Animation as a storytelling medium affords filmmakers much more freedom than the live-action medium. The laws of nature are malleable in animated movies, as visuals are fluid and spaces often get stretched to distort dimensions and make action sequences even more energetic. Aesthetically pleasing and unique animated movies are characterized by such sequences and gorgeously grand and imaginative visuals.

While Disney, DreamWorks, Pixar, and Studio Ghibli are the most popular animation studios, many great movies not made by them also stretch the limits of the medium, often by mixing animation with genres that aren’t ᴀssociated with it. For instance, animated documentaries like Piece by Piece and Flee are a unique blend where the animation makes the stories more personable.

Animated movies are often better than expected because creators are constantly experimenting with the medium, prioritizing proximity to reality at times and commitment to whimsy at others. However, even some animated sequences with hyperrealistic art styles are meant to be made and seen in animation and wouldn’t work if recreated in live-action, which is a regularly disappointing trend today.

Faarquad Tortures Gingerbread Man in Shrek (2001)

Shrek starts with arguably the best opening scene in fantasy movie history, where the тιтular Shrek takes a bath while Smash Mouth’s All Star plays in the background. Not only would the nasty details of Shrek’s morning routine lose any comedic charm in live-action, but a later scene in the movie is also meant to never be made in live-action.

When Faarquad tortures Gingerbread Man by threatening to break off pieces from him, the scene takes on a hilarious tone because Gingerbread Man makes him sing The Muffin Man in the name of answering his questions. However, the torture itself would not look as funny or convincing in live-action, as he would be an actual cookie, unless animated with CGI.

Mater and McQueen are Chased by The Harvester in Cars (2006)

Making a live-action Cars movie firstly faces the challenge of giving real-life vehicles faces without looking like caricatures. Secondly, the motion of the vehicles in Cars often violates all laws of nature. Third, and finally, their various facial expressions are easily readable and look good only in animation. Regardless of style, real-life cars often look too lifeless to be characters.

And so, the shepherd and sheep relationship between the regular tractors and the harvester tractor in the Cars scene, where Mater and McQueen tip over tractors by blowing their horns, might prove impossible to depict in live-action. The harvester looks menacingly angered when it chases them, which regular harvesters don’t. The tractors tipping over may not be as funny either.

Lady and Tramp Share Spaghetti in Lady and the Tramp (1955)

It’s hard not to feel old after realizing 2025 marks the 70th anniversary of the classic Disney animated movie, The Lady and the Tramp, which is a romcom with two dogs from different social circles who fall in love. While the story is timeless, one particular scene has had such a cultural impact that it’s regularly referenced in romance movies.

The scene is the dinner date where both Lady and Tramp start eating the same spaghetti noodle, and meet in the middle with their mouths touching, sharing an iconic romantic glance. Lady and the Tramp was remade in live-action in 2019, but anyone who has watched that has proof that this scene was only meant to be seen in animation.

The Crew Steal A Car in The Bad Guys 2 (2025)

Animated sequels are rarely better than the original movie, but 2025’s The Bad Guys 2 is such a clear improvement on an already brilliant film that it’s possibly going to become DreamWorks’ new big franchise alongside the ever-growing Shrek franchise. Part of what makes the new film so great is the deeper dive into the backstories of all the members.

The opening scene, to that effect, is thus a flashback scene that depicts an incredible heist and tells us how they got their iconic car from the previous film. While great live-action heist movies exist, the way the cars move, flying, stretching, or crawling when necessary, would be impossible to recreate in live-action, and the getaway would lose its charm.

Yubaba Breathes Fire in Spirited Away (2001)

As a fantasy movie that changed the genre forever, Spirited Away, often considered Hayao Miyazaki’s magnum opus, also changed animation forever. The meticulously hand-drawn scenes with more details than one can catch in a single viewing, the fluid character designs against visually stable backdrops, the life-affirming message, and the personal coming-of-age story of epic proportions together create a timeless movie.

While there are many sH๏τs in the film that could never be successfully recreated in live-action, the character of Yubaba perhaps challenges the constraints of live-action filmmaking the most. Her body shifts and transforms in unique ways, and when she contorts to breathe fire through her nostrils, her growing hair and its occupation of space would look awkward in live-action.

Tai Lung Escapes in Kung Fu Panda (2008)

Movies like The Jungle Book (2016) and The Lion King (2019) may seem promising for live-action adaptations of animated movies about animals, but the characters definitely lose some of their personality when translated into live-action. The humanoid features given to them in animation are necessary parts of them as characters, and their live-action counterparts are thus missing elements of them.

However, the iconic prison escape scene in Kung Fu Panda will prove challenging for a different reason, and might need to be changed for a live-action adaptation. The dimensions of Tai Lung’s prison aren’t the same in all the sH๏τs, and this helps the creators set up epic manuevers and use angles that embellish how menacing Tai Lung can be.

Tom is Given CPR in Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry (2005)

A new Tom & Jerry movie is in development at Warner Bros. right now, and while many previous movies have proven to be forgettable, this is exciting news. I just hope I’ll never wake up to the news that Tom & Jerry is being remade in live-action. Even the movie set in a live-action world features them as animated characters.

The way the characters’ bodies move wouldn’t be possible to depict in live-action. Without such sequences, they would lose their charm. For instance, in Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry, where Tom is given CPR after his car crashes underwater, his face swells up like a balloon with every blow, and such a visual only works in animation.

Miles Fights Kingpin in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse transformed animation with its colorful, whimsical, character-driven, fluid, and energetic visual design. It is an innovative celebration of animation as a medium, and it commits to the inherent freedom that it affords a storyteller through distortions and design decisions that make no real-world sense but suit the story at hand. It’s not suitable for live-action adaptations.

The climactic fight scene is the perfect demonstration of how the Spider-Verse franchise leans into the strength of animation as a medium. The space in which Kingpin and Miles fight constantly shifts in size and shape, there are regular bursts of color, an entire train runs through it at one point, and yet, it’s inside a floor of a skyscraper.