The Best Animated Movies of the 21st Century (So Far): A Very Subjective List!

This article originally appeared in the June/July ’23 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 331)

Some of our favorite animation superstars and critics pick their favorite features of the past 23 years.

Selecting the best movies of a year, a decade or a century is not for the faint of heart. However, since everyone and their dogs were coming up with top ten lists this year, we thought our readers deserved a similar one devoted to animated movies. The past 23 years have been quite a rich and diverse period for animated features. A passing glance at the lists  proves that the animation art form is alive and thriving. We love it when our favorite directors take bold chances and tell original, rewarding stories and push the art form, whether they work in 2D, CG or stop-motion.

How did we compile this very unscientific and totally subjective list? We asked some of our favorite directors, producers and critics to give us their best animated titles of the 21^st century. Then, we threw all of them in a blender and came up with an overall list. We also included everyone’s personal lists, so you can see who picked which movies (and who cheated by giving us more than ten or picking movies that didn’t belong to our specified time period (January 2000-May 2023)! (None of this summer’s big features are included, because nobody had seen them by our print deadline, which was mid-May.) Anyway, like all lists, you should definitely take ours with a grain of salt. Everyone has their own personal tastes and guidelines. But we thought this compilation will help you put together a decent must-see list in case you have missed any of these great movies. So, please don’t be upset if your favorites didn’t make it this time. It is highly likely that we’ll put together a “Best Animated Movies of All Time, EVER!” list in an upcoming issue!

THE MAIN LIST

1. Spirited Away (Directed by Hayao Miyazaki) 2001
2. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman) 2018
3. The Incredibles (Brad Bird) 2004
4. How to Train Your Dragon (Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders) 2010
5. Coraline (Henry Selick) 2009
6. I Lost My Body (Jérémy Clapin) 2019
7. Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson) 2009
8. Your Name. (Makoto Shinkai) 2016
9. Chicken Run (Peter Lord, Nick Park) 2000
10. The Secret of Kells( Tomm Moore) 2009

INDIVIDUAL LISTS

Bonnie Arnold, Producer, How to Train Your Dragon trilogy

• How To Train Your Dragon Trilogy
• Over the Hedge
• Isle of Dogs
• Coraline
• My Life As A Zucchini
• The Incredibles
• Ralph Breaks the Internet
• Kung Fu Panda
• Despicable Me
• Finding Nemo

Jerry Beck, Animation Historian, Author, Teacher

1. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
2. The Fantastic Mr. Fox
3. The Incredibles
4. A Shaun The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
5. Toy Story 3
6. Kung Fu Panda
7. The LEGO Movie
8. Coraline
9. How To Train Your Dragon
10. Frozen

Eric Beckman, Co-Founder, President of GKIDS

1. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
2. Spirited Away
3. Wall-E/The Incredibles/Finding Nemo
4. Paprika
5. Song of the Sea
6. Your Name.
7. Summer Wars/Wolf Children
8. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
9.  Mind Game
10. The Boy and the World
11. Ernest & Celestine

Peter DeBruge, Film Critic, Variety

1. WALL.E
2. Spirited Away
3. Inside Out
4.  The Illusionist
5.  Your Name.
6. I Lost My Body
7. How to Train Your Dragon
8. Waking Life
9.  Zootopia
10. Fantastic Mr. Fox

Sam Fell, Director, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, Paranorman

1. Chicken Run
2. The Incredibles
3. The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
4. Monsters Inc
5. Paprika
6. Coraline
7. Spirited Away
8. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
9. I Lost My Body
10. Kung Fu Panda

Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Producer, Wendell & Wild

• Coraline
• Wendell & Wild
• Triplets of Belleville
• Fantastic Mr. Fox
• Iron Giant
• The Incredibles
• Madagascar
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
• Spirited Away
• Finding Nemo

Jorge R. Gutierrez, Director, The Book of Life, Maya and the Three

My 21st Century favorite films, going by how many times I have re-watched them, and in no particular order:

• Spirited Away
• The Mitchells vs. the Machines
• Mind Game
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
• Coraline
• The LEGO Movie
• Kung Fu Panda
• Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
• Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
• The Book of Life (because one must love oneself before they can love others)

Ray Laguna, Journalist, Animacion por Adultos

1. Spirited Away
2. The Triplets of Belleville
3. Paprika
4. Persepolis
5. WALL·E
6. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
7. The Boy and the World
8. The Red Turtle
9. Wolfwalkers
10. No Dogs or Italians Allowed

Sheri Linden, Film Critic, The Hollywood Reporter

1. Spirited Away
2. Fantastic Mr. Fox
3. The Secret of Kells
4. Anomalisa
5. It’s Such a Beautiful Day
6. The Red Turtle
7. The Breadwinner
8. My Life as a Zucchini
9. Toy Story 4
10. Waltz With Bashir

Chris Nee, Creator, Doc McStuffins, Vampirina, Ridley Jones

• Zootopia
• The Triplets of Belleville
• Up
• Spirited Away
• Surf’s Up
• Toy Story 3
• How to Train Your Dragon
• I Lost My Body
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
• The Book of Life

Simon Otto, Director, That Christmas

• Chicken Run
• How to Train Your Dragon
• Ratatouille
• Spirited Away
• Zootopia
• The Incredibles
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
• I Lost My Body
• Shrek 2 

Peter Ramsey, Director, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Rise of the Guardians

• The Incredibles
• Ratatouille
• The Red Turtle
• Fantastic Mr. Fox
• How to Train Your Dragon
• Toy Story 3
• Spirited Away
• Your Name.
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
• Wolfwalkers

Henry Selick, Director, Coraline, Wendell & Wild, The Nightmare Before Christmas

• Spirited Away
• Ratatouille
• The Incredibles
• The Secret of Kells
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
• The Illusionist
• The Book of Life
• Isle of Dogs
• Coraline
• Wendell & Wild

Tom Sito, Director, Storyboard Artist, Author, Teacher

1. Lilo and Stitch
2. Finding Nemo
3. The Incredibles
4. Persepolis
5. The Secret of Kells
6. Ernest & Celestine
7. How to Train your Dragon
8. Frozen
9. Kubo and the Two String
10. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Charles Solomon, Film Critic, Author, Journalist

1. Coco. When audiences and artists are calling for greater inclusion, Coco offers not only a heart-warming story, but a model of how to research and respectfully present the traditions of another culture.
2. Corpse Bride. Mackinnon & Saunders breakthroughs in puppet construction, Carlos Grangel’s inspired designs and Tim Burton’s singular sensibility meld in a colorful tale of the afterlife.
3. Millennium Actress. A brilliant account of a determined woman who overcomes all obstacles to live the life she chooses. Satoshi Kon’s premature death was a terrible loss to the art of animation.
4. Ratatouille. Great storytelling, excellent direction and amazing animation: Who could ask for more?
5. The Secret of Kells. Medieval illuminations and mid-century graphics blend in a strikingly original story that marked the feature debut of Tomm Moore and Cartoon Saloon.
6. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Crackling with energy, Spider-Verse proved animation can still outdo live action when telling stories about comic book superheroes.
7. Spirited Away. Miyazaki’s masterpiece to date: The only anime feature to win both the Oscar for Animated Feature and the Golden Bear at the Berlin Festival.
8. Summer Wars. Neither Ready Player One or Ralph Wrecks the Internet can compare with Mamoru Hosoda’s visually imaginative storytelling about the interlocking bonds between the real world and the Web.
9. Toy Story 3. In the touching conclusion to a ground-breaking animated trilogy, Woody, Buzz and the gang learn, like parents, to accept that a child no longer needs them.
10. Up. The “Married Life” montage, which could reduce a stone to tears, is a masterpiece of animated storytelling — and cinematic storytelling.
11. Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Innovative stop-motion animation and witty writing create the galloping absurdity only Nick Park can envision.
12. Your Name. One of most thought-provoking anime features in many years: A teen romcom that subtly morphs into a meditation on the continuing trauma of the Great East Japan Disaster (a.k.a. Fukushima).

Honorable mentions: How to Train Your Dragon 2, Howl’s Moving Castle, The Incredibles, Mirai, Soul, The Tale of Princess Kaguya, Wolfwalkers

ND Stevenson, Creator, Nimona

• Nimona
• The Prince of Egypt (cheating since it came out in 1998, but I can’t not include it)
• Lilo and Stitch
• The Emperor’s New Groove
• Tokyo Godfathers
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
• Spirited Away
• Treasure Planet
• Moana
• Paranorman
• Pirates! Band of Misfits

Arianne Sutner, President of Production, Producer, LAIKA

• LAIKA movies (Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, Kubo and the Two Strings, Missing Link)
• Spirited Away
• Ponyo
• The Incredibles
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
• Song of the Sea
• How to Train Your Dragon
• Chicken Run
• The LEGO Movie
• I Lost My Body  

Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Director, Kung Fu Panda 2 & 3; Love, Death + Robots

• Spirited Away
• Incredibles
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
• Shrek
• Isle of Dogs
• Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
• I Lost My Body
• Coraline
• Your Name.
• How To Train Your Dragon