Mature Animation movies with more creative freedom and originality
by indrajeetchutia | created - 13 Mar 2020 | updated - 27 Apr 2023 | PublicAnimation movies that are made in outside of usual studio system which are outside of Japan, animation movies that are more open to creativity and originality than just sitting for IP and give animators more recognition.
France (7): Persepolis, I Lost My Body, The Red Turtle, Fantastic Planet, The Illusionist, The Triplets of Belleville, My Life as A Zucchini
USA (5): It's A Beautiful Day, Anomalisa, Waking Life, A Scanner Darkly, Apollo 10 1/2
Ireland (4): The Breadwinner, Song of The Sea, Wolfwalkers, The Secret of Kells
Denmark: Flee
Switzerland: My Life as a Zucchini
German : The Adventures of Prince Achmed
Australia: Mary and Max
Israel : Waltz With Bashir
Poland : Loving Vincent
Chile : The Wolf House
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1. The Red Turtle (2016)
PG | 80 min | Animation, Drama, Family
A man is shipwrecked on a deserted island and encounters a big red turtle, which changes his life.
Director: Michael Dudok de Wit | Stars: Emmanuel Garijo, Tom Hudson, Baptiste Goy, Axel Devillers
Votes: 38,760 | Gross: $0.92M
2. Loving Vincent (2017)
PG-13 | 94 min | Animation, Drama, Mystery
In a story depicted in oil painted animation, a young man comes to the last hometown of painter Vincent van Gogh to deliver the troubled artist's final letter and ends up investigating his final days there.
Directors: DK Welchman, Hugh Welchman | Stars: Douglas Booth, Jerome Flynn, Robert Gulaczyk, Helen McCrory
Votes: 63,653 | Gross: $6.74M
3. Song of the Sea (2014)
PG | 93 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
Ben, a young Irish boy, and his little sister Saoirse, a girl who can turn into a seal, go on an adventure to free the fairies and save the spirit world.
Director: Tomm Moore | Stars: David Rawle, Brendan Gleeson, Lisa Hannigan, Fionnula Flanagan
Votes: 63,104 | Gross: $0.86M
4. I Lost My Body (2019)
16+ | 81 min | Animation, Drama, Fantasy
A story of Naoufel, a young man who is in love with Gabrielle. In another part of town, a severed hand escapes from a dissection lab, determined to find its body again.
Director: Jérémy Clapin | Stars: Hakim Faris, Victoire Du Bois, Patrick d'Assumçao, Alfonso Arfi
Votes: 36,610
5. Persepolis (2007)
PG-13 | 96 min | Animation, Biography, Drama
A precocious and outspoken Iranian girl grows up during the Islamic Revolution.
Directors: Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi | Stars: Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Gena Rowlands, Danielle Darrieux
Votes: 100,166 | Gross: $4.45M
6. The Breadwinner (2017)
PG-13 | 94 min | Animation, Drama, Family
In 2001, Afghanistan is under the control of the Taliban. When her father is captured, a determined young girl disguises herself as a boy in order to provide for her family.
Director: Nora Twomey | Stars: Saara Chaudry, Soma Chhaya, Noorin Gulamgaus, Laara Sadiq
Votes: 28,224 | Gross: $0.31M
7. Waking Life (2001)
R | 99 min | Animation, Drama, Fantasy
A man shuffles through a dream meeting various people and discussing the meanings and purposes of the universe.
Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Trevor Jack Brooks, Lorelei Linklater, Wiley Wiggins
Votes: 66,920 | Gross: $2.89M
8. Anomalisa (2015)
R | 90 min | Animation, Comedy, Drama
A man crippled by the mundanity of his life experiences something out of the ordinary.
Directors: Duke Johnson, Charlie Kaufman | Stars: David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan
Votes: 75,303 | Gross: $3.76M
9. World of Tomorrow Episode Two: The Burden of Other People's Thoughts (2017)
TV-G | 23 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
Emily is visited by a backup clone of herself from the even-more distant future, as they must venture into each other's psyches in order to restore the clone's deteriorating mind.
Director: Don Hertzfeldt | Stars: Julia Pott, Winona Mae, Jesse Cilio
Votes: 1,451
10. World of Tomorrow (2015)
G | 17 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
A little girl is taken on a mind-bending tour of her distant future.
Director: Don Hertzfeldt | Stars: Julia Pott, Winona Mae, Sara Cushman
Votes: 10,323
11. Fantastic Planet (1973)
PG | 72 min | Animation, Sci-Fi
On a faraway planet where blue giants rule, oppressed humanoids rebel against their machine-like leaders.
Director: René Laloux | Stars: Barry Bostwick, Jennifer Drake, Eric Baugin, Jean Topart
Votes: 36,820 | Gross: $0.19M
12. Wolfwalkers (2020)
PG | 103 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
A young apprentice hunter and her father journey to Ireland to help wipe out the last wolf pack. But everything changes when she befriends a free-spirited girl from a mysterious tribe rumored to transform into wolves by night.
Directors: Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart | Stars: Honor Kneafsey, Eva Whittaker, Sean Bean, Simon McBurney
Votes: 38,650
13. The Illusionist (2010)
PG | 80 min | Animation, Drama, Fantasy
A French illusionist finds himself out of work and travels to Scotland, where he meets a young woman. Their ensuing adventure changes both their lives forever.
Director: Sylvain Chomet | Stars: Jean-Claude Donda, Eilidh Rankin, Duncan MacNeil, Raymond Mearns
Votes: 36,519 | Gross: $2.23M
14. The Wolf House (2018)
Not Rated | 75 min | Animation, Drama, Horror
Tells the story of Maria, a young woman who takes refuge in a house in southern Chile after escaping from a German colony.
Directors: Joaquín Cociña, Cristóbal León | Stars: Amalia Kassai, Rainer Krause, Karina Hyland, Carlos Cociña
Votes: 4,756
15. Waltz with Bashir (2008)
R | 90 min | Documentary, Animation, Biography
An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.
Director: Ari Folman | Stars: Ari Folman, Ron Ben-Yishai, Ronny Dayag, Ori Sivan
Votes: 60,404 | Gross: $2.28M
16. The Tale of Tales (1979)
29 min | Animation, Short
Distant, well-worn memories of childhood are inhabited by a little gray wolf. Through astonishing imagery, the memory of all of Russia is depicted.
Director: Yuri Norstein | Star: Aleksandr Kalyagin
Votes: 4,131
17. World of Tomorrow Episode Three: The Absent Destinations of David Prime (2020)
34 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
A hidden memory sends David across the far reaches of time and space to solve a deadly mystery involving his time-traveling future selves.
Director: Don Hertzfeldt | Stars: Julia Pott, Jack Parrett
Votes: 615
18. The Triplets of Belleville (2003)
PG-13 | 80 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
When her grandson is kidnapped during the Tour de France, Madame Souza and her beloved pooch Bruno team up with the Belleville Sisters--an aged song-and-dance team from the days of Fred Astaire--to rescue him.
Director: Sylvain Chomet | Stars: Michèle Caucheteux, Jean-Claude Donda, Michel Robin, Monica Viegas
Votes: 57,078 | Gross: $7.00M
19. The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)
Not Rated | 80 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
A handsome prince rides a flying horse to faraway lands and embarks on magical adventures, which include befriending a witch, meeting Aladdin, battling demons and falling in love with a princess.
Directors: Lotte Reiniger, Carl Koch
Votes: 6,890
20. Flee (2021)
PG-13 | 89 min | Documentary, Animation, Biography
FLEE tells the extraordinary true story of a man, Amin, on the verge of marriage which compels him to reveal his hidden past for the first time.
Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen | Stars: Daniel Karimyar, Fardin Mijdzadeh, Milad Eskandari, Belal Faiz
Votes: 19,503
21. My Life as a Zucchini (2016)
PG-13 | 70 min | Animation, Comedy, Drama
After losing his mother, a young boy is sent to an orphanage with other orphans his age where he begins to learn the meaning of trust and true love.
Director: Claude Barras | Stars: Gaspard Schlatter, Sixtine Murat, Paulin Jaccoud, Michel Vuillermoz
Votes: 29,135 | Gross: $0.29M
22. Mary and Max (2009)
Not Rated | 92 min | Animation, Comedy, Drama
In 1976 Melbourne, a lonely 8-year-old girl strikes up a correspondence with an unlikely pen pal: a severely obese 44-year-old New Yorker with Asperger's syndrome.
Director: Adam Elliot | Stars: Toni Collette, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Eric Bana, Barry Humphries
Votes: 186,782
23. Ernest & Celestine (2012)
PG | 80 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
The story of an unlikely friendship between a bear, Ernest, and a young mouse named Celestine.
Directors: Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar, Benjamin Renner | Stars: Lambert Wilson, Pauline Brunner, Anne-Marie Loop, Patrice Melennec
Votes: 22,249 | Gross: $0.29M
24. Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood (2022)
PG-13 | 97 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
A coming-of-age story set in the suburbs of Houston, Texas in the summer of 1969, centered around the historic Apollo 11 moon landing.
Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Milo Coy, Jack Black, Lee Eddy, Bill Wise
Votes: 11,854
25. A Scanner Darkly (2006)
R | 100 min | Animation, Comedy, Crime
An undercover cop in a not-too-distant future becomes involved with a dangerous new drug and begins to lose his own identity as a result.
Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Robert Downey Jr., Rory Cochrane
Votes: 117,120 | Gross: $5.50M
26. The Secret of Kells (2009)
Not Rated | 75 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
A young boy in a remote medieval outpost under siege from barbarian raids is beckoned to adventure when a celebrated master illuminator arrives with an ancient book, brimming with secret wisdom and powers.
Directors: Tomm Moore, Nora Twomey | Stars: Evan McGuire, Brendan Gleeson, Mick Lally, Christen Mooney
Votes: 38,282 | Gross: $0.69M
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