19. Wreck-it Ralph (2012)
Directed by: Rich Moore
Written by: Phil Johnston and Jennifer Lee
Starring: John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch and Alan Tudyk.
Music by: Henry Jackman
Rated: PG
Within the plug sockets of the arcade machines of Litwick’s Arcade, numerous video-game characters interact with each other whenever the place is closed. Wreck-it Ralph (John C. Reilly), the designated villain of the 8-bit game Fix-it Felix Jr.,is getting tired of being treated like a bad guy, even in his free-time and sets out to win a medal from the modern-shooter game, Hero’s Duty. A freak accident with one of the game’s “cybug” enemies ends up getting Ralph stranded in the candy-themed racer game Sugar Rush, and the unlucky bad guy is forced to team up with a young outsider named Vanellope (Sarah Silverman), to get his medal back by helping her get into the races before the arcade opens…
One of the biggest success stories of the 2010s Disney Revival films, Wreck-it Ralph is a wonderful tribute to all eras of videogames which also offers a fresh take on the bad guy becoming good narrative, by having Ralph’s role as a bad guy being vital to his entire game’s existence.
The character and background animation is outstanding with each of the three featured video game worlds of Fix-it Felix Jr.,Hero’s Duty and Sugar Rush having their own animation styles in thier characters and world design, with the Nicelanders of the former having jerky 8 bit movements, and the other two, being essentially reworked versions of modern sci-fi shoot em up’s and Nintendo racing games.
Both John C. Reilly and Sarah Silverman work off each other very well as Ralph and Vanellope, while Jack MacBrayer and Jane Lynch share funny chemistry as well in their character arcs as a overly optimistic hero and a traumatised war veteran.
Overall this is the best videogame film ever made and one of Walt Disney Animation Studio’s finest achievements.
Rated: 5/5
18. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) (Winner of 2005 Best Animated Feature Award)
Directed by: Nick Park and Steve Box
Written by: Nick Park, Steve Box, Mark Burton and Bob Baker
Starring: Peter Sallis, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Peter Kay, Nicholas Smith and Liz Smith
Music by: Julian Nott
Rated: U
Cheese-loving inventor Wallace (Peter Sallis), and his faithful smart dog, Gromit, have started new jobs as pest control officers to deal with a rabbit infestation plaguing their town’s yearly Giant Vegetable Competition. After one of Wallace’s inventions goes hay-wire and creates a were-rabbit, their most loyal customer, Lady Tottington (Helena Bonham Carter), gives the duo a chance to safely capture the beast, before her bitter suitor,Victor Quartermaine (Ralph Fiennes), can blast it with his gun…
The second stop motion film of 2005, along with the first one to win the coveted Best Animated Feature Award, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, was the culmination of sixteen years of Aardman’s Animation’s legacy with this legendary duo.
After three amazing short films starting with Nick Park’s college film that was turned into 1989’s A Grand Day Out, with the latter two, The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave, winning Oscars for Best Animated Short in 1993 and 1995, Wallace and Gromit’s first feature film keeps their trademark British identity intact in this funny parody of Universal monster films and Hammer Horror cinema.
With some of the funniest lines and sight gags in the companies history, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit gets the biggest laughs from the pompous new villain, Victor Quartermaine the petty hunter, even if he is a bit of a downgrade when compared to the likes of Feathers McGraw and Preston the Cyber-Dog.
Although the narrative does feel a bit stretched out when compared to the shorts, the claymation, voice-acting from both mainstay Peter Sallis and new additions Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter and the always funny British humour, makes The Curse of the Were-Rabbit a cracking film, Gromit!
Rating: 5/5
17. Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)
Directed by: Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Written by: Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger
Starring: Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Gary Oldman, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, James Hong, Michelle Yeoh and Jackie Chan
Music by: Hans Zimmer and John Powell
Rated: PG
Several years after defeating Tai Lung, Po the Panda (Jack Black) is enjoying his new life as the Dragon Warrior of the Valley of Peace. When Lord Shen (Gary Oldman), a ruthless white peacock murders a Kung Fu Master with a cannon, an invention designed to rid China of Kung Fu forever, Po, along with the Furious Five, Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Crane (David Cross), Monkey (Jackie Chan) and Viper (Lucy Liu), are sent by Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) to Gongham City to stop Shen. However, things get complicated when Po starts to struggle in his fighting skills when he learns a heartbreaking truth about his past…
The willingness, like the How to Train Your Dragon franchise did, to explore darker territory and themes for this sequel to Kung Fu Panda, the film that set Dreamworks Animation on a new path towards story-driven narratives in 2008 and having a much larger Chinese influence in the animation and art direction, makes Kung Fu Panda 2 just as awesome as its predecessor.
Even if the Furious Five could have been given more to do, everything else such as the character development of Po, everything revolving around the new villain, Lord Shen, the animation and Hans Zimmer and John Powell’s awe-inspiring score is so good that I’m glad that it led to Dreamworks opening a new studio in Shanghai for production on the third film (even if it was short-lived).
Overall, with great voice-acting, stunning animation and art direction and a powerful message about not letting past events define you, Kung Fu Panda 2 is what makes DreamWorks Animation, the most consistently successful at making quality sequels to their franchises.
Rating: 5/5
16. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022) (Winner of 2022 Best Animated Feature Award)
Directed by: Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson
Written by: Guillermo del Toro and Patrick McHale
Starring: Gregory Mann, David Bradley, Ewan McGregor, Burn Gorman, Ron Perlman, John Tuturro, Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, Tim Blake Nelson, Christoph Waltz and Tilda Swinton
Music by: Alexandre Desplat
Rated: PG
Set in 1930s Fascist Italy, an old toy maker named Geppetto (David Bradley) has become a depressed alcoholic due to losing his beloved son, Carlo (Gregory Mann) in a bombing raid during WWI. In a fit of drunken rage, Geppetto cuts down the tree on top of the grave and vows to carve Carlo back to life. However, he gets more than he bargained for, when a sympathetic Wood Sprite (Tilda Swinton) brings his new puppet son to life. While the wooden boy, named Pinocchio (Also Gregory Mann) is nothing like Carlo in terms of personality, with the help of a friendly cricket named Sebastian (Ewan McGregor), he is desperate to make Geppetto proud of him. Unfortunately, forces such as the performer, Count Volpe (Christoph Waltz), the local Podestà (Ron Perlman) and even Death itself (Also Tilda Swinton), have other ideas…
One of the most anticipated films of the last decade in the animation community, this latest version of Carlo Collodi’s 1883 novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio, has unfortunately been released in a year full of adaptations of Italy’s famous wooden boy. With Disney’s live-action remake of the 1940 animated masterpiece, a creepy version from 2019 that was incredibly successful in Pinocchio’s home country and of course, Russia and Pauly Shore’s unintentionally funny disaster that was Pinocchio: A True Story, it would seem that Guillermo Del Toro’s passion project since 2008, may have come out at the wrong time.
However, this incredible director’s patience with finally trying to get his 1930s take on the tale of the wooden boy, has finally paid off, as this is possibly not only one of the best adaptations of the story, but is one of the best films this director has ever made. The stop-motion animation and character designs are absolutely stunning, from the more animalistic take on characters such as the Blue Fairy and the Talking Cricket, to the human designs feeling like being taken from an old European storybook, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio does manage to make this feel like something out of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, despite the 1930s setting.
Speaking of the setting, the film does not shy away from the harshness of living in Mussolini-era Italy, with characters getting shot, bombed and ran over without any mercy and it does manage to give a reason for the original obedience moral of the book and most adaptations to be given a solid update. Unlike the confusing morals of the Robert Zemeckis film, the reality of living under the command of a dictator, gives a good reason to say that blind obedience to anyone, can be even worse than breaking the rules and sometimes, naughtiness is required to save you and your family.
Despite the setting update and more realistic morals, the story remains faithful to previous adaptations, with the likes of Gregory Mann, Ewan McGregor, David Bradley and Tilda Swinton being great new versions of Pinocchio, The Cricket, Geppetto and The Fairy. Since this version of Pinocchio is a more realistic version, updates have been made towards the fantasy elements of the source material, with the Fox and the Cat being changed to the human Count Volpe and the Coachman of the Land of Toys being a military commander of Mussolini, with Christoph Waltz and Del Toro regular, Ron Perlman, giving the slimy performances that these roles require.
Overall, Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio was worth the long wait. The incredible updates to the classic story, the fantastic animation and the emotional moments between the characters make this one of the best fantasy films in years and a triumph in the career of one of the best filmmakers of the last two decades.
Rating: 5/5
15. Toy Story 3 (2010) (Winner of 2010 Best Animated Feature Award)
Directed by: Lee Unkrich
Written by: Michael Arndt
Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Estelle Harris, Ned Beatty, Michael Keaton, Jodi Benson and John Morris
Music by: Randy Newman
Rated: U
Andy (John Morris) has finally grown up and is about to leave for college, leaving Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Jessie (Joan Cusack) and the rest of the toys uncertain about their future. A misunderstanding leads to the toys being donated to Sunnyside Daycare, a seeming paradise for outgrown toys led by a kindly teddy-bear named Lotso (Ned Beatty) and as a result, Woody splits up with the gang. However, after getting taken home by a kid named Bonnie (Emily Hahn), he learns from her toys that Sunnyside is not what it seems…
Although the reactions that both critics and audiences had towards the infamous ending may have been somewhat tainted regarding certain events in Toy Story 4 and Lasseter’s fall into disgrace in the years after this film, Lee Unkrich’s solo directorial debut is still one of the best third films out there, compared to most animated franchises.
Aside from the obvious animation improvements in the backgrounds and the human characters, the lighting and the cinematography helps set a foreboding tone in both the prison escape and landfill sequences, making Toy Story 3 one of the darkest films in Pixar’s canon.
Lotso may share a few similarities with Stinky Pete in terms of his character arc, but Ned Beatty’s chilling performance and his actions help make him one of the evilest Pixar characters to date.
Overall, Toy Story 3 may not have ended the franchise like many people hoped it would, but the fantastic voice-acting, the beautiful animation and the closure of the Andy saga, makes this film essential viewing for both Toy Story and Pixar fans alike.
Rating: 5/5
14. Finding Nemo (2003) (Winner of 2003 Best Animated Feature Award)
Directed by: Andrew Stanton
Written by: Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson and David Reynolds
Starring: Albert Brooks, Alexander Gould, Ellen DeGeneres, Willem Dafoe, Geoffrey Rush and Bill Hunter
Music by: Thomas Newman
Rated: U
In the depths of the Great Barrier Reef, a small clownfish named Marlin (Albert Brooks) has spent the last few years being overprotective of his son, Nemo (Alexander Gould), due to his mother Coral (Elizabeth Perkins) and siblings being killed by a barracuda when he was just an egg. When Nemo gets kidnapped by the human dentist, Philip Sherman (Bill Hunter), and taken to Sydney, Australia, Marlin must now team up with a forgetful regal blue tang fish named Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), on a journey across the entire ocean in order to save his son.
Taking inspiration from a trip in 1992 to Six Flags in which he became fascinated with the fish on display there and the relationship with his son, Andrew Stanton wanted to follow up Pete Docter’s debut feature Monsters, Inc. with an epic tale across the ocean and he definitely succeeded in making an impact when this film finally knocked The Lion King off its perch as the highest grossing animated film at the time (Before being dethroned by Shrek 2) and won Pixar’s first Best Animated Feature Academy Award.
Even by 2020s standards, the film is absolutely breathtaking to witness ,with the ocean environments being the best ever created at this point in time and even if the story is far less funny than other Pixar films, the change of tone is a welcome change of pace. Even if the overprotective parent plot would eventually get overused in later animated films, Marlin and Nemo’s story is one of the most emotional takes of this type of plot and although her reputation has gone downhill in recent years, Ellen DeGeneres makes for a fantastic supporting character as Dory.
Overall, Finding Nemo is an incredibly heartwarming and jaw-dropping emotional experience that cemented Pixar’s impact on feature animation that has one of the most emotional scores ever done by Thomas Newman.
Rating: 5/5
13. The Wild Robot (2024)
Directed by: Chris Sanders
Written by: Chris Sanders
Starring: Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Matt Berry, Ving Rhames, Mark Hamill and Catherine O’Hara
Music by: Kris Bowers
Rated: U
In the near future, on an island of animals, ROZZUM Unit 7134 (Lupita Nyong’o), a self-service robot, ends up getting stranded without a purpose. Despite being unsuccessful in finding a task, even after learning the language of the animals, “Roz” ends up adopting a Canada goose named Brightbill (Kit Connor), after he imprints on her. With the help of a mischievous fox named Fink (Pedro Pascal), a mother opossum named Pinktail (Catherine O’Hara) and a falcon named Thunderbolt (Ving Rhames), Roz must find a way to teach Brightbill to survive before winter arrives…
In mainstream American animation, one of the best types of protagonists for some of the best films has been the robot. While the likes of the droids of Star Wars, Robbie from Forbidden Planet and the T-800 have dominated popular culture, ones from animated films, such as Wall-E and EVE from WALL-E and the titular character from The Iron Giant, have become just as beloved as those examples.
After three decades of content, DreamWorks Animation have finally decided to make their own robot feature with The Wild Robot, an adaptation of the book series by Peter Brown, which may be the company’s best original film since How to Train Your Dragon. This isn’t surprising, given the fact that the director of that film, Chris Sanders, who also directed Lilo & Stitch for Walt Disney Animation Studios and The Croods for DreamWorks, has returned to the latter company to bring this story to life, after a brief foray into live-action with 2020’s The Call of the Wild.
Continuing the successful use of the technology that was seen in The Bad Guys and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, The Wild Robot’s painterly stylised CGI, blends together to make the forest and futurist environments, look like a blend of Bambi, Castle in the Sky and My Neighbor Totoro’s art direction. While some people that were let down by the later trailer’s revelation of talking protagonists after the first teaser trailer hinted at a silent film, the likes of Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor and Catherine O’Hara, all bring so much life to their robot and animal characters, with the former three making for such a lovable adoptive family unit of Roz the robot, Fink the fox and Brightbill the goose.
Overall, with beautiful animation, a heartwarming story about adoptive family love and timeless themes of belonging, The Wild Robot is proof that Chris Sanders is easily one of the best of the ex-Disney animators and a fitting way to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the house that Shrek (and The Prince of Egypt and Chicken Run), built.
Rating: 5/5
12. How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
Directed by: Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
Written by: Will Davis, Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
Starring: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, T.J. Miller and Kristen Wiig
Music by: John Powell
Rated: PG
In the Viking village of Berk, it’s the rule of kill or be killed by dragons that motivates the residents in their daily lives. Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), the outcast son of the chief, Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler) shoots down the most dangerous breed of dragon, A Night Fury, but cannot bring himself to kill the beast. While the young Viking is enrolled into lessons on dragon-slaying, he slowly starts to form a bond with the strange dragon and names him “Toothless”. But fellow student Astrid (America Ferrera), starts having suspicions about him…
Although Dreamworks Animation had made some dramatic films early in their existance with the likes of The Prince of Egypt and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmeron, the financial success of comedies such as the Shrek and Madagascar films gave Jeffrey Katzenberg’s studio a reputation for films that relied entirely on humour. However, Kung Fu Panda and this very loose adaptation of Cressida Cowell’s How to Train Your Dragon books, would mark a new era of experimentation in more character-driven narratives for the studio.
Although the plot itself is a mesh of two of the most commonly used stories with the typical “boy meets creature” and “loser to success” narratives that films like The Iron Giant, E.T. and Superman have used, the directors of Lilo and Stitch, Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, manage to make these old stories interesting again with the perfect use of pacing with the heartwarming connection made between Hiccup and Toothless, with the “Forbidden Friendship” sequence being one of the most powerful animated sequences ever made.
Much has been said already about the animation and how Roger Deakins helped push the boundaries for CGI for Dreamworks, but the flying scenes, the backgrounds of the island of Berk and the designs of the dragons, are so beautiful that it comes close to Studio Ghibli territory in terms of creativitiy.
Jay Baruchel may not have the best suited voice for animation, but the character of Hiccup does manage to come across as an awkward, yet endearing character. Both America Ferrera and Gerard Butler bring most of the emotional weight as the love interest Astrid and the stern father Stoick to the film, with the latter being one of the rare animated fathers to feel like a real character instead of a bland stereotype.
Overall, How to Train Your Dragon is so stunning in its animation ,backgrounds and well developed characters, that it’s a shame that the poor box office performace of Rise of the Guardians, led to Dreamworks abandoning these types of films again. Thank God for the sequels and TV shows though!
Rating: 5/5
11. Shrek 2 (2004)
Directed by: Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon
Written by: Andrew Adamson, Joe Stillman, J. David Stern and David N. Weiss
Starring: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Julie Andrews, Antonio Banderas, John Cleese, Rupert Everett and Jennifer Saunders
Music by: Harry Gregson-Williams
Rated: PG
Shrek (Mike Myers) and Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) are married and have finally achieved their happy ending. However, after getting invited to a royal ball in the Beverly Hills of the fairytale universe, Far Far Away, Shrek finds out that her parents, King Harold (John Cleese) and Queen Lillian (Julie Andrews), do not approve of their daughter’s choice. Desperate to prove himself, Shrek, along with Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and a new ally, the suave Spanish feline, Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas), steal a potion from the local Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders) in order to give Fiona a better life. However, the Fairy Godmother has more devious plans of her own…
After changing the animation industry with the anti-fairytale comedy smash, Shrek, Dreamworks Animation’s first sequel is much funnier with its use of comedy and storytelling, with Shrek 2’s Guess Who’s Coming For Dinner’s inspired plot, leading to one of the best love stories between Shrek and Fiona.
New cast members Antonio Banderas, John Cleese, Julie Andrews, Rupert Everett and Jennifer Saunders are all fantastic, with the former standing out as breakout character Puss in Boots, and Rupert Everett hamming it up as the lazy Prince Charming.
Although the story itself is great, it does feel stretched out at times and the pop-culture references become a bit over-used to where it’s inappropriate in the story. However, nearly all of them are so funny, that it’s forgivable in this case, with the KNIGHTS, Shirley Bassey and unexpected cameos, being some of the most laugh-out loud moments in DreamWorks Animation’s entire history.
Overall, Shrek 2 did a fantastic job as the first sequel from Dreamworks Animation, but judging from the quality of the other Shrek sequels (at least, the main franchise without the Puss in Boots films) from this point on, it should have been all “ogre” here.
Rating: 5/5
10. Up (2009) (Winner of 2009 Best Animated Feature Award)
Directed by: Pete Docter
Written by: Bob Peterson and Pete Docter
Starring: Ed Asner, Jordan Nagai, Christopher Plummer and Bob Peterson
Music by: Michael Giacchino
Rated: U
Ever since his beloved wife, Ellie passed away, an elderly retired balloon-salesman named Carl Fredricksen (Ed Asner) has been obsessed with making her dream come true, which is to go to Paradise Falls, a gigantic waterfall located in South America. When he ties millions of balloons to his house in order to fly there himself, Carl ends up getting more than he bargained for when Russell (Jordan Nagai), a young wilderness explorer stows away on his house and when they do end up arriving at the Falls, a gigantic bird named Kevin and a dog with a talking collar named Dug (Bob Peterson), end up joining this unusual adventure…
Quite possibly one of the most down-to-earth and the most unique of Pixar’s entire canon, Pete Docter’s second film as director, Up, is an incredible film about the importance of letting go and moving on from grief which is masterfully shown in the infamous first ten minutes in which an entire montage of married life could easily pass as its own short film.
Taking inspiration from 1930s-1940s adventure films, the rest of the film is just as entertaining, with the character of Dug being one of the most realistic depictions of a dog’s behaviour ever seen in mainstream animation and although his age may be questionable given what happens in the first ten minutes, the character of Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer), is one of the creepiest Pixar antagonists due to his implied insanity over trying to get Kevin.
Overall, Up was a grand farewell to the 2000s Pixar Golden Era in which the fantastic characters, emotional core and outlandish spirit of adventure made this a true indication that Pete was and still is, Pixar’s best director!
Rating: 5/5
Chaz’s Cinematic Odyssey 