Its influence on fantasy is massive: Steven Spielberg quotes the soaring ballad ‘When You Wish Upon a Star’ in his dream project Close Encounters of the Third Kind (and remade the whole picture with his aching robot-boy adventure, A.I.). Pinocchio is the most magical of animated movies, a high point of cinematic invention. Heeīest quote: ‘Always let your conscience be your guide.’ĭefining moment: Playing pool, drinking beers, smoking cigars: Who knew it could transform kids into jackasses? (Literally.) 🦄 The 50 best fantasy movies of all-timeĪ wooden puppet yearns to be a real boy he must prove himself worthy.ĭirectors: Ben Sharpsteen, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, Norman Ferguson, Jack Kinney, Wilfred Jackson and T. 🇯🇵 The 20 best anime movies of all-time Written by Trevor Johnston, David Ehrlich, Joshua Rothkoph, Tom Huddleston, Andy Kryza, Guy Lodge, Dave Calhoun, Keith Uhlich, Cath Clarke and Matthew Singer Take a look and massage your nostalgia receptors – and maybe find something mindblowing you’ve never seen before. Our list incorporates everything from Disney to Studio Ghibli, stop-motion nightmares to psychedelic headtrips, illustrated documentaries to however-the-hell you classify the work of maverick Jan Švankmajer.

In composing this list, we polled Time Out writers and experts including Fantastic Mr Fox ’s Wes Anderson and Wallace and Gromit’s Nick Park, and the results show just how expansive the genre can be.

On the contrary, the best animated movies work on multiple levels, for broad audiences. Of course, that doesn’t mean that animation is only a realm for children. Whether it’s a classic of Disney’s Golden Age, a more recent Pixar heart-tugger for the young’uns or something weirder that your parents thought was age-appropriate when they picked it off a video store shelf, most first cinematic loves are animated. And we’re going to bet that, in most cases, it starts with a cartoon. No matter how snooty and highfalutin their taste in movies gets, every cineaste has to start somewhere.

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