Animated movies have an important place in cinematic history, and some of the best ones have come out within the past decade. Animation is not a genre, meaning all types of stories can be told in this format. Additionally, there are severaldifferent animation stylesfrom traditional hand-drawn pictures tostop-motion sequencesmade out of objects or puppets to modern digital models, but they all belong to the same medium that has been incredibly popular ever since its invention.
Every year gives audiences some great animated titles, several of which have shaped pop culture. The same is true for the past decade, which includesmovies with a grand variety of techniques and stories.From Japanese films to Hollywood productions, the best animated films of the last 10 years are among the most important animated titles of the century, with some having changed the way we think about animation for theatrical features.
Your Nameis one of the most popular movies to come out of Japan in recent years. The story follows two high school students, Taki Tachibana and Mitsuha Miyamizu, who begin to swap bodies even though they have never met. While this is a very classic trope,Your Nameturns into an engaging, emotional love story that also includes a lot of twists.
Your Name is Great Because it Subverts a Classic Trope
Makoto Shinkai’s film Your Name was a hit with fans, and it’s because it took one of the most common media tropes and subverted it in the best way.
Everything inYour Namecontributed to it climbing the ranks of the highest-grossing Japanese movies of all time before establishing itself in the second-highest position.Its gorgeous animation style in particular is what makes it immediately recognizable, as does its beautiful story.Your Name’s endingleads audiences to an incredibly emotional climax after a couple of major twists. While the movie has flaws and is not that different from other Makoto Shinkai films, it is one of this decade’s best.
Animation is incorrectly believed to be a medium aimed only at younger audiences. That said,some animated movies aimed at children can speak to all agesand touch the heartstrings of adults as well.Cocois definitely a textbook example of this, with its fantastical story about family, dreams, life, and death that is emotional and heartwarming at the same time. It’s not a particularly original story as far asPixar moviesgo, which is whyCocoisn’t ranking higher, but it’s still a beautiful one to experience.
[Coco’s animation style] both takes inspiration from and pays homage to Mexican traditional art and Día de los Muertos iconography, making the plot feel that much more grounded in a magical realism-style reality.
The plot follows a young Mexican boy named Miguel, who dreams of becoming a musician even though his family has essentially banned music from their household. Through a series of mishaps, Miguel is transported to the Land of the Dead, where he will discover the truth about his family’s past and change its future forever. Even thoughCoco’s story largely revolves around music, what sets the movie apart is its colorful, rich, and warm style.
Coco Movie Family Tree Explained
The Rivera family is the pulsating heart of Disney Pixar’s Coco, but there are many of them, living and dead on Miguel’s extended family tree.
Cocoboth takes inspiration from and pays homage to Mexican traditional art and Día de los Muertos iconography, making the plot feel that much more grounded in a magical realism-style reality. The scenes set on the glowing orange bridge that connects the world of the living to the Land of Dead alone, where characters step through dozens and dozens of marigold petals, are enough to deserve a watch.
The Red Turtleis undoubtedly a peculiar movie that still has that haunting quality that only certain animated movies can hope to achieve since their chosen medium already predisposes audiences to suspend their disbelief more easily than a live-action film does.The Red Turtlealso has one element that immediately sets it apart from the vast majority of animated movies—it has absolutely no dialogue, relying exclusively on its animation to convey its story.
Said story follows a man who is stranded on a deserted island, and who finds all his attempts at escaping thwarted by the titular giant red turtle—which will, of course, soon prove to be more than what it had initially seemed.The Red Turtleis a somewhat calming watch, one that allows audiences to experience its story without ever feeling overwhelmed by it. Its unique style is what sets it apart from other titles and makes it one of the best, most fascinating animated movies of recent years.
Klausisa heartwarming Christmas story that re-imagines the origins of Santa Claus. Instead of having the world’s favorite present-giver stemming from the real-life figure of Saint Nicholas of Myra,Klaussets its story in 19th-century Norway and focuses on the unlikely friendship between a young postmaster and a reclusive toy maker. Said toy maker, the titular Klaus, gradually comes out of his self-imposed isolation to become the man who delivers toys to the entire world every year.
Why Klaus Is The Best Christmas Movie Since Elf (& Might Be Even Better)
Truly great Christmas movies are hard to come by, but 2019’s Klaus is one of the best of all time, and it might even be better than Elf.
Klaus’s traditional, hand-drawn animation is carefully curated in every detail, from the clothes the characters wear to the settings in which the events take place, making it a truly beautiful movie to watch. Like every Christmas story, it has an almost guaranteed chance of making all kinds of emotions bubble up to the surface, especially when it comes to the unlikely friendship that postmaster Jesper with Márgu, a Sámi child, that grows even though the two don’t share a common language.
At the same time, its Christmas-themed plot somewhat confines it to that specific holiday as well, makingKlausa little less of a standout than the movies that are ranked higher.
Soul’s title could be considered a double entendre since its plot revolves around souls intended as the immaterial self but also around soul meant as a music genre. That’s because the movie’s main character Joe Gardner—played by Jamie Foxx and Pixar’s first Black lead—is an aspiring jazz pianist, who spends the entire plot desperately trying to reconnect his soul to his comatose body before what is meant to be his big break as a musician.
Soulwon two Academy Awards, one for Best Animated Feature and the other for Best Original Score.
Soul’s release window wasn’t the most fortunate one, since its original date was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was eventually released direct-to-streaming on Disney+. It might be why it’s not among the most popular of Pixar’s productions, even though its plot and score are more than on par with the standards the studio set over the past decades. WhileSouldoesn’t stand out as much as other movies and ranks firmly in the middle, it still is a beautiful and heartwarming watch.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wishisthe direct sequel toPuss in Boots, coming more than ten years after its original release. Just like the firstPuss in Boots,The Last Wishfalls within the largerShrekfilm series but it’s its own separate story. In this case, a markedly Western-inspired one that is reminiscent of great classics of the genre likeThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wishhas in its arsenala new animation style that turns its frames almost into paintings. It’s an artistic choice that makes the whole movie feel dreamy and fairytale-like, a perfect visual storytelling tool for a story that is supposed to be about fairytale characters. What really makesThe Last Wishstand out, though, is its chilling villain Wolf, who is soon revealed to be the incarnation of Death himself. While not enough to carryThe Last Wishhigher on the ranking, Wolf is undoubtedly a key element of the movie’s success.
The most recent release on the list,The Wild Robothas nonetheless already risen to the very deserved status of immediate classicand received nominations at most major awards including the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes, and the BAFTAs. The story follows Roz, a service robot who crash lands on a deserted island where her programming isn’t of much use. She soon becomes the adoptive mother of an orphaned gosling, raising him with the help of the sly but ultimately good-hearted fox Fink.
The Wild Robotalso has an animation style that is more reminiscent of painting than of drawings, filled with watercolor-like frames that make it slot perfectly within the traditions left behind by both Disney and Studio Ghibli. What sets it apart is its use of color, overwhelming and vibrant, rightfully landing it just shy of the top three ranking spots. The main character, Roz, is also a winning element, with her callbacks to other famous robots, particularlyThe Iron Giantof the 1999 Warner Bros classic of the same name.
The Boy and the Heronisthe latest work by living legend Hayao Miyazaki, who has established himself—and his Studio Ghibli—as a household name in the animation world over a decades-long career. Miyazaki had actually announced his retirement in September 2013 after the release ofThe Wind Risesbut decided to return to direct what is arguably his best and most personal movie to date.
Robert Pattinson famously voiced the character of the Heron in the English dub of the movie, a performance that made the rounds across pop culture online spaces.
The story ofThe Boy and the Heronfollows a young boy named Mahito who loses his mother at the time of World War II. When he moves to the countryside with his father, Mahito encounters a grey heron that leads him to a fantastical world. From there, the plot becomes drenched in the symbolism Studio Ghibli has become so well-known for and delivers an incredibly emotional ending that truly makesThe Boy and the Heronstand out among its peers. Its animation is also incredibly refined, pushing the boundaries of what one would expect from a 2D-animated film.
Guillermo del Toro’s take on the classic Italian story ofPinocchio, which started out an 1883 book written by Carlo Collodi and has since then been adapted into animated or live-action movies time and time again, is as unique as it is dreamy. While the movie does follow most of the major beats from the original story, it does soby settingPinocchioduring World War IIand the fascist regime, something that had never been done before.
The Wood Sprite’s Introduction & The 9 Other Most Disturbing Moments In Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio
The Wood Sprite in Pinnochio is a characteristically disturbing creation by director Guillermo del Toro and one of many creepy moments in his film.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchiois both stunning and unsettling. The stop-motion technique used to animate this version ofPinocchiomakes the story somewhat more believable, by helping suspend audiences’ disbelief, and vision-like, thanks also to the characters that aren’t included in the original story but that make their appearances here to help guide Pinocchio on his journey.The movie is filled with gorgeous and uncanny oneiric sequences, a hallmark of Guillermo del Toro’s work and what makes hisPinocchiorank this high.
Before there wasSpider-Man: No Way Homeand its multiverse, there were the Spider-people ofSpider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which revolves around teenager Miles Morales going through the classic Spider-Man origin story. The twist is that he does so thanks to the aid of other versions of Spider-Man from realities different than his own.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verseis undoubtedlyone of the most influential animated movies of recent yearsand the best to be released in the last decade. It’s an incredible feat of animation, one that required Sony’s largest team of animators for a single movie to date. The result is a movie where every single frame is a joy to watch, always entertaining both in terms of composition and colors. Some of the sequences inInto the Spider-Verseare bound to leave everyone speechless no matter how many times they’re watched, starting from the iconic “leap of faith” scene.
