29. Moana (2016)
Directed by: Ron Clements and John Musker
Written by: Jared Bush
Starring: Auliʻi Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Rachel House, Temuera Morrison, Jemaine Clement, Nicole Scherzinger and Alan Tudyk.
Music by: Mark Mancina
Rated: PG
Long ago in Ancient Polynesia, the residents of the island of Motunui live a very sheltered lifestyle eating coconuts, fishing and dancing while the Chief, Tui (Temuera Morrison), tries to raise his teenage daughter, Moana (Auli’i Cravalho), to take his place. Moana, however, soon sees that the island’s strict rules of never leaving the coast, are costing the islanders their fish and ripe food, so after being convinced by her much more-open grandmother, Tala (Rachel House), Moana sets sail to save Motunui from ruin. To do this, she needs to take a jewel called the Heart of Te Fiti and convince the arrogant demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) to return it to the goddess it belongs to…
After releasing the thought-provoking commentary on prejudice and bias with Zootopia earlier in 2016, Walt Disney Animation Studio’s second film of that year, Moana, went back to a more traditional musical narrative in the style of the 90s Disney Renaissance. This is definitely not a bad thing though, as Moana is the most entertaining example of the genre since Ron Clements and John Musker’s last feature, 2009’s The Princess and the Frog. Despite a few issues with the first act repeating a lot of cliches from other Disney films such as the over-protective parents and a heavy reliance on the theme of destiny, once Moana leaves her island and finds Maui, does the film really kick off into a highly entertaining Harryhausen-inspired adventure.
The background animation of each of the islands and the dangerous oceans that Moana and Maui encounter, are breathtaking with the most impressive work being done on the water, the designs of several monsters such as the lava monster, Te Ka, the giant David Bowie-inspired crab Tamatoa (Jemaine Clement), and the living hand-drawn tattoos on Maui’s body which provides some of the biggest laughs with Maui arguing with his disobedient tattoos.
The songs are amazing as well, with Lin-Manuel Miranda of Hamilton fame providing a wide variety of different musical numbers for his first collaboration with Disney, such as a few Polynesian-inspired epics such as We Know the Way and How Far I’ll Go, a 70’s inspired disco sequence with Shiny and Dwayne Johnson finally getting a chance to sing with the joyful and colourful You’re Welcome.
Overall, it may not be as original as Zootopia, but Moana does manage to succeed in being a really entertaining musical adventure with relatable characters, show-stopping numbers and beautiful animation.
Rating: 4.5/5
28. Lilo & Stitch (2002)
Directed by: Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
Written by: Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
Starring: Daveigh Chase, Chris Sanders, Tia Carrere, Ving Rhames, David Ogden Stiers, Kevin McDonald, Jason Scott Lee, Zoe Caldwell and Kevin Michael Richardson
Music by: Alan Silvestri
Rated: U
Experiment 626 (Chris Sanders) is a small, furry, cute and utterly naughty and destructive alien who escapes his recent banishment to a desert asteroid, by landing on the island of Kaua’i in Hawaii. Although The Grand Councilwoman (Zoe Caldwell) sends 626’s creator, Dr. Jumba Jookiba (David Ogden Stiers) and Agent Pleakley (Kevin McDonald) to Earth to recapture him, the mischievous alien soon has his view on life changed when he is adopted by Lilo Pelekai (Daveigh Chase) , a six year old girl who is having a difficult time adjusting to life without her parents along with her older sister Nani (Tia Carrere), and is renamed Stitch…
After the huge amount of money spent of a majority of Disney’s animated features produced between the late 90s and early 2000s such as Tarzan and Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Michael Eisner felt that Walt Disney Feature Animation needed to make cheaper films to balance things out, much like how Walt Disney made Dumbo for a lower budget in the early days of the studio after the financial failures of Pinocchio and Fantasia, and hired the head of story on Mulan, Chris Sanders, to work on a project that Sanders had originally planned as a children’s book in the 1980s.
Originally set in Kansas and had Stitch be an intergalactic gangster with Jumba being a vengeful member of his gang wanting revenge, the project that would become Lilo & Stitch eventually became one of the best films to have come out of the 2000-2009 Experimental Era once the setting was changed to Hawaii and the theme of “ohana” a Hawaiian term meaning “extended family” was used as the main selling point of the plot.
Although some of the more depressing elements of realism are suddenly dropped in the third act without ever coming up again, the subplot revolving around Lilo possibly being removed from Nani’s care by social worker Cobra Bubbles (Ving Rhames), is possibly one of the saddest and most emotional arcs of Disney’s entire filmography and while some would argue that the science fiction elements clash badly with this aspect of realism, Stitch’s arc to find a family is just as compelling, with the little blue monster being extremely cute in spite of his naughty behaviour.
Overall, with a beautiful use of watercolour backgrounds in the animation, a heartwarming story about finding family and one of the most emotional uses of “Aloha Oe” ever put on film, Lilo & Stitch was a rare bright spot in the mixed era of the 2000s in Disney Animation that is a “Hawaiian Roller-Coaster Ride” of fun!
Rating: 4.5/5
27. Flow (2024) (Winner of 2024 Best Animated Feature Award)
Directed by: Gints Zilbalodis
Written by: Gints Zillalodis and Matīss Kaža
Starring: N/A
Music by: Gints Zilbalodis and Rihards Zalupe
Rated: U
In a flooded post apocalyptic world, a black cat lives a solitary existence in an abandoned forest cabin. When flooding causes the cat to lose his home, he has to team up with a group of other animals, including a overly friendly Labrador retriever, a wise capybara, a lemur that collects human objects and a mysterious secretarybird, on a voyage to find a new life…
Having recently made history for being the first independent animated film to win Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards, as well as the most successful Latvian film in history, Flow is a powerful and unique film that serves as one of the best examples of visual storytelling in animation in recent years.
Similar in tone to DreamWorks Animation’s Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and Disney’s The Incredible Journey, Flow does use the premise of mismatched animals learning to bond over an epic adventure, only with an interesting flooded post-human Earth in its worldbuilding and the fact that none of the characters speak. Despite this style of narrative development being divisive for some modern audiences, it is the use of the character animation of the numerous animal characters and the subtle themes of working together, that really makes the film work, especially with the cat’s reactions to the world around him. Despite not speaking, each of the other animals, especially the capybara and the rarely seen secretarybird, each have their own distinct personalities without being too anthropomorphic.
Overall, despite a few over-the-top moments in the third act, Flow is an amazing achievement in animation, while also being an incredibly beautiful story about a little feline’s journey to the ends of the Earth.
Rating: 4.5/5
26. Monsters, Inc. (2001)
Directed by: Pete Docter
Written by: Andrew Stanton and Daniel Gerson
Starring: John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi, James Coburn, Jennifer Tilly and Mary Gibbs
Music by: Randy Newman
Rated: U
In a world where monsters live their daily lives, children’s screams are a vital energy source. The largest of these scream factories is Monsters Inc.,where monsters enter children’s bedrooms and collect their screams by scaring them. When the best scarer in the company, a big blue and purple spotted monster named James P. “Sully” Sullivan (John Goodman), accidentally lets a human child into the world, he and his best friend, a loudmouthed one-eyed, yet adorable monster named Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal), must find a way to send “Boo” (Mary Gibbs) home, before the slimy second-best scarer Randall Boggs (Steve Buscemi), can use her in a conspiracy….
Much like how the former CEO of Pixar, John Lasseter used a child’s idea of toys coming to life when people aren’t around in his directorial debut, the current CEO of Pixar, Pete Docter used another child’s fantasy, monsters hiding in closet doors, in his first film to create one of the most creative worlds in Pixar’s canon with the door vault sequence being one of the best climaxes in animated films.
Although it’s obvious that a lot of the background characters are reused constantly and the conspiracy subplot does have its confusing moments, the banter between the characters of Sully and Mike and the heartwarming friendship between Sully and Boo is what carries this charming film.
John Goodman is perfectly cast as the big, yet cuddly Sully, Steve Buscemi proves that he is born to play sneaky characters with Randall and Billy Crystal steals the show as Mike, even if he does come across as a bit unlikable in the second act.
Overall, as the first Pixar made without the disgraced John, Monsters Inc. is a cute, funny and visually inventive film that proved that Pixar could scare away any competition at the beginning of their golden age!
Rating: 4.5/5
25. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)
Directed by: Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado
Written by: Paul Fisher and Tommy Swerdlow
Starring: Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Harvey Guillén, Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, Samson Kayo, John Mulaney and Wagner Moura
Music by: Heitor Pereira
Rated: PG
Years after his adventures with Shrek, Donkey and Fiona, Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) is forced to retire as the swashbuckling feline hero of legend, after being informed that he has lost eight of his nine lives and losing a fight with a mysterious wolf (Wagner Moura). During his humiliating exile to a cat’s home, he soon learns that the only hope of getting his eight lost lives, lies in finding the legendary Wishing Star. Now, with the help of his old flame, Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek Pinault), and a friendly therapy dog named Perrito (Harvey Guillén), Puss must face the triple threats of the Wolf, Goldilocks (Florence Pugh) and the Three Bears crime family (Ray Winstone, Olivia Colman and Samson Kayo) and the corrupt pastry chef, Big Jack Horner (John Mulaney), in order to find the star…
Despite the fact that Shrek is the most important franchise in DreamWorks Animation’s history, as the first film defined them as a major competitor to both Disney and Pixar in the rise of CGI animation and inspired new popularity for fairy tale parodies, there hasn’t been any notable films in the last decade for everyone’s favourite ogre, now the subject of internet memes.
However, the one exception to this, has been the spin-off franchise focusing on Shrek’s feline buddy, Puss in Boots. Ever since his debut in 2004’s Shrek 2, this lovable feline warrior got some of the funniest moments in the other sequels, his own spin-off film in 2011 and a Netflix series that lasted for six seasons from 2015 to 2018. Now, after years of development problems, with a planned Arabian Nights version of the script scrapped after the company’s purchase by Universal, Puss’s second solo film has finally arrived, and shockingly, is the franchise’s best film since that feline was first introduced in the Poison Apple in 2004.
Much has already been said about the phenomenal new animation style that DreamWorks has taken from Sony’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse with The Bad Guys and this film, giving Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, a groundbreaking European illustration style mixed with a comic-book feel. However, the best thing about this new film, is that the story, while still having the same humorous moments that people love in the Shrek films, is one of the most emotional and deeply moving ones, not just for the franchise, but for DreamWorks in general, especially with Puss, Perrito and even Goldilocks’s character arcs.
Antonio Banderas, while still being as funny as ever as Puss, is taken in an interesting direction over his paranoia over losing his final life, Salma Hayek Pinault’s returning character from the first Puss in Boots film, Kitty Softpaws, is a welcome addition, while new character, Perrito the therapy dog, is so cute and loving, that he may be one of the studio’s most lovable characters in years. While the huge amount of villains may be overwhelming, Wagner Moura’s Wolf character is without a doubt, one of the most memorable antagonists in years, while John Mulaney’s Big Jack Horner, is a type that is sorely missing from recent films, an unrepentant greedy monster with no soul at all.
Overall, if future DreamWorks Animation films can be as amazing as Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, two things are obvious, Director Joel Crawford will do a fantastic job with the upcoming Kung Fu Panda 4, and that the Shrek franchise may finally have a chance to open the book again!
Rating: 4.5/5
24. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Directed by: Wes Anderson
Written by: Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach
Starring: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe and Owen Wilson
Music by: Alexandre Desplat
Rated: PG
After promising to stop his thieving habits, Mr. Fox (George Clooney) has spent twelve fox-years living in a hole with his wife, Felicity (Meryl Streep) and his son, Ash (Jason Schwartzman). When the family moves into a tree overlooking the three largest farms in the valley, Fox makes plans with his opossum assistant, Kylie (Wallace Wolodarsky), for one last heist. However, Fox’s actions catch the attention of the farmer’s leader, Frank Bean (Michael Gambon), resulting in himself declaring war on all the animals in the valley….
A loose adaptation of one of Mr. Dahl’s most underrated books, Fantastic Mr Fox uses its complete use of stop-motion animation and the quirky directing style of Wes Anderson, to deliver one of the most unique animated films of the 2000s.
Although the humor can be hit or miss at times due to its deadpan delivery and the narrative does sometimes feel overstuffed with subplots, the voice-acting consisting of George Clooney’s wisecracking Mr. Fox, Michael Gambon’s menacing Bean and Willem Dafoe’s twisted Rat is mostly flawless. Tristan Oliver’s beautifully staged cinematography and Alexandre Desplat’s Western-inspired score is also what makes this film unique in its presentation and visual style that only Anderson can deliver.
Wes Anderson’s first animated film is an overall fantastic one, and can only look at his next animated film, Isle of Dogs,to see how his filmmaking style can be brought to new heights in the realm of animation.
Rating: 4.5/5
23. Shrek (2001) (Winner of 2001 Best Animated Feature Award)
Directed by: Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson
Written by: Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman and Roger S.H. Schulman
Starring: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow
Music by: Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell
Rated: U
Shrek (Mike Myers) is a green, smelly and sarcastic ogre who loves his solitary life in a swamp located in a country where fairytale, nursery rhyme and fantasy literacy characters co-exist. When Lord Farquaad of Duloc (John Lithgow), dumps several characters such as the Three Bears, Pinocchio (Cody Cameron) and the Big Bad Wolf (Aron Warner) on the ogre’s swamp, Shrek heads to the kingdom along with a talkative Donkey (Eddie Murphy), to demand his land back. Farquaad only agrees on one condition, Shrek and Donkey must rescue a feisty Princess named Fiona (Cameron Diaz) from a dragon-guarded tower…
Known nowadays as the film that changed the future of DreamWorks Animation forever and the first animated film to win the newly created Best Animated Feature category created by the Oscars in 2001 in response to the controversies of not nominating Aardman’s critically acclaimed Chicken Run for Best Picture, Shrek started off life as a children’s book by William Steig in 1990 before having Steven Spielberg try to create his own adaptation in 1991, before giving it to Jeffrey Katzenberg for his new studio, DreamWorks in 1996.
Although some of the jokes and use of CGI haven’t aged well, Shrek is still one of the funniest films of the entire 2000 decade, with Eddie Murphy and Mike Myers’s comedic banters being some of the most quotable dialogue of any comedy in existence. Even if some of the relentless use of Disney jokes and pop culture gags such as the design of Duloc resembling Disneyland and The Magic Mirror (Chris Miller) acting like a dating show host, may not be for everyone’s tastes, the film also has a surprisingly mature take on the importance of acceptance and has one of the best representations of this message in the heartwarming ending.
Overall, the endless fairytale parody rip-offs that followed this film such as Happily N’ver After , Hoodwinked and even Disney’s Enchanted may have turned people off from this film, but in spite of the endless memes and spoofs, Shrek is still one of the best animated films of the 2000s decade. This film helped establish DreamWorks Animation to make the likes of Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon which has made the studio one of Disney’s most significant rivals to date! A legacy that will never be ogre!
Rating: 4.5/5
22. The Boy and the Heron (2023) (Winner of 2023 Best Animated Feature Award)
Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki
Written by: Hayao Miyazaki
Starring: Soma Santoki/Luca Padovan, Masaki Suda/Robert Pattinson, Aimyon/Karen Fukuhara, Yoshino Kimura/Gemma Chan, Shōhei Hino/Mark Hamill, Takuya Kimura/Christian Bale and Ko Shibasaki/Florence Pugh
Music by: Joe Hisaishi
Rated: 12
In World War II era, Japan, a teenage boy named Mahito Maki (Soma Santoki and Luca Padovan) is struggling to deal with the death of his mother in a bombing, and adapting to a new family, as his father (Takuya Kimura and Christian Bale) has found new love with her sister, Natsuko (Yoshino Kimura and Gemma Chan). When Natsuko ends up disappearing into a fantasy world populated by strange water creatures, folk creatures and talking birds, Mahito is forced to team up with a grumpy heron-man (Masaki Suda and Robert Pattinson), a fire-girl named Lady Himi (Aimyon and Karen Fukuhara), and even a younger version of a neighbouring local old lady called Kiriko (Ko Shibasaki and Florence Pugh), in order to save her…
After initially planning to retire from Studio Ghibli after directing The Wind Rises in 2013, it seems that nothing is ever going to stop animation legend, Hayao Miyazaki, from doing yet another masterpiece. Shortly after developing a short film called Boro the Caterpillar, Miyazaki took inspiration from the 1937 novel, How Do You Live?, and created this wonderful, gripping and thoughtful experience. While going back to steer Studio Ghibli on a better path may also have been motivated by other factors such as Isao Takahata’s death in 2018, Hiromasa Yonebayashi of Arrietty and When Marnie Was There leaving to create his own studio and, to put it bluntly, Goro Miyazaki’s reputation coming down again with Earwig and the Witch, The Boy and the Heron still feels like a passion project, rather than a course correction film.
With the same beautiful animation that fans of Studio Ghibli have loved for decades, The Boy and The Heron truly stands out in the worldbuilding of the mystical realms, the emotional subtext of legacy and in the character’s journeys. Being the first male main protagonist of a Ghibli film since 2006’s Tales From Earthsea, Mahito is a massive improvement over that film’s muddled approach to how it handled grief. However, both Masaki Suda and Robert Pattinson completely steal the show as both the Japanese and English voices of the titular heron, with both of them giving deranged, yet entertaining voices as this lovable grumpy bird.
Overall, even if it does share some plot elements from Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and My Neighbor Totoro, The Boy and the Heron is a fantastic and emotional story about dealing with loss and the impact of legacy. Even though Hayao Miyazaki is still making films as of this writing, if he does pass away before he finishes his next project, he ended his legacy on a high note!
Rated: 5/5
21. Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)
Directed by: Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook
Written by: John Fusco
Starring: Matt Damon, James Cromwell, Daniel Studi, Chopper Bernet, Richard McGonagle, Charles Napier, Michael Horse and Donald Fullilove
Music by: Hans Zimmer
Rated: U
Spirit (Matt Damon) lives a happy life as the leader of a herd of wild Mustang horses in the old American West of the nineteenth century. When he ends up getting captured by the American Army and taken to a fort to be tamed into serving humans, Spirit befriends a young Lakota native named Little Creek (Daniel Studi), and his beautiful mare Rain, as he struggles to regain his freedom..
An emotionally gripping, yet heartwarming fable depicting life in the old American West in the eyes of a wild Mustang, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron is one of the best and most underrated films in Dreamworks’s catalog. This is thanks to its powerful message of refusing to allow others to break you, the beautiful background and character animation on the horses and its willingness to take risks rarely seen in mainstream animation today such as not having the animals talk aside from Matt Damon’s narration of Spirit’s thoughts, and in depicting the dark side of the taming of the west.
Overall, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron just edges out The Prince of Egypt as the best hand-drawn Dreamworks Animation film, for its better handling of humour and its more universal story.
Rated: 5/5
20. Inside Out (2015) (Winner of 2015 Best Animated Feature Award)
Directed by: Pete Docter
Written by: Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve and Josh Cooley
Starring: Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Richard Kind, Bill Hader, Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling, Kaitlyn Dias, Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan
Music by: Michael Giacchino
Rated: U
Inside the head of an eleven-year old girl named Riley (Kaitlyn Dias), an entire world operates based on her feelings and emotions. Five of the latter, Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Anger (Lewis Black) are in charge of Riley’s life and make sure it is happy, careful, fair and healthy. When Riley moves from Minnesota to San Francisco, an accident inside headquarters leads Joy and Sadness to get separated from the other emotions. With the help of Riley’s former imaginary friend Bing-Bong (Richard Kind), Joy and Sadness need to find a way back to HQ before Riley can make bad choices in her life…
For nearly fifteen years at the time of this film’s release , Pixar Animation Studios had managed to revolutionize the art of CGI animation with their compelling stories, complex themes, daring ideas and memorable characters, whether it be a grumpy old man who flies his house to South America, Toys coming to life, Rats cooking in Paris, or even an old robot living in a dystopian future. However, ever since Cars 2 got poor critical reception in 2011, the studio underwent a bit of bad luck ranging from getting attacked by feminazis due to Brenda Chapman getting removed from her passion project Brave, to having to shut down the entire Pixar Canada lot after The Good Dinosaur got delayed from May 2014 to November 2015. True both Brave and Monsters University got better reviews then the misguided Mater-romp. But it looked as if Pixar’s golden age was over with other animation studios such as Illumination and Reel FX rising from their ashes, until this film came out.
Coming from Pixar veteran director and future head of the studio, Pete Docter, in his third film after Monsters Inc. and Up, Inside Out, like several other Pixar films before it such as the monsters in the closet doors in Monsters Inc. and the living toys in the Toy Story trilogy takes another element that had been done in other works, in this case emotions working inside someone’s head which has been seen in The Beano’s Numbskulls and Herman’s Head. but the execution of this both this formula and the entire world that exists in Riley’s head is executed so well as it not only focuses on the emotions themselves, but also in other areas such as the origin of dreams, the subconscious, long-term and short term memories and even Abstract thought which makes this not only the best Pixar world, but one of the most inventive ever seen in years.
As for the emotions themselves, unlike their other counterparts in which they only display one emotion that they are matched up to, are fully fleshed characters with their personality traits and flaws. For example, Joy’s desire for Riley to be happy all the time causes her to struggle with situations in which happiness is not appropriate, Sadness’s pessimistic outlook on life, on the other hand, ends up being the most understanding of the emotions, especially in one scene in which imaginary friend Bing- Bong loses something valuable to him and while Joy tries to cheer him up with laughter, Sadness is empathetic with him.
Same goes to the three other emotions who are left to run Riley while Joy and Sadness go missing. Bill Hader does a good job as Riley’s safety emotion Fear and the character animation of him uses some of the best squash and stretch Seen since the Chuck Jones cartoons of Warner Bros. Mindy Kaling’s Disgust is a cool character serving her purpose of keeping Riley looking and feeling good, but the best emotion has got to be Lewis Black’s Anger who besides having a lifetime’s ambition to learn every swear word in existence, goes to EXTREME levels to make sure Riley is treated fairly, whenever anyone likes it or not. As for Bing Bong, even though he didn’t appear in most of the advertising, is funny and charming, yet has one of the most tragic story arcs of any Pixar character.
Overall, Inside Out is not only the best animated film of 2015, But one of the best films of that year alongside Mad Max Fury Road, Shaun the Sheep Movie, Ex Machina and Kingsman: The Secret Service, with one of the most emotional stories ever made by Pixar, beautiful animation of the Mind World and giving an important message to young people that we understand what their going through, and that it’s OK to be scared, angry, happy, disgusted or even sad, because that’s what makes us human.
Rating: 5/5
Chaz’s Cinematic Odyssey 