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Best Animated Films of 2022

2022 wasn’t a great year for animation with only a couple of obvious exceptions. This is the year when foreign animation was at its lowest in quite some time, which resulted in this list being populated by mostly mainstream fare with only a few independent movies to boot. Without further ado, here are five best animated films released in 2022.

5. The Bad Guys

While the second half of this movie loses its steam quite a bit and the development of the side characters was slim, the main ones were great and the overall plot was pretty solid. The heist action was very well executed while the humor and dialogue are both terrific. The highlight is the Sony-inspired visual style with a gorgeous 2D look and unique character designs. The Bad Guys isn’t great, but it is a fun heist comedy that brought DreamWorks Animation back on board after a long hiatus.

4. Charlotte

A film about a Jewish artist who ended up being killed during the Holocaust, Charlotte is your standard biopic, but it’s elevated by strong dialogue, very artistic visuals and solid voice acting. It’s a movie that could have been better crafted in plot and characterization, but its tone of impending doom made it quite striking and all the more impactful in the eventual ending that was quite tragic. In a weak year for independent animation, this is one of the better efforts without a doubt.

3. The Sea Beast

This Netflix charmer is very clearly influenced by ‘How to Train Your Dragon’, so it lacks authenticity. The didacticism in pulling off its animal rights message was also a problem. However, it’s still a hugely important message for children and the movie is quite moving. The animation is gorgeous, the characters are quite good and the adventurous elements are remarkable. It is one of the most purely fun and adventurous animated movies of the year and a further proof that Netflix is currently killing it in their animation department.

2. Apollo 10 ½

Populated with a cast of colorful personalities and phenomenally narrated by Jack Black, Apollo 10½ is the most personal project for Linklater and that was obvious through the staggering level of detail that he put into his storytelling and a very intimate, emotional tone throughout its runtime. It portrays Linklater’s own childhood while again pinpointing how brilliant he is when dealing with the themes of the passage of time and growing up. It’s by far the most underappreciated animated movie released this year.

1. Pinocchio

The obvious number one goes to Pinocchio, the del Toro version clearly. 2022 was a year when Guillermo beat Disney at their own game as they released a horrendous remake of their 1940 classic while he did his own thing and arrived to amazing results. Changing the time period to the 30s was a brilliant movie that led to the film being pretty much an anti-war story, but the addition of mythological elements and the themes of mortality and humanity enriched the storyline even more. The result is this complex, emotionally powerful and gorgeous-looking stop-motion marvel that will prove to be one of the decade’s best animated films.

Honorable Mentions:

Turning Red – Pixar did not have a great year in 2022, though they got it better than Disney at least. Turning Red is limited in its appeal as it’s very much female-centric in its story of female puberty and menstruation, but it benefits from an excellent mother-daughter relationship at its core and a fun third act that really worked.

Lightyear – Lightyear was clearly not the movie that everybody wanted, but for me it was quite underrated as a big fan of science fiction. The twist ending worked and it made sense while the ‘Interstellar’ influences made for such a fun space adventure. It’s a flawed, but fun movie regardless.

My Father’s Dragon – My Father’s Dragon is gorgeously animated in traditional 2D animation. It’s also well scored and it benefits from strong voice acting. The boy-dragon relationship is the heart of the story and it’s a great flick for kids, but not so much for adults as it’s badly paced and too episodic in nature.