Top Ten Animated Movies

01. Brave (2012)

02. Pinocchio (1940)

The 1940 follow-up to “Snow White” catches the original Walt Disney animation team at the peak of their mature storytelling powers. A darkly powerful fairy tale with astonishing visuals.

03. Beauty and the Beast (1991)

  The best of the latter-day Disney renaissance, with a deep well of emotion coursing through detailed imagery and delightful songs.

04. Spirited Away (2001)

 

Hayao Miyazaki’s finest moment is a delightfully surreal trip down the rabbit hole with a Japanese Alice. For little kids, probably better to stick with the masterful “My Neighbor Totoro.”

05. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

From Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli, this 1988 real-life drama about two children surviving WWII is possibly the saddest animated film ever made — but a daring work of brilliance nevertheless.

06. The Iron Giant (1999)

Brad Bird’s first feature is a splendidly imagined, visualized, and paced film about a boy’s best friend being his giant robot from outer space.

07. WALL-E (2008)

Pixar’s great leap forward. As brilliant as “Monsters, Inc.” and “The Incredibles” are, they’re kid stuff next to this future-shock fairy tale.

08. Yellow Submarine (1968)

A fusion of high ’60s psychedelia and peak graphic design as the Fab Four take on the Blue Meanies. All you need is love.

09. Akira (1988)

A pinnacle of smart cyberpunk anime, this 1988 tale of paranoia and action in Neo Tokyo is one of the movies’ great dystopian visions.

10. Persepolis (2007)

With a visual style — black-and-white, hand-drawn — as defiant as its heroine, Marjane Satrapi’s 2007 adaptation of her graphic novel about growing up in Iran takes the animated movie into profound personal territory.