Nowadays, Animation isn't just for kids. In fact, some of the most innovative, experimental, and intellectual films are cartoons. When it comes to science fiction, animation opens filmmakers up to endless possibilities. The speculative worlds conceived of in science fiction scripts come alive with a unique radiance and beauty when animated.
The movies on this list represent some of the most conceptual and thrilling takes on alternative realities, alien universes, post-apocalyptic nightmares, and technological dreamscapes. Whether mainstream or underground, these features employ inventive animation techniques and stunning imagery to propel their narratives. Here are the 10 best-animated science fiction films.
Fantastic Planet (1973)
This French cult classic takes place on a distant planet called Yagam, where 39-foot blue creatures called Draggs rule. The Draggs have subjugated human-like creatures called Oms, who are tiny in comparison to their oppressors. Draggs like to take Oms as pets, going as far as putting collars on them in an attempt to domesticate them.
The Oms' struggle for independence is at the core of the film, and its psychedelic animation style is enhanced by Alain Goraguer's trippy soundtrack. Fantastic Planet earned the Grand Prix jury prize at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival.
A Scanner Darkly (2006)
This paranoid Richard Linklater feature about a dystopian drug epidemic is based on the Philip K. Dick novel of the same name. Linklater used rotoscoping to animate the film, which involves drawing over original footage frame-by-frame. This is the same technique Linklater employed in his celebrated feature Waking Life.
Keanu Reeves, Woody Harrelson, and Robert Downey Jr. star as citizens in a world terrorized by a hallucinatory drug known as Substance D. The high-tech, tyrannical government has deployed spies and invasive surveillance systems in an attempt to quell the drug's proliferation.
Renaissance (2006)
Another French film, Renaissance employs motion capture and computer graphics technology to give the movie its noir look. The cast of the film performed their parts in special suits in front of blue screens, which were then translated into computer models.
Renaissance takes place in 2054, where every street of Paris is monitored by the monopolizing Avalon Corporation. A detective named Barthélémy Karas is assigned to a case that involves the kidnapping of a well-known female scientist, and he's still pulled into a worldwide conspiracy.
9 (2009)
Shane Acker's computer-animated feature sees humanity on the brink of complete annihilation. An ambitious ragdoll, also known as a stitchpunk, named 9 hatches a plan to save those who remain.
With some help from a cast of dysfunctional stitchpunks, inventors, and survivors, 9 works tirelessly to destroy a war apparatus known as the Fabrication Machine, which hopes to eradicate all human life. This original and whimsical post-apocalyptic film provides an uplifting addition to sub-genre of science fiction that is often depressing and tedious.
Akira (1988)
Akira is revered as one of the most influential Japanese anime of all time. Adapted from the manga by Katsuhiro Otomo, the film takes place in Neo-Toyko, which is a dystopic, corrupt mega-city ruled by gangs and militaristic tyrants trying to recover from an event that destroyed it in 1988.
Employing cyberpunk styles and action movie sequences, Akira focuses on a member of a youth bike gang named Tetsuo who discovers he has telekinetic powers after an accident. Tetsuo attracts the attention of the Japanese military, which has been imprisoning those with the same extrasensory powers in order to exploit them. Once he's held against his will, Tetsuo learns more about the fate of a previous prisoner, another telekinetic teenager named Akira.
The Iron Giant (1999)
Combining Cold War Era paranoia with Frankenstein monster themes, The Iron Giant is a political animated film that takes place in 1957. A 9-year-old boy named Hogarth finds a 50-foot giant robot in a lake. It turns out the large machine crash-landed on Earth, and the kindness Hogarth displays toward the creature goes a long way.
Aside from its size and love for eating big hunks of metal, the Iron Giant is completely harmless. However, when the U.S. military finds out about the robot, they believe it poses an immediate and dangerous threat.
Paprika (2006)
Another groundbreaking Japanese animated film, Paprika is adapted from the science fiction novel by Yatsutaka Tsutsui. Developed by world-renowned animator Satoshi Kon, this film digs deep into the human psyche.
Atsuko, a psychiatrist develops a machine that allows her to enter her patients' dreams. Atsuko reinvents herself as Paprika, a subliminal detective capable of jumping from mind to mind. After her machine is stolen, Paprika travels out into the city to track the thief's trail of sensorial destruction.
Wizards (1977)
Wizards takes place in a post-apocalyptic landscape ravaged by nuclear war, where the remaining humans have become mutants and the Earth's original, mythical inhabitants have resurfaced after millennia.
Full of ghouls and sorcerers, Wizards is a 1970s cartoon fantasy about two opposing wizards, who happen to be twins, fighting for control of the planet. Avatar is a benevolent wizard whose brother, Blackwolf, wants to wage war against all remaining forces of good.
Ghost In The Shell (1996)
Ghost in the Shell is another seminal anime about life in an alternate, cyberpunk Toyko. In 2029, the entire world is connected through a Matrix-like network that is being compromised by an elusive hacker named Puppet Master. A cyborg police officer named Kusanagi is put in charge of the investigation.
As she pursues Puppet Master, Kusanagi starts to question her own identity as a fleshy piece of artificial intelligence. The title of the film is derived from her quest to understand what exists within her exterior shell.
Heavy Metal (1981)
This epic film is the product of multiple illustrators and animators who hoped to bring stories from the fantasy graphics magazine Heavy Metal to the big screen. Told in five parts, each story is connected by a green orb called Loc-Nar that contains all the evil in the world.
As Loc-Nar moves across space and time, it leaves a path of death and destruction in its wake. The final vignette in the film features an Amazonian woman riding on a giant bird. Bands like Black Sabbath, Cheap Trick, and Devo help enrich the movie's musical component.