Movies

The 25 Best Animated Movies of the Decade

We gathered our team, made them pick their favorite animated movies of the decade, and these are the titles that made the definitive cut.
Decade Animated
By  · Published on November 13th, 2019

18. How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

How To Train

How To Train Your Dragon is the movie that closed the gap between Dreamworks and Pixar, demonstrating that the former could make visuals just as stunning as the latter. The protagonist is Hiccup, a Viking boy that doesn’t quite fit in with the macho manliness that his society demands, but the real star of the show is Toothless, a young dragon who is animated so well that he looks and behaves like a real creature, with a strong anatomical fidelity and shockingly animalistic expression in his body language. If Kung-Fu Panda was the ignition of the Dreamworks Renaissance, How To Train Your Dragon was the moment it hit third gear. (Hans Qu)


17. Wolf Children (2012)

Wolf Children

There’s no denying that Mayazaki is an absolute titan of Japanese animation, but Mamoru Hosoda is right there with him in the “best ever” conversation. Merging a hand-drawn style with CGI artistry, Hosoda has a knack for creating colorful, rich and detailed worlds that complement their magical, sentimental and strange stories. Wolf Mother is a tale of single motherhood which follows a widow and her two children as they try to forge a regular life in the countryside. Of course, this is difficult when both of the kids regularly transform into wolves. Wolf Mother explores the challenges of being a parent in an unforgiving world, but it’s also a film that’s full of warmth and love. (Kieran Fisher)


16. Brave (2012)

Brave

As noted by our very own boss man, Brave marked Pixar’s first true Disney movie after being acquired by the House of Mouse. Make of that what you will, but the film does contain many hallmarks of old school Disney fairy tales — princesses, witches, etc — and that’s not a bad thing. Pixar’s best output pushed the boundaries of animated storytelling, and while Brave is less ambitious in that sense, the film is still an enriching experience that contains strong characters, stunning animation, and moments of real insight and beauty. There’s nothing wrong with some familiarity when it’s this well executed.


15. Moana (2016)

Moana

Disney’s attempts to be self-referential and woke have been met with mixed results, but Moana was most certainly a success. The first fully CGI film from Ron Clements and John Musker, Moana contains an impressive amount of respect for Polynesian culture, given that it’s, well, Disney. The eponymous heroine Moana’s journey of self-discovery and coming-of-age is set to a slick soundtrack of classically Disney musical songs, and the whole team, cast and crew, features talent from throughout the Pacific Islands. Besides being an exciting adventure in the classic Disney mold, Moana marks what is hopefully the beginning of a new era of respect for other cultures in Disney films. (Hans Qu)


14. Anomalisa (2015)

Anomalisa

Charlie Kaufman’s stop-motion dramedy follows a self-absorbed customer service expert who sees everyone in the world as identical — until he has a one-night stand with a woman who makes him feel alive again. That said, the joy doesn’t last very long — Kaufman is too much of a pessimist to allow such events to change the character’s misanthropic worldview, and we learn that some broken souls can’t be healed. He’s not wrong, and Anomalisa is an awkward, unpleasant, funny, and compelling in a way that only Kaufman films can be. (Kieran Fisher)


13. ParaNorman (2012)

Paranorman

In addition to being one of the best animated movies of the decade, Laika’s second feature is also one of the best horror movies of the past few years. While ParaNorman’s approach to scare fare is all very child-friendly, the movie still boasts its fair share of spooky set-pieces, which are brought to life through the exquisite autumnal stop-motion animation. More than anything, though, ParaNorman is a story about embracing who you are, no matter how weird or odd others perceive you to be because, at the end of the day, it’s your uniqueness that makes you special. Every age group can find meaning in this movie. (Kieran Fisher)


12. Isle of Dogs (2018)

Isle Of Dogs

There’s a semi-viral hypothetical conversation that exists about this movie between Wes Anderson and an imaginary journalist that goes something like this:
“Mr. Anderson, what’s the title of your next movie?”
Isle of Dogs.”
“OK, but what’s the title of the movie?”
This imaginative stop-motion picture is a heartfelt love letter to man’s best friend. Featuring an absolutely stacked voice cast of classic Anderson collaborators, the rather goofy plot of Isle of Dogs is bolstered by Bryan Cranston’s vocal performance as the dog he voices guides his new boy Atari Kobayashi (Koyu Rankin) through fantastic locales and a journey of friendship that crosses language barriers. (Hans Qu)


11. Rango (2011)

Rango

Gore Verbinski’s tribute to Westerns is a fine love letter to the genre, albeit with the addition of talking reptiles. Johnny Depp voices the titular character, a chameleon undergoing an existential crisis because his dream of becoming a hero isn’t within his reach. However, when he ends up in the Wild West town of Dirt, he casts himself as a badass gunslinger and protects the lawless place. Rango is full of nods to the works of Sergio Leone and John Ford, but the film’s true genius lies in its ability to put a fresh spin on the tropes their movies helped popularize. Maybe Rango satirizes the Western to a degree, but in 2011 it was refreshing to see a movie keeping the spirit of the genre alive and kicking. (Kieran Fisher)


10. The Wind Rises (2013)

The Wind Rises

The Wind Rises is a sharp contrast to most of Hayao Miyazaki’s films to date. Lacking any of the magic that characterizes the whimsical fantasies his previous work, it is instead a quiet drama following the life of an airplane engineer. Despite this, there is still a fantastical element at play; the main character, Jiro Horikoshi (a real-life historical figure, and designer of the fighter planes that Japan used during WWII), frequently dreams of flight, imagining aircraft designer Giovanni Caproni next to him like an Italian Hobbes to Jiro’s own Calvin. The film’s political take on WWII Japan and its allies met with heavy controversy, but The Wind Rises is a masterfully animated film, and one of Miyazaki’s more somber, serious explorations of humanity.


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Kieran is a Contributor to the website you're currently reading. He also loves the movie Varsity Blues.