Top 10 Animation Genre Movies of All Time

I recently examined the 10 Top 10 Lists of Movies by the American Film Institute. These are lists compiled by a prestigious cinema organization and each list is split by a different genre, from romantic comedy to courtroom drama to epic and animation. After looking at some of the lists, I got inspired to create my own versions of them.

My goals are for these Top 10 lists are: to properly define and identify the genre in question, quickly examine the picks from the American Film Institute, and then present my own list to show my own take on the genre in question.

As per usual, my own personal list will be presented in descending order from 10 to 1 (least to greatest) and is just made up of movies I have personally seen all the way through, so chances are there may be some movies you think are missing from my list that deserve a spot. Feel free to let me know if that's the case. Anyway, without further ado, let's kick of these Top 10s with an examination of Animation.

Defining the Genre

The AFI's website broadly defined the Animation genre as movies where "the film’s images are primarily created by computer or hand and the characters are voiced by actors". The Merriam Webster Dictionary definition kind of further specified that by stating that an animated movie is "a motion picture that is made from a series of drawings, computer graphics, or photographs of inanimate objects (such as puppets) and that simulates movement by slight progressive changes in each frame".

So, as could be assumed, defining the genre for animation into a specific, finite definition is a challenge. This is mainly because animation is a form of art within a form of art, with various techniques and styles from around the world on display. Technology has also played a huge role in expanding the capabilities within the world of animation, making it tougher to narrow down.

Basically, what we really know is that "animation" means real-life actors are not the focal point of a movie's presentation and that some sort of series of handcrafted images are put together instead. It's basically like the cartoon found in the corners of a flipbook.

AFI's Top 10 Animation List

1. Snow White
2. Pinocchio
3. Bambi
4. Lion King
5. Fantasia
6. Toy Story
7. Beauty & The Beast
8. Shrek
9. Cinderella
10. Finding Nemo

Not too much to say here, other than Disney obviously dominates the genre selections. Which is expected since Disney has been the primary and dominate company creating movies in this genre. It looks like the AFI wanted to give a shoutout to computer-generated animation, though I'm somewhat surprised that movies like the first Shrek and Finding Nemo won over some of their counterparts in their respective studios. The list is also somewhat limited by the fact that, well, their selection was only from movies made in the U.S., which leaves out international companies like Studio Ghibli which could also dominate the list.

My Outline of My Genre List

This is basically the guidelines for how I'm going to select movies for this list. These are the standards by which I will hold the chosen animated movies to. The hope is that the movies on my personal Top 10 list will reflect the traits below and help us better understand what it means for a movie to be in the animated genre.

-Only 1 choice per studio (not a list full of Disney, Pixar, or Ghibli options)
-Still images coming to life through motion
-Variety of colors and hues
-Effective use of shadows and darkness
-Specially effective use of light
-Vivid textures
-Showcase the history of animation styles and artistic technological advances
-Show an improvement over time of a particular company or group's technique, if applicable.
-Timeless artwork

Honorable Mentions

The Thief & The Cobbler
Isle of Dogs
Titan A.E.
Fantasia
Bambi
Beauty & The Beast
Prince of Egypt
Toy Story
The Peanuts Movie

These are all movies that are high quality movies from within well-respected animation companies or they stand out as unique pieces of cinema. Basically, if I didn't have my option of watching the following 10 movies, these would be the backups I would happily watch again and again.

My Top 10 Animations List

10. Lord of the Rings-Ralph Bakshi

Hear me out. It's an example of doing animation with a miniscule budget. Infamous for its use of rotoscoping over live actors, especially in the second half of the movie. Lots of deep, painted backgrounds. Very dark and shadowy in the right moments. The hand-drawn characters on top of the landscapes really transports us to a fantasy setting.

9. Shaun the Sheep-Aardman

Exemplary stop motion animation using play-doh-esque material, a.k.a claymation. Stylish and improved art style by Aardman studios (Chicken Run, Wallace & Gromit). Shiny and sleek appearance. Fluid movement yet malleable character designs for creative stop motion. It almost makes you think you really are seeing sheep walking about in a real life city.

8. Kubo and the Two Strings-Laika

A form of stop-motion, utilizing a combination of claymation and computer generated images.
Good use of Japanese-influenced artistry and scenery. Improved, definitive art style by Laika (Coraline, Paranorman). Proper atmosphere built between dark spooky moments and bright, lighthearted comedy. The designs and textures of our main characters really bring the animation to life.

7. Fantastic Mr. Fox-Wes Anderson

Stop motion using puppetry/ doll-like models. Very textured appearance, with specific details in the fur of the animals as well as phenomena like water and smoke. Hues of yellow, orange, and brown match the appearance of the titular character. Beautiful glow to the lighting in sunsets and apple juice basement scene. There's even an interesting scene with an alternative art style involving a cartoon wolf.

6. Shrek 2-Dreamworks

While Prince of Egypt stands out as the exemplary 2-D animation by Dreamworks, and later movies like How to Train Your Dragon or Kung Fu Panda are more fluid in motion/ colorful in design, Shrek 2 to me stands out as the model CGI animation work by Dreamworks. It sharpens the CGI from original Shrek. The humans look like real life humans, not obvious cartoons like Dragon. The fantasy and realism blend together well here, and all the characters have unique textured designs. The realism in the CGI artwork is so effective, at one point I really did believe a giant ginger-bread man wreck havoc on a Starbucks knockoff Godzilla-style.

5. Secret of NIMH-Don Bluth

I was very close to putting Titan A.E. on this list for its blend of CGI and hand-drawn animation. However, Secret of NIMH really shows the hard hard work that Don Bluth and company went through to achieve success from the get-go. It's very stellar hand-drawn artistry that equals the skills of early Disney masterpieces. What especially stands out is the glowing lights that pop up in characters' eyes and in the backgrounds. The movement is very fluid and while the characters are cartoonish interpretations of real animals, they still feel and look like real mice, rats, crows, cats, etc.

4. Secret of Kells-Cartoon Saloon

Hand-drawn animation with trippy uses of flats character designs and fleshed-out, developed backgrounds. Takes inspiration from the Illumination techniques used in Biblical artwork (ex...The Book of Kells) and translates it into bright, explosive layers of colors and lights. Finely detailed line work. The fantasy elements are given some special designs and treatment, but the animation still gives grandeur and respect to the religious elements.

3. Inside Out-Pixar

You can see lots of fine details in the various textures of the characters, from Joy's skin to Disgust's hair to Anger's fire. Creative physical representations of words, ideas, and phrases. The humans are drawn and presented in a realistic way, not cartoony. Tons of different shades of color and glowing lights, though the momentary uses of darkness and shadows are effective. There's even enough time for a playful experiment in abstract CGI animation. This movie shows the continuing development in Pixar's mastery of the CGI animation style.

2. Pinocchio-Disney

It is a signature Disney art style. It doesn't have similar problems to Snow White where the animation truly shows its age. It also has a higher quality to the animation than some of my favorites like Robin Hood. I think when people think of Disney, people think of this kind of fantastical 2-D hand drawn animation. It has some dark, shadowy moments, but also some color and pizzazz. Pinocchio almost looks and moves like a real boy, and it's only when he transforms into the real thing in the end that you realize he was really wooden all along.

1. Princess Mononoke-Studio Ghibli

Exemplary of the anime style of animation, and a particularly timeless example of Studio Ghibli's artistry. Presents both bright, colorful, well-lit images as well as shadowy, grotesque, violent images. Humans are either realistic or cartoonish as necessary, but the creatures are all impressive and vivid. Mixes fantasy with realism. Miyazaki's appreciation for nature and distaste for industrial interference with nature is on display in the animation. The battle scenes are all paced well and move in a way that is flowing yet understandable visually.

Movies That May Replace Choices on My List Upon Future Viewing

Akira
Triplets of Belleville
Wolf Children
The Adventures of Prince Achmed