These 21 stop-motion works show how much the form can do: turn groceries into a meal, build uncanny feature-film worlds, make clay characters feel spontaneous, or animate a landmark-sized projection. The list moves across object-animation shorts, films, television, commercials and public art. Each entry highlights the idea that makes it stand out; current streaming availability varies by country and is not confirmed here.
Object animation: ordinary things, surprising transformations
In PES’s films, familiar objects become ingredients, characters and unlikely vehicles. The pleasure comes from recognizing the object and then seeing it behave in a completely different visual world. PES’s official biography lists these works and describes a body of films built around unexpected transformations (PES biography).
1. Fresh Guacamole (2012) — PES
This Oscar-nominated short makes the preparation of guacamole a chain of visual surprises: objects stand in for food and kitchen tools, and each transformation invites the viewer to reconsider what they are seeing. It is a compact example of how substitution can carry a whole film.
2. Western Spaghetti (2008) — PES
PES reimagines cooking as a playful sequence of object transformations. The familiar rhythm of preparing a meal becomes the framework for visual jokes, making the process itself the story.
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3. Submarine Sandwich (2014) — PES
Here, the making of a sandwich becomes an opportunity to turn everyday materials into food and tools. The film’s appeal lies in following the assembly while trying to anticipate what each object will become next.
4. Human Skateboard (2007) — PES
The title signals the central visual gag: a person becomes part of the logic of a skateboard. PES’s object-based approach makes the impossible premise feel like a simple physical trick unfolding before the camera.
5. KaBoom! (2004) — PES
This short takes the visual logic of an explosion and channels it through animated objects. Its brisk, escalating transformations show how stop-motion can make a single physical gag feel choreographed rather than merely chaotic.
6. Roof Sex — PES
Two chairs on a rooftop become the unlikely performers in a short, suggestive comic encounter. The film demonstrates how a carefully chosen object and a clear physical premise can do the work of dialogue.
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PES’s official behind-the-scenes page includes making-of material for this short, alongside work such as Submarine Sandwich and KaBoom! (PES behind-the-scenes). It is a useful pick for viewers interested in how object animation is constructed as well as how it plays on screen.
Hand-built feature worlds: puppets, sets and experimentation
LAIKA’s features pair physical stop-motion craftsmanship with technological tools. The studio describes its approach as hybrid and identifies 3D printing as part of the work on Coraline (Hidden Worlds: The Films of LAIKA). These films make the miniature world itself a central attraction, whether it is eerie, fantastical or comic.
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8. Coraline (2009) — LAIKA
Coraline’s passage into an alternate version of her home gives the film its unsettling visual premise: familiar rooms and people acquire a second, sinister identity. LAIKA notes the use of 3D printing in the film, part of a hybrid process rooted in physical stop-motion work.
9. ParaNorman (2012) — LAIKA
A boy who can see and speak with the dead becomes the center of a story that mixes supernatural spectacle with the awkwardness of growing up. Its distinctive appeal is the way a spooky premise also gives room to character comedy and small-town satire.
10. The Boxtrolls (2014) — LAIKA
The film’s underground community of creatures wearing discarded boxes turns packaging into both costume and identity. That instantly legible design idea gives its handmade world an unusual silhouette and a strong comic premise.
11. Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) — LAIKA
Kubo’s journey unfolds through mythic landscapes and story-rich objects, including the instrument that gives the film its title. The film stands out for making storytelling itself part of the adventure: music, memory and crafted images shape the world Kubo must navigate.
12. Missing Link (2019) — LAIKA
This adventure sends a Victorian-era explorer in search of the creature known as Mr. Link. Its comic contrast between formal expedition and an unexpectedly personable companion gives the film a different tone from LAIKA’s darker fantasy stories.
Clay characters and performance: Aardman’s range
Aardman’s work shows how expressive a small clay figure can be, and how a strong voice or setting can define a piece. The studio’s formats range from character-led television to short-form commissioned work and large-scale projection.
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13. Creature Comforts (1989) — Aardman
Animated clay animals speak using unscripted interview voices, creating a comic gap between the animals on screen and the human experiences in the recordings. The 1989 short won the 1990 Academy Award for Best Short Animated Film, according to Aardman’s official page.
14. Morph — Aardman
Morph brings a simple clay character into artist Tony Hart’s BBC studio setting. The contrast between an everyday television workspace and a character who can reshape himself gives the series a flexible stage for quick, physical comedy. Aardman’s Morph page introduces the character and series.
15. Wallace & Gromit at Battersea Power Station — Aardman
This project takes stop-motion out of the conventional screen frame and into large-scale projection. Aardman’s production account describes the Wallace & Gromit work at Battersea Power Station and its use of an iPhone in the production process (Aardman’s behind-the-craft account). The result is a striking example of stop-motion conceived for a specific public setting.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Commissioned shorts: stop-motion beyond the cinema
Stop-motion can also serve a brief, a brand or a live cultural moment. Aardman’s official short-form index spans projects for Apple, Barbour, Thatchers Cider, McDonald’s France, BBC and Chicken Shop Date (Aardman short-form projects). The index establishes this range, but does not provide enough detail to attribute a particular technique or premise to each project. These selections are best approached as examples of the medium’s reach into commissioned short-form work.
16. Apple project — Aardman
Aardman’s short-form index includes work for Apple. Its inclusion shows that commissioned stop-motion can be made for a commercial brief, not only as a standalone film or series episode.
17. Barbour project — Aardman
The project index also lists a Barbour collaboration. It is one of the varied contexts in which Aardman has applied its stop-motion practice.
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18. Thatchers Cider project — Aardman
Aardman’s index names a short-form project for Thatchers Cider, adding a food-and-drink commission to the studio’s range of client work.
19. McDonald’s France project — Aardman
The index lists a project for McDonald’s France. Its presence illustrates the international scope of the studio’s commissioned animation work.
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20. BBC project — Aardman
Aardman’s short-form listing includes a BBC project, showing the form’s place in broadcaster work as well as advertising.
21. Chicken Shop Date project — Aardman
The index also lists a project for Chicken Shop Date. It rounds out a set of commissions spanning different kinds of clients and audiences.
What to notice while watching
Stop-motion is not one look or one production method. These examples invite viewers to compare what is being animated, what the premise contributes, and how the format shapes the result.
- Material: Is the animation built around ordinary objects, clay characters, puppets or a constructed miniature world?
- Premise: Does the work rely on transformation, a character’s physical behavior, an unusual setting or a story told through images?
- Format: A short can concentrate on one visual gag; a feature can build a sustained world; a series can return to familiar characters; projection can make a location part of the experience.
- Sound and voice: In Creature Comforts, recorded interview voices shape the humor. In other works, the visual action may carry the idea without spoken explanation.
LAIKA president and CEO Travis Knight describes the appeal of the medium on the studio’s Hidden Worlds page: “Stop motion is like the worst, most painful way to bring a story to life, but there is something that’s just rare and special and beautiful about it, that you can literally see the hands of the artists at work, bringing something to life, a frame at a time. It’s just something that has magic to it.”
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