The 75 Best Animated Movies Ever!

I've noticed that if I post a comment, all of a sudden more people check my profile out...can one of you please send me a message and explain why you decided to check it out? I never say anything of particular interest.

I do the same thing, usually if someone makes a jackass comment about a reviewer, film, other RT user's opinion.

And more importantly, this site needs more five favorites. There is nothing personal or particularly fascinating about these giant lists.

Feb 20 - 10:23 AM

Alexander Sciury

I agree with you. Having a list of 75 films to go through can get kind of tedious, and takes too long. I would rather have shorter lists of 5-10 movies.

I also have the same thing happen to me, I get more views on my profile when I comment. I don't think it has anything to do with posting something interesting, it's just that commenting is pretty much the only way someone is going to see you on here, so if your in-active you won't get many people looking at your profile. And sometimes people just get bored and want to see what kind of movies you like and the ratings you've chosen for them.

Feb 20 - 10:37 AM

Des Akkari

oh its a us animation countdown.....ghost in the shell and akira have to be in the top 5 at least top 10 or this is not a valid list

Mar 1 - 12:37 PM

Tyler Schwab

It's sad how low on the list Akira, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Grave of the Fireflies are...

Feb 20 - 11:23 AM

Bryan Parker

they didn't even have paprika on there. Akira should be top 10 if not top 1. I can't think of a better animated movie I've seen.

Mar 1 - 02:47 PM

Bryan Parker

they didn't even have paprika on there. Akira should be top 10 if not top 1. I can't think of a better animated movie I've seen.

Mar 1 - 02:47 PM

Big Brother

This list really illustrates the shortcomings of the tomato meter. I love the Simpson's as much as anybody, but the movie better than The Lion King? And Pixar is good, but all those movies better than all those classic Disney films? Anime? And others? I don't have an issue with a Pixar as #1, but practically every film in the top 10? I got a feeling this list is going to change drastically in years to come as perspective is applied.

Feb 20 - 11:52 AM

BLaCKWoLF .

Obviously, I couldn't agree any more. It is even more perplexing when you consider how beautifully crafted and timeless many of those characters and stories from the Disney age, really are.

Feb 20 - 06:54 PM

Christopher Greffin

Pixar is great, but year it's a little much here. I have 3 Pixar movies in my all time top 10 animated (Ratatouille, The Incredibles, and Toy Story 3) Beauty and The Beast is way too low, though I have to say The Lion King, in my opinion, is about at it's proper place. It's a good but flawed animated film, better in it's style than in it's storytelling.

Feb 21 - 03:23 PM

Kelsey H

If you'll notice, a lot of the movies dont even follow along the tomatometer. A movie with a point or two lower will outrank a better scoring one on this list. The site doesn't even go by its own standards.

Mar 6 - 01:38 PM

Meh McMehson

Akira is 56 spots too low. :P

Feb 20 - 12:05 PM

Janson Jinnistan

Boo. Excuse me, but I didn't see any Bakshi here. I assume the 'urban concrete jungles' was a reference to "Heavy Traffic", "Street Fight" (being PC), or "Fritz the Cat", but damn if they ain't on this list. And if you're going to put up something as banal as "Simpsons", why no "South Park"? "Shrek" needs to to be stripped from this list entirely. In terms of classic Disney, no "Alice in Wonderland"? I'll take "Power Puff Girls" over most of the Disney cartoons of the last 15 years. How exactly "Fantasia" isn't number one is your own private mystery to figure out, along with how "Akira" couldn't make the top ten. As for the majority of these American cartoons of the last decade, I'll just quote "Ghost in the Shell" - "Now that I am a man, I have no more use for childish ways." That's not to put down all children's animation, but when you're older you see that the true classics sustain in value. Most cartoons put out by Dreamworks, Pixar, and Disney today are just childish. No hate to "Toy Story", probably the best of the bunch, but most others are.

And I know it probably doesn't even qualify, but "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" is still one of the greatest.

Feb 20 - 12:46 PM

Janson Jinnistan

A couple other shout-outs have to be Bill Plympton's "I Married a Strange Person" and the theatrical release "A Boy Named Charlie Brown". These are considered fundamental in their respective circles.

Feb 20 - 12:57 PM

Dave J

I agree about "A Boy Named Charlie Brown" since it has a high 93 percent!

Feb 20 - 01:11 PM

King Simba

Actually, I think Shrek deserves its spot on the list. In fact, I'd rank higher than a number of Pixar movies and that's saying something. Of course, it's hard to feel the same impact today as 10 years ago, but I still remember fondly the first time I saw it. It was the kind of film that came completely out of the blue. I and many people I was watching with thought from the opening narration that this was going to be another traditional fairy tale, so you can imagine the surprise everyone got when it was revealed that the narrator was an ogre in a swamp who was reading it while in the bathroom. Afterwards, it was just twist after twist of everything we had come to know from growing up with fairy tales. It just felt so fresh and original.

To this day, I still think the humor holds up well. Yeah, seeing pop culture references isn't as unexpected as it was then, but it's still pretty damn funny. Not only is it cleverer than most other spoofs, it also spoofs something everyone has grown up on rather than spoofing a bunch of B-movie science fiction films (Monsters Vs. Aliens) or spoofing something that kids have no clue about (Shark Tale)

Also, unlike so many other Dreamworks films, Shrek had a lot of heart to it. The romance between Shrek and Fiona was more heartfelt than what we see in a lot of live action movies. Also, despite the big names I never failed to get lost in the characters, unlike say Shark Tale where I kept wondering "why are they calling Will Oscar?"

Also, regarding Alice in Wonderland, although I liked it more than critics, I can sort of see some of their complaints against it. Even Walt Disney himself was supposedly dissapointed with it. Despite the best efforts to give the film something of a plot to it, it's still basically Alice running into one weird character after another, and while I thought that was what made the film so entertaining, it doesn't really give it a strong story arc.

Feb 20 - 01:49 PM

Janson Jinnistan

We'll just have to agree to disagree about "Shrek". 'Clever' is about the LAST word I would associate it with. My beef isn't in the subject matter of the humor rather than the poor quality of the wit. A 'reference' is not a joke, which may not be your fault for failing to understand because most sitcoms I've caught in the last decade are rarely more than weak referential humor. I had a single chuckle in "Shrek" (donkey on the edge) and I'll credit that to Eddie Murphy's manic delivery. "Shrek" is the epitome of what I hate most about modern kid's movies. Although I did grow up watching a bunch of B-grade sci/fi, I'm not about to defend "Monsters Vs Aliens" or "Shark Tale" either. Glib, dumb, and uninspiring are the lot of them. I would also single out "Wall-E" as one I think is a true classic. And I liked "Monster House". But it's very rare when I find a modern American cartoon worth a salt lick.

"Alice in Wonderland" is just one of those tales. Deliberately incoherent and chaotic. I think the original Disney version is still the best film version.

Feb 20 - 02:11 PM

Big Brother

You didn't laugh when Lithgow is torturing the Gingerbread Man? I thought that was funny. The sequels I agree horrible, but the original was pretty great.

Feb 20 - 05:32 PM

Janson Jinnistan

Sorry.

Feb 21 - 12:18 AM

King Simba

Hey, hold on there, I don't think at all that just referencing another film makes for a funny scene. That's the flaw of all those Disaster/Epic movies. I certainly don't go "hey, they referenced a movie I know - that's hilarious!" Shrek I felt was more along the lines of Top Secret and Airplane. Even if you just had a very general idea of the genre they were spoofing you'd still have a blast watching it. I didn't see Saturday Night Fever when I first saw Airplane and I still found the "Stayin Alive" sequence to be a blast ("she was the most amazing thing. I had to ask the guy next to me to pinch me to make sure I wasn't dreaming") Similarly, I didn't see that dating show or whatever it was called and I still found the mirror, mirror scene to be hilarious. Shrek took a vey typical fairy tale and just added one great twist after another. Yeah, sure it probably had a big hand in shaping the way most animated movies now are, but I wouldn't fault it for all the Shark Tales/Chicken Littles that followed it any more than I would fault Aladdin for inspiring animated to hire big names rather than experienced voice actors or fault Gladiator for all the King Arthurs/Alexanders that followed it.

Feb 21 - 12:52 AM

Janson Jinnistan

Don't let me spoil your fun, guys. As long as I never have to watch it again, I couldn't care less.

Feb 21 - 01:52 AM

Janson Jinnistan

Fueled by hate and wild turkey, I decided to track down these weasels leaving their fecal funk all over these masterpieces. What I found was shameful but not shocking. "Grave of the Fireflies" has a single rotten review that this punk doesn't even make available to read. Cowards and Pigs! Other lonely schmucks - "Fantasia", "Dumbo", "Snow White" (with a classy critique about her afterbirth), "Castle in the Sky" (not on the list, nor is the perfect "Porco Rosso"), and my pick of "A Boy Named Charlie Brown" has a single rotten review, again unavailable, and likely indefensible. The confusion over Bakshi's "Heavy Traffic" may have been because of its borderline 88%, caused by two reviews. Other dropped dueces put the stank on "Fantastic Planet", "Secret of NIMH", and "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind". The other Bakshi 'urban concrete jungle' "Streetfight" has no score despite having two fresh reviews. True, it's black and bitter as cold coffee, but where's the love? (and the misunderstood "Song of the South" has only four rotten reviews - being based on actual African-American oral tradition, it's quite a bit more authentic than, say, "Princess and the Frog", or even Kwanzaa)

The four separate rotten reviews for "Akira" and "Spirited Away" are collective nonsense. My other choice of "I Married a Strange Person" has three rotten reviews, and Bill Plympton's newest, "Idiots and Angels" is standing at 100%. For comparison, "Up", at #2, has five rotten reviews (same as "Charlotte's Web"), and "Ratatouille", at #11, has eight rotten reviews (same as "Perfect Blue"). Incidentlly, "Ninja Scroll" also stands at 100%.

Of course the biggest crime here is the 2/5 review of "Fantasia" from Empire Magazine. Notice how they put "high art" in quotes, like it's Bigfoot or something else you don't really believe in. The intellectually insecure would rather drag down excellence rather than elevate themselves to take it seriously. Then they say something or another about how the babies were crying in the theater, like they're little soiled litmus tests. If an infant can't understand it, then it MUST be boring!

Feb 21 - 01:43 AM

King Simba

To be fair though, the Pixar movies also get a few critics who give the movie a rotten review just so they can look cool (or in the case of Armond White manage to find some hidden message in the film that is discourage) The only difference is 3 critics out of 200 won't hurt the film's rating nearly as much as 3 critics out of 30.

Feb 21 - 05:12 AM

Janson Jinnistan

The list speaks for itself. The top is Pixar-heavy, so obviously any hate aimed at them is not having the same effect.

Feb 21 - 01:23 PM

Dave Karns

Even though I thoroughly disagree with your views on the FIRST Shrek, I'm glad someone mentioned Nausicaa. I couldn't believe when I looked it up and found it had an 80%. The problem is the amount of reviews. Two negative reviews (the only one I read was two paragraphs long and seemed to be written by someone half asleeep) out of ten. Therein lies the problem inherent in the tomato meter. The more overall reviews, the more negatives a movie can take. It's absurd to consider Nausicaa a B minus level movie. All of the Ghibli movies were woefully low on this list.

Feb 22 - 01:56 PM

King Simba

It's an interesting but pretty flawed list. First of all you've got the typical problem in which the rating of the film doesn't reflect how great critics think the film is. The Simpsons is a perfect example of this. While so many critics liked it, how many thoguht it was one the best animated films ever? It was basically a bigger longer episode of the Simpsons that was more akin to the earlier seasons, which made it a welcome return, yet not exactly something you'd consider on a best of list. Then you've got the problem of the number of reviewers. Nearly all of Disney's classics and the Studio Ghibli films have a limited number of reviews, which means one negative review can really impact the rating (just look at how badly The Lion King was effected by a few reviewers of the 3-d version who felt it wasn't as good as its reputation)

Personally, here's my list of favorite animated movies (in no particular order, though I the first three are my favorite):

The Lion King (not only my favorite animated movie by my favorite movie peroid)
Castle in the Sky
Wall-e
Beauty and the Beast
Up
Spirited Away
Toy Story trilogy
Princess Mononoke
Dumbo
Fantasia
Hunckback of Notre Dame (I think this is one seriously underrated movie)

Feb 20 - 02:03 PM

Carl Minez

I could mention a dozen great but sadly underrated Disney classics, such as the Hunchback of Notre Dame, which would never make it to the top of a list such as this.

Why? Because they aren't made by Pixar. Or rather, Disney is not the "in-thing" right now.

Feb 20 - 05:26 PM

Andrew Rossi

how is the jungle book so low? and was not expected toy story 2 to be top. it is my favorite of the toy story's, but i always thought i was in the minority.

Feb 20 - 03:20 PM

Vincent Boyer

Feb 20 - 04:41 PM

Bentley Lyles

I think Toy Story 2 deserves to be in the top spot. Of all the films in the trilogy, I've seen that one the most. So funny and quotable. I've seen a lot of the films on this list and I want to check out a lot of the anime films listed such as Akira, Grave of the Fireflies, and Ghost in the Shell.

Feb 20 - 04:46 PM

Carl Minez

How come every second film on the top page is from Pixar?

Sometimes I think the critics function with a hive mind as they all seem to have the same opinion about everything, and in this case everything that comes shipped with a Pixar-logo is glorified as a piece of art, when really it's just a strategically marketed versions of old Disney storytelling, featuring some really creative character designs to delude the audience.

Anyway, it's nice to see some underrated competitor achievements such as Bolt and Rango making it to the list, albeit not to the top.

Feb 20 - 05:23 PM

Francisco Vidal Correa Dos Santos

��everything that comes shipped with a Pixar-logo is glorified as a piece of art��

if we follow this logic,then cars 2 would be instantly acclaimed as a masterpiece,instead alot of critics hate it,
no person just gives good ratings just because of the pixar logo..they give good ratings,because they tought that the movie deserved that rating

Feb 21 - 10:53 AM

J. L.

As always, this list is complete bunk.

Feb 20 - 05:37 PM

Megan Gierasch

As much as I love animated films, this list just fails on pretty much every spectrum. Some films are to high, some to low, some missing, and some shouldn't be there AT ALL.

Feb 20 - 08:28 PM

Raul Nava

I'm glad you guys didn't leave out The Secret of NIMH this time... though most of the list is totally inaccurate... I'm sorry, but it is.... :/

Feb 20 - 09:57 PM