For a Friday with friends, you need a film that doesn't require perfect silence to work. Something engaging enough that it holds attention even in a room with people in it.
The 2020s have already produced films that will be studied for decades - lean, precise, unafraid to take audiences seriously.
The best animated films don't talk down to anyone. They trust that emotion has no age requirement.
During the rise of fascism in Mussolini's Italy, a wooden boy brought magically to life struggles to live up to his father's expectations.
When K-pop superstars Rumi, Mira and Zoey aren't selling out stadiums, they're using their secret powers to protect their fans from supernatural threats.
The untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but once were friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever.
A lonely dog's friendship with his robot companion takes a sad turn when an unexpected malfunction forces him to abandon Robot at the beach. Will Dog ever meet Robot again?
On school break, Marinette heads to Shanghai to meet Adrien. But after arriving, Marinette loses all her stuff, including the Miraculous that allows her to turn into Ladybug!
The animated films that last are the ones that never condescend. They trust their audience - child or adult - to handle complexity, loss, and wonder in equal measure.
Suzume, 17, lost her mother as a little girl. On her way to school, she meets a mysterious young man. But her curiosity unleashes a calamity that endangers the entire population of Japan, and so Suzume embarks on a journey to set things right.
The Red Ribbon Army, an evil organization that was once destroyed by Goku in the past, has been reformed by a group of people who have created new and mightier Androids, Gamma 1 and Gamma 2, and seek vengeance against Goku and his family.
A peculiar girl transforms into a cat to catch her crush's attention. But before she realizes it, the line between human and animal starts to blur.
In a world where walking, talking, digitally connected bots have become children's best friends, an 11-year-old finds that his robot buddy doesn't quite work the same as the others do.
A knight framed for a tragic crime teams with a scrappy, shape-shifting teen to prove his innocence.
An ending is everything. It's the last thing you carry with you. These films understand that - and they make it count.
These films prove that animation is not a lesser form of cinema. It's a different one - capable of its own kind of greatness.