People who still think animation is just for kids, let me remind you about:
The Lion King: A beautiful and epic drama about the importance of accepting responsibility for one’s actions, particularly how it applies to those in positions of power.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Features dark themes such as racial genocide, sexuality, and religious extremism; but also has a lot of heart and some very poignant points about the role of faith in the modern world.
Zootopia: An allegory for injustice of just about any kind, which uses humans’ perceptions of animals to prove a point about how we perceive people.
Inside Out: A coming-of-age tale that focuses on the importance of emotional stability and empathy.
Coco: A beautifully written celebration of Latin American culture that highlights the importance of family, music, and our relationship with the dead.
The Prince of Egypt: An adaptation of one of the most famous religious stories of all time that keeps the spirit of the original story intact but still feels fresh and new.
Megamind: A comedy that subverts many superhero tropes and uses them to prove a point about the often black-and-white perception of morality.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: A fresh take on the mythos of one of the world’s most famous superheroes that has a unique art style and blends comedy and drama brilliantly.
The Iron Giant: A criticism of blind patriotism and an exploration of free will, supposedly pitched with the question, “What if a gun had a soul?”
The How to Train your Dragon trilogy: An analysis of mankind’s relationship with animals and how we treat them as “others,” which often leads to misconceptions about nonhuman intelligence.
Finding Nemo: A cautionary tale for parents about how much they should allow their children to be independent.
The Lego Movie: A funny and heartwarming tale of family bonding that encourages people to think creatively and discourages blind uniformity and authoritarian rule.
The Incredibles movies: Analyze how society conditions us to follow a cause and how we often forget that those of high social status are still human.
Shrek: A satirical criticism of beauty standards and the oversaturation of certain unrealistic tropes in media.
Big Hero 6: Shows healthy ways to cope with depression and post-traumatic stress and teaches us that mental health should not be disregarded.
The Croods: An assessment of fear of the unknown and why it shouldn’t necessarily keep us from living life to the fullest.
Frozen: A fairytale about coping with the anxiety that is produced by the pressure society puts on certain individuals.
The Kung Fu Panda movies: Focus a lot on the philosophical side of martial arts and how self-confidence is conducive to success.
Moana: Explores how culture and society shape our identities and how those identities can become misguided while at the same time celebrating the often overlooked culture of the Pacific Islands.
Kubo and the Two Strings: An artistic marvel about how nothing lasts forever, but nor does change mean the end.
Up: Highlights the dangers of being blinded by nostalgia and how to properly honor one’s legacy.
Tarzan: A drama about man’s relationship with nature and how much one is influenced by their environment.
The Secret of NIMH: A philosophical exploration of our desire for knowledge and how ethics must be brought into consideration as we seek to better ourselves.
The Toy Story movies: Explore themes of inadequacy, mortality, parenthood, and one’s purpose in life from the perspective of children’s playthings.
Lilo & Stitch: A clever family drama that focuses on a non-conventional family and doesn’t hold back with the hardships of raising children.
Ratatouille: A metaphor for the struggles that creative minds face and how society often rejects works of art for superficial reasons. Like, for example, that it’s animated, so that probably means it’s just for kids.
