At any point in your childhood you might get fascinated with Disney, DreamWorks, and Universal animated movies. Maybe you are a fan of this form of art and watch new releases of any kind and any type, even more mature content that can go into deeper themes. But…what makes an animation a masterpiece? Something that makes you say “Woah” is very hard to tell right away. 

What does it transmit to people/you? 

While reading a book, watching a movie or even admiring a painting, many people-at the beginning or at any given point – feel somet

hing. Whether it’s positive or negative, you feel something in your heart, inside of your mind, deep inside in your soul. The feeling can vary, and it depends on the animated film you are watching.  

Making the audience feel something is hard. Whether it is a literary or cinematic experience, it’s very hard. Making your audience cry, laugh, question topics, or feel anxiety shows how the author or the director knows what they are doing. For example, in an animated scene you can play with colors, background, the characters, or make a scene with tones of blue with rain. If you know how

to get there and know what you want to do, the spectators will cry with tears if this is your objective. 

I can give many examples of animated films that transmit something, but the ones I always would love are the ones from “Studio Ghibli”. One of the most famous scenes is “Waiting for the Cat-Bus”, and this quiet, atmospheric scene is the epitome of what makes My Neighbor Totoro such a beautiful film. On a rainy night, sisters Satsuki and Mei wait at their father’s bus stop when the animal spirit Totoro appears to them.  

Typically, the sudden appearance of a giant furball would be frightening, but the scene does a great job of easing viewers’ anxiety. It’s difficult to fear Totoro after witnessing how thrilled he is by the sound of the raindrops on an umbrella. He seems childlike like the sisters, which makes his presence more comfortable for the audience, making us feel calm but curious at the same time. After this the Cat-Bus arrives to give Totoro a ride. 

The impact on diverse cultures 

Across the world, animation has grown far beyond simple entertainment, becoming a medium that inspires and releases the creativity of people and connects them with different cultures. Whether through iconic characters, emotional stories, or innovative art style, animated works have helped shape global culture and continue to influence how we think, create, and communicate. An impact on cultures is when something like a book or movie connects with a specific group of people and it’s relevant for them. For example, a movie talking about freedom connects with people that are being oppressed. 

This year in Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines, and Madagascar have raised a pirate flag from a popular anime/manga from Japan called One Piece. The Straw Hat flag that these people are using represents fighting for freedom and justice against an oppressive world government. This is very similar to the actual series; the main cast of characters many times liberate islands from tyranny or oppression giving people reason to live. This message goes beyond the screen or books and inspires people in real life to raise a flag and fight for their freedom. 

Unique Art styles 

Art style is a distinctive way artists express their creativity, defined by specific characteristics like technique, materials, colors, and shapes. In animated movies the art style is the way you can attract an audience to see your product; it is like a hook. I watch many of my favorite pieces of media by the art style that catch my eye. And I think that today one of the most recognizable is the duology of Spider-verse movies. The first movie released in 2019 and winning the Oscar for best animated film, got so much popularity that the 3D art style of it inspired a new number of movies very similar like Puss in Boots: A New Wish, Wild Robot, or Flow and many more. 

This art style is a mix of the best of 3D and 2D.  Having the background looking like drawings or pictures instead of models and the characters looking cartoony with lines that recall  2D, and how they can lower the frames in a scene to show speed or how in the movies visual changes in Miles Morales’ “frames” are key storytelling devices used to represent his character development, inexperience, and emotional state throughout the Spider-Verse movies.  

For example, at the start he moves at 12 frames showing how inexpert, it looks choppier and less fluid it is but then it doubles to 24 showing a mature change, showing that he is more prepared  to be a hero and help those who need it, as well as be more like an adult and less than a teen. 

Another great example of an animation with a unique art style is the Oscar-nominated Loving Vincent. The unique, immersive “oil painting coming to life” aesthetic, where every frame (65,000 in total) is a hand-painted oil painting in the Post-Impressionist style of Vincent Van Gogh, featuring his signature brushstrokes, vibrant colors, and textured impasto. This matches perfectly with the movie because it is the life of Van Gogh, so it is a love letter to the history of this painter. This is how you know a movie wants to create an art style that catches your eye, but also helps the story adding personality and creativity. 

How much dedication did the production have? 

I have a perfect example of dedication in an animated movie. The Thief and the Cobbler is an unfinished animated movie made by Richard Williams that took him 31 years, inspired by Persian miniatures, massive budget overruns, and reliance on legendary animators, leading to his ousting by Warner Bros., who finished it as a rushed Aladdin rip-off, really sad story.  

     Over those 31 years he perfected everything about it: we can see how smooth the animation is how every frame can be a painting, we can see the love he put in the movie. He put heart and soul to at least give a decent product. Every frame is detailed as most it can: he plays with the angles, because in this movie the story progresses by the animation, the character design matches with all the world. Even though it is an unfinished movie ,it is full of detail in the work that is done.