# Best European cartoons. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 8, 2020, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-european-cartoons/847622 "2020-02-08T12:49:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-european-cartoons/847622/21 "2020-02-08T22:13:16Z")
TinTin. When The Wind Blows. The Plague Dogs. The Animals of Farthing Wood. Watership Down. Danger Mouse. SuperTed. Bananaman. > [@Sandwood](#): > > Does claymation count? [Aardman Animations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aardman_Animations) and their movies are quite well-known, and not only in Europe. If we’re doing claymation, Pingu. And, of course, The Magic Roundabout. ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-european-cartoons/847622/22 "2020-02-08T22:57:39Z")
If we’re counting claymation, and if we’re counting the UK as part of Europe, I think [The Tree Officer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA35XvpGUJQ) counts. (The youtube version is kind of low-res, but the wit and attitude of the film shines through.) [Jan Svankmajer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_%C5%A0vankmajer)’s work is freakily awesome. Here are some examples of his short films: [Lunch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yM3uxZjdfo) [Et Cetera](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1E_GEBmi7o) [Dimensions of Dialogue](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-gGpWpra-g) There’s this series of animations of Hungarian folk tales that have some cool animation. Here’s one of those videos: [The Pussycat Princess](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30u7SInryfY). ---
**Author:** ![Sandwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@Sandwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sandwood)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-european-cartoons/847622/23 "2020-02-08T23:52:46Z")
> [@Scribble](#): > > … and if we’re counting the UK as part of Europe… Last time I checked, the UK wasn’t its own continent yet, so yes we do. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-european-cartoons/847622/24 "2020-02-09T00:16:00Z")
> [@blindboyard](#): > > TinTin. > > When The Wind Blows. The Plague Dogs. The Animals of Farthing Wood. Watership Down. Danger Mouse. SuperTed. Bananaman. > > If we’re doing claymation, Pingu. And, of course, The Magic Roundabout. …The Snowman, Father Christmas, the Waterbabies, Shaun the Sheep, Willo the Wisp… There’s loads and loads of British animation. Good calls. I’d particularly recommend The Plague Dogs, though not if you’ve recently lost a pet and don’t want to cry. Watership Down is a true classic, though I guess not everyone’s seen it yet (and of course there was a remake recently). When the Wind Blows is one of the best films made about nuclear war. Very gentle, but again not to be watched unless you want a bit of a downer. Recently, I’d recommend the various Julia Donaldson adaptations, such as The Highway Rat and The Gruffalo. They’re based on books that every parent of a child in the UK aged up to about 25 will know, and many grandparents and the kids too, of course, and they’re gorgeous. They’re made by Magic Light Pictures in London and some of them have been nominated for Oscars. I don’t know how successful the books were in the US, but they are very good, and the adaptations seem to appeal to little kids and their families. Another good London studio makes [Sarah and Duck](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3OUMU3s7Oy6Ta0wnpZFBWw). Don’t judge it by the first picture you see, because the characters themselves are animated in a very simple way, but the backgrounds are luscious, like a work of art, and the stories are bizarre. There’s also [The Mysterious Cities of Gold](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysterious_Cities_of_Gold), which was a Franco-Japanese production and looks like anime. It was HUGE among 80s kids in England. Might not count since it doesn’t see particularly European, but it was great, so I’m going to include it anyway. Poland is a hotbed for animation, but a lot of it is really weird (or they work for major studios and don’t get credited as a European production). I’d have to ask my daughter for recommendations. On a different tack, one very old German/British animator I love is [Lotte Reiniger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotte_Reiniger), who was one of the pioneers of silhouette animation. [Here’s an example from 1955.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxkIGXVwZTM) ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-european-cartoons/847622/25 "2020-02-09T00:19:26Z")
> [@blindboyard](#): > > TinTin. > > When The Wind Blows. The Plague Dogs. The Animals of Farthing Wood. Watership Down. Danger Mouse. SuperTed. Bananaman. > > If we’re doing claymation, Pingu. And, of course, The Magic Roundabout. > [@Sandwood](#): > > Last time I checked, the UK wasn’t its own continent yet, so yes we do. 😉 British animations tend to be more likely to have already been seen in the US, though, so although I took the chance to big up some shows and films I like, I’m not sure if they’re what the OP was going for. I mean, it’s not like he’s unlikely to have heard of Wallace and Gromit, for example. (I’m not actually a big animation fan, but my daughter, who’s 21 and an animation student, is, so I’ve watched a lot). ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-european-cartoons/847622/26 "2020-02-09T00:53:25Z")
I just remembered a sweet one: [Ernest & Celestine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_%26_Celestine). ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-european-cartoons/847622/27 "2020-02-09T01:04:52Z")
> [@Sandwood](#): > > Last time I checked, the UK wasn’t its own continent yet, so yes we do. 😉 I’ve known people in the UK to use the term “Europe” to refer to that set of countries on the western part of the Eurasian continent, mainland only, so not including the UK. I could imagine a British doper saying, “Hey! This thread is about European animation. Why are people bringing up stuff from my country?” ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-european-cartoons/847622/28 "2020-02-09T01:13:26Z")
Masha and the Bear, a Russian cartoon that’s very popular. > **[Masha and The Bear](https://www.youtube.com/user/MashaBearEN)** > > With kindness and comedy in its heart, the show follows the adventures of a little girl Masha and her friend, The Bear. > > Their relationship is a metaphor of how a child interacts with the big world and how an adult can aid with this difficult task.... ---
**Author:** ![Sandwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@Sandwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sandwood)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-european-cartoons/847622/29 "2020-02-09T01:16:19Z")
I just remembered an older animated series that my Italian roomie really loved: [La Linea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Linea_(TV_series)) by Osvaldo Cavandoli. Very well-known in Italy of course, but around the 1980s and 1990s it was also used by TV networks in other countries around the world as a sort of filler in between their regular shows and movies because the episodes are quite short. [La Linea - Episode 1 (YouTube)](https://youtu.be/skb2gKR7rOk) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-european-cartoons/847622/30 "2020-02-09T01:30:10Z")
Some international classics from my childhood: [Barbapapa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbapapa) (French) [Mr. Rossi Looks For Happiness](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Rossi_Looks_for_Happiness) (Italian, the music was great) [Calimero](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calimero) (Italian) ---
**Author:** ![bmoak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@bmoak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmoak)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-european-cartoons/847622/31 "2020-02-09T05:19:49Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > There’s also [The Mysterious Cities of Gold](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysterious_Cities_of_Gold), which was a Franco-Japanese production and looks like anime. It was HUGE among 80s kids in England. Might not count since it doesn’t see particularly European, but it was great, so I’m going to include it anyway. Loved MCoG when I was a kid, but it is definitely anime. The French half of the production mostly provided a) money and b) the basic plot/story (it was loosely based on a French book). All the key production staff were Japanese and the show was produced and aired in Japan before it was dubbed/edited for French TV. However, MCoG was such a hit in France, that about ten years ago, an all-French production team made a SEQUEL. I’ve seen clips on YouTube, but I don’t think it’s ever been released in English. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-european-cartoons/847622/32 "2020-02-09T07:57:19Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Masha and the Bear, a Russian cartoon that’s very popular. > [https://www.youtube.com/user/MashaBearEN](https://www.youtube.com/user/MashaBearEN) Masha is the Russian equivalent of Goldilocks. 🙂 Back in the '90s I had some videos of \*\*\*The Flumps \*\*\*(UK) that my daughter loved to watch. My nephew in Moscow (age 2) now loves _ **Bob the Builder** _ (also UK). I suspect he’ll learn to speak English with a British accent. ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-european-cartoons/847622/33 "2020-02-09T07:59:12Z")
My daughter is a genuine bilingual. She grew up with English animated series that were not translated into Romanian. When she was about 3 years old, for example, she watched The Secret Show, a British production. It did not run in Romania, but I bought all the DVDs I could find. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-european-cartoons/847622/34 "2020-02-09T08:24:22Z")
> [@PlaceboTarget](#): > > My daughter is a genuine bilingual. She grew up with English animated series that were not translated into Romanian. When she was about 3 years old, for example, she watched The Secret Show, a British production. It did not run in Romania, but I bought all the DVDs I could find. My bilingual daughter learned English from me and a Canadian nanny, so she’s always spoken it with a North American accent. But she was always very sensitive to other ones (I used to teach at a language school where a lot of the teachers were from the UK and Ireland). At home, we always listened to the BBC World Service and she would ask me things like “Why does she say ‘_cah_’ instead of ‘_car_’?” and “What does ‘_meah_’ mean?” (As in “Arnold Schwartzenegger went from being a _meah_ [mere] body builder to Governor of California.”) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-european-cartoons/847622/35 "2020-02-09T08:35:25Z")
My nephew’s parents are Russian, but they both speak excellent English with just a trace of an accent. I wish learning Russian had been as easy for me as learning English is going to be for him. Until she came to live with me at 2 1/2 (at the request of her mother, who was caring for her diabetic father), my daughter spoke Russian almost exclusively. She understood English because I had always spoken it to her, but she could hardly speak it at all. At the end of two months, she spoke English perfectly. It was like talking to another adult. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-european-cartoons/847622/36 "2020-02-09T17:50:20Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Recently, I’d recommend the various Julia Donaldson adaptations, such as The Highway Rat and The Gruffalo. They’re based on books that every parent of a child in the UK aged up to about 25 will know, and many grandparents and the kids too, of course, and they’re gorgeous. They’re made by Magic Light Pictures in London Note that not all of them are “made in London”- some are[made in South Africa.](https://www.triggerfish.com/animated-tv-south-africa/) ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-european-cartoons/847622/37 "2020-02-10T01:10:43Z")
> [@bmoak](#): > > Loved MCoG when I was a kid, but it is definitely anime. The French half of the production mostly provided a) money and b) the basic plot/story (it was loosely based on a French book). All the key production staff were Japanese and the show was produced and aired in Japan before it was dubbed/edited for French TV. > > However, MCoG was such a hit in France, that about ten years ago, an all-French production team made a SEQUEL. I’ve seen clips on YouTube, but I don’t think it’s ever been released in English. I’ve seen the 2012 MCOG in English (we have the DVD, but I don’t know if there’s an American DVD version). Wikipedia claims it was made in England, which surprises me. The 2016 season was made in France but has been released in English too. [The Mysterious Cities of Gold (2012 TV series) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysterious_Cities_of_Gold_(2012_TV_series)) > **[The Mysterious Cities of Gold (2012 TV series)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysterious_Cities_of_Gold_(2012_TV_series))** > > The Mysterious Cities of Gold (French: Les Mystérieuses Cités d'Or) is an animated series. It is the sequel to the 1982 TV series of the same name. The fourth season (counting from the 1982 series) premiered on RTS Un in Switzerland. > The main cast of the series includes: > The English version of the second season (counting from the 1982 series) premiered on Kix on November 9, 2013. Fabulous Films released it on DVD and Blu-ray on February 17, 2014 in the UK. In 2016, the third season was made a... > [@MrDibble](#): > > Note that not all of them are “made in London”- some are[made in South Africa.](https://www.triggerfish.com/animated-tv-south-africa/) Magic Light Pictures also claim they made The Highway Rat and the others on that page (so does Wikipedia) and say that they’re a British company. Confusing. Maybe they were a co-production. [https://www.magiclightpictures.com/](https://www.magiclightpictures.com/) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-european-cartoons/847622/38 "2020-02-10T10:25:18Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Magic Light Pictures also claim they made The Highway Rat and the others on that page (so does Wikipedia) and say that they’re a British company. Confusing. Maybe they were a co-production. [https://www.magiclightpictures.com/](https://www.magiclightpictures.com/) They’re the main production company, so they paid for it and made production decisions, probably some editing. But the actual animation work for the ones done by Triggerfish was done locally. I know this because some of those animators are my friends or acquaintances. The Environment Supervisor for _Highway Rat_/CG Supervisor for _Zog_ was in my AfrikaBurn camp, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-european-cartoons/847622/39 "2020-02-10T10:36:23Z")
The Wikipedia[article on Triggerfish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triggerfish_Animation_Studios#Filmography)lists all their TV specials as “for Magic Light Pictures”. You decide whether that means they’re British or South African or both. I consider them “made in South Africa”, myself, as that’s where the animation was done. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-european-cartoons/847622/40 "2020-02-11T18:11:55Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > They’re the main production company, so they paid for it and made production decisions, probably some editing. But the actual animation work for the ones done by Triggerfish was done locally. I know this because some of those animators are my friends or acquaintances. The Environment Supervisor for _Highway Rat_/CG Supervisor for _Zog_ was in my AfrikaBurn camp, for instance. My daughter knows some of the Magic Light people, and I’m fairly sure they did do some of the animation. I’d consider it to belong to both countries, really. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-european-cartoons/847622.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-european-cartoons/847622.md?page=3)