariana DeBose and Chris Pine shine in an otherwise unworthy film.
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain might set a record for the youngest protagonist to figure out how the world works. Your tolerance for its perspective will decide how much you connect with it. The new French animated feature from Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han Jin Kuang adapts Amélie Nothomb’s novel The Character of Rain, condensing big ideas about identity, belonging, love, and death into a brisk 75 minutes seen through the eyes of a two year old.
Read our full review of Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
Flow
Flow attempts to push the boundaries of visual storytelling in the animated genre, and in many ways, it succeeds. Created entirely using Blender rendering software, typically reserved for 3D video game sprites, the film builds a nearly 90-minute animated feature filled with an abundance of visual ideas and thematic density. It’s a technical marvel that redefines the potential of its medium through its innovative use of technology.
READ MORE: Abominable (2019)
