To mainstream audiences, animation is synonymous with children's entertainment. The word conjures up images of countless Disney classics, from Show White and the Seven Dwarfs through to the smash hit Frozen, and the great CG master works from Pixar Studios. While many of these are fantastic movies, they follow a certain formula and audiences know what to expect; crowd-pleasers which deliver the goods but rarely break the mold. But animation as a medium is far more diverse than you would know from just watching Hollywood - it has a rich history of visual and thematic experimentation spanning an incredible range of styles and tones. From the Czech surrealism to Japanese anime - which alone covers every conceivable genre - animation has been used to express far more than just colourful family entertainment with loveable characters and fable-like storyline, with a wild array of art styles employed to create visually unique universes. The following list covers ten of the greatest animated movies from around the world which strive to achieve something a little different from the mainstream - from stop motion and claymation to traditional hand drawn animation with unusual approaches to character design, these films showcase animation in all its wonderfully quirky and eccentric glory.
