The year’s most lushly animated feature, Loving Vincent promotes itself as the first fully painted feature film, a claim I have no basis to refute. The result is gorgeous and much more stunning than the surplus of computer animated features released each year. 

Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman’s film will also teach you a few things about Van Gogh that you probably did not know, as Armand Roulin (v. Douglas Booth), the son of Van Gogh’s friend and postman (v. Chris O’Dowd), attempts to deliver the famed artist’s final letter to his brother, Theo. The resulting narrative loses steam as Armand’s mission drags on (proving that the original plan of a seven-minute short may have been smarter), but the visual splendor is singular enough to pull one through the growing disinterest. 

No matter its flaws, the film is truly lovely—another remarkable score by Clint Mansell helps greatly—and the only real competition Coco has for the year’s best animated feature.