Find the best animated movies that have won over critics and viewers alike and taken the top positions on IMDb’s esteemed rankings. The emotional nuance, narrative skill, and animation brilliance are all at their peak in these cinematic classics. These films, which range from epic adventures to touching stories, appeal to audiences of all ages and tastes because they provide everlasting pleasure and thought-provoking lessons. Come along as we explore the magical realm of animated films, where the creative possibilities are endless and each frame is a work of beauty.

1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation in collaboration with Marvel Entertainment, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is an animated superhero film set in 2023 that centers around the Marvel Comics character Miles Morales, also known as Spider-Man. It is released by Sony Pictures Releasing. It is the follow-up to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and the second movie in the Spider-Verse trilogy. The “Spider-Verse” is a shared multiverse of parallel realities. In the movie, Miles embarks on an expedition across the Multiverse with Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman. There, he encounters the Spider-Society, a group of Spider-People lead by Miguel O’Hara/Spider-Man 2099, but they disagree on how to handle a new danger in the shape of the Spot.

Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, the third and last movie in the trilogy, and Spider-Woman, a spin-off movie, are both under production.

This Movie has received 377K votes and 8.6 rating on IMDB.

2. Spirited Away (2001)

Spirited Away, also known as Sen and Chihiro’s Spiriting Away (Hepburn: Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, or 千と千尋の神隠し), is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. In Spirited Away, ten-year-old Chihiro “Sen” Ogino unintentionally joins the realm of kami (Japanese Shinto spirits) while relocating to a new neighborhood. Chihiro accepts a job at Yubaba’s bathhouse after the witch transforms her parents into pigs in an attempt to liberate herself and her parents and go back to the human world. For Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Tohokushinsha Film, and Mitsubishi, Studio Ghibli created the animation for the movie, which was then released by Toho.

The picture received great reviews upon its July 20, 2001, release in Japan and went on to earn $395.8 million at the global box office. As a result, with a total revenue of ¥31.68 billion ($305 million), it became the highest-grossing movie in Japanese history. It was overtaken by Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train in 2020 after holding the record for 19 years.

This Movie has received 855K votes and 8.6 rating on IMDB.

3. The Lion King (1994)

Disney Feature Animation created the 1994 American animated musical drama picture The Lion King, which is a coming-of-age story distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The screenplay for the movie was written by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton. Don Hahn produced the picture, which was directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff (in their feature directing debuts). Matthew Broderick, Moira Kelly, James Earl Jones, Jeremy Irons, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, Rowan Atkinson, Niketa Calame, and Robert Guillaume are among the ensemble voice cast members in the movie. Hans Zimmer provided the music for its original songs, which were penned by songwriter Tim Rice and composer Elton John.

The plot, which is based on the biblical accounts of Joseph and Moses and is mostly inspired by African animals, is based on William Shakespeare’s theatrical play Hamlet and centers on a young pretender to the throne who must escape when his uncle assasinates his father and usurps the kingdom. The legitimate monarch returns from his upbringing in exile to confront the usurper and put a stop to his despotic control over the realm.

This Movie has received 1.1M votes and 8.5 rating on IMDB.

4. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

Isao Takahata is the writer and director of the 1988 Japanese animated war drama film Grave of the Fireflies (Japanese: 火\るの墍, Hepburn: Hotaru no Haka). Studio Ghibli produced the picture. The 1967 semi-autobiographical short novel of the same name by Akiyuki Nosaka served as its inspiration.

Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Yoshiko Shinohara, and Akemi Yamaguchi are the film’s stars. The narrative, which is set in June 1945 in Kobe, Japan, centers on Seita and Setsuko, two siblings who are war orphans, and their valiant attempt to survive the last few months of World War II. Grave of the Fireflies is a well acknowledged masterpiece of Japanese animation and is considered one of the best war pictures ever made.

This Movie has received 313K votes and 8.5 rating on IMDB.

5. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

The 2018 American animated superhero movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which is based on the Miles Morales/Spider-Man character from Marvel Comics, was released by Sony Pictures Releasing and produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation in collaboration with Marvel Entertainment. The “Spider-Verse” is a shared multiverse of parallel realities, and the first animated Spider-Man and Spider-Verse film. It features Shameik Moore as Morales and the voices of Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Lily Tomlin, Luna Lauren Vélez, John Mulaney, Kimiko Glenn, Nicolas Cage, and Liev Schreiber. It is directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman from a screenplay by Phil Lord and Rothman.

The plot of the movie follows Miles as he transforms into the new Spider-Man and teams up with Spider-People from other parallel universes to fight the Kingpin and defend New York City.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the sequel, was published in 2023 to acclaim both critically and commercially. Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, a third movie, and a spin-off feature centered on female Spider characters are now under production.

This Movie has received 677K votes and 8.4 rating on IMDB.

6. Your Name (2016)

The 2016 Japanese animated love fantasy film Your Name (Japanese: 君な名は。, Hepburn: Kimi no Na wa.), styled as your name, was written and directed by Makoto Shinkai, produced by CoMix Wave Films, and released by Toho. It tells the tale of two high school students, Taki Tachibana and Mitsuha Miyamizu, who, despite never having met, start to switch bodies and cause havoc in each other’s lives. The frequent natural catastrophes in Japan served as the inspiration for the movie.

The film was highly praised by critics who praised its emotional impact, storyline, animation, soundtrack, and graphics. With a global box office receipt of over US$382 million, it broke many records and emerged as the third highest-grossing Japanese film of all time, even without accounting for inflation. It was nominated for the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year and won other awards, including Best Animated Feature at the 49th Sitges Film Festival, the 71st Mainichi Film Awards, and the 2016 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards. The live-action version is being worked on by Bad Robot and Paramount Pictures.

This Movie has received 324K votes and 8.4 rating on IMDB.

7. Coco (2017)

2017 saw the release of the American animated fantasy film Coco by Walt Disney Pictures, which was created by Pixar Animation Studios. It was helmed by Lee Unkrich, co-directed by Adrian Molina, and produced by Darla K. Anderson. Molina and Matthew Aldrich wrote the script, while Unkrich, Molina, Aldrich, and Jason Katz wrote the plot, which was based on an original concept that Unkrich came up with. Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Alanna Ubach, Renée Victor, Ana Ofelia Murguía, and Edward James Olmos are among the actors who voice characters in the movie. The narrative centers on Miguel (Gonzalez), a 12-year-old kid who is unintentionally sent to the Land of the Dead and begs his late great-great-grandfather, a musician, for assistance in getting back to his family.

Day of the Dead, a Mexican celebration, served as the inspiration for the Coco idea. In 2016, Pixar started working on the animation. For research, Unkrich, Molina, and a few members of the film team traveled to Mexico. The soundtrack was written by Michael Giacchino, a composer who has previously contributed to Pixar animated films. Coco, which had a budget of $175–225 million, is the first movie with an all-Latino main cast to have a nine-figure budget.

On October 20, 2017, Coco made its debut in Morelia, Mexico, at the Morelia International Film Festival. The next week, the weekend before Día de Muertos, it was theatrically released in Mexico; on November 22, 2017, it was released in the US.

This Movie has received 595K votes and 8.4 rating on IMDB.

8. WALL·E (2008)

2008 saw the release of the American animated romance science fiction film WALL-E (stylized with an interpunct as WALL·E) by Pixar Animation Studios under the Walt Disney Pictures banner. Andrew Stanton directed, Jim Morris produced, and Stanton and Jim Reardon wrote the screenplay for the movie. Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy, Sigourney Weaver, and Fred Willard are among the prominent voices in it. The movie centers on WALL-E, a lone robot sent to clean up trash on an inhospitable future Earth in 2805. When a robot named EVE from the spacecraft Axiom pays him a visit, he falls in love and chases her around the cosmos.

WALL-E was the second Pixar feature film (after Toy Story) to be chosen by the Library of Congress for preservation in the US National Film Registry due to its “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” status in 2021. Disney licensed WALL-E to The Criterion Collection in September 2022 at Stanton’s request. On November 22, 2022, The Criterion Collection re-released the movie as a special edition 4K Blu-Ray regular Blu-ray combo pack, making it the first Pixar movie to ever get such a distinction.

This Movie has received 1.2M votes and 8.4 rating on IMDB.

9. Up (2009)

Pixar Animation Studios created the 2009 American animated comedy-drama adventure picture Up, which was distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. Produced by Jonas Rivera, co-directed by Bob Peterson and directed by Pete Docter. The plot and script for the movie were likewise written by Docter and Peterson, with Tom McCarthy contributing to the latter. The voices of Bob Peterson, Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, and Jordan Nagai are the main characters in the movie. The main character of the movie is an old widower named Carl Fredricksen (Asner), who goes to South America with a wilderness explorer named Russell (Nagai) to carry out a promise he made to his late wife Ellie.

Along the trip, they come across a gigantic bird named Kevin that is being pursued by the adventurer Charles Muntz (Plummer), who Carl had always looked up to as a boy, and they also meet a talking dog named Dug (Peterson).

Docter wrote the screenplay for Up (formerly named Heliums) in 2004 based on his desire to escape life when it became too much. He traveled to Venezuela for three days with eleven other Pixar artists to do research and gather ideas. The characters’ designs were heavily exaggerated and parodied, and animators had a difficult time making the clothing seem genuine. The soundtrack for the movie was composed by Michael Giacchino. It was the first Pixar movie to be shown in three dimensions.

This Movie has received 1.1M votes and 8.3 rating on IMDB.

10. Toy Story (1995)

Pixar Animation Studios created the 1995 American animated comedy picture Toy Story on behalf of Walt Disney Pictures. It was also the first fully computer-animated feature picture and the first release by Pixar. It was the first part in the same-named franchise. From a screenplay by Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen, and Alec Sokolow and a story by Lasseter, Stanton, Pete Docter, and Joe Ranft, it was produced by Bonnie Arnold and Ralph Guggenheim and directed by John Lasseter (in his feature directorial debut). Edwin Catmull and Steve Jobs served as executive producers. Randy Newman provided the music for the movie.

The story of Toy Story centers on the friendship between Woody, an antique pullstring cowboy doll, and Buzz Lightyear, a contemporary space cadet action figure. The story takes place in a world where toys come to life when people are not around. Woody grows envious of Buzz after he becomes Andy’s favorite toy.

One of nine films to be recognized in its first year of eligibility, Toy Story was chosen by the Library of Congress in 2005 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry due to its “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” status. A multimedia brand got its start thanks to Toy Story’s popularity. It gave rise to other short films, a projected fourth sequel, a spin-off movie called Lightyear (2022), and three sequels, starting with Toy Story 2 (1999). In 2009, the movie was rereleased in theaters in 3D as a double feature with another movie.

This Movie has received 1.1M votes and 8.3 rating on IMDB.