Although live-action horror films are typical Halloween fare, several great animated Halloween movies are perfect for the spooky holiday.
Although Halloween can be a time for horror and scary films, the holiday cannot escape the connection it has with children. For children, Halloween often means candy, costumes, and very few scares. As such, instead of terrifying live-action horror movies, there are several great animated Halloween flicks.
Adults can also enjoy animated Halloween classics. While some of the best animated Halloween movies focus on the holiday itself, others simply involve the familiar holiday themes of monsters, zombies, and other frightening creatures.
The 2019 animated film is certainly not the first big-screen adaptation of The Addams Family. Originally debuting as a comic strip in the pages of The New Yorker, The Addams Family has gone on to find success in both television and film.
However, the animated version of the beloved Addams family truly embraced the family's quirkiness by having them move to the suburbs in New Jersey. Once there, the family refuse to give up on the very things that make them special, despite traditional society doing its best to change them. As a movie about both family and monsters, The Addams Family makes a great Halloween film.
Dracula is hardly the first name to spring to mind when fans consider potentially "friendly" monsters, but 2012's Hotel Transylvania places Count Dracula in the center of the film as the main character. All Dracula wants to do is celebrate his daughter's birthday and run his human-free hotel. Unfortunately, his daughter complicates matters by falling in love with a bumbling human named Jonathan.
Dracula, vampires, and monsters are all Halloween staples. Throughout the Transylvania franchise, these characters are eccentric, likable creatures who just want to avoid humans. 2012's Hotel Transylvania features a fun plot and gorgeous animation, which earned it a nomination for Best Animated Feature Film at the Golden Globes.
The 2007 stop-motion animated film, Coraline, is based on the Neil Gaiman novella of the same name. The film follows Coraline Jones, an unhappy and neglected child whose parents barely pay her any attention. Upon discovering an alternate universe with loving and attentive parents, Coraline thinks it's paradise. However, she soon finds that the cost of paradise would be her soul.
Coraline is undoubtedly a horror film. For fans who enjoy creepy characters, interesting themes, and strange stories, Coraline is the perfect Halloween watch. The film holds an impressive 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, often praised for its imaginative plot and wonderful animation.
In 2012's ParaNorman, 11-year-old Norman Babcock struggles as a unique child who can talk to ghosts. He's often picked on at school and few people in his town believe that he can communicate with the dead. His life is made even more complicated when he realizes he has to put a stop to a 300-year-old curse that was put on his town.
ParaNorman has all the makings of a family-friendly Halloween film: spooky monsters, an entertaining plot, and amusing jokes. It leans strongly into both dark fantasy and horror, making it an enjoyable watch for those who crave fun animated Halloween movies.
In 1949, Disney produced The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr.Toad. The film included two segments, with one devoted to Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," and the other devoted to Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows.
While The Wind in the Willows is standard Disney fare, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" provides a family-friendly introduction to the story of the headless horseman. While technically a horror story, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" found in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is much more appropriate for families than the live-action versions of the same story.
In 1998, Hanna-Barbera released a direct-to-video animated film of the Mystery Inc. gang battling supernatural monsters in the nostalgic Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island. The plot sees the Mystery Inc. members go their separate ways after realizing that the "bad guys" they catch only seem to be humans in monster costumes.
However, the Mystery Inc. gang finally fight real monsters, including zombies and were-cats. Real monsters make the film a darker Halloween experience than the typical family-friendly Scooby-Doo fare. The film's popularity also earned it a sequel: Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island, which was released in 2019.
2012's Frankenweenie, a stop-motion animated film, revolves around Victor Frankenstein and his devotion to his loving dog, Sparky. When Sparky tragically dies, Victor is willing to do anything to bring his beloved pet back to life. While his experiment is successful in bringing Sparky back to life, his classmates' resurrected animals do not fare as well.
Frankenweenie certainly draws inspiration from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, though elements of Stephen King's Pet Sematary can also be found in the film. Frankenweenie is a fun Halloween flick that discusses life and death, and was praised for its heart and visuals.
The 2005 stop-motion animated film, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, depicts the fusion of a rabbit and a cheese-loving pest-hunter. After Wallace attempts to brainwash rabbits into no longer liking vegetables, he transforms into a were-rabbit and begins eating people's vegetables. His trusty beagle, Gromit, helps fight off aggressive hunters and saves Wallace's by offering him a bit of his favorite cheese.
The Curse of the Were-Rabbit parodies both monster and horror films with Ralph Fiennes, Peter Sallis, and Helena Bonham Carter's exceptional voice work. The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is a lighthearted Halloween movie with wholesome, iconic characters.
Jack Skellington, a beloved pumpkin king, takes the central role of 1993's The Nightmare Before Christmas. Skellington has grown bored with his Halloween role of scaring people. Upon discovering Christmastown, Skellington realizes that he could take over and play Santa's role. First, though, he has to successfully kidnap Santa Claus.
Tim Burton's film gets progressively darker as Skellington's plots begin to fail. Although there is a happy ending, Disney was so worried about the film's scariness that it released The Nightmare Before Christmas through Touchstone Pictures instead. Tim Burton's movie was praised for its characters, soundtrack, and animation, which makes it a classic for both Halloween and Christmas.
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is an animated Halloween special from 1966 that originally aired on CBS. Throughout the story, Linus writes to the Great Pumpkin and never stops believing that the Great Pumpkin will arrive. Linus' belief does not falter, even when the Great Pumpkin fails to show.
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is a classic Halloween watch for many families. It captures the warmth of holiday traditions as well as the bitter-sweet acknowledgment that not all holidays go as planned. For its iconic characters, heartwarming story, and entertaining adventure, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is a must-watch animated Halloween film.
Annalisha Fragmin writes about comics for CBR in between fights with Ohio’s resident corn demons and cleaning up her Labrador’s supervillain amounts of hair. She can also be seen blocking Twitter trolls @annafragmin
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