Best animated films that adults secretly love too
Animated films are often seen as for children, but many are made with adults in mind as much as kids. These films balance gorgeous visuals, layered storytelling, and themes that speak to grown-up experience: loss, regret, identity, grief, love, social satire, and moral ambiguity. Adults return to them because they reward repeated viewings, reveal new emotional depths, and connect to memories from childhood while offering an adult perspective. Below is an extensive guide to animated films that adults secretly love, written in a clear, easy to understand style and organized so you can find picks for mood, theme, or taste.
Why adults love animated films
– Visual storytelling that feels honest: Animation frees filmmakers from physical constraints, letting them create metaphors and emotional landscapes that resonate with adult feelings in a vivid, immediate way. This makes abstract emotions feel concrete and memorable.
– Layers for different ages: Many great animated films work on at least two levels. Children enjoy the characters and action. Adults notice irony, subtext, cultural references, and complex emotional undercurrents.
– Nostalgia plus new insights: For many adults, animated films trigger childhood memories. A strong film adds new meanings over time, so the same movie can feel comforting and surprising in later life.
– Risk-taking in subject matter: Animation can tackle dark, surreal, or experimental topics that live-action might avoid or find harder to sell. That permits stories about mortality, mental illness, politics, and existential dread that reward adult attention.
How to read this list
– The selections that follow include mainstream favorites, overlooked gems, foreign works, and films that shift tone between whimsical and heavy. Each entry notes what adults tend to appreciate: themes, artistry, humor, or bitter-sweetness. Use the short notes to find something for mood: thoughtful, funny, dark, nostalgic, or strange.
Timeless mainstream films adults adore
– Toy Story (1995) and sequels: Adults connect with the series’ meditation on change, aging, and letting go. Toy Story 3 and 4 sharpen that emotional focus with questions about purpose and retirement, giving grown viewers a surprisingly raw note on moving through life stages.
– The Lion King (1994): Beyond the musical moments and spectacle, many adults relate to the film’s family drama, guilt, responsibility, and the pressure of legacy.
– Finding Nemo (2003): The central relationship between father and child carries adult anxieties about safety, control, and loss, while the ocean’s vastness doubles as a metaphor for life’s unpredictability.
– Monsters, Inc. (2001): Adults get the clever workplace satire, corporate absurdity, and the film’s deeper message about empathy and how fear can be transformed into care.
– Shrek (2001): Its fairy-tale deconstruction, adult jokes, and irreverent attitude made Shrek a film many adults secretly loved for its cynical tenderness about outsiders and what “happy ending” actually means.
Pixar films that resonate with adult experience
– Up (2009): The five-minute montage of a life together is widely discussed for its emotional power; the film addresses grief, stagnation, and the possibility of starting over in middle age. Many adults say this is one of the first animated films that made them cry in a different way than childhood tears.
– Inside Out (2015): It literalizes inner life, turning emotions into characters. Adults appreciate the nuance about sadness, memory, and emotional complexity during adulthood and parenting.
– Wall-E (2008): A love story and social fable, Wall-E’s mostly-wordless opening and later critique of consumer culture speak to adult worries about the environment, technology, and the kind of future we are building.
– Ratatouille (2007): A film about creativity and the fear of failure, it resonates with adults who have felt judged or boxed in by others’ expectations.
Studio Ghibli and sophisticated international animation
– Spirited Away (2001): Hayao Miyazaki’s masterpiece is a rich, dreamlike journey that many adults love for its moral ambiguity, world-building, and themes about greed, identity, and growing up. Its canyon of images stays with viewers long after the credits roll.
– My Neighbor Totoro (1988): While whimsical, adults feel the bittersweet undertone about family, illness, and the gentle passage of childhood.
– Grave of the Fireflies (1988): A devastating, adult-centered film about war and loss. Though animated, its realism and emotional impact make it essential viewing for adults.
– The Wind Rises (2013): A contemplative, somewhat autobiographical film about art, ambition, and compromise. It examines how creative dreams coexist with the moral costs of the real world.
– The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013): A visually inventive, painterly film that explores regret, choice, and the pressures placed on women by society, delivered in an emotionally complex manner adults often prefer.
Animated films with mature themes or darker tones
– Coraline (2009): A stop-motion dark fantasy that terrifies and fascinates adults with its exploration of desire, dissatisfaction, and the cost of “perfect” substitutes for real life.
– The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993): Adults appreciate its dark whimsy, themes of alienation, and the idea of longing for identity and belonging.
– Perfect Blue (1997): A psychological thriller in animation form that examines fame, identity breakdown, and media exploitation. Adults who like tense, mind-bending stories find this film haunting.
– Anomalisa (2015): An intimate, adult stop-motion drama about loneliness, connection, and midlife crisis. Its subtle, uncomfortable honesty appeals to mature audiences.
Animated comedies with jokes adults savor
– Shrek (2001): Already mentioned for emotional depth, also a comedic staple because of its layered jokes aimed squarely at grown-up viewers.
– Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005): British humor, clever invention, and subtle adult references make this a favorite for viewers who enjoy craftsmanship and wry wit.
– The Incredibles (2004) and The Incredibles 2 (2018): Superhero action for kids with the added adult theme of marriage, parenting stress, midlife dissatisfaction, and career versus family balance.
– Zootopia (2016): A buddy-cop animated film that also gives adults a sharp allegory about prejudice, systems of power, and social narratives.
Animated films that hide sophisticated adult jokes and references
– Shrek series: Many of the pop culture jokes and double entendres were placed with adults in mind.
– Wallace & Gromit shorts and films: Often contain visual gags and social commentary adults notice more than children.
– Many modern studio films include sly references to adult culture, politics, or cinematic history so fans who rewatch pick up jokes they missed as kids.
Cult and overlooked animated gems favored by adults
– The Red Turtle (2016): A dialogue-light, meditative film about life, nature, and the human condition. Adults appreciate its quiet, symbolic storytelling.
– Mind Game (2004): A wildly experimental Japanese film that adults who like surreal, challenging cinema often praise.
– Heavy Metal (1981): An anthology
