Here are Cinephile Corner’s 10 recommendations for animated movies like The Twits:
Isle of Dogs
Viewed as a standalone animated feature, Isle of Dogs is a unique, thoughtful piece that few filmmakers besides Wes Anderson could have envisioned, let alone executed. But graded on the curve of Anderson’s own career, it feels minor. It lacks the emotional punch of The Royal Tenenbaums, the elegance of The Grand Budapest Hotel, and even the narrative focus of later entries like Asteroid City or The Phoenician Scheme.
The Bad Guys 2
The Bad Guys 2 keeps the zippy, sketchbook energy that made DreamWorks Animation’s first film easy on the eyes, then stalls once the heist machinery starts clicking. The hybrid 2D/3D look still pops, indebted or comparable to the splashy stylings of Sony’s Spider-Verse and The Mitchells vs. The Machines and even Pixar’s Turning Red. The trouble is everything wrapped in that packaging. Two movies in, this world and its reformed crooks still feel thin.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Fantastic Mr. Fox is more than just one of the best Wes Anderson movies or one of the best animated movies—it’s one of the best movies, period. A singular work of creativity and charm that continues to inspire, entertain, and resonate.
Despicable Me 4
Despicable Me 4 carries the same wistful, harmless energy that the other two sequels had, even if that means that they all live inside the shadow of the original 2010 hit. Because despite the limitations brought forward by the original, there were enough new characters and ideas to make worthwhile a movie.
Dog Man
Dog Man is quick, goofy, and genuinely entertaining—a rare kids movie that doesn’t insult its audience’s intelligence. For viewers expecting a hollow, IP-driven cash grab, this ends up being a pleasant surprise. It’s a mid-tier animated film that punches a little above its weight, and for families looking for something fast, funny, and a little off-kilter, it more than delivers.
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.
