9. World of Tomorrow (2015)
At initial glance, World of Tomorrow looks quite basic compared to other animated efforts released this decade. The stick figure drawings and computer-generated imagery aren’t sophisticated, but that’s what makes this gem so unique. The film tells the story of a little girl who’s visited by a time-traveling adult version of herself, and together they go on an adventure into the future. Writer-director Don Hertzfeldt recorded his four-year-old niece in her natural environment while creating the film, and with those samples of a child’s words, he told a story that’s brimming with meaning and thought-provoking sentiments about life. (Kieran Fisher)
8. The Lego Movie (2014)
Despite having a title that implies a two-hour toy commercial, The Lego Movie won our hearts over with its meme-level quotability and nostalgic charm. Australian studio Animal Logic pioneered a unique style of pseudo-stop-motion animation to bring the Lego world to life, paying close attention to the little details and limitations of the actual stop-motion Lego medium. Add a tremendous overdose of pop-cultural awareness and an annoyingly catchy theme song, and you’ve got yourself an immensely creative movie, fittingly enough, about creativity. And Batman. (Hans Qu)
7. Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)
The very existence of Laika’s stop-motion fantasy is an achievement to be lauded. The sheer time commitment to a film like this is probably why there aren’t more movies like it, and that’s a real shame because Kubo and the Two Strings is gorgeous. Designed to emulate a variety of traditional Japanese art mediums like woodblock printing and ink wash painting, the movie also features excellent action sequences and a 16-foot skeleton monster puppet that needed a special robot to move. Kubo and the Two Strings might have just set the standard for stop-motion in the upcoming decade. (Hans Qu)
6. Your Name (2016)
Makoto Shinkai’s body-swapping romantic comedy features some of the most beautiful art ever put to screen. Shinkai has a brilliant sense of light and shadow, and this combined with the lovingly rendered background mattes makes the movie look better than real life. Dual protagonists Mitsuha Miyamizu (Mone Kamishiraishi) and Taki Tachibana (Ryunosuke Kamiki) appear to be caught in a pretty cliche and commonplace romantic comedy scenario, but a surprise twist leads to an incredibly tense ending, and classic anime teen angst combined with genuinely strong characterization makes for a heart-rending romance that reduced me to a blubbering mess in my seat. If you haven’t tried anime because you’re not a Miyazaki fan, Your Name is probably the next best way to join the fandom. (Hans Qu)
5. Zootopia (2016)
You would never expect a movie about talking animals to be a noir-styled mystery with a subtextual message about racism and prejudice, but that’s precisely what Zootopia is. Set in an imaginative world inhabited by numerous species of anthropomorphic animals, Zootopia takes a step further than classic Disney shorts featuring Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, and explores the implications and consequences of such a society through the eyes of police officer Judy Hopps, the first rabbit in a profession dominated by physically bulkier animals. Some seriously high-end technology was employed in the creation of this movie, including a specially designed fur-rendering program known as iGroom. Added to Disney’s characteristically excellent design and animation, and you’ve got some seriously expressive characters playing out a surprisingly engaging buddy cop flick. And they’re all talking animals. (Hans Qu)
4. Toy Story 3 (2010)
While I enjoyed Toy Story 4 quite a bit, ending the saga here would have been perfect. For 15 years, we watched as the toys went from being Andy’s playthings to his cast-offs, as he grew up like every other child does and no longer needed them. But they still needed him. It’s a heartbreaking journey to witness, but it’s honest and pure. Toy Story 3 is a hilarious and heartfelt tale of abandonment that isn’t afraid to portray the sadness that comes with no longer being wanted, and it’s hard to think of other movies that capture the feeling of yearning for innocent times quite as effectively as this animated adventure. (Kieran Fisher)
3. Coco (2017)
Directed by Lee Unkrich, Coco is a story about following one’s dreams, but it also works as a meditation on mortality, posing questions about life and death. It’s important for kids’ movies to tackle weighty subjects like death in a way that’s easy to handle, and Coco succeeds with aplomb in that regard. The story follows a young boy who is transported to the Land of the Dead, where he meets some new friends, old family members, and his musical idol. The film’s imagining of the realm of the dead is vibrant and exciting, and there are some catchy songs thrown in for good measure. (Kieran Fisher)
2. Inside Out (2015)
If there’s one thing that’s certain in this life, it’s that change is inevitable. Sometimes it happens organically, other times it’s forced upon us. Change can be happy, sad, terrifying, and in some cases, all of the above. But it’s unavoidable, and this is the central theme of Inside Out. The story follows an 11-year-old girl who’s forced to settle in a new city when her father gets a new job. The move sends her five core emotions — all of which are colorfully personified as characters in their own right — out of whack. If Inside Out teaches us anything — regardless of our age, situation, etc — it’s that it’s natural not to be okay sometimes. (Kieran Fisher)
1. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Ah, Spider-Verse. What would we do without you? At the very least, we would continue to watch animated features that all repeat the same art style ad nauseum until the end of time. But beyond the eye-popping color, text boxes, and panel frames of Into the Spider-Verse’s comic book look, this 2018 masterpiece brings Miles Morales to the big screen for the first time, along with a truly moving story about heroism, diversity, friendship, and family. The film’s distinct blend of traditional and CGI animation makes it a delight to look at, and engaging even with the sound off; but then you’d be missing the killer soundtrack and dominating voice performances of a brilliant cast. Into the Spider-Verse is a movie filled with love; love for its source material, love for Spider-Man and his history, and love for the medium of animation. (Hans Qu)
Related Topics: Anomalisa, Batman: Under the Red Hood, Brave, Coco, Decade Rewind, Frozen, How to Train Your Dragon, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Inside Out, Isle of Dogs, Kubo and the Two String, Moana, ParaNorman, Rango, Shaun the Sheep Movie, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, The Lego Movie, The Wind Rises, Wolf Children, World of Tomorrow, Wreck-It Ralph, Your Name
