Serious topics in animated films.

Spirited Away by Studio Ghibli is another great animated film with a deep message behind it. It's similar to Alice in Wonderland in that it questions what reality and fiction truly are, but it's also a coming of age type of story, with the main character Chihiro struggling to find her identity. It also brings up a conflict with how different generations interact with one another, especially when traditional thinking in the younger generation is set aside for a mindset more attuned to modern culture.

Toy Story actually covered some very adult themes, such as existentialism.

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First, one is talking about children's films or animated film? Two completely different things (which should be obvious to anyone who has some experience as a cinephile).

If I restrict myself to family animated films then all the great ones deal with serious topics, such as Galaxy Express 999 (1979), Night on the Galactic Railroad (1985), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Spirited Away (2001), Wall-E and Ponyo (2008), UP (2009).

Not to talk about the hundreds of obviously adult animated films like Fantastic Planet (1973) (deals with the perceptions of sentient beings on other sentient beings), Nausicaa (1984) (environmental degradation), Grave of the Fireflies (1988) (the impact of war on the innocent), Ghost in the Shell (1995) (the meaning of being human when you are mostly synthetic, very similar to Blade Runner in themes and execution and almost as good), Waltz with Bashir (2008) (war documentary) and PMMM parts 1 & 2 (2011) (suicidal depression, social alienation).

Folded Flags. An animated film that deals with an oblivious, retired couple amidst nuclear tension and war.

It's not obvious to me, not that I consider myself a cinephile. Children's films do not need to be animated nor are all animated films geared toward children or even appropriate for them, but, yes, sometimes they are both. An animated film just means that it's, well that it's animated. It can be any kind of film.

I agree with you on that point. I think you have misunderstood me: I meant exactly what you said here. However, you should understand my point: that the author of the topic said implicitly "animated films = children's films and vice versa", clearly something that's not true.

When I think of animated films with serious topics, I immediately think of The Grave of the Fireflies, there's plenty of movies like Up that have depressing elements, but none of them are actually straight-up serious in the way that Fireflies is.

Yeah, I'm not sure if that's what he/she meant or if the thread title is a little misleading and would have been clearer had it said "serious topics in children's animation." I didn't really get from the first post that the OP felt as if all animation was geared towards children just that the thread title wasn't quite as specific as it could have been. If we're talking animation in general, I can't really think of any serious subject matter that hasn't been tackled.

Anyways, once the miscommunication has cleared we agree on both points.

Death is a very common theme in movies geared towards children and I think it's pretty important for children to begin to understand and cope with that aspect of life. Movies like Charlotte's Web and Bambi, sad as they may be, can be useful tools in teaching children about loss and to help facilitate their coping skills.

Really serious one would be,

Grave of the fireflies.
Illusionist.
Lion King.

Most Hollywood animation is made for having a good time. Most of them don't have a serious flavor to it.

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My Favorite Films

Has anyone seen Dr Seuss "the Lorax" it absolutely has a deep though simple message to it about preserving nature, its also a charming funny film, one of the best recent animation films and Danny Devito is genius as the voice of the Lorax

Mary and Max
This fantastic claymation feature deals with suicide, depression, alcoholism, Aspergers, and is both hysterical and haunting. Awesome film.

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Under-the-radar Movie Awesomeness.
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Yup forgot about it! This was one amazing film. Best thing was its based on a true story. Hard to believe that such a thing happens in this world!

The Iron Giant is a powerful and brilliant animated film.

Yeah The Iron Giant is a great film. I saw that movie so many times as a child and it affected me emotionally each time.

I love that movie to pieces. It's certainly not a child appropriate animated film though. I so wish Adam Elliot would do more work. He's brilliant.