2023 Animated Movies Now
Beyond Spider-Verse: The Best (and Most Surprising) Animated Movies of 2023
Love it or hate it, you couldn't escape it. The Super Mario Bros. Movie became a juggernaut, proving that Illumination knows exactly how to push our childhood buttons. Critics were mixed (the plot is paper-thin), but audiences packed theaters for the "Peaches" song and Chris Pratt’s surprisingly fine Mario. It wasn't high art, but it was a celebration of video game iconography that worked exactly as intended.
The undeniable centerpiece of the year was Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse . Following the critical success of its 2018 predecessor, the film did not merely meet expectations; it shattered them. It showcased animation as the supreme medium for the superhero genre, utilizing a visual style that felt like a living, breathing comic book. The film was a technical marvel, distinguishing character designs through varying frame rates and art styles—from the classic comic book shading of Miguel O'Hara to the watercolor aesthetic of the villain, the Spot. Narratively, it pushed the boundaries of serialized storytelling, ending on a cliffhanger that left audiences eager for the sequel. Across the Spider-Verse solidified the argument that animation allows for a level of creative abstraction that live-action simply cannot replicate.
