Film
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
- Magical realism
- Light-hearted
A lyrical animated short about a man who discovers a magical library where books have souls. It's a love letter to reading and imagination, suffused with silent-film charm and hand-drawn warmth. Made for anyone who's ever felt saved by a story.
If you liked this
Paprika2006
A dream-logic animation about a device that enters people's subconscious. Like Morris Lessmore, it treats imagination as something visible, tactile, and worth fighting for.
But The plot gets genuinely confusing; you need to sit with the strangeness rather than demand clarity.
The Wind Rises2013
Miyazaki's meditation on creativity, obsession, and the stories we tell ourselves. Quieter than his other films, focused on what it means to make something beautiful.
But There's sadness underneath the wonder. It's not triumphant, and some find the pacing meditative to the point of stillness.
Wolfwalkers2020
Irish folklore meets hand-drawn animation in a film about stories that matter more than rules. Visually stunning and emotionally genuine about why we need magic in our lives.
But The plot mechanics are fairly straightforward; if you're looking for narrative complexity, this prioritizes feeling over surprise.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
If Beale Street Could Talk2018
Both films prioritize beauty and emotion over plot mechanics; both ask you to surrender to mood rather than follow story.
Barry Jenkins' adaptation is pure visual and emotional poetry about love surviving injustice. It moves like a painting and feels like a song. The connection is tonal and structural: both use images and sound as primary language, both trust the audience to feel what they mean.
But It's not a plot you solve. If you need narrative momentum and clear dramatic beats, this will feel like it's moving sideways.
More like this (7)
The Thief and the Cobbler1993
A silent animated epic about art, theft, and the power of stories to save kingdoms. Gorgeously detailed and genuinely eccentric in how it moves through its world.
But The production history was chaotic and it shows—pacing stutters and some sequences feel unfinished, though some viewers find that charming.
A Letter to Momo2012
A girl moves to a remote island and encounters yokai. It's tender and strange, built on the idea that stories and spirits are ways of understanding grief.
But You need patience with magical-realism logic; it doesn't explain itself and some threads resolve quietly rather than satisfyingly.
Song of the Sea2014
Irish mythology told in watercolour-soft animation about a boy and his selkie sister. Gorgeously made and deeply concerned with how stories connect us to the world.
But The pacing is deliberate and the emotional register is more wistful than exciting; it asks for contemplation.
Mary and Max2009
Stop-motion about pen pals finding connection through letters. It's funny and heartbreaking in equal measure, and it genuinely loves its damaged characters.
But The humour is dark and the subject matter includes mental illness and suicide. It's not warm comfort; it's earned tenderness.
The Tale of The Princess Kaguya2013
Takahata's final film, a folktale about a girl born from a bamboo stalk. Hand-drawn watercolours that feel less like animation and more like watching paintings move.
But It's slow and melancholic. If you want dynamism and plot momentum, this will feel like watching someone grieve in real time.
Mulholland Drive2001
Both are about the power of narratives to shape reality. Both suggest that stories are how we survive and make meaning.
Lynch's haunting film about storytelling itself, dreams, identity, and what happens when fictions we tell ourselves collide with reality. It's formally stunning and endlessly rewound.
But It's deliberately fragmented and doesn't resolve neatly. Some people find decoding it fascinating; others find it frustrating.
In the Mood for Love2000
Like Morris Lessmore, it treats cinema itself as a love language—more concerned with how light and color and composition speak than with what characters say.
Wong Kar-wai's masterpiece about two neighbours discovering their spouses are having an affair. Shot in sumptuous colour and told almost entirely through glances and spatial choreography. Proof that cinema can be pure style as pure emotion.
But There's almost no plot and no dialogue to push things forward. It's visually rapturous but narratively glacial.
People
Directing
- Brandon OldenburgDirector
- William JoyceDirector
Writing
- William JoyceWriter
Production
- Alissa M. KantrowProducer
- Lampton EnochsProducer
- Trish Farnsworth-SmithProducer