It is still the case that animation has never just been a kids’ thing. All the way through its history, from hand-drawn fairy tales to state-of-the-art CGI, the medium has not only been the source of and a significant factor in pop culture but also the new way of storytelling and even one step beyond, by making us shed the unthinkable quantity of tears we want to admit. Therefore, in the spirit of fun and ranking (why not?), we would present to you the 10 most significant animated movies of all time, from the 10th to the 1st one. Get ready to relive your childhood and feel new tingling emotions as this list caters to every mood.
10. The Boy and the Heron (2023)
In a way, Hayao Miyazaki’s “ultimate” work, yet we all know he’s had far more than retirement, is a fanciful and profound self-reflection on death, birth, and inheritance. Not just visually stunning, The Boy and the Heron goes beyond with its emotional expressiveness, fringing memories with one’s dreams to create a wholly new experience of both eternity and intimacy. The event of the film’s worldwide release was a global pilgrimage for aficionados of hand-drawn works and, therefore, confirmation that Studio Ghibli got it all right. It looks like magic, but Miyazaki is still as deft and graceful at eighty-two.
9. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Its coming was just in time to save a tiring superhero genre, and that is exactly what Spider-Verse did. The film became the talking point very soon, owing to its plot, style, and character design – the first not only elevated Spider-Man’s reimagining but also digital storytelling in general.
8. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013)
Isao Takahata’s hand-illustrated The Tale of the Princess Kaguya isn’t really a film but a quietly shifting watercolor. Based on a 10th-century Japanese folktale, it chronicles life’s fleeting moments through the delicate lines made with a brush. While being sober and poignant, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya proves that animation can be as lyrical and profound as the most modern live-acted masterpieces. Few films get the pain of impermanence quite so right.
7. Chicken Run (2000)
Would you have thought clay chickens could start a revolution? That is exactly what happened here. Critically acclaimed Aardman Animations has never managed to make a better-grossing stop-motion movie than this one, and it is pretty easy to understand why. The satire of liberty, loyalty, and resistance hides under the film’s laugh-out-loud facade. Chicken Run not only combines slapstick and witty dialogues, which have unexpectedly deep political subtext, but also, by using a classic technique, it attracts a new generation of stop-motion fans, and thus it transitions into a new era of stop-motion.
6. Akira (1988)
Akira was not only a revolution in Japanese animation but also in world cinema. Katsuhiro Otomo’s cyberpunk futuristic tale was really the first ever anime to make a worldwide grand entrance with breathtaking visuals and very mature themes as its artist-definer. The Impact of the film can be traced to everything from The Matrix to the design of the space sci-fi that is in vogue today. Were it not for Akira, anime might still be a niche genre in the West. This is pure visionary chaos, and we’re still catching up.
5. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Disney’s era of greatness culminated in the making of Beauty and the Beast, the first ever CGI-animated film in history to be nominated in the Best Picture category, even up to the present day. Not only was the gorgeous traditional animation quite cleverly and seamlessly merged with the then-budding CGI (the ballroom dance scene is still breathtaking), but the film also challenged and redefined the idea of a Disney heroine. Belle was not stereotypically passive; instead, she was too engrossed in reading, exploration, and breaking norms. The art in the movie had charisma and made people believe in the success of animation as a rival of any live-drame type.
4. Shrek (2001)
Large and green and boisterous and full of heart, Shrek flipped the fairy tale template on its head and made it look effortless. Its combination of irreverent wit, innovative CGI, and true warmth catapulted DreamWorks into the major leagues. It also snagged the first Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Shrek’s triumph proved that animation didn’t have to bow to Disney’s rules—it could be humorous, meta, and still win our hearts. And own up to it, you can still recite half the film.
3. Toy Story (1995)
The movie that revolutionized everything, literally. Toy Story wasn’t only Pixar’s first film, it was the world’s first complete CGI-animated feature and set the gold standard for digital storytelling. Woody and Buzz didn’t only become real, they infused pixels with heart and soul, showing technology has no value unless infused with humanity. It kicked off Pixar’s reign and revolutionized the entire animation industry. Quite simply, without Toy Story, animation today wouldn’t be the same, either in look or in feel.
2. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
First and foremost. With Snow White he Walt Disney was daring to prove that an audience would be captivated by a full-length animated film. The result was that he won the bet, and not only that, he also gained all the audience’s affection. With this movie, Disney changed the cinema world by showing that the audience can derive the same degree of emotion from animated characters as from real ones. All the animated films that came after that are under its influence. Its revolutionary impact cannot be overstated; this was just not a film; it was the making of a new medium.
1. Spirited Away (2001)
The most remarkable among all the animated works. Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away is a creation of modern times that has all the elements of a myth, a fantastic journey through a world inhabited by spirits, gods, and self-discovery. The hand-drawn characters are exquisite, the story told is quite familiar, and even the mood is very well preserved over time. It was awarded the Oscar for Best Animated Feature; however, the most important thing was that it managed to unite the audience not only within the same generation but also across different cultures and time periods. More than just the best example of animation, Spirited Away is the purest form of cinema.
Those are with us, the ten films that not only emotionally moved the audience, but also unveiled the evolution of the medium itself. The films ranged from hand-drawn to highly technologically advanced, giving a stunning new definition of the possible when imagination and technical innovation merge. Animation is not a genre; it remains one of the most beautiful art forms that keeps on inspiring, mesmerising, and reminding us that magic need not be true to be felt.