The 100 best animated movies: the best traumatic movies
World-famous animators pick the best animated movies ever, including Disney and Pixar movies, cult movies, kids movies, stop-motion, anime and more
Now we know which are the 100 best animation movies of all time. But which are the best Disney movies and which are the best Pixar or Studio Ghibli films? Which are best for kids and families and which are strictly arty, political or edgy?
We’ve applied 26 handy labels to the 100 great animations in our list. Here you’ll find all the films whose stories come with a side serving of mild trauma.
How many have you seen? Take our poll to find out.
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
This unflinching war story proves that, in animation, anything is possible.
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It’s Such a Beautiful Day (2012)
A one-man masterpiece.
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Up (2009)
Pixar’s saddest, sweetest, strangest film.
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Bambi (1942)
The film that makes little kids (and grown adults) cry.
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Persepolis (2007)
An Iranian expat remembers her tumultuous childhood during the Islamic revolution.
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Watership Down (1978)
Nothing is child’s play in this vivid, gutsy adaptation of Richard Adams’s novel about a colony of rabbits seeking a new warren.
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Toy Story 2 (1999)
It’s an emotional reunion as Pixar gets the old gang back together.
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Toy Story 3 (2010)
Pixar scored a hat trick – in 3D – with the third film of its signature franchise.
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Consuming Spirits (2012)
A one-man, multidiscipline labour of love.
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When the Wind Blows (1986)
An elderly British couple thinks it can survive a nuclear attack with Blitz-era gumption.
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