The Genres of Animated Movies

'Animation' or 'family' are usually considered by cinema to be genres, but that is way too broad for the wide variety of movies that animation has to offer. Each of the other main movie genres, like action or romance, have representatives in the animated universe as well. 

This will only include western animation.


Animated Adventure 

Animated adventure movies have the typical adventure elements, like epic quests and far off lands, as well as imaginative, compelling worlds that could only exist in animation. These movies usually have influences of other genres, particularly action, fantasy, and science fiction. The Indiana Jones franchise is among the most popular in live action. Some of the best animated movies in this genre are Treasure Planet, Peter Pan, and especially Up. While Up has romance influences, the majority of this movie is adventure. The romance between Carl and Ellie provides the backdrop to Carl's adventures in South America as he transports his house to Paradise Falls and meets Charles Muntz. This movie does an amazing job at keeping the, shall I say, 'spirit of adventure', alive, inspiring a generation of children to explore the world and make the most of their lives, living each day to its fullest. 

"Adventure is out there!"- Ellie Fredricksen, Up

Animated Science Fiction

Science fiction is known for aliens, outer space, space ships, and future technology, most commonly robots. Easily the most famous of the live action science fiction movies would be the Star Wars franchise. While animated movies have these elements, there are usually more talking aliens than any other of those aforementioned elements. The sci-fi animated movies that do this are often childish and immature, but there are good sci-fi movies that are animated, such as The Iron Giant, Lilo and Stitch, and WALL-E. WALL-E is a romance between two robots, Wall-E and Eve in a universe where Earth was so polluted, forcing all humans to have to live in space. This movie is distinctively sci-fi because of its setting, which is both in the future and in space, and because of the futuristic technology, like hover chairs and sentient robots. What really makes WALL-E so memorable is that it is a warning to us humans to watch our actions and how they affect our environment..

"Wait, that doesn't look like Earth. Where's the blue sky? Where's the-the grass?"- Captain, WALL-E

Animated Horror

A rarer movie genre in terms of animation due to its scary nature, horror movies are very common in live action. Movies like The Ring and Saw are very well known and popular, whereas it is hard to even find an animated horror movie. But, there are two directors that consistently produce fine animated horror movies, it would be Henry Selick and Tim Burton. These directors are known for their stop-motion animation, which is usually dark and Gothic. Noteworthy movies that were made by one or the other, or both, include Coraline, Frankenweenie, Corpse Bride, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Coraline is a very dark movie about a young girl named Coraline who finds a secret passage to another ideal world run by a copycat of her mother named the Other Mother, who plans on keeping her in the false world by sewing buttons in place of her eyes and later eating her. There are multiple nightmare-inducing scenes in this movie, and it is scarier than some live-action movies. But, if kids can get past the scary parts, they will learn that sometimes the grass may seem greener on the other side, but in reality you should appreciate what you have.

" She spied on our lives through the little doll's eyes... ...and saw that we weren't happy.So she lured us away with treasures and treats...And games to play.Gave all that we asked...Yet we still wanted more.So we let her sew the buttons.She said she loved us.But she locked us here...And ate up our lives."

-Ghost children, Coraline