Although a lot of mainstream animation can start to feel samey after a while, there are some movies which dare to be different. Animation offers filmmakers unlimited possibilities to explore. Given the potential of the medium, it’s a shame to see so many big-budget animated movies which stick to the same playbook. However, some outstanding movies have broken the mold and influenced the entire industry.
The history of animation is marked by a few trendsetters which have helped advance the medium. For example, Toy Story ushered in the age of computer animation. Often, the most interesting animated movies aren’t the ones which come from big, established studios. Independent animation has been a reliable source of creativity over the years, with many groundbreaking experimental movies which question the orthodoxy of animation.
Related 10 Great Animated Movies That Prove 2D Isn’t Dead
3D has taken over the animation industry, but movies including Suzume, Blue Giant, and The Boy and the Heron prove that 2D is still alive and well.
15 Toy Story (1995)
Pixar’s First Feature Was A Leap Forward For Computer Animation
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10/10 9.7/10 Toy Story
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*Availability in US Director John Lasseter Release Date November 22, 1995 Cast Tom Hanks , Don Rickles , Annie Potts , Tim Allen , Jim Varney
Toy Story was the first fully computer animated movie. Today, the landscape of big-budget western animation has become largely homogenized, with Pixar, Disney, Illumination, DreamWorks and more studios all producing 3D computer animated movies, so it’s hard to quantify just how different Toy Story looked at the time. Pixar’s progression can be measured by comparing the different Toy Story movies, as the studio has repeatedly revolutionized the technology behind their movies. Toy Story 5 promises another bold leap forward.
14 Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs (1938)
Disney’s First Animation Was A Game-Changer
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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Director David Hand , Perce Pearce , William Cottrell , Larry Morey , Wilfred Jackson , Ben Sharpsteen Release Date December 21, 1937 Cast Adriana Caselotti , Roy Atwell , Pinto Colvig
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs holds an important place in the history of animation as the first feature-length animated movie to be produced in the United States and the first cel animated movie. Before Snow White, animation was still in its infancy, with very few films being made that were more than a few minutes long. Snow White set a new industry standard that lasted for decades, which is why it has held up so well despite being over 80 years old. Snow White is now getting a live-action remake, bringing it up to date with Disney’s latest trend.
13 Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit Is An Impressive Blend Of Animation And Live-Action
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10/10 6/10 Who Framed Roger Rabbit
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*Availability in US Director Robert Zemeckis Release Date June 22, 1988 Cast Amy Irving , Christopher Lloyd , Charles Fleischer , Bob Hoskins , Kathleen Turner
There had been a few experiments before Who Framed Roger Rabbit? which combined elements of live-action and animation, but none had ever been so smooth. There are a few moments in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? when the live-action characters interact with the cartoons in ways that don’t seem possible. These moments seem like magic tricks that the animators are performing in front of the audience. Every subsequent movie or TV show which has combined animation and live-action has inevitably had to endure comparisons to Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Not many have stood up to these comparisons.
12 The Triplets Of Belleville (2003)
The Triplets Of Belleville Uses Very Little Dialogue
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The Triplets of Belleville
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*Availability in US Director Sylvain Chomet Release Date June 11, 2003 Cast Béatrice Bonifassi , Lina Boudreau , Michèle Caucheteux , Jean-Claude Donda , Mari-Lou Gauthier , Charles Linton
The Triplets of Belleville breaks several rules of animation that are so universal that they are only evident when they are not being followed. For example, The Triplets of Belleville plays with extreme perspectives, giving characters elongated features as they crane toward the camera. Each movement is drawn with intent and emotion behind it, so that there are no wasted spaces. While The Triplets of Belleville obviously times a lot of the movements to the swinging soundtrack, the specific genre of the music also affects how characters behave, as if they are physical manifestations of the sound.
11 Waking Life (2001)
Richard Linklater’s Animations Have Led The Way In Rotoscope Animation
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Waking Life
Director Richard Linklater Release Date March 7, 2002 Cast Ethan Hawke , Wiley Wiggins , Lorelei Linklater
Richard Linklater is one of a handful of directors who excel in both live-action and animation. Each of his animated movies are made with rotoscope animation. Many other animated movies have used rotoscoping, including classic Disney movies as far back as Snow White. The key difference with Linklater’s approach is that his characters look just like the actors who portray them. He has a very thin line between animation and live-action, which draws attention to the flatness of the animation. This gives his animated movies the look of a comic book.
10 Mad God (2022)
Mad God Makes The Horrific And Macabre Seem Surprisingly Lifelike
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Mad God
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*Availability in US Director Phil Tippett Release Date June 16, 2022 Cast Alex Cox , Niketa Roman , Satish Ratakonda , Harper Taylor , Arne Hain , Jake Freytag
Phil Tippett developed a reputation as a visual effects specialist, winning awards for his work on blockbusters such as Jurassic Park and the original Star Wars trilogy. Mad God is his passion project, a stop-motion animated horror movie which spent 30 years in development. While stop-motion animation is nothing new, Tippett’s great contribution to the form is his gruesome creature designs and his remarkable lighting techniques. Animation isn’t the best medium for horror, since it’s hard to evoke a visceral reaction with something so obviously fabricated. Mad God is an exception to this rule.
9 Yellow Submarine (1968)
The Beatles Embark On A Psychedelic Tour
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Yellow Submarine
Director George Dunning , Robert Balser , Jack Stokes , Dennis Abey , Al Brodax Release Date November 13, 1968 Cast Paul McCartney , George Harrison , Ringo Starr , John Lennon , Paul Angelis , John Clive , Dick Emery , Geoffrey Hughes , Lance Percival
Yellow Submarine is the perfect visual accompaniment to the music of the Beatles, but its status as a landmark of creative animation makes it well worth watching even for those who don’t consider themselves fans of the band. Yellow Submarine uses photographs in the background, in a style that will be familiar to fans of Monty Python who have seen Terry Gilliam’s animations. At a time when animation was becoming set in its ways, Yellow Submarine showcased a surreal flair, with a procession of bright, psychedelic images which complement both the story and the music.
8 Paprika (2006)
Paprika Uses Dreams As A Boundless Playground
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Paprika
Director Satoshi Kon Release Date June 22, 2007 Cast Megumi Hayashibara , Tōru Emori , Katsunosuke Hori , Tôru Furuya , Koichi Yamadera , Akio Otsuka , Hideyuki Tanaka , Satomi Kôrogi
Paprika journeys into the world of dreams, and it has the creativity to explore this world without restraint. Many critics have cited Paprika as an inspiration for Christopher Nolan’s Inception, since there are so many similarities between the two movies. One key difference is that Paprika‘s visuals are perfectly aligned with its themes. The distortion and danger of the dreamscape are reflected in the movements of the characters, and this could only be achieved by animation. Paprika, much like its dream world, is densely layered and filled with magical surprises.
7 Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (2018)
The Spider-Verse Movies Are Leading A New Wave Of Animation
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9/10 9.4/10 Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse
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*Availability in US Director Bob Persichetti , Peter Ramsey Release Date December 14, 2018 Cast Jake Johnson , Kimiko Glenn , Hailee Steinfeld , Liev Schreiber , Luna Lauren Velez , Nicolas Cage , Lily Tomlin , Mahershala Ali , John Mulaney , Shameik Moore , Brian Tyree Henry
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse came at a time when most big studios were stuck animating in similar styles, and its unique visuals have shaken up the industry. The Spider-Man movie takes inspiration from comic books, Saturday morning cartoons and street art to create an unorthodox swirl of color and snappy movements. Since Into the Spider-Verse is a multiverse movie, it also features several completely different art styles, to represent the different characters and their origins. Across the Spider-Verse continues this tradition, and the third movie in the trilogy, Beyond the Spider-Verse, will likely add to this rich tapestry.
6 The Adventures Of Tintin (2011)
Spielberg Creates A Winning Blend Of Motion-Capture Realism And Cartoonish Fun
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6/10 The Adventures of Tintin
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*Availability in US Director Steven Spielberg Release Date October 25, 2011 Cast Jamie Bell , Andy Serkis , Daniel Craig , Nick Frost , Simon Pegg
Motion capture animation has been used to insert non-human characters into live-action movies for years, such as Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, for example. Movies fully animated using motion capture technology are somewhat rarer. Robert Zemeckis has often been blazing a trail with this technology, although many of his movies sit deep in the uncanny valley. Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin succeeds where Beowulf and A Christmas Carol failed, mostly because it shows an understanding of the limitations of the technology. The Adventures of Tintin uses motion capture to feel more kinetic and weighty, but the characters are only as lifelike as they are in Hergé’s graphic novels.
5 The Red Turtle (2016)
The Red Turtle Is An International Collaboration That Produces A Unique Style
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The Red Turtle
Director Michael Dudok de Wit Release Date June 29, 2016 Cast Emmanuel Garijo , Tom Hudson , Baptiste Goy , Axel Devillers , Barbara Beretta , Maud Brethenoux , Mickaël Dumoussaud , Elie Tertois
The Red Turtle is one of Studio Ghibli’s most underrated movies, although it is sometimes excluded from conversations about the studio’s output since it was a co-production with several western studios. The different influences on The Red Turtle give it a unique look quite unlike most Ghibli movies. It uses plenty of wide shots and high angles to show the endless expanse of the ocean, and its color palette is evocative of tender watercolors. The Red Turtle uses no dialogue to tell its story, which places extra emphasis on the interesting visuals.
4 Loving Vincent (2017)
Loving Vincent’s Hand-Painted Approach Is The Perfect Tribute
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Loving Vincent
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*Availability in US Director Dorota Kobiela , Hugh Welchman Release Date September 22, 2017 Cast Robert Gulaczyk , Douglas Booth , Jerome Flynn , Saoirse Ronan , Helen McCrory , Chris O’Dowd , John Sessions , Eleanor Tomlinson , Aidan Turner
Loving Vincent received a lot of attention when it was first released due to its unprecedented animation style. In tribute to the great Dutch painter, each frame of Loving Vincent is hand-painted to mimic Van Gogh’s techniques. The result is a film about the death of Van Gogh that bristles with the inspirational genius of his life. Loving Vincent was a monumental undertaking, featuring hundreds of artists from all over the world. It certainly won’t become the new standard for animated movies, but its success proves that there is plenty of room for innovation within animation.
3 Fantastic Planet (1973)
Fantastic Planet Presents A Far-Off World
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Fantastic Planet
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*Availability in US Director René Laloux Release Date May 11, 1973 Cast Cynthia Adler , Mark Gruner , Hal Smith , Barry Bostwick , olan soule , Janet Waldo
While some animation is designed to enhance the human characteristics of non-human characters, Fantastic Planet does the opposite. On a moon orbiting the planet Ygam, humans are kept as pets by enormous aliens or else fighting for survival in the wilderness. The Draags, as the aliens are called, resemble humans in some ways, but they have a unique way of moving and communicating. Fantastic Planet‘s boundlessly inventive animation creates scenes of defiantly unrelatable landscapes. There is little to cling on to in this psychedelic fable, and the mystery of it all has contributed to the film’s appeal over the decades.
2 Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Roald Dahl And Wes Anderson Make The Perfect Pair
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7/10 9/10 Fantastic Mr. Fox
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*Availability in US Director Wes Anderson Release Date November 13, 2009 Cast George Clooney , Meryl Streep , Jason Schwartzman , Bill Murray , Willem Dafoe , Owen Wilson
Wes Anderson has always sought to exert supreme control over the mis-en-scene of his movies, even before he dipped his toe into animation. Some of his movies flaunt the precision and color coordination of animation. After first experimenting with a few creatures in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, Anderson created his first fully animated movie with Fantastic Mr. Fox. The resulting product is one of Wes Anderson’s best movies, with every inch of every frame hand-crafted to his liking. Fantastic Mr. Fox also broke new ground in animation by recording its dialogue on location, with actors in similar environments to their characters.
1 Ruben Brandt, Collector (2019)
A Film About Art, Overflowing With References To Famous Artists
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Ruben Brandt, Collector
Director Milorad Krstic Release Date February 15, 2019 Cast Iván Kamarás , Csaba Márton , Gabriella Hámori , Matt Devere , Henry Grant , Christian Nielson Buckholdt , Kati Dombi , Paul Bellantoni
Ruben Brandt, Collector is about a tortured art therapist who assembles a crew to steal the famous artworks which haunt his dreams. To fit with its themes, the movie is an inventive mish-mash of different art styles. The most obvious influence is that of Pablo Picasso, as the misshapen faces of the characters reflect his cubist portraits. There are also nods to Warhol, Hopper, Vermeer, and countless other iconic artists. Ruben Brandt, Collector is a treasure trove of artistic references, but they somehow come together into a harmonious whole, with a thrilling story to match.