In an age of cutting corners and ChatGPT-fueled instant gratification, animation demands patience and problem-solving. Bigger productions take years to make, with animators painstakingly bringing their ideas from the storyboard to the screen. From Suzan Pitt’s late-night Lynchian, Asparagus, hand-painted in the 70s, to modern MUBI gems like Phoebe Jane Hart’s sexually-charged Bug Diner, these films are not only beautiful to look at, but artfully grapple with life’s big questions too, in a messy, human way that no machine could ever replicate (plus, there’s nobody quite like a four-titted squirrel or an illustrated vegetable to wrestle with these big ideas).
With the recent fear-mongering from tech insiders threatening our extinction at the fate of AI, a potent antidote to the panic is sitting and watching some good old-fashioned, rainbow-hued, human-made animation. In this guide, we’ve stockpiled some of the finest 2D, claymation, anime, and puppeted films out there. You’ll find everything from sultry shorts to occult horror projects, crafted entirely by real people – and with plenty of fucked-up human imagination.
THE WOLF HOUSE (2018)
Inspired by the real events of a 1970s cult, The Wolf House is a trance-like fright-fest from Chilean directors Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña. Opening with an unsettling propagandist advertisement, we follow the main character, Maria, as she escapes from the isolated ‘Colony’. Finding herself in a cabin with peeling walls and paint-soaked surfaces, we face an acid trip of mixed media techniques as she attempts to evade The Wolf, who is hunting her. But soon enough, Maria finds herself at the mercy of malevolent shape-shifting pigs and begins to question whether running away from the safety of the Colony was a good idea after all.
ASPARAGUS (1979)
Asparagus is Suzan Pitt’s cult, cel-by-cel short, which left audiences bemused and aroused in equal measure in 1970s cinemas. Once paired with midnight screenings of David Lynch’s Eraserhead, the picture journeys through themes of fantasy, desire, and the subconscious, which we experience from the perspective of a faceless matriarch. During its near 20-minute duration, we’re treated to still life roomscapes and kaleidoscopic colouring, perfected over the course of four years with around 8000 sheets of acetate. The story – which I’d challenge a chatbot to summarise succinctly – is, in Pitt’s words, all about “the nature of the creative process portrayed as psycho-sexual intimacy” (on one occasion our nameless, faceless protagonist fellates an asparagus stalk). Think: the cabbage patch, after hours. It’s the kind of project an artist creates when they just go there.
BUG DINER (2024)
Flickering between the narratives of three animal duos navigating their own relationship dynamics from different corners of a roadside eatery, Bug Diner is a comical flick from the dirty mind of puppeteer Phoebe Jane Hart. This 3D short unpacks a variety of different relationship dynamics: from a workplace crush, to a failing marriage, to a will-they-won’t-they platonic pairing. An orgiastic feast for the eyes, Bug Diner went on to win the Short Film Jury Award for Animation at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
GOD IS SHY (2025)
When a pair of illustrators board a train, penning their darkest fears on paper to pass the time, things take a dark turn. In God Is Shy, translated from French, passengers Ariel and Paul are joined by a stranger, Gilda, who proceeds to recount a traumatising event from her past, in which she received warnings from the divine using her sleeping husband as a vessel. Taking cues from Japanese animation, maker Jocelyn Charles perfects a mutated palette with sketches that are rough around the edges and a plot infused with existential angst.
AKIRA (1988)
Based on the early 80s manga by Katsuhiro Otomo, who also directed this on-screen adaptation, Akira is a cult cyberpunk thriller set in a vivid Neo-Tokyo. Following an adolescent biker gang, the plot begins when central member Tetsuo begins experiencing telekinetic episodes after colliding with a ghoulish figure in a high-speed chase. Within his new hyperreality, we venture past monstrous plush toys, sci-fi laboratories, and anti-establishment vigilantes awaiting the return of the omniscient ‘Akira’. With clever social commentary and badass characters plucked straight from a comic book, this one’s a helpful reminder that some of the best animations were actually made for adults.
ISLE OF DOGS (2018)
When the quick wit of a Wes Anderson script is played out by a band of ragtag puppet dogs, you know you’re onto a winner. Exiled from the fictional Japanese city of Megasaki after an outbreak of snout fever, Isle Of Dogs follows a group of domesticated canines as they navigate life on Trash Island, led by a stray terrier named Chief. Disrupting their grey existence, the pack soon welcome the arrival of Atari, a young boy searching for his ex-dog bodyguard. Dismaying the ancient Kobayashi bloodline (and evil cat dynasty) of his uncle, Atari attempts to save man’s best friend from its fate. It’s a stop-motion marvel that breezes through Eastern customs, government corruption, and animal activism, with a healthy dose of signature Andersonisms and a bunch of beautiful mutts.
PAPRIKA (2006)
While most animations are pretty trippy, Paprika is surely one of the most psychedelic ever (case in point: the parade scene). Starring a bright-eyed heroine of the same name, the feature is the final work of director Satoshi Kon, loved for his complex characters and adult humour. Set in the future, the story centres on a device called the DC Mini, which allows its user to manipulate dreams. Inevitably, it slips out of the hands of its inventors and into the abuse of some menacing “dream terrorists”, blurring the line between reality and hallucination. Cleverly likening dreams to a database, the animation warns us of the dangers of enmeshing human imagination with all-powerful tech.