Here are Cinephile Corner’s 10 recommendations for animated movies like Coraline:
Memoir of a Snail
Family is inseparable. No matter how fractured and disjointed it can be at times, family is who you rely on to get you through the rough patches in life. Adam Elliot‘s 2024 animated movie Memoir of a Snail, in which a young girl Grace experiences nearly every form of trauma and loss imaginable, displays this in perhaps the clearest, most emotional gut punch you’ll see all year. It’s crafted with such a precise thumb on its own pulse in terms of tone and imagery that you’d be hard-pressed to find another director capable colliding this style with this material.
Read our full review of Memoir of a Snail
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson’s Pinocchio is a beautiful and marvelous return for the ancient story after the dark places it went to in 2022. The stop-motion is clean and stoic, and the story breaths new life into the wooden child. Guillermo del Toro rarely misses, and this is another example of his gothic stories hitting just the right notes.
Read our full review of Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
The glorious animation in the newest Shrek installment Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is enough to drive you to the theater by itself. Led by a star-studded cast and a script with enough heart, The Last Wish is one of the better animated movies of 2022.
Read our full review of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Wendell & Wild
Henry Selick’s latest entry into the stop-motion microgenre Wendell & Wild contains every ounce of charisma and wonder that fueled his previous works and terrified children like myself growing up, but watching his newest effort as a more aware and critical viewer, there are just too many structural components that don’t connect into a larger, fully-realized puzzle.
Read our full review of Wendell & Wild
Orion and the Dark
There’s enough to like in Orion and the Dark to recommend it as a worthwhile family movie. Charlie Kaufman is able to mold his signature style just enough to fit within the constraints of a movie targeted for children. Jacob Tremblay and Paul Walter Hauser headline the voice cast in this DreamWorks animated movie for Netflix.
Read our full review of Orion and the Dark
Toy Story 4
I was certainly in that camp in 2019, always favoring original stories over rehashes of the same material over and over (I’ll probably act the same way when Toy Story 5 nears because I clearly haven’t learned my lesson). Toy Story 4 quickly expels any notion that it shouldn’t exist – the different themes and new characters actually make the franchise as engaging as ever.
Read our full review of Toy Story 4
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.
Night of the Zoopocalypse
As a gateway horror film, Night of the Zoopocalypse functions fine. But for those hoping that it might stand alongside some of the more daring or genre-savvy animated fare in recent years, this feels like a mild disappointment. Not quite wild enough to be truly memorable, and not sharp enough to be clever, it’s a serviceable but skippable entry in the animated horror-comedy space.
Read our full review of Night of the Zoopocalypse
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem does just enough to get by, relying on innocent jokes and beautiful art style to win viewers over. While maybe not the overwhelming achievement like the Spider-Verse movies or The Mitchells vs. The Machines (two Sony properties that feel like huge inspirations for this picture), Mutant Mayhem finds its own space by delivering to fans longing for a reimagining of this universe.
Read our full review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Leo
Leo is a reptilian romp that surprises with its unexpected humor and heart, carried by Adam Sandler, Bill Burr, and a fun voice acting cast. While it may not be a genre-defining masterpiece, Leo succeeds in delivering a singular story and surpasses many animated movie releases in 2023.