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Rotten Tomatoes brings out their list of Top 50 animated films. Which flicks made the Top 10? Which didn't, but should have?
People love Best-of lists. Or they just love lists. Or perhaps people just love making lists (High Fidelity, anyone?).
Either way, Rotten Tomatoes has released their list of what they call "the Greatest Animated Films." Certainly, like any other Top 10 List, there's plenty to quarrel over, but to give RT credit, there aren't as many WTF moments on display as other lists out there. That is, unless you really hate Disney's animated flicks.
The Top 10
- Toy Story 2 (Disney/Pixar, 1999)
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney, 1937)
- Pinocchio (Disney, 1940)
- Toy Story (Disney/Pixar, 1995)
- WALL-E (Disney/Pixar, 2008)
- Finding Nemo (Disney/Pixar, 2003)
- Fantasia (Disney, 1940)
- Chicken Run (Aardman/DreamWorks Animation, 2000)
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (Disney, 1988)
- The Nightmare Before Christmas (Disney, 1993)
How Did They Do It?
According to RT, "Each critic from our discrete list gets one vote, all weighted equally." Sorry, Roger Ebert, no special consideration. Any movie needs 20 or more rated reviews to be considered. Reviews posted after September 11, 2008 weren't counted and a weighted formula was used to account for the variation in numbers of reviews between films.
Ye Olde Analysis
Should anyone be surprised at how much Disney there is on this list? Certainly the Mouse House has made far more than its fair share of animated masterpieces over the decades, but 9 out 10 films on this list come from the studio. Nearly all the recent stuff is from Pixar, which shows just how much love that studio gets from animation fans.
The only non-Pixar film from Disney on this list – that was released in the past 20 years – is Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. Disney initially put that flick on its Touchstone imprint because it was scared of how parents would react to the story of an animated skeleton who gives Christmas a Halloween-style makeover.
In retrospect, parents mostly bought the film on VHS/DVD, and Disney conveniently forgot that they ever had any misgivings about it.
The only exception to the Disney sweep? Aardman/DreamWorks Animation's Chicken Run, certainly the most successful collaboration between the 2 studios but not necessarily the finest. That would likely go to Wallace and Gromit in Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film in 2006.
The big shocker is the lack of anime on the list, especially films like Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away, which takes the #2 spot on IMDb's list of Best Animated Titles (WALL-E has #1) but only gets #13 on RT's list. This could be explained by the fact that RT is mostly a North American-based site, which means anime doesn't get as much love here as on fan-based IMDb.
The only Pixar films that don't appear on both Top 10 lists are Ratatouille and The Incredibles. The Incredibles gets #11 on RT (#7 on IMDb) while Ratatouille gets #16 (#5 on IMDb).
Fun Fact: What would be *your* Top 10 list of best animated films?
The copyright of the article Rotten Tomatoes Top Animated Films in Animated Films is owned by Dominic von Riedemann. Permission to republish Rotten Tomatoes Top Animated Films in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
Comments
Feb 14, 2009 3:41 AM
Guest :
I am suprised Beavis and Butthead Do America wasn't on that list. If
Beavis and Butthead do America didn't come around we probably wouldn't have
had South Park the movie (A.K.A South Park: Bigger, Longer and
Uncut),Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were Rabbit, The Simpsons
Movie and the Spongebob Squarepants Movie.
Also Alice in
Wonderland didn't make the cut either. The older I get, the more Alice was
actually attractive. I doubt Walt Disney had any idea that Alice might have
become a suprise sex symbol.
Feb 14, 2009 3:50 AM
Guest :
Here would be my top 10:
1. Beavis and Butthead do America
2. The Simpsons Movie
3. Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were
Rabbit
4. South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut
5. Chicken Run
6. Toy Story
7. A Bug's Life
8. Monsters Inc
9. Toy Story
2
10. Alice in Wonderland
I am glad that Rotten Tomatoes
featured british animated movies in their list.
Feb 15, 2009 6:43 AM
Guest :
I am so glad the top 10 didn't consist of anime (or as I like to call them
"Jap Cr@p"). I hope Mike Judge creates a King of the Hill movie.
King of the Hill is just as funny as Beavis and Butthead, South Park,
Futurama, Family Guy, Spongebob Squarepants and The Simpsons.
Apr 4, 2009 7:47 PM
Guest :
You are an idiot. Anime is not crap. Many of Miyazaki's films such as
'Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind' deal with much more important ideas
and themes than any American rubbish.
May 26, 2009 5:56 AM
Guest :
The problem with Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away etc. is that they came
out too late; hand drawn animation went out of fashon since Tim Burton
released The Nightmare Before Christmas, which was the first stop motion
animated feature that followed up by the likes of Corpse Bride, Chicken
Run, Coraline and Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
Also Toy Story was as revolutionary as The Nightmare Before Christmas, as
Toy Story is notorious for being the first CGI animated movie that was
followed up by Toy Story 2, Shrek, Shrek 2, Shrek 3, Madagascar, Madagascar
2, Kung fu Panda, Antz, A Bug's Life, Horton Hears A Who, Monsters Inc,
Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, WALL-E, Ratatouille, Cars, Happy Feet, Surfs
Up, Bolt, Meet the Robinsons, Monster House, Monsters vs. Aliens and Up.
Both Toy Story and The Nightmare Before Christmas were so uniquely
groundbreaking in styles, they left whatever hand drawn animation, there
was in the dust. Which explains why The Iron Giant flopped in cinemas.
May 26, 2009 2:42 PM
Guest :
First of all: I'm a brit not a yank.
Second of all: Why are
anime movies very complicated storywise?
Third of all: The great
thing about British animation is it's so witty and anarchic, only the
british would understand it. Anime will never get the anarchy that british
animation has because anime contains a lot of spiritual bollocks
Jul 26, 2009 3:22 AM
Guest :
If British animation is so awesome how come it doesn't come nearly as close
to Japanese anime in rankings on imdb and other places?
Im not saying
British animation is bad. I like Wallace and Gromit, but you should stop
being ignorant and open your eyes more.
Sep 10, 2009 8:08 AM
Guest :
Silly arguments. I am British and I appreciate the British 'down to earth'
sarcasm, wit and humour that is often used as a tool to tell an
entertaining story, often with some subliminal morals thread into the
storyline, providing some extra depth, as is often featured in British born
animation. However I also enjoy the artistic non linear approach preferred
by Japanese story tellers, stories often heaped in Japanese mythology and
superstition and thousands of years of history. I love that American
animations are usually just colourful and fun...It is inevitable that
different cultures will have different ways of telling a story. America
probably has the biggest challenge because it does not have much in the way
of history or superstition, which is why the US tends to keep it's animated
movies modern and full of fun!
8 Comments
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