Animated films that will never lose their charm
Unlike live-action movies, the consumption of the best animated movies depends on how quickly the animator can handle the hand-drawn object to turn fantasies into reality. What was once puppet and bioscope was later replaced by 2D animation. Now, haunting computer-generated imagery (CGI) continues to fascinate us. If you want to enrich your movie archives with some of the greatest animated films, this list is worth looking at.
Top 10 best animated movies of all time
‘Tomb of the fireflies’ | japanese cartoon | 1988
It’s the heartbreaking story of two teenage brothers who are completely dependent on each other and fight through thick and thin to stay together during WWII. Isao Takahata directed and wrote this animated film. The original story was a semi-autobiography by Akiyuki Nosaka.
This war-tragedy film stars Yoshiko Shinohara, Tsutomu Tatsumi, Akemi Yamaguchi, and Ayano Shiraishi. The film won one award at the Blue Ribbon (1989) and two at the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival (1994). With an 8.5 / 10 rating on IMDb and 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, it still grabs the attention of moviegoers.
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‘Toy Story’ Film Series | American computer animation | 1995-2019
Walt Disney Pictures released four seasons of this Pixer production franchise in 1995, 1999, 2010, and 2019. Each of them contains an interesting storyline of what will happen when the toys come to life and take the lead in getting it right.
Tom Hanks and Tim Allen provided vocals for the film’s lead roles. John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Joe Ranft, and Andrew Stanton made the original story. The film series was directed by Lasseter himself, starring Lee Unkrich, Ash Brannon and Josh Cooley. All versions won the Oscar except the second version. These blockbuster movies have a rating of at least 7.7 on IMDb and 97% on Rotten Tomatoes.
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‘Persepolis’ | Franco-Iranian cartoon | 2007
The story of this war drama is taken from a graphic novel called Persepolis. The novel was written by Marjane Satrapi based on her own life during the Iranian revolution. Satrapi herself and Vincent Paronnaud jointly produced this autobiographical animated film. The main voice-overs were Chiara Mastroianni and Catherine Deneuve. It got the Oscar nomination for “best animated film”. This animated film has a rating of 8/10 on IMDb and 96% on Rotten Tomatoes.
‘Son of the white mare’ | hungarian cartoon | nineteen eighty one
This Roman Kunz production was produced 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 centers on a superhuman character, who is in search of the underworld to free the princesses. This psychedelic animated film was shortlisted for the Fantasia International Film Festival 2019. This film scores 7.9 / 10 on IMDb and 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
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“Stones in my pockets” | latvian cartoon | 2014
Signe Baumane, the Latvian animation artist, made this film focusing on the incidents of his own life. He explores how she and her family struggled to overcome their insanity. She did the voiceover throughout the movie. Baumane won the FEPRESCI Prize, the Latvian Cinema Prize and the Sky Arte Prize for this dramatic comedy. This documentary film remains rated 7.5 / 10 on IMDb and 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
‘The House of the Wolf’ | Chilean Stop-Motion Animation | 2018
It was the first feature film by Cristobal Leon & Joaquin Cocina, two talented animation artists working together since 2007. With them, Alejandra Moffat wrote the screenplay for the film. It is the story of a young woman who flees a German colony and seeks a port in Chile. Amalia Kassai and Rainer Krause worked behind the voices of the main characters. This stop motion film premiered at the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival. This horror animation is rated 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, Nick Park’s popular 2007 TV series. The interesting story is that of a sheep which plans with friends to save its master. Starring 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 Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations in 2016. This Aardman Animations production is rated 7.3 / 10 on IMDb and 99% on Rotten Tomatoes.
‘The boy and the world’ | brazilian cartoon | 2013
A little boy goes on an adventure to find his father, to find himself in a world ruled by machines, animals and aliens. With this story in the background, the movie “The Boy and the World” was made with a unique combination of digital animation, sketching and painting.
This adventure animation, directed and written by Ale Abreu, won the 88th Oscar nomination. Besides the filmmaker himself, the voiceover artists for the film were Vinicius Garcia, Felipe Zilse, Lu Horta, Cassius Romero and Marco Aurelio Campos. This movie’s rating on IMDb is 7.6 / 10 and on Rotten Tomatoes is 93%.
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“The Secret of Kells” | Irish-French caricature | 2009
The Secret of Kells, produced as part of the Cartoon Saloon, follows the 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 provided voices on the lead roles. This fantasy film, directed by Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey, earned the 82nd Oscar nomination. The ratings for this animated film are 7.6 / 10 and 90% respectively on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes.
‘Wrinkles’ | Spanish cartoon | 2011
The main idea for this film comes from the graphic novel called Wrinkles by Paco Roca. The story shows how an old man becomes a con artist to prevent his friend from being transferred to the “lost causes” unit of a senior care facility due to Alzheimer’s disease.
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Alvaro Guevara and Tacho Gonzalez gave the voice behind the main characters in this animated drama directed by Ignacio Ferreras. Angel de la Cruz and Rosanna Cecchini collaborated on the screenplay with Roca and the director of the film. All of them won the 2012 Goya Awards for this film. ‘Rides’ remains at 7.6 / 10 on IMDb and 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Conclude
Beyond the age limit, these best animated films have fueled the fascination of all types of moviegoers. Thanks to the comedy-centric trend, every filmmaker now tends to mix humorous ingredients in their creations. In addition, comedy movies are more enjoyable for moviegoers who want to go back to childhood. Not to mention that these animated films have been a great relief to filmmakers around the world.
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