This year the animated films particularly shone: here are the best of the best not to be missed!
The best of 2023. Throughout the month of December, AlloCiné offers you thematic tops based on viewer ratings, to highlight the best films and series of the year and suggest some catch-up sequences.
2023 has undoubtedly given us pearls of animation! Some dominated the box office, others were more discreet, but all those presented below were praised by critics and the public alike. On the program, visually perfect jewelry, technical feats that will amaze you and tender, family or heroic stories that will make you dream. Here are the Top 5 2023 (with ties please) of the best animated films according to spectators!
5th tied – Marcel the shell (with his shoes) 4/5
The Distribution Workshop
Marcel is an adorable shell who lives alone with his grandmother Connie, since her separation from the rest of their community. When a documentary filmmaker discovers them in his Airbnb, the video he posts online goes viral and offers Marcel new hope of finding his family. Be careful, Marcel the Shell (with his shoes) will definitely make you fall in love, and with ingenuity! Perfectly mixing real shots and stop-motion, the feature film, which looks like a mockumentary, presents you with a truly touching mise en abyme. Indeed, born in 2010 in a short film by Dean Fleischer-Camp – which had two sequels – this very cute shell which asks existential questions about life, love and death once caused a sensation on the internet and that’s precisely what the film is about. It’s human, philosophical and full of emotion, and for his debut on the big screen, Marcel earned himself an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Film – just that.
5th tied – Migration 4/5
Illumination Studios
In the Colvert family, you have on one side Mack, content to wade with his family, peacefully and permanently, in their little New England pond, and on the other his wife Pam, who dreams of showing the rest of the world to their children – Dax and his little sister Gwen. When they temporarily take in a family of migratory ducks, it’s an opportunity for Pam to persuade Mack to imitate them and embark on a family journey: to Jamaica, via New York. As they fly into the sun for the winter, chaos and surprises arise. Changed forever, they will learn more than they could have imagined… With Migration, the Illumination studio – behind Super Mario Bros, the film – offers us a colorful spectacle, which is aimed at the whole family , directed by Frenchman Benjamin Renner (Ernest and Célestine, The Big Bad Fox and other tales). Here he chooses a family of ducks, more precisely mallards, as the protagonists of his new immersive, tender and amusing feature film. On the program, an initiatory journey that addresses universal subjects such as family relationships, surpassing oneself, the need to face one’s fears and the preservation of animals. Adults will relate, kids will laugh, and everyone will love it Migration.
5th tied – Forbidden to dogs and Italians 4/5
Gebeka Films
At the beginning of the 20th century, in the north of Italy, where life had become very difficult, the Ughettos dreamed of starting all over again abroad. According to legend, Luigi Ughetto then crossed the Alps and began a new life in France, forever changing the destiny of his beloved family. Forbidden to dogs and Italians, it is a family epic that mixes history and stories. Alain Ughetto, Luigi’s grandson and César winner, retraces here the atypical journey of his grandfather and his family. At the same time director, animator and narrator of this intimate and extraordinary story, he pays homage to his ancestors whom he brings to life and speaks in a feature-length animated stop-motion film where his hands appear as recurring characters to construct, cut, put it back together… A little nugget full of inventiveness, curiosity, love and optimism not to be missed.
4th – Super Mario Bros, the movie 4.1/5
Illumination Studios
It is the second biggest success of the year: the flagship animated film from Illumination studios combined critics and audiences, earning more than 1.36 billion dollars worldwide and thus becoming the 2nd animated film most profitable in history. Adapted from the most cult video game, Super Mario Bros, the movie plunges brothers Mario and Luigi, a duo of beloved plumbers, into a magical world where they are separated. Mario then embarks on a thrilling quest to find Luigi. To do this, he can count on the help of the mushroom Toad and the wise advice on combat techniques from Princess Peach, a determined warrior at the head of the Mushroom Kingdom. But another task awaits him: save this enchanted world from the monstrous Bowser… If this adaptation has managed to seduce young and old, newbies and fans alike, it is because it respects the original work and makes numerous references to it. and is simply a dream – in addition to being visually superb.
3rd – Mars Express 4.2/5
Gebeka Films
In the year 2200, Aline Ruby, a headstrong private detective, and Carlos Rivera, her android partner, are searching for Jun Chow, a missing cybernetics student. This new investigation will lead them to venture into the bowels of Noctis, the capital of Mars, where they will be confronted with the city’s darkest secrets: corrupt institutions, trafficking, brain farms and the shenanigans of the all-powerful corporations, everything is there. . But augmented cyber killers also targeted Jun Chow. Aline and Carlos embark on a desperate race to save this young woman who, without knowing it, holds a secret capable of threatening the precarious balance on which their civilization rests. Exciting, effective, modern and dizzying, Mars Express is a (noir) animated and science fiction film by Jérémie Périn (Lastman) which was presented at the Cannes and Annecy festivals. Visually, the feature film is stunning, at once gloomy, beautiful and refined. Story-wise, it makes you think (really) while entertaining. So here you are dealing with an epic cyberthriller that you absolutely must see.
2nd – Suzume 4.2/5
Eurozoom
The latest film by Makoto Shinkai (Your Name, Children of Time), one of the great masters of Japanese animation, hit hard this year by ranking number 1 at the Japanese box office, ahead of Avatar 2. Suzume takes us on board in the daily life of a 17-year-old girl whose peaceful life is turned upside down by her meeting with a man who says he is looking for a door… What follows is a strange celestial adventure where all times merge. Among the subjects covered, mourning and family: the film is indeed the most dramatic and mature of its director. With its sublime and colorful animation, its captivating music, its endearing characters and its poetic morality, Suzume is a touching road movie that pays tribute to our planet and our missed loved ones: a true gem of exciting animation that moves people enormously.
1st – Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse 4.4/5
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Sixth biggest success of the year, here is above all the highest rated animated film of 2023! In Across the Spider-Verse, the second opus of the animated Spider-Man saga, Miles Morales travels across the Multiverse where he meets a team of Spider-Heroes tasked with protecting its existence. But when a new threat emerges, the young man finds himself confronted by the other spiders and must redefine what it means to be a hero so that he can save the people he loves. “Visual Waltz”, “Skillfully Woven”: Across the Spider-Verse is brilliant, ingenious, revolutionary and truly touching. Ambitious and daring, the feature film is incredibly dense and shines with its eye-catching technique. Add to that, adrenaline and a meta(physical) reflection on the place of superheroes and you obtain a storyline and creative slap in the face that is at once spectacular, immersive and emotional. From animation to the top.
Ranking made up of films released in cinemas in 2023 and with a minimum of 300 ratings. Don’t hesitate to post your notes and reviews on the profiles of these films (and others), and to post your own top one in the comments below!