Top 23 Animated Movies of Each Year (2000-2022)
2000: “The Emperor's New Groove”
Top 24 Best Disney Villains of Each Year (2000-2023)
Some movies take an easy and smooth path from conception through production - “The Emperor's New Groove” was not one of those movies. Originally called “Kingdom of the Sun,” the film was going to be a big musical epic. However, creative differences among people involved, unimpressed test audiences, and the entire thing falling farther and farther behind schedule led to the slapstick final product we all know and love. Even though it wasn’t a huge box office hit, the film became 2001’s best-selling DVD and has gained recognition as one of Disney’s best of the 2000s. This year also saw the release of Aardman Animation's first-ever feature-length movie, “Chicken Run,” which remains the highest-grossing stop-motion animated movie ever.
2001: “Shrek”
Top 10 Pop Culture References in the Shrek Franchise
While it was great to see “Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius” among the first-ever nominees for the Best Animated Feature Oscar, the battle was between “Shrek” and “Monsters, Inc.” You didn’t have to be a genius to recognize those two films that stood above the crowd that year. And as much as we love “Monsters, Inc.,” we’re with the Academy on this one… because “Shrek” rocked! The film was filled with great voice performances and it had a brilliant script that honored and parodied so many of the classic fairytale tropes we grew up with. In fact, the script was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars and BAFTAs - taking home the statue for the latter.
2002: “Lilo & Stitch”
The 1990s was a magical time for Walt Disney animation. Often referred to as the Renaissance era, the company released hit after hit during the decade, starting with “The Little Mermaid” in 1989 and ending with “Tarzan” 10 years later. The 2000s, however, weren’t as memorable for the company, with a few exceptions - one of them being 2002’s “Lilo & Stitch.” This charming tale of a little girl and her genetically engineered koala-looking pet was a hit with fans and critics and even earned Disney animation one of its few Oscar nominations of the decade as well - their acquisition of Pixar in 2006 notwithstanding.
2003: “Finding Nemo”
Top 10 Finding Nemo Easter Eggs You MISSED
These days it’s almost expected that Disney or Pixar will win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature - or at least it’s a shock to some when they don’t. However, it wasn’t until the third year of the award in 2003 that either studio won said prize - and that was Pixar, with their mega-hit “Finding Nemo.” The film touched our hearts and our funny bones with its relatable themes of love and loss and a father’s desperate search for his son. Along with all the critical acclaim, the film grossed over $870 million in its initial run in theaters - making it the highest-grossing animated movie (for a little while).
2004: “The Incredibles”
Top 23 Worst Animated Movies of Each Year (2000 - 2022)
We can’t talk about 2004 without talking about “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie” - and not just because SpongeBob and Patrick ride on David Hasselhoff’s back. Although that would have been enough, the rest of the movie is great also - making it a win-win in our books. In another win, 2004 also gave us “The Incredibles,” a film that we’d put up against any superhero movie before and since. Along with a screenplay nomination, “The Incredibles” won the Best Animated Feature Oscar and became the first fully-animated film to win the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. Which, in the world of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, is a big deal.
2005: “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit”
Following the success of his “Wallace & Gromit” short films, Nick Park brought the duo to the feature realm with “The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.” The film is a supernatural monster/horror parody done in the stop-motion style that has become synonymous with Park’s most beloved characters. It’s a great film with heart and laughs and a place in Oscar history as the first stop-motion movie to take home the award for Best Animated Feature. 2005 was also the year “Madagascar” premiered. The movie was a big, fun hit, spawning multiple sequels and becoming one of the highest-grossing animated franchises of all time.
2006: “Happy Feet”
Top 10 Depressing Movies With A Happy Ending
Great music, Robin Williams, and a tap-dancing penguin… What's not to love about “Happy Feet?” The film also has a great message about following your passion, staying true to who you are, and gaining acceptance for it. There’s also a strong environmental message that we definitely appreciate. The film took home the Oscar for Best Animated Feature that year, but we couldn’t leave 2006 without giving a nod to the fellow nominee “Cars.” And while “Flushed Away” was considered a flop at the box office, we’ve always enjoyed the story of the pampered mouse on the mean streets of Ratropolis.
2007: “Persepolis”
In 2007, a culinary rat took the animated world by storm. Yes, this is the year of “Ratatouille” and Remy - the rat who wanted more out of life and who ended up winning the hearts, minds - and stomachs - of even the harshest critics. But while Remy was cooking up a great movie, Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud (PAH-roh-no) were drawing up a beautiful black-and-white film coming-of-age story set during the years of the Iranian revolution. A story that while specific and personal for Satrapi, also speaks to the universality of humanity’s oppressions and struggles. “Persepolis” made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival that year and was the co-winner of the festival’s Jury Prize.
2008: “WALL-E”
Top 10 Disney Movies That Break the 4th Wall
“Waltz with Bashir” just missed topping our list for 2008. In many other years, this powerful, Israeli film about memory and war would have been number one. However, this year it came up against “WALL-E,” a film that Time magazine called the best movie of the decade! A movie whose conception began with this question by director Andrew Stanton, “What if mankind had to leave Earth and somebody forgot to turn off the last robot?” With that as the launching point, “WALL-E” explores humanity’s relationship to technology, the planet, and ourselves - and it isn’t always pretty. We’d also like to give a shout-out to “Kung Fu Panda,” with its great animation, fun story, and Jack Black.
2009: “Coraline”
Top 10 Coraline Easter Eggs You Never Noticed
We have to start by saying that 2009 was probably the hardest year on this list to pick a top movie - there was just so much phenomenal stuff to choose from, starting with “Up,” the second animated film in history to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. There was also “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” and Wes Anderson’s brilliant stop-motion “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” But in the end, it was a girl and her doll that stood above them all. Based on a Neil Gaiman novella, “Coraline” is a movie that Roger Ebert wonderfully described as “a beautiful film about several nasty people.”
2010: “Toy Story 3”
Top 21 Best Animated Movies of Each Year (2000 - 2020)
Picking a favorite “Toy Story” movie is almost impossible to do. We can safely say, though, that “Toy Story 3” was the best animated movie released in 2010. And not just because the incinerator scene makes us cry every time we watch it. But while the third installment of Woody, Buzz, and the gang tops our list, there were a couple of other movies from 2010 that deserve a mention. “Tangled” used a new artistic style to tell the story of Rapunzel and “How to Train Your Dragon” was the first film in what would become one of the 15 highest-grossing animated series of all time.
2011: “Rango”
Normally, doing voice acting on an animated movie involves being alone in a booth and saying your lines into a microphone. Well, that’s not how it worked on “Rango.” We guess if there was going to be a movie that did it differently, it would be a western comedy about a lost chameleon, directed by the guy who made the first three “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies. Gore Verbinski took the actors out of those little sound booths and put them all on stage together, allowing them to move and interact and perform. The animators would then use those performances to inform their drawings. And it worked! The movie would go on to gross over $245 million and win a Best Animated Feature Oscar.
2012: “Wreck-It Ralph”
Top 3 Things You Missed in the Wreck It Ralph 2 Trailer
“Rise of the Guardians” was a highly-anticipated film based on the popular “The Guardians of Childhood” book series. “Brave” is a great film, the first Pixar movie with a female hero and it was the Academy’s pick for Best Animated Feature of the year. But with both those films in its midst, the animated movie that stands above them all from 2012 is “Wreck-It Ralph.” Diving headfirst into the land of video games, “Wreck-It Ralph” mixes nostalgia, humor, and rockin’ visuals to create a smart and original movie. No cheat codes needed to enjoy this one!
2013: “Frozen”
Frozen VS Frozen 2
We were big fans of Raj’ girlfriend Claire on “The Big Bang Theory,” but when it comes to Disney’s “Frozen,” we’re team Raj all the way. Picking up where “Tangled” left off, “Frozen” proved that fairytales were here to say in Disney’s modern CG era. The film came complete with some great songs - particularly “Let It Go.” To say the film was a hit would be a massive understatement. “Frozen” didn’t just take home the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, it also took home more box office money than any other film released that year. It also stood atop as the highest-grossing animated movie ever until “The Lion King” remake in 2019.
2014: “The Lego Movie”
Top 10 Best Animated Movies of 2022
While some might not have had high hopes for an animated movie based on a line of colorful interlocking plastic brick toys, it’s safe to say that “The Lego Movie” surpassed all expectations. In fact, we’d go so far as to say that everything - about “The Lego Movie” - is awesome! The animation is awesome, the story is awesome, and it’s filled with awesome jokes. But “The Lego Movie” wasn’t the only animated gem in 2014. “How to Train Your Dragon 2” won the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature. Another standout that year was the winner of the European Film Award for Best Animated Feature Film, “Song of the Sea.”
2015: “Inside Out”
Top 10 Inside Out Easter Eggs You Missed
“Inside Out” really gets into the mind of the protagonist - and we mean that literally. Pixar’s amazing creation follows the emotional inner workings of Riley as she adjusts to her new life in San Francisco after her father’s new job uproots the family from Minnesota. “Inside Out” explores the feelings of Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger in a way that’s both smart and relatable to the young and the old. Before we leave 2015, did you know that the guy who wrote “Being John Malkovich” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” wrote and directed a stop-motion animated film? Charlie Kaufman’s “Anomalisa” is a thought-provoking film about a man to whom everyone looks the same, except one girl.
2016: “Moana”
Top 10 Moana Easter Eggs You Missed
If you were hoping that “Moana” would top our list for 2016, well - you’re welcome. While The Rock’s awesome demigod rap would almost be reason enough to rank this one at number one, the film is more than just great music. It’s also a story of family, ancestry, empowerment, and a celebration of the Polynesian culture that is rarely seen on screen. However, while “Moana” was the shiny pinnacle of 2016, there are a couple of other films from that year that deserve a name-drop. First, we have the stop-motion samurai adventure “Kubo and the Two Strings.” Then there’s the Oscar winner from that year - Disney’s take on the buddy-cop genre, “Zootopia.”
2017: “Coco”
Disney/Pixar's Coco (2017) - Top 5 Facts You Need to Know
If we’re talking animated movies of 2017, we would be remiss not to at least mention the “The Breadwinner,” which takes a hard and honest look at life for women and girls in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The film is well deserving of all the praise it received as well as the Oscar nomination bestowed upon it. However, topping our list for 2017 would be the film that took home the Oscar that year, “Coco.” Mexico’s Day of the Dead holiday has limitless potential for an animated movie. The good folks at Pixar realized this, delivering a beautiful and emotionally powerful film that explores some of life’s biggest questions.
2018: “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”
Top 10 Things You Missed in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
2018 was a big year for superheroes and diversity. In live-action, “Black Panther” was the first film in the MCU featuring a primarily Black cast. In the animation space, we got a web-slinger of color in “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” But, as important as both those films were to the promotion of diversity, if they didn’t have compelling stories, they probably wouldn’t have made much of an impact. So, thankfully they did! “Spider-Man” was a huge box office triumph and was just as successful critically - receiving countless amounts of praise for its artistic and emotional storytelling. It also became the first non-Pixar/Disney film to win a Best Animated Feature Oscar in over a decade - when Disney or Pixar were also among the nominees.
2019: “Klaus”
2019 was a great year for animated movies at Netflix. In a crowded space the streamer put out not one, but two films that the Academy liked enough to bestow a Best Animated Feature nomination on them. And we couldn’t agree more. First, we have “Klaus,” because who doesn’t love a good origin story these days? But rather than take on standard superheroes, “Klaus” gives us an alternate take on the beginnings of the bringer-of-gifts himself, Santa Claus. Netflix also provided a platform for “I Lost My Body” - a french acquisition about a severed hand traveling across Paris to reattach itself. It was the first animated movie to win the Critic’s Week award at the Cannes Film Festival.
2020: “Wolfwalkers”
Pixar released two great movies in 2020 - the urban fantasy “Onward” and the beautifully crafted musical dramedy “Soul.” Both films would go on to earn Oscar nominations, with the latter taking home the statue for Best Animated Feature. However, that being said, it was fellow nominee “Wolfwalkers” that stands out as the best animated movie of 2020. The film was the third in what has become known as the “Irish Folklore Trilogy” - which includes two previous Oscar nominees, “The Secret of Kells” and “Song of the Sea.” The primarily hand-drawn “Wolfwalkers” provides viewers with, what Slate called, “stunning artwork for the ages”, and with a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, we obviously aren’t the only ones who love this movie.
2021: “Encanto”
Top 10 Funniest Encanto Moments
Magic, music and family all come together wonderfully in Disney’s hit “Encanto.” With an impressive cast of voices and original music by the great Lin-Manuel Miranda, “Encanto” took the animated world by storm in 2021. The film grossed over $250 million dollars at the box office and became an even bigger success story when it hit the Disney+ streaming service at the end of the year. The film would also eventually go on to win Best Animated Feature at the Oscars - beating out “The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” another one of 2021’s best animated products. And we can’t move on without also giving a shout-out to the little shell himself, “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.”
2022: “Turning Red”
Top 10 Movies Turning 30
It’s a little disappointing that it took until 2022 for Pixar to release its first-ever film solely directed by a woman - But at least it finally happened and it was a great movie. Directed by Chinese-Canadian animator Domee Shi, “Turning Red” is the story of 13-year-old Meilin "Mei" Lee, a girl whose ancestry has cursed her with turning into a red panda when experiencing strong emotions. Set in Toronto, Canada in 2002, the film captures all the great details of the era as well as the emotional bond, and turmoil, between a mother and a daughter. Things we can all relate to, even if we don’t turn into giant pandas when we get angry. We also need to give a shout-out to Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio,” which despite treading familiar territory, also explored a child/parent relationship with remarkable depth.
