Film

The Peanuts Movie

The Peanuts Movie is a love letter to Charles Schulz's comic strip, capturing its gentle melancholy and deadpan humor in hand-drawn animation. It follows Charlie Brown's hapless attempts to impress the Little Red-Haired Girl while Snoopy embarks on an absurdist fantasy. It's deeply earnest and funny—for fans and newcomers alike.

TMDb rating3.5

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Inside Out2015

Pixar at its smartest: a film about internal emotional life that's visually inventive, genuinely moving, and funny without ever talking down to kids. The design and color work are stunning.

But Can feel overstuffed in the third act, and some of the deeper emotional material might land heavier than you expect from animation.

Inside Out poster

Craig of the Creek2018

A TV show about childhood that actually remembers what childhood felt like: the small adventures, the genuine friendships, the specific anxieties. Beautifully drawn and deeply humane.

But Slower paced than most kids' TV. If you're looking for constant plot momentum, it prioritizes mood over incident.

Craig of the Creek poster

A Boy Named Charlie Brown1969

The original TV special that started it all. Bill Melendez's direction and Vince Guaraldi's score create something almost perfect—funny and sad in equal measure, just like the strip.

But It's 48 minutes and very much a product of 1969. The pacing will feel languid if you're used to modern editing.

A Boy Named Charlie Brown poster

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Wolfwalkers2020

Both films trust animation to convey genuine feeling rather than just cuteness. They use visual language—color, movement, design—to say what words can't. Both are about earnest underdogs finding their place.

Cartoon Saloon's masterpiece: a 17th-century Irish girl befriends a wolfwalker and must navigate two worlds. Visually extraordinary—hand-drawn animation that looks painterly and alive. A film about transformation and belonging that rivals anything Ghibli has made.

But It's Irish Gothic, not cozy. There's real threat and sorrow woven through it, and the ending doesn't tie everything up with a bow.

Wolfwalkers poster
More like this (8)

Over the Garden Wall2014

An animated miniseries that captures autumn dread and childhood unease with real artistry. Ten episodes of pure atmosphere, mystery, and genuine stakes. The score is haunting.

But It's deliberately dark and melancholic. No one's here to have fun; the children are genuinely lost and afraid.

Over the Garden Wall poster

Spirited Away2001

Hand-drawn animation at its most imaginative: a girl navigates a surreal world with curiosity and kindness. Visually sumptuous, structurally clever, and deeply strange in the best way.

But It's Japanese and dreamlike. If you need plot clarity and straightforward storytelling, the narrative can feel opaque.

Spirited Away poster

Amphibia2019

A girl gets transported to a frog world and forms genuine friendships. Starts light but builds into something with real emotional depth, character development that matters, and surprisingly sophisticated humor.

But Takes a few episodes to find its footing. The early jokes are broad, and it doesn't hit its stride until season two.

Amphibia poster

My Neighbor Totoro1988

Miyazaki's masterpiece about childhood wonder and family. It moves at its own pace, trusting the audience to find magic in small moments. The design is perfect and the heart is immense.

But Almost nothing happens in plot terms. It's a series of gentle scenes. If you need narrative propulsion, you'll find it tedious.

My Neighbor Totoro poster

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power2018

Surprisingly smart animated series with a diverse cast, genuine character arcs, gorgeous hand-drawn animation, and humor that lands for adults and kids. Takes itself seriously when it needs to.

But The first season is a bit uneven. The show knows what it wants to be by season two, but you have to get there first.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power poster

The Owl House2020

A show about found family, genuine stakes, and characters you'll care about. Mixes comedy with real drama, has excellent voice acting, and doesn't shy away from emotional consequence.

But Disney's handling of it was messy—it was cut short. The ending feels rushed, and some threads don't resolve as fully as they could.

The Owl House poster

Undone2019

Both are animated stories about outsiders trying to navigate the world. But where Peanuts is about acceptance of failure, Undone is about questioning reality itself. It's what Peanuts would be if it grew up and took psychedelics.

A rotoscoped series about a young woman who might be losing her mind, or might be discovering she has powers. Visually unlike anything else on TV—it looks like a graphic novel in motion. Deeply strange, deeply moving, funny in ways that sneak up on you.

But It's adult-oriented and deals with mental illness seriously. The animation style takes getting used to, and some viewers find rotoscope unsettling.

Undone poster

Hilda2018

Like Charlie Brown, Hilda is a protagonist defined by persistence in the face of an uncaring universe. But where Charlie finds community despite failure, Hilda actively fights back. It's Peanuts with agency and stakes, for kids who grew up frustrated with Charlie's resignation.

A girl navigates a world of folklore and monsters with courage and stubbornness. The mythology is genuinely inventive, the character work is superb, and it finds horror and humor in the same moments. Season one alone is perfect.

But The show moves into darker territory as it progresses—by season two, it's genuinely unsettling. If you want lightness throughout, it won't deliver.

Hilda poster

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