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Best Animation Movies With Your Parents That Flew Under The Radar

These animation films were selected by the Moviepiq editorial team for watching with your parents. Popularity and critic scores don't factor in here. Emotional fit does.

The best animation movies with your parents that flew under the radar. Includes Akira, When Marnie Was There, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 and mor...

A film with your parents works best when it gives you something to talk about afterward - not something to argue about during.

The best animated films don't talk down to anyone. They trust that emotion has no age requirement.

Akira movie poster
1
1988 · ★★★½☆ 7.9/10

A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.

When Marnie Was There movie poster
2
2014 · ★★★½☆ 7.9/10

Upon being sent to live with relatives in the countryside due to an illness, an emotionally distant adolescent girl becomes obsessed with an abandoned mansion and infatuated with a girl who lives there - a girl who may or may not be real.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 movie poster
3
2013 · ★★★½☆ 7.9/10

Batman has stopped the reign of terror that The Mutants had cast upon his city. Now an old foe wants a reunion and the government wants The Man of Steel to put a stop to Batman.

Ghost in the Shell movie poster
4
1995 · ★★★½☆ 7.9/10

In the year 2029, the barriers of our world have been broken down by the net and by cybernetics, but this brings new vulnerability to humans in the form of brain-hacking. When a highly-wanted hacker known as 'The Puppetmaster' begins involving them in politics, Section 9, a group of cybernetically enhanced cops, are called in to investigate and stop the Puppetmaster.

Tokyo Godfathers movie poster
5
2003 · ★★★½☆ 7.9/10

On Christmas Eve, three homeless people living on the streets of Tokyo discover a newborn baby among the trash and set out to find its parents.

What makes these films remarkable is their emotional honesty. They're animated, but they don't soften anything.

In This Corner of the World movie poster
6
2016 · ★★★½☆ 7.9/10

Japan, 1943, during World War II. Young Suzu leaves her village near Hiroshima to marry and live with her in-laws in Kure, a military harbor. Her creativity to overcome deprivation quickly makes her indispensable at home. Inhabited by an ancestral wisdom, Suzu impregnates the simple gestures of everyday life with poetry and beauty. The many hardships, the loss of loved ones, the frequent air raids of the enemy, nothing alters her enthusiasm...

The Boy and the Beast movie poster
7
2015 · ★★★½☆ 7.9/10

Kyuta, a boy living in Shibuya, and Kumatetsu, a lonesome beast from Jutengai, an imaginary world. One day, Kyuta forays into the imaginary world and, as he's looking for his way back, meets Kumatetsu who becomes his spirit guide. That encounter leads them to many adventures.

Miraculous World: Shanghai - The Legend of Ladydragon movie poster
8
2021 · ★★★½☆ 7.9/10

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!

Inside Out movie poster
9
2015 · ★★★½☆ 7.9/10

When 11-year-old Riley moves to a new city, her Emotions team up to help her through the transition. Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness work together, but when Joy and Sadness get lost, they must journey through unfamiliar places to get back home.

Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie poster
10
2018 · ★★★½☆ 7.9/10

Earth is peaceful following the Tournament of Power. Realizing that the universes still hold many more strong people yet to see, Goku spends all his days training to reach even greater heights. Then one day, Goku and Vegeta are faced by a Saiyan called 'Broly' who they've never seen before. The Saiyans were supposed to have been almost completely wiped out in the destruction of Planet Vegeta, so what's this one doing on Earth? This encounter between the three Saiyans who have followed completely different destinies turns into a stupendous battle, with even Frieza (back from Hell) getting caught up in the mix.

Overlooked films are overlooked for the wrong reasons. Not because they failed - because they didn't fit. These didn't fit. They're excellent.

The best animated films stay with you the way a dream does. Vivid, emotional, and hard to fully explain.

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