Rotten Tomatoes: 50 Best Animated Films

[Ccook50]

Rotten Tomatoes has culled a list of the 50 top animated feature films, as determined by their Tomatometer (a consensus of positive critic reviews). In ascending order and their score:

50. South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut (80)
49. Watership Down (85)
48. The Rescuers (83)
47. Paprika (82)
46. Fantasia 2000 (84)
45. Sleeping Beauty (85)
44. Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (84)
43. The Emperor's New Groove (85)
42. Lilo & Stitch (82)
41. Howl's Moving Castle (86)
40. Cinderella (87)
39. Mulan (87)
38. Lady & The Tramp (87)
37. Tarzan (87)
36. The Jungle Book (88)
35. Akria (88)
34. The Little Mermaid (88)
33. Bambi (89)
32. Shrek 2 (89)
31. Kung Fu Panda (89)
30. Shrek (90)
29. A Bug's Life (91)
28. The Simpsons Movie (90)
27. Aladdin (91)
26. The Lion King (92)
25. Princess Mononoke (93)
24. Beauty & The Beast (93)
23. The Triplets Of Belleville (94)
22. Yellow Submarine (94)
21. Antz (95)
20. Monsters Inc. (95)
19. James & The Giant Peach (96)
18. Wallace & Gromit: Curse Of The Were-Rabbit (95)
17. Persepolis (96)
16. Ratatouille (95)
15. Dumbo (97)
14. The Iron Giant (97)
13. Spirited Away (97)
12. 101 Dalmatians (97)
11. The Incredibles (97)
10. Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas (97)
9. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (98)
8. Chicken Run (98)
7. Fantasia (98)
6. Finding Nemo (98)
5. Wall-E (97)
4. Toy Story (100)
3. Pinocchio (100)
2. Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs (100)
1. Toy Story 2 (100)

[jekylljuice]

Perhaps predictably, there's an awful lot of recent and contemporary stuff in that list (only three of the top 10 predate the last two decades)...one of the major weaknesses of Rotten Tomatoes, at least from what I can make out, is that contemporary movies tend to receive a higher volume of critical reviews (understandably, given that they're easier to locate and document than reviews which predate the internet itself), and thus have a better chance of gaining a more impressive-looking tomato-meter all-round, provided that the film is positively received. It would probably be a little hypocritical of me to complain about this, given that so many of my own favourite films (of any genre) tend to hail from either the 80s or the 90s (largely because this is when most of my favourite film-makers have been active), but I thought I'd make a point of any way.

Very few surprises there, for me - not because I agree with all the choices (certainly don't - if I had my way, Shrek, Shrek 2, The Simpsons Movie and a few others wouldn't be anywhere near that list at all) but because I've seen enough "Greatest Animated Movies" lists over the year to be able to predict what'll usually go into them and what won't. There aren't really many dark horses here - the total lack of When The Wind Blows does sadden me, but it certainly doesn't surprise me. It would definitely make my personal Top 10 list of animated flicks, but very few other people seem to have seen it. Well, it's one of those films that only ever gets shown in the early hours around here.

Actually, what does interest me is not so much the movies which have made the list, but the placement order, which seems slightly peculiar. I like Toy Story 2, but I'm kind of surprised that it managed to surpass the original, let alone claim the prime spot - which perhaps has something to do with it having arrived on the scene a bit more recently...then again, I see that Aardman's 2000 film Chicken Run has obtained a higher placement than their 2005 film Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit, with which I do not agree, since W&G is an infinitely superior and more characteristic Aardman film in my opinion (CR is good, but nothing too outstanding in my books - certainly not Top 10 material). It also interests me somewhat that The Lion King, a film which everybody else seems to revere, but which I consider to be somewhat overrated myself, missed out on the Top 25. That at least makes a nice change, if nothing else really does.

[idril]

For the most part I'd agree with that list. It's nice to see the oldies-but-goodies up there. Some of those movies I haven't even heard of. I thought I would click and find movies like Shrek 3 and Over the Hedge on here.

[Medikor]

Hmm, a solid list for the most part. If I were to change a few things I would put the original Land Before Time and the original Transformers movie up there. But that's just my own opinion. Like I said, a solid list.

[Mr. Marshmallow]

I think the list is kind of crap if you ask me. Toy Story 2 to be number one? Come on, the movie was good but not THAT good. Even the old, old Disney movies like Snow White or Cinderella I felt had more number one merit then Toy Story 2. Not to mention I am seriously kind of depressed to see Lion King not get higher and I haven't heard of some of these animated movies.

I never understand these so called "big name lists" I think sometimes all these so called big titles and amazing animated movies (as well as some RL movies) aren't has fantastic as they are cracked up to be. I mean after watching some of the older Disney movies, I feel kinda, I dunno. different.

[jekylljuice]

Originally Posted by Mr. Marshmallow

I think the list is kind of crap if you ask me. Toy Story 2 to be number one? Come on, the movie was good but not THAT good. Even the old, old Disney movies like Snow White or Cinderella I felt had more number one merit then Toy Story 2. Not to mention I am seriously kind of depressed to see Lion King not get higher and I haven't heard of some of these animated movies.

I never understand these so called "big name lists" I think sometimes all these so called big titles and amazing animated movies (as well as some RL movies) aren't has fantastic as they are cracked up to be. I mean after watching some of the older Disney movies, I feel kinda, I dunno. different.

Well, as a keen admirer of a lot of Walt's pre-WWII stuff, that "even" does kind of bug me, but since it'll inevitably just come down to a matter of personal tastes, I really can't be bothered trying to initiate debate about it. Anyway, your last paragraph pretty much sums up the way I feel about The Lion King, so I guess we're even.

Also, the fact that you've never heard of some of those movies doesn't really seem to me like a fair reason to call it "crap". Personally, I've seen 46 out of the listed 50, and there are are only two which I hadn't previously been aware of. To me, the list isn't so much crap as it is kind of commonplace and largely devoid of surprises.