20 Animated Films Worth Your Time Available on Netflix Right Now

As the son of an artist and an illustrator myself, I have been deeply interested in animation as far back as I can remember. Chances are, if you are reading this, you are a nerd and you love animated films like I do. With the rise of Disney+ and Apple TV,  there are more places to watch animated films than ever before. But let’s face it, Netflix still provides more options than any other streaming service—so many options in fact, that it can be difficult to sort through them all and Netflix makes it hard to find what they actually have, much less find what’s actually worth your time. So here’s a list of 20 animated movies on Netflix you might have missed, each of which is worthy of the necessary time commitment. This list features films with gorgeous art that tackle all sides of the human experience from the glorious to the profane.

It should be noted that a few of these, while thematically profound, are not for the faint of heart. Additionally, it should be said that not all of these films are family friendly—I recommend parents read reviews on Common Sense Media before determining whether to watch any particular film on this list with their children.

20) A Whisker Away (Junichi Sato, 2020)

A Whisker Away

Written by Mari Okada (Anohana, O Maidens In Your Savage Season), this is about a girl who becomes a cat to get closer to the boy she likes. Hijinks and sadness and a wild adventure ensue.

19) Modest Heroes (Hiromasa Yonebayashi, Akihiko Yamashita, and Yoshiyuki Momose, 2018)

Modest Heroes

A selection of three shorts in the format Katsuhiro Otomo uses in Memories, Neo Tokyo, and Short Peace, proving the talent present in Studio Ponoc.

18) The Breadwinner (Nora Twomey, 2017)

The Breadwinner

A dark film about a dark time, made more palatable for children by a series of deus ex machina salvations. It’s a good film, beautifully drawn, but not quite a great film.

17) Mary And The Witch’s Flower (Hiromasa Yonebayashi, 2017)

Mary and the Witch’s Flower

Made of Ghibli alumni, Studio Ponoc’s first film struggles under the weight of Ghibli’s influence and from a critical vantage looks like a pastiche jumble of What We’ve Seen Before – but for kids, it’s still pretty wonderful.

16) Blame (Hiroyuki Seshita, 2017)

Blame

Taking a brief moment from within Nihei’s comic and expanding it into a full story, giving lightly brushed characters more to do and more to want, injecting a bit of warmth into Nihei’s world.

15) Miss Hokusai (Keiichi Hara, 2015)

Miss Hokusai

A series of scenes from the life of Katsushika Oi, daughter of famous Japanese artist Hokusai. It’s a funny, pretty film.

14) April & The Extraordinary World (Christian Desmares and Franck Ekinci, 2015)

April and the Extraordinary World

While I hotly anticipated this for it’s illustrations by French comics legend Jacques Tardi, it turned out to be a solid alt-history adventure with steamships, talking cats, and lizard people.

13) Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman, 2018)

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse

12) Mirai (Mamoru Hosoda, 2018)

Mirai

While this isn’t my favourite Hosoda film, it does offer some of the director’s most sublime moments, presenting vignettes of both parenthood and childhood that should resonate with most viewers.

11) I Lost My Body (Jérémy Clapin, 2019)

I Lost My Body

10) My Life As A Zucchini (Claude Barras, 2017)

My Life as a Zucchini

About a young boy orphaned and life in the home and how he manages to live in hope. As a zucchini.

9) The Garden Of Words (Makoto Shinkai, 2013)

The Garden of Words

8) Song Of The Sea (Tomm Moore, 2014)

Song of the Sea

Cartoon Saloon’s second film follows a boy and his younger sister and their journey through worlds of faeries, giants, and selkies. While I slightly prefer Secret Of Kells, Song Of The Sea is very good and CS’s second best film.

7) Boy & The World (Alê Abreu, 2015)

Boy & the World

Almost without dialogue, Boy & The World relies on musical cues to shape its narrative. Absolutely beautiful.

6) Castle Of Cagliostro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1979)

Castle of Cagliostro

Miyazaki’s take on the rascally thief is, of course, beautifully animated. It’s a lively caper, a lot of fun, and visually holds up well for something animated four decades ago.

5) Funan (Denis Do, 2018)

Funan

This is a hard movie because the four-year rule of the Khmer Rouge was marked by unbelievable atrocities, resulting in ~2 million murders. Funan is about a family and the struggles they face throughout. Grim.

4) Children Of The Sea (Ayumu Watanabe, 2019)

Children of the Sea

Sublimely directed adaptation of Daisuke Igarashi’s world-class comic, the story of a girl who discovers a world layered under our own rather quickly dives into the cosmic. Maybe the most beautiful animated film I’ve seen.

3) Lu Over The Wall (Masaaki Yuasa, 2017)

Lu Over the Wall

A Little Mermaid riff with Yuasa’s own interests making this a wholly unique mermaid experience. A ton of fun *and* I can heartily recommend the English dub, esp for the big song in the climax.

2) A Silent Voice (Naoko Yamada, 2016)

A Silent Voice

1) In This Corner Of The World (Sunao Katabuchi, 2016)

In this Corner of the World