Did Animation Take Its ‘Next Step’ in 2023?
By Justin Carter
In mid-March during the Oscars, Netflix’s Pinocchio took home the award for Best Animated Feature. During his acceptance speech, co-director Guillermo del Toro said the animation medium was ready to be taken to “the next step,” a statement that was meant to be inspiring after animation was belittled at that very ceremony just minutes prior. The category presenters were dismissive of animation overall, basically calling it kiddie fare that parents have to suffer through just to shut their kids up.
That kind of joke would already be rude even if animation wasn’t the one arm of entertainment to not be noticeably affected by the pandemic, but what made it sting all the more is that 2022 just wasn’t kind to the animation industry. Between shows getting canceled without any discernable reason, projects being scrapped mid-production, and things getting yanked off streaming services, getting insulted at an awards ceremony wasn’t exactly fun. Del Toro’s words, later echoed in an essay by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, were a declaration that the animation space deserved more respect. Throughout 2023, I’ve been wondering about what “the next step” tangibly looks like when shows and films take so long to be developed and come out, but surprisingly, the universe had an an answer to that question.
In the same way that 2023 has been an incredible year for video games as a product, the same is true of animation. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was a thrilling (albeit shaky) sequel to the 2018 juggernaut that was one of many animated standouts. This year really felt like studios were more than willing to walk away from the tried-and-true realism that Disney and Pixar made into the gold standard in favor of getting a little more experimental and weird. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem had a similarly unconventional look as the Spider-Verse movies, but in a rougher, grosser way that felt right at home with the mutated creatures and youthful energy of its constantly amped-up terrapins.
