The 50 best animated movies of all time, according to critics

March 11, 2018

The 50 best animated movies of all time, according to critics

Disney animated movies have been a well-established force in the genre for many decades.

But while Disney films rank high (and often) among the most critically acclaimed animated films of all time, the company is sporadically outranked on this list by movies from the likes of Warner Bros. and Studio Ghibli (Hayao Miyazaki's company).

To find out which animated films have received the most critical acclaim, we turned to the reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes for its ranking of the top animation-based movies in history.

The site ranked the films by a weighted critic score that accounts for variation in the number of reviews each film received.

Here are the 50 best animated movies of all time, according to critics:

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50. "Bambi" (1942)

Critic score: 90%

Audience score: 72%

Summary: "The story of a young deer growing up in the forest."

49. "The Triplets of Belleville" (2003)

Critic score: 94%

Audience score: 90%

Summary: "When her grandson is kidnapped during the Tour de France, Madame Souza and her beloved pooch Bruno team up with the Belleville Sisters — an aged song-and-dance team from the days of Fred Astaire — to rescue him." http://feverbux.com/ten-best-animated-movies-of-all-time/

48. "Coraline" (2009)

Critic score: 90%

Audience score: 73%

Summary: "An adventurous 11-year-old girl finds another world that is a strangely idealized version of her frustrating home, but it has sinister secrets."

47. "Ghost in the Shell" (1996)

Critic score: 96%

Audience score: 89%

Summary: "A cyborg policewoman and her partner hunt a mysterious and powerful hacker called the Puppet Master."

46. "Frozen" (2013)

Critic score: 90%

Audience score: 85%

Summary: "When the newly-crowned Queen Elsa accidentally uses her power to turn things into ice to curse her home in infinite winter, her sister Anna teams up with a mountain man, his playful reindeer, and a snowman to change the weather condition."

45. "The Secret World of Arrietty" (2012)

Critic score: 94%

Audience score: 85%

Summary: "The Clock family are four-inch-tall people who live anonymously in another family's residence, borrowing simple items to make their home. Life changes for the Clocks when their daughter, Arrietty, is discovered."

44. "Ernest & Célestine" (2014)

Critic score: 97%

Audience score: 88%

Summary: "The story of an unlikely friendship between a bear, Ernest, and a young mouse named Celestine."

43. "Aladdin" (1992)

Critic score: 94%

Audience score: 92%

Summary: "When a street urchin vies for the love of a beautiful princess, he uses a genie's magic power to make himself off as a prince in order to marry her."

42. "Fantastic Mr. Fox" (2009)

Critic score: 93%

Audience score: 85%

Summary: "An urbane fox cannot resist returning to his farm raiding ways and then must help his community survive the farmers' retaliation."

41. "Anomalisa" (2015)

Critic score: 91%

Audience score: 70%

Summary: "A man crippled by the mundanity of his life experiences something out of the ordinary."

40. "The Red Turtle (La tortue rouge)" (2017)

Critic score: 94%

Audience score: 80%

Summary: "A man is shipwrecked on a deserted island and encounters a red turtle, which changes his life."

39. "The Lion King" (1994)

Critic score: 92%

Audience score: 93%

Summary: "A Lion cub crown prince is tricked by a treacherous uncle into thinking he caused his father's death and flees into exile in despair, only to learn in adulthood his identity and his responsibilities."

38. "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit" (2005)

Critic score: 95%

Audience score: 79%

Summary: "Wallace and his loyal dog, Gromit, set out to discover the mystery behind the garden sabotage that plagues their village and threatens the annual giant vegetable growing contest."

37. "Persepolis" (2007)

Critic score: 96%

Audience score: 92%

Summary: "A precocious and outspoken Iranian girl grows up during the Islamic Revolution."

36. "Your Name. (Kimi No Na Wa.)" (2017)

Critic score: 97%

Audience score: 94%

Summary: "Two strangers find themselves linked in a bizarre way. When a connection forms, will distance be the only thing to keep them apart?"

35. "Yellow Submarine" (1968)

Critic score: 96%

Audience score: 84%

Summary: "The Beatles agree to accompany Captain Fred in his Yellow Submarine and go to Pepperland to free it from the music hating Blue Meanies."

34. "Antz" (1998)

Critic score: 96%

Audience score: 52%

Summary: "A rather neurotic ant tries to break from his totalitarian society while trying to win the affection of the princess he loves."

33. "Waltz with Bashir" (2008)

Critic score: 96%

User score: 90%

Summary: "An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict."

32. "Song Of The Sea" (2014)

Critic score: 99%

User score: 92%

Summary: "Ben, a young Irish boy, and his little sister Saoirse, a girl who can turn into a seal, go on an adventure to free the fairies and save the spirit world."

31. "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" (1988)

Critic score: 97%

User score: 84%

Summary: "A toon-hating detective is a cartoon rabbit's only hope to prove his innocence when he is accused of murder."

30. "Spirited Away" (2002)

Critic score: 97%

User score: 96%

Summary: "During her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches, and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts."

29. "The Iron Giant" (1999)

Critic score: 96%

User score: 90%

Summary: "A young boy befriends a giant robot from outer space that a paranoid government agent wants to destroy."

28. "The Lego Batman Movie" (2017)

Critic score: 90%

User score: 80%

Summary: "A cooler-than-ever Bruce Wayne must deal with the usual suspects as they plan to rule Gotham City, while discovering that he has accidentally adopted a teenage orphan who wishes to become his sidekick."

27. "Monsters, Inc." (2001)

Critic score: 96%

User score: 90%

Summary: "In order to power the city, monsters have to scare children so that they scream. However, the children are toxic to the monsters, and after a child gets through, 2 monsters realize things may not be what they think."

26. "Tower" (2016)

Critic score: 100%

User score: 90%

Summary: "Animation, testimony, and archival footage combine to relate the events of August 1, 1966 when a gunman opened fire from the University of Texas clock tower, killing 16 people."

25. "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (1993)

Critic score: 95%

User score: 91%

Summary: "Jack Skellington, king of Halloween Town, discovers Christmas Town, but his attempts to bring Christmas to his home cause confusion."

24. "Fantasia" (1940)

Critic score: 96%

User score: 83%

Summary: "A collection of animated interpretations of great works of Western classical music."

23. "101 Dalmatians" (1961)

Critic score: 98%

User score: 75%

Summary: "When a litter of Dalmatian puppies are abducted by the minions of Cruella de Vil, the parents must find them before she uses them for a diabolical fashion statement."

22. "My Life as a Zucchini (Ma vie de courgette)" (2017)

Critic score: 98%

User score: 87%

Summary: "After losing his mother, a young boy is sent to a foster home with other orphans his age where he begins to learn the meaning of trust and true love."

21. "Beauty and the Beast" (1991)

Critic score: 94%

User score: 92%

Summary: "A young woman whose father has been imprisoned by a terrifying beast offers herself in his place, unaware that her captor is actually a prince, physically altered by a magic spell."

20. "Chicken Run" (2000)

Critic score: 97%

User score: 64%

Summary: "When a cockerel apparently flies into a chicken farm, the chickens see him as an opportunity to escape their evil owners."

19. "The Incredibles" (2004)

Critic score: 97%

User score: 75%

Summary: "A family of undercover superheroes, while trying to live the quiet suburban life, are forced into action to save the world."

18. "How to Train Your Dragon" (2010)

Critic score: 98%

User score: 91%

Summary: "A hapless young Viking who aspires to hunt dragons becomes the unlikely friend of a young dragon himself, and learns there may be more to the creatures than he assumed."

17. "Only Yesterday" (1991)

Critic score: 100%

User score: 86%

Summary: "A twenty-seven-year-old office worker travels to the countryside while reminiscing about her childhood in Tokyo."

16. "Ratatouille" (2007)

Critic score: 96%

User score: 87%

Summary: "A rat who can cook makes an unusual alliance with a young kitchen worker at a famous restaurant."

15. "Kubo and the Two Strings" (2016)

Critic score: 97%

User score: 86%

Summary: "A young boy named Kubo must locate a magical suit of armour worn by his late father in order to defeat a vengeful spirit from the past."

14. "Moana" (2016)

Critic score: 95%

User score: 89%

Summary: "In Ancient Polynesia, when a terrible curse incurred by the Demigod Maui reaches Moana's island, she answers the Ocean's call to seek out the Demigod to set things right."

13. "Shaun the Sheep Movie" (2015)

Critic score: 99%

User score: 80%

Summary: "When Shaun decides to take the day off and have some fun, he gets a little more action than he bargained for."

12. "The LEGO Movie" (2014)

Critic score: 96%

User score: 87%

Summary: "An ordinary LEGO construction worker, thought to be the prophesied as 'special,' is recruited to join a quest to stop an evil tyrant from gluing the LEGO universe into eternal stasis."

11. "WALL-E" (2008)

Critic score: 96%

User score: 89%

Summary: "In the distant future, a small waste-collecting robot inadvertently embarks on a space journey that will ultimately decide the fate of mankind."

10. "Toy Story" (1995)

Critic score: 100%

User score: 92%

Summary: "A cowboy doll is profoundly threatened and jealous when a new spaceman figure supplants him as top toy in a boy's room."

9. "Finding Dory" (2016)

Critic score: 94%

User score: 84%

Summary: "The friendly but forgetful blue tang fish, Dory, begins a search for her long-lost parents, and everyone learns a few things about the real meaning of family along the way."

8. "Pinocchio" (1940)

Critic score: 100%

User score: 72%

Summary: "A living puppet, with the help of a cricket as his conscience, must prove himself worthy to become a real boy."

7. "Finding Nemo" (2003)

Critic score: 99%

User score: 86%

Summary: "After his son is captured in the Great Barrier Reef and taken to Sydney, a timid clownfish sets out on a journey to bring him home."

6. "Up" (2009)

Critic score: 98%

User score: 90%

Summary: "Seventy-eight year old Carl Fredricksen travels to Paradise Falls in his home equipped with balloons, inadvertently taking a young stowaway."

5. "Toy Story 2" (1999)

Critic score: 100%

User score: 86%

Summary: "When Woody is stolen by a toy collector, Buzz and his friends vow to rescue him, but Woody finds the idea of immortality in a museum tempting."

4. "Toy Story 3" (2010)

Critic score: 99%

User score: 89%

Summary: "The toys are mistakenly delivered to a day-care center instead of the attic right before Andy leaves for college, and it's up to Woody to convince the other toys that they weren't abandoned and to return home."

3. "Zootopia" (2016)

Critic score: 98%

User score: 92%

Summary: "In a city of anthropomorphic animals, a rookie bunny cop and a cynical con artist fox must work together to uncover a conspiracy."

2. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937)

Critic score: 98%

User score: 78%

Summary: "Exiled into the dangerous forest by her wicked stepmother, a princess is rescued by seven dwarf miners who make her part of their household."

1. "Inside Out" (2015)

Critic score: 98%

User score: 89%

Summary: "After young Riley is uprooted from her Midwest life and moved to San Francisco, her emotions - Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness - conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house, and school."