Opinion | Animation isn’t just for kids

From movie nights with my family to the wall decoration in my dorm room, animation has always been a huge part of my life. I’ve always loved animated movies, so I find it really weird how some people always tell me that animation is “for kids” as if that automatically makes it a bad thing.

I grew up on Disney films and Barbie movies. Friday at 7 p.m. was movie night, a weekly tradition in my house, which usually meant popcorn, family and an animated movie.

I remember negotiating with my brother to watch a Barbie movie. The “Barbie in a Christmas Carol” film was one I could usually get him to agree on.

Emilia Cuevas Diaz, opinions editor

My parents love reminding me that when I was 3 years old I got so invested in the movie “Dinosaur” that I would run around the living room table and yell for Aladar (the protagonist) to run from danger. 

I’ve always been a big fan of animated movies. When I was little that was the norm. Now that I’m older, I’m finding that some people look down on animation.

The older I got, the harder it became to convince my family to put on an animation for our family movie nights. While we still watched the occasional Disney film, most of the movies we put on were live action. So, I started watching animated movies by myself.

There are so many great movies that people look to as “kids’ movies” just because they are animated. But just because the movies are kid-friendly, doesn’t mean that grown ups can’t enjoy them too. I mean, when did we decide that things made for kids are automatically lesser?

Most of my favorite movies are animated. 

I quote obscure quotes from animated movies on a daily basis. If I close my eyes I can perfectly picture the scene where Hiccup and Toothless fly together for the first time in “How to Train Your Dragon.” My iPhone screensaver is the scene from “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse” where Miles takes the leap of faith and finally learns how to use his powers. 

I remember perfectly the first time I watched “The Mitchells vs. The Machines” and how that film spoke to me. 

All those movies have amazing heartfelt stories with incredibly funny humor and beautiful visuals mixed in. 

I have so much respect for animation as an artform too. The people who make them spend years working on making everything just right. From the script to the sound, to every reflection and little imperfections in the background. 

Everything in animated movies was created by someone. I think that’s pretty amazing.

I will always be more than happy to go watch an animated movie, no matter how many people tell me that “it’s just a kids’ movie.” And let me tell you if you don’t watch animation, you are missing out.