From 2000 to the present, animated films have become ubiquitous, increasingly experimental in their narrative construction and visual language, and critically acclaimed. The 21st century has done a lot of kindness for the animated medium, offering its particular pleasures to audiences of all ages. Computer generated imagery definitely became the techniquedu jour, but many of our pioneers continued to mess with the form’s tired-and-true methods of hand-drawn or stop-motion animation, resulting in an influx of interesting animated auteurs.
To celebrate these modern masterpieces of crat and imagination, we’ve got the 45 best animated movies of the 21st century. From Pixar to anime and everything in between, leave the real world behind and enjoy this list of wonderful works of animated art.
A Town Called Panic
Directors: Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar
Writers: Stéphane Aubier, Guillaume Malandrin, Vincent Patar, Vincent Tavier
Cast: Stéphane Aubier, Jeanne Balibar, Nicolas Buysse, Véronique Dumont, Bruce Ellison, Frédéric Jannin, Bouli Lanners
IfWallace andGromitandToy Storydropped a ton of acid and made a baby, it would be something likeA Town Called Panic. The French-language stop-motion adventure from DirectorsStéphane AubierandVincent Patar(who also provide voices) follows the antics of three plastic toy housemates – Horse, Cowboy, and Indian – as they encounter a mad scientist, explore a snowy wilderness, and discover an underwater lagoon near the core of the earth populated by duplicitous little sea creatures. And it all starts with way too many bricks. No seriously, that’s the plot. They accidentally order too many bricks and somehow wind up on a journey to the center of the earth. Packed with surrealist humor, exuberant narrative nonsense, and a free-wheeling “why not?” vibe,A Town Called Paniccaptures the uninhibited creativity of childhood playtime with an avant garde edge. –Haleigh Foutch
The Breadwinner
Director: Nora Twomey
Writers: Anita Doron, Deborah Ellis
Cast: Saara Chaudry, Soma Bhatia, Ali Badshah, Noorin Gulamgaus, Kane Mahon, Laara Sadiq, Kanza Feris, Shaista Latif, Kawa Ada, Ali Kazmi, Reza Sholeh
The Breadwinneris an Oscar-nominated, beautifully animated tale that does more to humanize the people living under Taliban rule in Afghanistan than just about anything else we’ve seen over the last 20 years. It also deftly lays out the beleaguered history of the region across the centuries as wave after wave of would-be conquerors and subjugators storm into the area, only to leave the land–and the people who live within it–in disarray.
ButThe Breadwinnerquickly moves away from this framing of the story and gets to the heart of the tale itself. Centering on the young Afghanistan girl Parvana, it tells of her defiance of Taliban rule in the face of violence and certain death in order to provide for her family. Women and girls are second-class citizens under this regime. The fact of this oppression is felt so strongly throughout the early telling of the tale, so much so that, when Parvana disguises herself as a boy in order to buy food, fetch water, and earn a living, her relative freedom and joy are palpable. It’s a tough watch at times, but a heartening one, and beautifully told.- Dave Trumbore
Chicken Run
Directors: Peter Lord, Nick Park
Writers: Karey Kirkpatrick, Peter Lord, Nick Park
Cast: Phil Daniels, Lynn Ferguson, Mel Gibson, Tony Haygarth, Jane Horrocks, Miranda Richardson, Julia Sawalha, Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton, Benjamin Whitrow
Growing up, my family had a full-size van with a small TV/VCR combo installed in the back. My brother and I had a small selection of VHS tapes that we wore the heck out on road trips, big and small. At the top of the pile?Chicken Run, the utterly charming “prison escape flick for kids” from the imaginations that brought us theWallace & Gromitstop motion short films (not coincidentally another VHS we wore the heck out).Peter Lord,Nick Park, and screenwriterKarey Kirkpatrickcrafted such a unified, tight, charming, hilarious, poignant, delightful family film, one that still works because of its timeless interaction with classic cinema and storytelling tropes. A group of very British chickens live on a farm where their fate is, well, on your dinner table. They’re not so into the idea of becoming food. And when a very American rooster joins their flock, he just might be their guiding star for how to escape and live a better life.Chicken Rundoes it all with fleet efficiency, playing its situations for laughs, thrills, and surprisingly dark pathos. And while watching on Hulu will never quite replicate the experience of my family van’s VHS, at least I won’t have to deal with tracking issues.- Gregory Lawrence
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Directors/Writers: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Cast: Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Andy Samberg, Bruce Campbell, Mr. T, Bobb’e J. Thompson, Benjamin Bratt, Neil Patrick Harris, Al Roker, Lauren Graham, Will Forte
Before filmmakersPhil LordandChris Millergained big-screen recognition for wildly ambitious (and terrific) films likeThe LEGO Movie,21and22 Jump Street, andSpider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, they were already going full punk in the animation genre. The two were notably fired from and then re-hired onto Sony Pictures Animation’sCloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which—when given the runway to get weird with it—they turned into a strange, hilarious, and ultimately emotional science-positive story about food raining from the sky.Bill Hadervoices a wannabe scientist named Flint Lockwood who lives in a tiny town called Swallow Falls, which is thrown into peril when one of Flint’s wild inventions starts turning water into food, at which point it literally starts raining all sorts of delicious—and gigantic—treats. Chaos ensues, but the genius is in the details as Lord and Miller subvert expectations at every turn while also delivering a satisfying story for all ages.- Adam Chitwood
Director: Lee Unkrich
Writers: Lee Unkrich, Jason Katz, Matthew Aldrich, Adrian Molina
Cast: Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Alanna Ubach, Renée Victor, Ana Ofelia Murguía, Edward James Olmos
“Remember me.” These two words in a row, and I am done. Even in Pixar’s peerless pantheon of weep-inducing masterpieces (many of which are on this list),Cocotakes a special place in my heart. It spins an adventurous, gripping yarn in a culturally authentic space, it anchors its emotional hook to family with gut-punching effectiveness, it packs an absolute helluva plot twist (though really it’s more like a “character twist”), and its music? My god, its music. You see, young Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) wants nothing more than to play guitar like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt). But his family has a ban on music. Why? Well, to find out, Miguel will travel to the Land of the Dead, meet the beyond-charming Héctor (Gael García Bernal) as a co-adventurer, and learn the truth about his family. As a result, the picture is packed with incredible tunes, written and performed beautifully not just by its adept composers and actors, but by the animators. Every single finger movement on a guitar is exactly where it should be – and while that’s not the thing about this movie that makes me cry the most, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t responsible for a couple stray tears.- Gregory Lawrence
Director/Writer: Henry Selick
Cast: Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Keith David, John Hodgman, Robert Bailey Jr., Ian McShane
Writer/Director:Henry Selick
Cast:Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman, Keith David, Jennifer Saunders, Ian McShane
Based onNeil Gaiman’s book of the same name,Coralineis one of the darn spookiest and most unnerving family films ever made, which should be no big surprise since it comes from none other than writer/directorHenry Selick- aka, filmmaker of the essential goth kid-starterThe Nightmare Before Christmas. Boasting phenomenal stop-motion animation from LAIKA, which introduced the studio’s precise, highly-stylized and technologically innovated 3D-printed technology.Dakota Fanningleads her voice as the title character, an adventurous young girl who discovers a mirror world that seems idyllic at first, but shelters dark and menacing secrets behind button-eyes and soulless smiles. It’s genuinely creepy, creatively innovative and all pinned on an inventive fantasy parable from one of literature’s great modern genre writers. –Haleigh Foutch
The Emperor’s New Groove
Director: Mark Dindal
Writer: David Reynolds
Cast: David Spade, John Goodman, Eartha Kitt, and Patrick Warburton
This film had a bit of a tortured production history (at one point it was a musical epic titledKingdom of the Sun), but the final product still turned out to be one of the funniest movies in Disney Animation’s history. The story follows a narcissistic and selfish emperor, Kuzco (David Spade), who is poisoned by his duplicitous advisor Yzma (Eartha Kitt), but instead of dying, he gets turned into a llama and is forced to rely on the kindness of villager Pacha (John Goodman). The plot is pure road-trip buddy-movie stuff by the quality of the farcical comedy elevatesThe Emperor’s New Grooveinto a really fun romp that’s worth your attention.- Matt Goldberg
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Director: Wes Anderson
Writers: Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach
Cast: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson
Few filmmakers seemed better suited to the stop-motion animation medium thanWes Anderson. His filmography up until that point had consisted of meticulous and painterly visuals accompanied by a dry wit and charming characters. And indeed 2009’sFantastic Mr. Foxis not just a great stop-motion movie, it’s a great movie period and one of Anderson’s absolute best. TheRoald Dahladaptation tackles themes relating to community and parenthood, with an absolutely stacked voice cast lending their talents to these charming yet prickly creatures. But one of the most striking scenes inFantastic Mr. Foxis one that is most emblematic of why it works: Mr. Fox and his wife Felicity have an emotional, candid heart-to-heart in front of a waterfall. It’s witty and beautiful and heartbreaking and a little dark all at the same time, striking a difficult tonal balance. And it’s cussing great.- Adam Chitwood
Finding Nemo
Director: Andrew Stanton
Writers: Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson, David Reynolds
Cast: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould, Willem Dafoe
Finding Nemois a little underrated, in my estimation. This was, at the time, one of the biggest movies in the world. Everybody lovedFinding Nemo, to the point that in hindsight I think we shrug it off as a bit populist. But give it a rewatch and your eyes will be opened to its brilliance anew. DirectorAndrew Stantonis able to thread together a story about grief, a story about a strained father/son relationship, a buddy movie, aOne Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest-like story about outsiders banding together, and a far-flung adventure tale into one cohesive piece. It’s a testament to Stanton’s talent that the film never feels episodic, and despite juggling multiple characters and scenarios, always feels emotionally grounded. Sometimes movies are popular for a reason, you know?- Adam Chitwood
Directors: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Writers: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Shane Morris
Cast: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad, Santino Fontana
There’s nothing better than seeing a movie absolutely crush it at the box office and deserve every single penny. So is the case with Disney Animation’sFrozen, the highest earner at the worldwide box office in 2013. The movie features an unforgettable cast of characters led byKristen BellandIdina Menzelas sisters, Anna and Elsa respectively. Elsa’s done everything she could to control her magical abilities around loved ones, but when an outburst reveals her powers to the citizens of Arendelle, Elsa flees and plunges the region into an eternal winter. Determined to set things right, Anna sets off on an adventure to bring her sister home and save the kingdom. There’s loads to love aboutFrozenlike the unforgettable songs (especially the Academy Award winning “Let It Go”) andJosh Gad’s lovable performance as Olaf, but the most striking quality ofFrozenis how strong the story is thematically. As someone who’s quite close with her sister, I’ve always been most moved by the connection between Anna and Elsa. They’re two very different people facing unique challenges, but overcoming those challenges require the same things - self-empowerment and also their unconditional love for one another.Frozenfirmly feels like a member of the classic Disney animated family, but also boasts a number of forward-thinking qualities that makes it a story that celebrates true love in every sense - friendship, familial love, romance and self-love as well.- Perri Nemiroff
