Entertainment
The 10 Best Animated Films of the 2020s So Far, Ranked
There’s an inherent brilliance to the medium of animation that has made it a staple of the film industry for generations, as the advancements and capabilities of animation continue to evolve and grow, bringing wildly creative stories to life in vibrant colors and overwhelming creativity. The 2020s have largely been no different in terms of prominent animation excellence, with feature-length animation arguably being some of the best that it’s ever been and getting even better as time goes on.
Even without the decade being fully complete, there is an exceptional quality to the animated films released so far in the 2020s, from breathtaking original concepts to the latest entries in beloved animated franchises. Especially with major animated releases like Wildwood and Shrek 5 on the horizon, it’s easy to envision the 2020s as one of the absolute best decades for animation. These films simply solidify its inherent greatness as the best that the past 6 years have had to offer in animation filmmaking.
10
‘Wolfwalkers’ (2020)
2D animation has largely fallen out of favor in the 21st century thanks to the rise of 3D animation as the standard for massive productions. However, dedicated 2D animation studios like Irish studio Cartoon Saloon have continued to evolve and showcase the brilliance 2D animation can have in the modern day. Easily, their greatest and most highly acclaimed film is Wolfwalkers, a powerful story of identity, Irish folklore, and the ruthless cycle of fear and prejudice.
Even today, the film stands as one of the most beautifully constructed 2D animated films ever made, with it feeling as if it were ripped directly off the pages of a children’s book. It’s a work of art that deserves much more praise and recognition than it received, as while it was certainly celebrated at its release, the COVID-19 pandemic has severely limited its reach, made worse by being stuck on one of the most unused streaming services, AppleTV+.
9
‘Memoir of a Snail’ (2024)
From Adam Elliot, the acclaimed director of Mary and Max, Memoir of a Snail is a stop-motion animated film filled with personality and darkly comedic charm. It’s a film that completely breaks from the mold and perceptions of animation as a genre, being incredibly crass and raunchy with its R-rated humor while sticking to the beauty and overwhelming personality that stop-motion animation provides. The film has a sense of individuality that makes it an absolute one-of-a-kind animated feature and a genuinely sweet yet dark experience.
Its style has more in common with a traditional dark comedy, focusing on shocking and often unsettling subject matter but having a tongue-in-cheek tone that makes it all come across as hilarious. The stop-motion animation does wonders to ease the audience and catch them off guard for its most shocking jokes, easily making the film one of the most underrated comedy experiences of the decade.
8
‘The Wild Robot’ (2024)
While DreamWorks Animation has always been a competent force in the world of blockbuster animation, they have truly come into their own during the 2020s as a true titan of the industry that can consistently compete with the best that the industry has to offer. At the forefront of this uptick in quality is The Wild Robot, an extremely beautiful sci-fi family film that soars thanks to its beautiful colors and emotional story of family and adaptation. It’s an exceptional modern family movie that may just be the most approachable, mass-appealing animated movie of the decade.
Its central story of a robot learning to go against its own programming to live alongside wild animals and help a young goose grow is immediately compelling and engaging, made all the better by its quirky humor and beautiful watercolor visuals. If DreamWorks continues with this level of quality from their original films, they may just surpass the modern dependability of their longtime rivals Pixar, who have largely been in a slump this decade.
7
‘Robot Dreams’ (2023)
An exceptionally beautiful story of friendship and the pain of navigating its ending, Robot Dreams is a resoundingly beautiful work of art that actively goes against the trends of modern animation filmmaking. It isn’t just that the film is in 2D animation, but Pablo Berger harkens back to the earliest days of animation by creating a story with no spoken dialogue, entirely telling its story through visuals and accompanying music.
It would be one thing to simply tell a story of this unlikely friendship between a dog and a robot, yet Robot Dreams grows much more compelling when it deals with how the two halves of this duo are forced to navigate being separated from one another. It’s an uplifting story of growth and perseverance that feels timeless in its execution, blending its light and approachable visuals with a story rife with layers and emotional depth. It may be the least recognizable film on this list, but it’s also one whose strengths go without question.
6
‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’ (2022)
Releasing 11 years after the previous Puss in Boots film, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a triumphant return to the Shrek franchise that utilizes glorious stylized animation and surprisingly poignant themes on mortality that make it one of the absolute greatest DreamWorks movies. The film massively caught audiences by surprise with its quality, proving to be infinitely better than anyone could have expected the sequel to a Shrek spin-off film to be.
It’s a true revitalization of the core concepts and strengths of a Shrek film, with a larger focus on the creative prospects of a more ruthless fantasy world, but it employs an electrifying visual style that elevates the action and makes the comedy that much more effective. The fact that the film simultaneously works as this insightful story about enjoying life as well as a goofy animated family movie makes it that much more endearing and timeless as an undeniable classic of the modern age.
5
‘Flow’ (2024)
One of the greatest benefits of the technological growth of animation in the modern age is how just about everyone has access to high-end software that allows people to create their own animated works of art. Flow is one such brilliant, deeply impressive achievement, being a breathtaking film with no spoken dialogue made by Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis in open-source software Blender. Easily standing as the defining indie animation masterpiece of the decade so far, Flow’s exceptional scale, created across 5 and a half years of development, is one of its greatest strengths.
This story of cutesy animals having to come together and work to survive a massive flood is filled with charm and passion in every second of its filmmaking. It’s an immediately compelling story of survival and community that can be easily recognized and appreciated by all cultures, expertly making use of the mass appeal and approachability of animation as an art form. It also features some of the absolute best visuals of the decade, which is all the more impressive when considering the extremely small team behind the film.
4
‘Ne Zha 2’ (2025)
While the film was largely ignored by Western audiences, Ne Zha 2 was an absolute cultural phenomenon in China that couldn’t be compared to any other animated film in its level of success. The film still stands as the highest-grossing animated film ever made, as well as one of only 8 films that have grossed $2 billion worldwide, with over 90% of that gross coming only from China. This overwhelming success isn’t without merit, as the explosive action and striking visuals easily make it one of the best animated films to ever come out of the region.
Ne Zha 2 continues the story from the previous Ne Zha film, setting the stage for powerful celestial beings to undergo trials and retain their physical bodies while an underlying struggle between mortals, immortals, and dragons is simmering under the surface. The real selling point is its brilliant action setpieces, with a sense of explosive glory that maximizes the potential of animation as a medium for flashy action filmmaking. With a third film currently in development, the stature and legacy of this massively successful Chinese film franchise is only just beginning.
3
‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ (2023)
The original Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was one of the most acclaimed and celebrated animated films of the 2010s, so it only makes sense that the sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, would receive similar levels of near-unanimous praise. With larger stakes, more colorful and mesmerizing animation, and a full exploration of multiversal potential, the film immediately became a fan favorite not just among animation fans, but is considered one of the very best superhero movies ever made.
While the original film did a great job of setting up the world and characters, Across the Spider-Verse amps up the emotional stakes and weight of the story, with a striking villain and the emotional struggle of fighting against seemingly impossible odds. Considering the fact that the film ended on one of the most painful cliffhangers of recent memory, many are waiting with bated breath to see how this legendary finale will finally conclude in the highly anticipated Beyond the Spider-Verse.
2
‘Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio’ (2022)
Guillermo del Toro was already highly celebrated as one of the greatest fantasy filmmakers of the 21st century, so the prospect of him helming a stop-motion animated adaptation of Pinocchio is the type of thing dreams are made of. While the film took 14 years of development hell to release following its initial announcement in 2008, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio managed to live up to all of the potential and prospects of a stop-motion film co-directed by a fantasy filmmaking legend and one of the masters of stop-motion, Mark Gustafson.
It helps that this adaptation is far from the child-friendly bundle of joy that the character is often treated as, as del Toro utilizes his signature sense of bleak worldbuilding combined with a sense of joyous optimism to create the darkest yet arguably most insightful rendition of the character to date. The film is breathtaking from start to finish, with the beautiful stop-motion animation amplifying the narrative brilliance of the timeless fantasy story.
1
‘The Boy and the Heron’ (2023)
Few animation filmmakers can come close to the staggering number of absolute masterpieces brought to life by Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, whose work under Studio Ghibli is often celebrated as some of the greatest animated movies of all time. This made the news of his return to feature directing after having been retired for a decade all the more tantalizing for fans, with The Boy and the Heron living up to the director’s legendary stature and then some.
This breathtaking work of art reflects upon Miyazaki’s entire career of fantasy coming-of-age storytelling, with masterful visuals complementing a classic story complete with all the signature conventions and stylings of Miyazaki’s other masterpieces. This, combined with the breathtaking evolution of 2D anime animation in the modern age, allows this modern masterpiece to stand tall alongside the perfection that came before it as a true titan of anime filmmaking.
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