Top 10 Animated Films That Moved Adults

A historical fiction from Hayao Miyazaki, The Wind Rises tells the story of Jiro Horikoshi, the engineer behind Japan’s WWII fighter planes. It’s a visually breathtaking and emotionally layered exploration of the duality between dreaming and responsibility, especially in the face of war.

While the film is about aviation, it’s not really about planes. It’s about ambition, compromise, and the moral complexity of creating something beautiful that’s ultimately used for destruction. The animation is rich with metaphor—windswept fields, crumbling cities, surreal dream sequences—all depicting the fragile balance between beauty and consequence.

For adult viewers, The Wind Rises is a poignant meditation on how our greatest accomplishments can carry unintended consequences, and how the pursuit of dreams is often tethered to the reality of the world we live in. It’s one of Studio Ghibli’s most mature and thought-provoking films, and an emotional farewell from one of animation’s greatest storytellers.

Told through haunting claymation, Mary and Max is a film about two pen pals—an eight-year-old girl in Melbourne and a middle-aged man with Asperger’s Syndrome in New York—who develop a decades-long friendship that spans continents and emotional worlds. It’s quirky, darkly humorous, and deeply moving.

The film tackles issues like depression, anxiety, obesity, autism, and abandonment—all with profound empathy. Its offbeat visual style complements its emotional complexity, delivering moments of beauty, despair, and connection in equal measure.

Mary and Max is not just a tale of friendship—it’s a reminder that human connection can bloom in the most unexpected places, and that no one is truly alone in their struggles. Adults will find themselves laughing, crying, and reflecting on their own friendships and inner battles. It’s a testament to the healing power of being understood.

Tower is a documentary-style rotoscope animated film that tells the story of the 1966 University of Texas tower shooting—the first mass school shooting in U.S. history. By animating interviews and reenactments, the film brings to life the emotional experience of witnesses, survivors, and first responders in a uniquely vivid way.

Animation here is not just a stylistic choice—it’s a bridge to the past, a way to preserve memory while making it accessible to modern audiences. It allows the film to move fluidly between time periods, thoughts, and emotions, blurring the lines between past trauma and present reflection.

What makes Tower so powerful is its emphasis on resilience, fear, and community in crisis. Adults watching this film will recognize how sadly relevant its subject remains today. Its innovative approach doesn’t distance viewers—it draws them closer to the emotional core of an all-too-real tragedy.

A Silent Voice, or Koe no Katachi, is a Japanese animated drama that explores the long-term emotional consequences of bullying, guilt, and the struggle for redemption. The story follows Shoya, a former school bully who tries to make amends with Shoko, a deaf girl he tormented in childhood. What unfolds is a deeply emotional journey of forgiveness and self-worth.

Visually, the film is rich with symbolism and emotional depth. Its color palette and direction mirror the characters’ psychological states, and it masterfully uses silence, space, and internal monologues to depict the characters’ internal battles. This is one of the most emotionally complex anime films ever made.

What strikes adult viewers is its mature treatment of mental health, trauma, and personal growth. A Silent Voice doesn’t offer quick resolutions. It’s a realistic, layered portrayal of how deeply we affect one another—and how healing requires vulnerability and time. For those who have faced social isolation, regret, or anxiety, this film will feel like a mirror held to the soul.

A stunning collaboration between Studio Ghibli and Dutch animator Michaël Dudok de Wit, The Red Turtle is a silent animated film that tells the story of a man stranded on a deserted island who forms a mysterious bond with a giant red turtle. With no spoken dialogue, the film relies entirely on visuals and music to convey emotion, story, and symbolism.

What makes this film powerful for adults is its meditation on life, death, nature, and the passage of time. It’s a reflective, spiritual experience that doesn’t spoon-feed meaning but instead invites the viewer to interpret and internalize. The animation is soft, organic, and painterly—invoking a sense of tranquility even as profound existential themes unfold.

The beauty of The Red Turtle lies in its universality. It transcends language and culture, resonating with anyone who has loved, lost, or simply stood in awe of life’s quiet rhythms. It’s a rare animated film that treats its audience with complete respect, trusting them to feel rather than be told.

When the Wind Blows is a British animated film that explores the impact of nuclear war on an elderly couple in rural England. Told through a mixture of hand-drawn animation and still imagery, it presents a poignant and deeply unsettling portrayal of naïve optimism in the face of impending doom.

Jim and Hilda, the protagonists, represent a generation conditioned to believe in governmental assurances and traditional values. As they follow outdated survival advice in the aftermath of a nuclear strike, their tragic miscalculations highlight the absurdity and horror of modern warfare. The emotional punch lies in their innocence—adults watching are keenly aware of what the characters refuse to see.

This is not a bombastic disaster film—it’s quiet, personal, and heartbreakingly human. The film delivers a critique of political complacency and the illusion of safety, making it eerily relevant even today. When the Wind Blows is a film that encourages contemplation, outrage, and empathy, especially among adult viewers who understand the devastating implications of nuclear conflict.

Written by Charlie Kaufman, known for his cerebral and emotionally layered storytelling, Anomalisa is a stop-motion animated film that explores loneliness, depression, and the desperate search for meaning. The protagonist, Michael, is a self-help author who perceives everyone around him as identical and dull—until he meets Lisa, a woman whose voice sounds different.

This film uses stop-motion animation to evoke profound human realism. The characters move with subtlety and weight, and their facial expressions—imperfect, fragile—mirror the emotional detachment and vulnerability at the core of the narrative. The choice of animation over live-action heightens the surreal quality of the world Michael inhabits.

What makes Anomalisa a film for adults is its thematic focus. It’s about emotional disconnection, the routines that deaden our lives, and the fleeting moments of human connection that remind us we are still alive. It’s not dramatic or loud—it’s painfully quiet, reflective, and deeply relatable. For anyone who has ever questioned their purpose, Anomalisa is a film that will echo long after viewing.

Based on Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel, Persepolis is a stark, black-and-white animated film that traces the life of a young Iranian girl growing up during the Islamic Revolution. As she transitions from childhood to adulthood, she navigates political upheaval, cultural clash, and personal identity struggles with biting wit and deep introspection.

The minimalistic animation style enhances the emotional impact by keeping focus on the story. It uses visual simplicity to deliver complex truths about authoritarianism, freedom, gender expectations, and cultural displacement. It’s an honest look at how the personal is inseparable from the political, especially for women in repressive societies.

Adults will find Persepolis deeply moving not just for its historical weight but for its universal emotional truths. It speaks to anyone who has ever felt torn between cultures, struggled with identity, or tried to maintain personal integrity in a world of conformity. Persepolis is a powerful example of how animated films can deliver political and emotional depth rarely matched by traditional cinema.

Waltz with Bashir stands out as one of the most groundbreaking adult animated documentaries ever made. Directed by Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman, it explores his own repressed memories from his time as a soldier during the 1982 Lebanon War. Told entirely through animation, the film dives deep into the psychology of trauma, guilt, and the blurry line between memory and reality.

The animation style—surreal, impressionistic, and dreamlike—serves the narrative in profound ways. It allows Folman to depict internal emotional landscapes, fragmented recollections, and the surreal nature of war, in a way that would be impossible through live-action. Waltz with Bashir uses visual metaphor and abstraction to paint a vivid psychological portrait.

What makes this film resonate so strongly with adults is its honesty. It doesn’t glorify or justify—it examines, questions, and mourns. It’s a film for those willing to confront uncomfortable truths about the past and the human cost of conflict. Waltz with Bashir is not only an achievement in animation but a profound meditation on memory, identity, and moral responsibility.

Few films capture the raw cost of war like Grave of the Fireflies, a masterwork of Japanese animation by Studio Ghibli. Set during the final months of World War II, the film follows two siblings, Seita and Setsuko, as they try to survive in the bombed-out ruins of Kobe, Japan. It is not only one of the saddest animated films ever made, but one of the most devastating anti-war statements in cinematic history.

What makes this film so powerful for adults is its unflinching honesty. It doesn't rely on graphic violence, but instead presents emotional trauma through quiet suffering and the small tragedies of everyday survival. The hand-drawn animation contrasts the beauty of nature with the horrors of destruction, making its emotional impact even more striking.

This is not a film for children—it’s a cinematic experience that requires emotional maturity. Adults watching Grave of the Fireflies are often left deeply shaken, not just by its outcome, but by its depiction of love, dignity, and despair in the face of hopelessness. It’s a film that doesn’t offer easy answers, only reflection.