For animators and animation lovers, 2023 was a year of surprises that ranged from record-breaking successes in the U.S. and Japan to disappointments and stunning flops. Here are my picks for the outstanding films of the year:
The Boy and the Heron
Hayao Miyazaki returned after a 10-year hiatus/retirement with his formidable imaginative powers intact. This grand adventure, which recalls Castle in the Sky and Spirited Away, contains strong autobiographical elements (Miyazaki’s family manufactured airplane parts during World War II, as Mahito’s father does in the film). No filmmaker can match Miyazaki’s skill at building brilliant fantasy worlds; his creations are governed by a dreamlike inner logic that makes them feel believable. Like Pazu in Castle in the Sky and Chihiro in Spirited Away, Mahito is tested. And also like them, his bravery, resolve and inner growth enable him to overcome the challenges he faces. The Boy and the Heron confirms Miyazaki is not only a great animation filmmaker, but a great filmmaker. The best animated feature of the year by a long shot.
Although The Boy and Heron is clearly No. 1 in my opinion, the other top films are so different it’s hard to rank them against each other. Here they are alphabetically:
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
Aardman Animations manages to preserve its identity as a British studio that produces a uniquely silly style of animated film while competing with the big American production houses. Ginger, Rocky, Frizzle, Babs and the other avian eccentrics from the original Chicken Run (2000) return in this absurd comedy. Ginger’s adventurous daughter Molly and a friend visit what appears to be a paradise for poultry — but does something sinister lurk beneath the fixed smiles and rainbow colors? It’s The Truman Show meets KFC as these plucky birds battle their old nemesis, the terrible Mrs. Tweedy, and her latest scheme to devour chicken-kind. (Dir: Sam Fell; Aardman Animations/Netflix)
Chicken for Linda!
This modest film addresses the problems and demands of single parenthood, the complexities of mother-daughter bonds and the challenges of coping with the loss of a loved one. But it’s also a delightfully skewed comedy about children’s expectations and misadventures. Paulette promises her daughter Linda that she’ll prepare her late father’s signature chicken with peppers, but an unexpected general strike closes all the stores, making it impossible to buy chicken or peppers. The attempted solutions go astray in often hilarious ways. Directors Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach (The Girl Without Hands, 2016) mix bold colors and loose-limbed animation to tell this offbeat tale. (Chiara Malta, Sébastien Laudenbach; GKIDS)
Elemental
Elemental became the Little Film That Could despite opening to a weak box office and unusually vitriolic reviews. Peter Sohn drew on his experience as the son of hardworking Korean immigrants running a small store in this rom-com a mismatched girl composed of fire and a guy made of water. All the elements of a classic Pixar story are there — they just need a little trimming and rearranging. (Peter Sohn; Pixar)
The First Slam Dunk
One of the biggest anime hits of 2022, The First Slam Dunk won the Japanese Academy Film Prize for Animation of the Year and ranks as the fifth highest-grossing anime feature of all time. Takehiko Inoue’s extraordinary drawings come to life through a combination of skillfully used motion-capture and inventive rendering that eclipses the earlier TV series (1993-96). Inoue reworked the last books of his hit basketball manga, shifting the focus of the story from outrageous power forward Hanamichi Sakuragi to Okinawan point guard Ryota Miyagi. Although the outcome of a key game is never in doubt in an animated sports film, Inoue and his artists manage to maintain the tension and suspense. (Takehiko Inoue; GKIDS)
Nimona
This fantasy-adventure offered interesting design work, and the animators did an impressive job of keeping the title character’s style of movement consistent during her shape-shifting. Nimona also featured the first real gay hero in an American animated feature: Ballister Blackheart is a far more layered, credible character than the over-supported Ethan Clade in Disney’s Strange World (2022). Despite a troubled production that involved a shift from Blue Sky to Annapurna, it’s a very interesting, original film. If only it weren’t so needlessly talky. (Nick Bruno, Troy Quane; Netflix)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Audiences have waited five years to revisit Miles Morales and his world. The seemingly infinite “Spider-Verse” offers funny visual gags (such as a Jeff Koons balloon dog sculpture that turns out to be filled with candy) reflections on parent-child tensions and some thoughtful discussions among the various Spider-Men and Women. But as good as Across the SpiderVerse is, it can’t quite match the exceptionally high bar the first film set. It takes too long for Miles to appear on screen — the audience came to see him — and some of the visuals are needlessly complicated and hard to follow. It’s a highly enjoyable film, despite those caveats. (Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson; Sony Pictures Animation)
One of Japan’s top young anime directors, Makoto Shinkai tackles the still-ongoing trauma of the Fukushima disaster through Suzume Iwato, his complex, resourceful heroine. When Shouta, a dashing young man, is transformed into a three-legged chair by the mischievous cat spirit Daijin, high school student Suzume finds herself charged with closing supernatural portals to prevent wormlike monsters from causing destructive earthquakes. Unlike Asha in Disney’s Wish or the title character in DreamWorks’ Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, Suzume doesn’t need superpowers or magic to resolve the crisis she faces. Any brave, resourceful high school girl could do what she does: That’s real Girl Power. (Makoto Shinkai; Crunchyroll)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
For the first time in this long-running franchise, the characters feel like believable teenage brothers who just want to go high school, attend the prom and make friends. They also feel like individuals rather than interchangeable elements in a four-piece set. The filmmakers obviously drew on the first Spider-Verse film for inspiration, but they pushed the film’s visual style in a different direction. The montage of the turtle quartet learning martial arts moves from reruns of old chop-socky films under the tutelage of Jackie Chan’s Splinter is a stand-out. (Jeff Rowe; Paramount)
Charles Solomon is an animation historian and critic who has written on the subject for numerous publications around the world. Among his most recent books are The Man Who Leapt Through Film: The Art of Mamoru Mosoda, The Art of Wolfwalkers, The Art of Frozen and The Art of the Disney Golden Books.
