Best Animated Films of the 2000s

I didn't give this film nearly enough credit the first time I watched it (even though I gave it 4 1/2 stars). After seeing it again it's quite obvious to me that it's one of the greatest animated films of all time. You can call it just about every positive descriptive word you can think of because frankly it's pretty amazing, and it's pretty much the best animated film of the 21st century. I now consider this film the greatest example of the time-worn "little guy doing big things" moniker, even though the movie really is so much more than that.

It's absolutely poetry in audio and visual form...too beautiful for words. One of the most spectacular achievements of animation I've ever seen.

One of the most hypnotically beautiful films I've ever seen. Almost felt like I was in a trance due to the animation and score. The surreal-like nature of the film will almost certainly stick with you, as well as the message. A slow-moving, steady build up skillfully conveys the disconnect felt by soldiers due to the atrocities of war, and it ends with a staggering, brutal swiftness. Amazing...

Pixar strikes again with another awe-inspiring CGI-animated beauty! It's massive, hilarious, heartfelt, and intelligent. Sporting a cast of characters that is both extremely memorable and likable, UP shows that not only is Pixar far ahead of every other animation house, but they are only getting better as they perfect their formula with each film. And oh man, if it's possible that CGI visuals get better than Wall-E's I think they might have discovered how it's possible with this one! Easily, yes VERY easily, the BEST FILM OF 2009 so far.

Seriously, can they be stopped?!

This film is a beast, it's a lot to take in. Your first thought will almost definitely be something akin to "whoa" since the animation smacks you in the face. The almost dizzying animation style will take some getting used to at first. However, once you realize the true philosophical extent of the film the animation will seem secondary. This is not to say that it ever really is secondary. The animation style is used effectively to represent a lot of the themes that are explored, and in effect it actually elevates the film quite a bit. But there is a lot to wrap your head around here. Lots of philosophical discussion. The big ideas expounded during each scene don't entirely cohere (which turns out to be its one big pitfall), but the film is helped out tremendously by its unrelenting tone of contemplative daydreaming. That and a marvelous score.

If you let it take you in (and that's a big IF since films like this are practically divisive on principle), you'll experience something that will be hard to put into words. In some way it will relate to your own life. And that's where its true beauty really lies. This is one long, deep, affecting piece of cinema here. A piece of cinema to watch over and over again with more and more different people, though maybe not in the same day, or month, or year for that matter. But you will want to watch it again...and you should want to watch it again.

Probably the best movie I saw in '07...the more I look back and think about it...

My initial reaction to the film after seeing it for the first time was not as strong as my reaction after my second viewing. Coraline is definitely a visually splendid movie that is filled with a creepy moodiness and gloomy atmosphere, and yet it remains steadily vibrant. This is one that is likely to grow on you the more and more you see it. Grab a pair of 3-D glasses if you can, it actually helps this film by making it more immersive and eerier!

Funny and gorgeously rendered. One of those enchanting animated film experiences you'll enjoy throughout. Even if you know nothing about their world, Wallace & Gromit pull you in and don't let go until the end.

If I had to create a list of the most underrated animated films of this decade Monster House would surely be in the Top 3. There doesn't seem to be much fanfare for this gem. I'd say that both Coraline and Up borrow pages from its playbook in some respects, to better results mostly, but nevertheless it definitely deserves recognition and totally should've wiped the floor with both Cars and Happy Feet as the Best Animated Film of 2006. Everything about this film is crisp, distinct, and consistent. The animation, pacing, tone, shots, comedy, characters, and voice work come together brilliantly. It's a beautiful synergy on display and the directing work here is fantastic. Monster House isn't necessarily wholely affecting, but definitely captivating, memorable, and worth multiple viewings. One final note: this is the best I've seen of the performance capture animation style.

Fantastic Mr. Fox is an animated film designed for adults to enjoy more than kids. Whether this is entirely a good thing is debatable when the film is billed as a family film. Granted, it probably isn't possible to call a movie like this anything else. Kids will probably be fidgeting through a lot of this and a good bit of the humor will be way over their heads. There is enough slapstick and cute furry animals to keep them quiet though. The film has a charm that is almost impossible to deny. The stop-motion animation (utilized in completely original ways) in addition to Wes Anderson's trademark offbeat quirkiness adds up to a unique and enjoyable film. While George Clooney tends to be pretty distracting in his role as Mr. Fox (does anyone else on Earth sound like George Clooney? Geesh.) the rest of the voice acting is stellar. Overall pretty great.

Okay, so let's make the case for children's movies which are simple yet elegant. Ponyo is a perfect example of this. Sure, there aren't very many deep themes or much in the way of logical narrative continuity, but the film is crafted so spectacularly that it easily holds its own with its CGI-animated brethren. The story is pretty awkward, in fact, coming off as a twisted mix of The Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo. I was sitting there at first wondering just where Miyazaki was headed with the film until I realized that I was becoming completely swept up in each scene and that it really only mattered very little to me that things just kind of happen. My senses of sight and hearing had been hijacked by the film. The music and animation are the obvious culprits. For people who think that normal animation doesn't stand a chance in this big, gorgeous CGI world we are living in now, watch this movie...and weep. It's quite beautiful.

Staking claim as 2009's most visually original and creative animated film is The Secret of Kells, and it's absolutely a brilliant work of art. Dimensions blur and perspective escapes it often, but this never henders the film, instead it successfully serves as an original take on animated storytelling. The film is only held back by a slightly underdeveloped story and a pacing that is too quick. It seems like it's in a big hurry to get done, which is a shame since you'll want to savor every second of this visual treat.

2010 animation has its work cut out for it trying to match 2009's stellar lineup. If HTTYD is any indication, then it looks like it's off to a good start. With the exception of the first two Shrek films, this is by far the best film that's ever come out of the Dreamworks' cannon. This is one of the very few films that puts 3-D to good use, especially during its flight scenes. Its sweepingly magnificent scenery just might make you shed a tear if you've ever been a kid and wanted to fly (so that should be everybody). Good score, funny voice work, and spectacular action sequences make this film a complete home-run in entertainment value. While the story is solid and sufficiently touching (did not see that ending coming at all), the big problem is that the "disappointed father with an oddball son" story arc has been beaten to death in animation. They've still got a ways to go before originality is no longer an issue with their storytelling techniques, but they are getting better at covering it up for sure. There's no denying that Baruchel in the lead role as Hiccup is inspired casting.

Careful Pixar, they have finally started to wise up.

Loved this movie! Some of the funniest animated characters I've seen in a really long time. Amusing, touching, and surprisingly inspiring, Bolt is bursting with energy that you'll find hard to resist!

This above-average Disney animated flick stands out because of its originality and the fact that, for the most part, it pulls no punches. It also helps that it is genuinely funny and well paced. Stitch is probably one of the most endearing animated characters ever. All this from traditional animation...hmm.

Hand-drawn animation's only notable release of last year is also easily one of 2010's best animated films. So much for dialogue, this film is just another timeless example of how and why animation functions as a perfect medium for creating true art in cinema. The gripping reality of the film is unmatched by almost everything live-action had to offer last year, and it creates that reality in the most simple ways. No need for tons of bells and whistles to razzle-dazzle and get across messages to the audience, this film does it with only a small amount of exquisite scenery and music that conveys more than the other animated offerings of last year could convey throughout their entire scripts. Fantastic.

This is an extremely successful return to form for Disney. Recalls the classics such as The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, and Aladdin. Maybe not as great as some of those, but the film has a visual flare that should remind everyone why traditional 2-D animation is a necessity that should not be completely replaced with CGI. There are some brilliantly beautiful scenes here. Catchy songs, vibrant characters, and heartwarming storytelling, this is destined to become a classic in its own right.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is one of the funniest films of 2009! The CGI is breathtaking, the voice work is inspired, and the score is impressive. The humor is so clever and CGI is so impressive that overlooking the predictability of the story is no big deal. This is a fine example of taking a worn out story and putting an original spin on it. It's also worth watching in 3-D! So watch it!

This was soo funny! Good to see after so long...the Simpsons still got it goin' on! This was harmless summer fun with plenty of laughs.

Great adaptation of the children's book. Builds to a nice crescendo of an ending as well, almost epic in scope. The voice work is pretty good with Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, and Seth Rogen all in one movie. Big on cute moments that are supposed to entertain young ones, but not to the point that it is too distracting like some animated flicks. It's hard not to smile and be in awe if you grew up reading the Dr. Seuss books as a kid.

Visually original in just about every imaginable way, but it gets to a point where it is just being unique for the heck of it. Then it becomes not as engaging and just awkward as the story goes off the rails. Lots of subtle and not so subtle references in the movie keep it humorous and the soundtrack is very memorable.

Lots of potential which is mostly wasted as the film focuses too much on being showy and cool. It is pretty impressive watching CG shots combined with hand-drawn animation though, adds some refinement and awe to the film. Mostly, it just turns out to be an incomplete film. If more time were spent on story development this could have been something great.

Its simplicity is part of its beauty. Nice voice work from John Leguizamo and Ray Romano. The action is very obviously dulled down for the kiddies. Is it just me or should kids these days be insulted by this type of thing? I don't recall that many animated films treating me like I couldn't handle some violence. Shouldn't all PG animated films nowadays follow suit? Anything coming out after The Lion King has no right to moderate action on the level this film did. I don't mean to rag on the film completely since on the whole it's very solid. Even though things play out almost exactly as you expect it never becomes tiresome because of its short and sweet runtime.

Definitely one of the more original animated films in recent years. Unfortunately, it's not quite able to take that trump card and run away with it because it doesn't fully commit to its style and tone. The animation is dazzling, and voice-acting is notable seeing as how its cast of well-knowns is refreshingly unrecognizable. If the characters were more memorable we would have a bigger winner in that department as well. But really, the film stops trying to surprise at some point. It becomes too satisfied with being pleasingly sweet and only seldomly trotting out the dark humor it was great at, more focused on wrapping up the story in a nice little bow. Which is too bad, because it really does excel at it and gets a much needed boost from it. The comedy is clever and seeing Gru's evil antics cut through all the cutesy moments was a welcome unique spin in animation, that is, until it goes all conventional and practically abandons that tone somewhere in the middle of the film. Sure the character has to grow at some point, but does the entire tone of the film need to suffer? Once you realize where the film is headed you're kind of just waiting for it to end. If it had pushed that dark but hilarious tone a bit more we would have something with more impact. I suppose that may be asking too much of family entertainment for now. Instead, we have to settle for an enjoyable but only slightly above-average diversion. I think this film did give us one of the most memorable quotes from animation in a long while though: "It's SO FLUFFY...I'm gonna DIE!"

This film has a lot going for it. It has some excellent voice work, even though that is pretty much to be expected considering the talent here. It has a stellar score that adds so much thrill to the movie. And it definitely has some of the most breathtaking visuals ever to grace the big screen. In fact, I honestly was kind of mad at myself I did not go watch this one when it came out on IMAX a few years back. If ever there is a movie to see in IMAX, it's this one. My recommendation to anyone who still hasn't gotten around to seeing this is to watch it on the largest screen possible. It pretty much earns a full star on the fantastic finale alone! It's quite the feast for the eyes indeed.

Yet, the problem with Robert Zemeckis' film is the same problem he had with The Polar Express. Human emotion falls flat due to the character animation. Their eyes still look dead and their motion is still stiff. It makes anything dealing with human emotion so awkward because the characters don't express themselves naturally it seems. The new animation style does not do any justice to the human face. Every scene dealing with pure human emotion is ruined because of this, and there are entirely too many of these scenes. So while the film is hugely entertaining it will ultimately keep you from fully buying any of it because the characters are lifeless...and there's just no way around that one really. Too bad. It's still pretty memorable for its visual intensity.

Nice dance moves...sort of weak story with a clear agenda which almost brings the movie down...still those darn dancing penguins are some sort of irresistible...

Visually, this film is a cut above most other animated films (the documentary-style animation is refreshingly clever). Story-wise, it's frustratingly uncreative and unoriginal (albeit these flaws are disguised very creatively). Mostly, the story is held back by a useless and poorly developed love angle. There are some truly amazing and memorable scenes thanks to the film's dazzling visuals, unfortunately not many of them. It's a pretty average film...too bad since it's worth a glance solely for the animation.

This is a wonderfully stylized animated film that is practically forced into average movie territory by its cliché end of the world story. The story would've worked better if more time had been spent fleshing out characters. The film is about 30 minutes too short, which makes you wonder why they decided to expand the short into a full-length movie in the first place. Still, this film deserves credit since most of the action scenes are actually thrilling, unlike pretty much all the crap from this past summer. But overall, continuing a frightening trend for the year, a letdown...

This is easily the worst film of all the Hayao Miyazaki films I've seen, but keep in mind that is all relative. When compared to most of the average animated films released this past decade it still has a slight leg up visually. But, admittedly, this film has a lot of problems that all arise from its scattered plotline. Nothing really seems to flow naturally in this one, unlike comparable Miyazaki outings such as Spirited Away (a masterpiece) and Ponyo (a sensual treat). The story doesn't work as well in execution. If you have seen the other two you will understand what I mean. The relationships among characters also seem cardboard and unrealistic. Sure, the childlike wonder is still there, but it gets lost in an awkward war story. It's a nice effort which just does not entirely work.

This was a pretty good movie, most of the jokes and funny elements are targeted at a young audience but it still has its charming moments. Picks up steam towards the end as well. Plus the animation is superb, which leads to some pretty visually entertaining action throughout the movie. But not much new or original to see here unfortunately.

They try to do some interesting things with this one to make it seem fresh, and surprisingly it stands on its own and is sufficiently original when compared with A Bug's Life and Antz. But it's not sufficiently original when compared with most other animated films since the overall story is somewhat a cliche at this point. The animation is solid and the themes (especially anything dealing with religion) are cleverly tackled. Most of the voice work is also solid, although some performances seem phoned in and uninspired. Of course that could be due to the fact that Nic Cage is too prominent in the film. It could've spent maybe a little bit more time developing characters and it does come off a bit heavy-handed sometimes, but not so much that it's unbearable. Now can Hollywood please retire animated films with ants as the main characters!

I would say that about 70% of the jokes had to have been way over most kids' heads. But of course Dreamworks has good ol' reliable slapstick to fall back on for the kids. It's fine to be an animated film aimed at young and older adults as long as you aren't masquerading as a family film, like this one. It's a slightly clever story with some great animation and okay voice work. Extremely forgettable...

Definitely an interesting animation style and a pretty cool atmosphere is created, but it will leave you in the dark (no pun intended) about what the whole point was.

Everybody makes mistakes, and Pixar is no exception. Besides the visuals, everything about Cars seems to sputter. The plotline is far too formulaic, and if you can't predict the ending before it happens there's no hope for you. There's an overabundance and deliberate use of songs here with some scenes feeling like they were designed for the song and not the other way around, which cheapens the film and makes it feel even a bit sell out-ish. Its main character (Lightning McQueen) is its least compelling one as well. I'm gonna go ahead and blame this partially on Owen Wilson's performance. I was much more interested in the colorful characters he encounters in Radiator Springs, not that they were all that interesting to begin with as they were all mostly derivative anyways. What proves to be most problematic, however, is the fact that its premise of talking cars adds nothing to the story. I spent most of the time trying to figure out if the exclusion of humans added a new depth or even cleverness to the film. It doesn't. Mostly it becomes shallower, as the use of cars only provides fuel for numerous one-liners and punchlines to other jokes. Setting aside the onslaught of bad, the sleek visuals are a sight to behold for sure. The cars themselves are polished to perfection and the scenery of the American southwest is beautifully realized.

Cars is really the only Pixar film obviously aimed squarely at kids, even with flashes of layered thematic material being tossed in. It's still a mildly entertaining flick with a coherent story which you kind of just have to take at face value unfortunately. I take it some wires got crossed with this one at the studio because it bares very little resemblance to their other endeavors. I suspect Pixar didn't take this disappointment lightly.

When I initially saw this a year or so ago I was in awe of the animation, but something about the film disturbed me which I couldn't put my finger on at the time. Well, I decided to rewatch this since a certain holiday is coming up and this has been championed as said holiday's new classic. With further inspection and some help from a few of my flixster friends' reviews I think I've finally figured it out.

The Polar Express is devoid of a soul. Let me explain. First, the characters look freaky as hell. How are you supposed to connect with characters when their eyes make them appear to be zombies? Not only that, but everything about the characters feels off. Their movements are stunted and non-fluid. Their reactions are calculated and unrealistic. Compare their movements and reactions with any other animated film (were the characters burst with personality and energy). So maybe this is all because of the motion capture technology used, but I'm not going to excuse that because this is supposed to be a Christmas CLASSIC. None of these characters are even remotely memorable (yes, including all 5 of the characters played by Tom Hanks which might've been a big mistake in retrospect). It's just too distracting and disturbing. Secondly, the story in itself is handled poorly. It's almost dead sometimes. It's evident the filmmakers want to show off the technological achievemments of the film (heck they have every right to). But the story seems to flounder in this huge, gorgeous, showy abyss. It progresses while disintegrating at the same time. So with no memorable characters and a frigidly handled story how can a movie truly have a heart?

What's the purpose of a Christmas movie? Moreover, what do Christmas classics evoke emotionally from us? We are supposed to feel warm, happy, and content. Maybe you feel like you've been thrilled by The Polar Express and taken on a fantastically original animated journey, but this isn't the point I think the filmmakers should have wanted to get across (and I hope not, of course we are talking about the money-driven machine that is Hollywood). If they want people to happily watch this every year around the same time for the rest of their lives...then make a movie that burst with joy and substance instead of just big budget dollars. I don't know, this has just really frustrated me for some time. Maybe this subject matter just shouldn't be used with motion-capture. Maybe this is a case were ambition gets the best of the film. I mean like seriously...How can something so beautiful be so LIFELESS?!

Found this movie's characters harder to care about than most of Burton's movies, plus it was kinda boring.

Meh.

There was a time when a film like this would've been praised based almost solely on how pretty it was. Unfortunately, that time is long gone. Glossy, sleek animation and above-average voice acting fall prey to dull and commonplace writing. Very little effort was put forth in freshening this up a bit. I feel like I've seen this play out the exact same way 1,000 times before. Step it up.

Absolutely gorgeous animation...unfortunately that is all there is.

Besides the jokes that were actually funny (I counted like 10 or so) not much to see here. Unless you like looking at green ogre babies and going "Awwwww" like all the other girls in the theater I was in.

Ugh, just awful in all the worse ways possible for animated movies. Overuse of songs, phoned in animation, cliche and pointless story elements, annoying characters, the list is endless. Some of the comedy is amusing enough for a few smiles, but it's evident this film was designed solely to make money. Probably the worse Disney non-sequel I've ever seen. Woefully uninspired and a wasted opportunity.

Eck...just plain awful, one of the main reasons a lot of people think Pixar is the only credible CGI-animation company.