Animation films 253 films

Animation can be about anything, which is why so much of it here is also a family film, an adventure or a comedy. What we are judging is whether the drawing does something a camera could not, and whether the people in it, rats and robots included, behave like people. The bad ones mistake movement for life and noise for jokes. The good ones are patient, notice small things, and trust a child to sit still for them. Our shelf leans towards Hayao Miyazaki, who turns up more often than anyone, and towards films made for children that adults need not be embarrassed by.

Start with Grave of the Fireflies, 94, Isao Takahata’s war drama, harrowing because its children stay children; then Spirited Away, 92, Miyazaki’s bathhouse fantasy, frightening and moving in turn; then Toy Story, 92, funny, tightly made and kind to awkward characters. After those, WALL·E makes its environmental warnings feel personal, and My Neighbor Totoro offers the same patience with far less peril.