Unlike live-action films, the consummation of best-animated films depends on how vividly the animator can handle the hand-drawn object to turn fantasies into reality. What was once puppetry and bioscope was replaced later by 2D animation. Now the spellbinding computer-generated imagery (CGI) continues to fascinate us. If you want to enrich your movie archive with some of the greatest animated movies, this list is worth watching.
Top 10 Best Animated Movies for All Times
‘Grave of the Fireflies’ | Japanese Cartoon | 1988
This is a heartbreaking story about two teenage brothers who rely entirely on one other and fight against all odds to stay together during World War II. Isao Takahata directed this animated film as well as wrote it. The original story was a semi-autobiography of Akiyuki Nosaka.
This war-tragedy film stars Yoshiko Shinohara, Tsutomu Tatsumi, Akemi Yamaguchi, and Ayano Shiraishi. The film won an award in Blue Ribbon (1989) and two in Chicago International Children's Film Festival (1994). With a rating of 8.5/10 on IMDb and 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, it still grabs the attention of movie lovers.
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‘Toy Story’ film series | American Computer Animation | 1995-2019
Walt Disney Pictures has released four seasons of this Pixer production franchise in 1995, 1999, 2010, and 2019. Each of them carries an interesting screenplay on what will happen when the toys will come to life and take the lead to make things right.
Tom Hanks and Tim Allen gave the voice for the major roles of the film. John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Joe Ranft, and Andrew Stanton made the original story. The film series was directed by Lasseter himself, along with Lee Unkrich, Ash Brannon, and Josh Cooley. All of the versions won Oscar except the second release. These blockbuster films have a rating of at least 7.7 on IMDb and 97% on Rotten Tomatoes.
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‘Persepolis’ | French-Iranian Cartoon | 2007
This war drama’s story is taken from a graphic novel titled Persepolis. The novel was written by Marjane Satrapi based on her own life during the Iranian revolution. Satrapi herself and Vincent Paronnaud jointly directed this autobiographical animated film. The lead voice-over artists were Chiara Mastroianni and Catherine Deneuve. It got the Oscar nomination for the 'best animated' feature. This animated film has a rating of 8/10 on IMDb and 96% on Rotten Tomatoes.
‘Son of the White Mare’ | Hungarian Cartoon | 1981
This Roman Kunz production was directed by Marcell Jankovics. This fantasy film starring Gyorgy Cserhalmi, Vera Pap, and Gyula Szabo featured Laszlo Arany’s poetry of the same name based on the Hungarian myth. The story is centered on a superhuman character, who is on a quest to the underworld to free the princesses. This psychedelic animated film was selected for the Fantasia International Film Festival 2019. This film carries a rating of 7.9/10 on IMDb and 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
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‘Rocks in My Pockets’ | Latvian Cartoon | 2014
Signe Baumane, the Latvian animation artist, made this film centered on the incidents of her own life. It explores how she as well as her family struggled to overcome their insanity. She did the voice-over in the whole movie. Baumane won the FEPRESCI prize, Latvian Film Prize, and Sky Arte Award for this comedy-drama. This documentary film stays at the rating of 7.5/10 on IMDb and 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
‘The Wolf House’ | Chilean Stop-Motion Animation | 2018
It was the first feature film of Cristobal Leon & Joaquin Cocina, two talented animation artists worked together since 2007. Along with them, Alejandra Moffat wrote the screenplay of the film. This is a tale of a young woman who flees from a German colony and seeks a harbor in Chile. Amalia Kassai and Rainer Krause worked behind the major characters’ voices. This stop-motion film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival 2018. This horror animation is rated at 7.6/10 on IMDb and 96% on Rotten Tomatoes.
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‘Shaun the Sheep Movie’ | British Stop-Motion Animated Film | 2015
This film features Shaun the Sheep, the popular TV series in 2007 by Nick Park. The interesting story is all about a sheep planning with friends to rescue their master. With the voice-over of Justin Fletcher, Omid Djalili, and John Sparkes, this comedy film was written and directed by Richard Starzak, and Mark Burton. It received the nomination for Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA in 2016. This Aardman Animations production is rated at 7.3/10 on IMDb and 99% on Rotten Tomatoes.
‘The Boy and the World’ | Brazillian Cartoon | 2013
A little boy sets out on an adventure to find his father, only to find himself in a world governed by machines, animals, and aliens. With this story in the background, ‘The Boy and the World’ film was made with a unique combination of digital animation, sketch, and painting.
This adventure animation, directed and written by Ale Abreu, got the 88th Oscar nomination. Besides the filmmaker himself, the voice-over artists of the film were Vinicius Garcia, Felipe Zilse, Lu Horta, Cassius Romero, and Marco Aurelio Campos. The rating of this film on IMDb is 7.6/10 and on Rotten Tomatoes is 93%.
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‘The Secret of Kells’ | Irish-French Cartoon | 2009
The Secret of Kells, produced under the Cartoon Saloon, follows an adventure of a boy and an ancient book named Kells filled with mysterious powers. Evan McGuire, Brendan Gleeson, Mick Lally, Michael McGrath, Liam Hourican, Paul Tylak gave voices over the major roles. This fantasy film, directed by Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey, got the 82nd Academy Award nomination. The ratings of this animated film are 7.6/10 and 90% on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes respectively.
‘Wrinkles’ | Spanish Cartoon | 2011
The main idea of this film comes from the graphic novel titled Wrinkles by Paco Roca. The story shows how an old man becomes a con artist to save his friend from getting relocated to the 'lost causes' unit of an elder-care facility due to Alzheimer’s disease.
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Alvaro Guevara and Tacho Gonzalez gave the voice behind the main characters of this animated drama directed by Ignacio Ferreras. Angel de la Cruz and Rosanna Cecchini cooperated with the screenplay along with Roca and the director of the film. All of them won the Goya Awards 2012 for this film. ‘Wrinkles’ stays at the rating of 7.6/10 on IMDb and 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Wrap up
Beyond the age limit, these best-ever animated films have been feeding the fascination of all types of cinephiles. Thanks to the comedy-centric trend, every filmmaker now tends to mix humorous ingredients in their creations. Moreover, comedy movies are more enjoyable to the movie-enthusiasts who want to go back to their childhood. Not to mention, these animated films had been a great relief for cineastes around the world.
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