Best Animated Films of 2016
written by Souranath Banerjee
Animation films are pure magic!
On one hand animation movies are the enjoyment package for a complete family and on the other hand, perhaps there are no other medium in this world that gives an artist such freedom of expression and creativity other than Animation!
Similar Interest: Best Animated Films of 2015
And so, it’s time to celebrate some of the Best Animated Films of 2016! Enjoy!
10. Kung Fu Panda 3
Film trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGPPfZIvtCw
After a long wait of 5 years, finally the third one comes along where Po, the Panda gets a chance to show off his amazing Kung Fu skills!
Directed by Alessandro Carloni, Jennifer Yuh Nelson, and voiced by Jack Black this DreamWorks Animation produced instalment is packed with enough action and fun!
Far from being the last movie in the franchise, another 3 Kung Fu Panda films are planned ahead!
9. Moana
Film trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKFuXETZUsI
“lassoed the sun with a fish hook and pulled the land from the ocean.”
A brilliant adventure from Walt Disney Animation Studios that has the most amazing look and feel – a visual treat for everyone.
Directed by Ron Clements, Don Hall, John Musker and Chris Williams – and then there is Dwayne Johnson‘s eyebrows, I mean voice.
8. Sing
Film trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYHBD9RF2dk
Illumination Entertainment owned by Universal Pictures presents their second musical film, first one was The Lorax in 2012.
The story of the greatest singing competition of the year, featuring over 85 hit songs from the 1940s till the present day!
Directed by Christophe Lourdelet, Garth Jennings, this one is a treat specially for music lovers!
Film trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBdeE7mzED4
Truth about life and death, about the world and it’s existence – well know it all from a sausage!
Directed by Greg Tiernan, Conrad Vernon, the most unique concept I have come across specially for an animation movie. Seth Rogen is hilarious!
Presented by Annapurna Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Point Grey Pictures, jokes a bit on the adult side but very much recommended!
6. Finding Dory
Film trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKJA-VLpiCo
Pixar Animation Studio’s seventeenth feature film!
Ellen DeGeneres voices for the most popular animation character Dory, the blue tang fish who suffers from memory loss every 10 seconds or so!
Brilliantly directed by Andrew Stanton, Angus MacLane, this is the second instalment of the superbly successful Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures presentation Finding Nemo (2003).
Film trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4-6qJzeb3A
Laika Entertainment famous for their earlier production Coraline (2009), this time presents the longest stop-motion animation film till date!
Directed by Travis Knight, this is the adventurous story of a boy named Kubo!
A unique blend of animation and origami, made out of 145.000 photographs, turned into one of the most visually spectacular film!
Film trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXDlEw5u8u8
Directed by Roger Mainwood and produced by Ethel & Ernest Productions and Lupus Films, the tale of a family from the early 30’s in London!
With the backdrop of WWII this hand drawn animated film is based on the award winning graphic novel by Raymond Briggs and the story (it is a true story) is based on the lives of Raymond Briggs’s parents. A brilliantly well-made emotional film – a must watch!
3. Your Name
Film trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU47nhruN-Q
This year CoMix Wave Films presents the most successful anime film of Japan and also an artistic brilliance.
A surrealistic fantasy tale of two strangers getting connected in the most unconventional way possible!
Brilliantly directed by Makoto Shinkai, this is one film that cannot be missed this year.
Film trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw7BggqBpTk
A man marooned on a deserted tropical island which is only populated by turtles, crabs and birds.
A superb film without dialogues, the first non-Japanese film to be produced by Studio Ghibli.
Directed by Michael Dudok de Wit, same director who made the best animated short film seen by me ‘Father and Daughter‘.
Film trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWM0ct-OLsM
It’s the world of anthropomorphic animals and a rabbit becomes a cop. With her partner, a con artist fox, they solve the most mysterious case in town!
Directed by Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Jared Bush, a Walt Disney Animation Studios presentation and undoubtedly the best animation film of the year!
and (The ‘+1′ film is not necessarily the best but certainly the most innovative one. A must watch)
+1. Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks
Film trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McRfaIjicvg
In 1974, all six episodes of the original tapes for “Power of the Daleks” were erased from the BBC archive!
But luckily fans at the time recorded the soundtrack directly from the television and so after 50 years BBC America presents the animation version of the series – directed by Christopher Barry and perfectly synced with the original lost-footage audio.
A brilliant Si Fi totally worth your patience.
A few other films that didn’t make the list but still worth your time are Storks, Trolls, The Angry Birds Movie, Leap!, Ice Age: Collision Course, One Piece Film: Gold and The Secret Life of Pets.
Similar Interest: Best Animated Short Films
Similar Interest: Best Animated films not for kids
Poster courtesy: www.impawards.com, www.imdb.com.
A middle aged carpenter who after a heart attack requires state welfare, befriends a single mum and her two kids and it’s their brilliant emotional story of friendship and survival.
The fashion underworld of Paris, a young American woman making her living as a personal shopper for a celebrity may have some psychic ability to communicate with the spirits!
Emad and Rana, a young couple who happen to be performers rehearsing for Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” living in Tehran had to move to a new apartment, a rented one.
A unique father-daughter drama that circles around various intricate emotions and compromises related to parenthood.
A stylishly shot black and white revenge drama directed by 
Aquarius, a two-storey old building and Clara, a 65-year-old widow is the only resident left in that apartment. And she is not ready to sellout at any cost to the company desperate to buy out the whole building.
A stranger appears and the horrific rumours starts to spread throughout the village. And then there is death – a series of gruesome killings without any logical reasons!
An animation film without dialogues!
Set in Tehran, 1988 during the Iran-Iraq war, a mother and daughter struggle to cope with the terrors of the war. But then the war is not the only horror they have to endure.
A young man named Hank (
representing Japan, Argentina, the UK, the USA, India and Australia with a common goal to dissect love!
their adorable friends, but I doubt how many youngsters have heard about ‘
still prefers hand-drawing each frame rather than digitizing) is still media shy and prefers to work peacefully from his own place.