My top 10 favorite animated movies list

Well the title of this entry is pretty self explanatory, but having just watched Ratatouille I thought this list seemed fitting, so here are my ten favorite animated movies of all time, followed by a few that just missed the cut.


10. The Jungle Book- With its fantastically characterized animals to the great story and of course "The Bare Necessities" it is hard not to love this movie. Shere Kahn is the perfect tiger villain, Kaa the snake makes a perfect bumbling wannabe villain (although the fear of snakes most people makes him villainous) and Then you have Baloo and Bageera being the prototypes for the buddy film. Throw in a great sequence of monkeys singing and dancing looking for fire and you have one hell of a movie!


9. The Iron Giant- A boy befriends an alien giant and boys all over the world have their fantasies brought to life on the screen! The alien is computer animated but the rest is hand drawn for a unique blend of animated styles. It is thrilling, dangerous and not exactly a typical family animated movie. The characters seem real, due to the director, Brad Bird, being a genius and great voice work from the entire cast. This came out when I was 19 but when I watched it, I was 11 all over again.


8. The Emperor's new Groove- David Spade annoys a lot of people but it is difficult to deny that he is perfect as the crazy ego centric ruler here. From the opening moments until the tail end his snarky one liners are constant hits and his playing off John Goodman's lovable character give off just the perfect blend that He achieved with Chris Farley earlier. Add in Eartha Kitt and Patrick Warburton stealing the movie, whether from humming his own theme music or speaking squirrel and you have a great Disney comedy. The animation is fun and the story lends itself to some neat tricks and any movie where the main character is turned into a Llama is okay in my book.


7. Happy Feet- A tap dancing penguin movie should not have been this fun, but damn it is just a riot of a movie. Hugh Jackman as a wannabe Elvis could not be better. The animation is entirely too incredible and the song and dance numbers are just so much fun I wanted to tap dance as I left the theater. Yes the politics get crazy heavy handed towards the end, but it doesn't distract from the fun. Robin Williams is back in top voice work form and watching a bunch of a penguins sing "Somebody to love" turns out to be one great show.


6. Monsters, Inc- Some throw this in the batch of only "okay" Pixar movies but I find it to be one of the more magical Pixar Movies. It is almost too clever, which I like and Billy Crystal and John Goodman are a perfect team. The Monster world is truly magnificent and watching all of the different monsters never stops being fun. Throw in Steve Buscemi as the villain and watch the fun commence. The highlight being our two leads pretending to be putting on a musical.


5. The Lion King- What can I say, James Earl Jones and Jeremy Irons voicing character sin the same movie? SIGN ME UP! This movie is equal parts hilarious, thrilling and heart breaking. Loosely following the story of Hamlet, we watch Simba grow from heart broken lion cub into a majestic beast with the help of two of the best animated Disney characters- Timon and Pumba. Nathan Lane was quite the find in his role. The music is epic and beautiful. The animation of "Can't wait to be King" is wonderful and it is hard not to sing Hakuna Matata when it is all said and done.


4. Transformers- What can I say, I grew up on this show and the movie was just more of the same. The animation is perfect and the story is wonderful. They made a daring risk killing off a main character and while many hated it, I remember being impressed by it. The story is fun and the characters even more fun in movie form. This movie always takes away to a time of being a child and having no real big problems and that is the sign of a great movie. Plus it has the Unicron!


3. South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut- This was the peak of this show for me. Not to say it has gotten bad or anything, but it is impossible to top this perfect satire of musicals, the media, swearing, Canada and parents. The jokes and funnier, the language is dirtier and the plot even more ridiculous, but it is just so much fun. The music works because it is actually good music, on top of parodying Broadway musicals. All of our favorite characters are there and the climatic battle is just too great to miss.


2. Toy Story- Very few movies possess the sheer delight that this movie has. With a script written by Joss Whedon and Joel Cohen, toys come to life in the most fun imaginative kids movie ever. What boy doesn't wonder if his toys come to life when he is not around. Tom Hanks has never been funnier than he is with Woody and Tim Allen is an absolute riot as Buzz Lightyear. The story is funny, the animation still looks fresh today and it led the charge for a great amount of small character parts for animated movies. The dialogue is about as funny and clever as any live action comedy and it is tough to find anyone who doesn't know that "You are a sad, strange little man" comes from this truly brilliant gem of a movie.


1- Aladdin- At one time I knew every single word to this movie, the dialogue and the song lyrics. I think it is a perfect story, perfect voice work and perfect animation. Every single voice is perfect- Aladdin, the sultan, Jasmine, Jafar, Iago and especially the Genie. Robin Williams has never been funnier, and I mean never. His fast talking mess of a genie is pure comic gold. The songs are tremendous and everyone knows "A whole new world." I can watch this movie over and over and still get joy out of all the fun things going on during "Friend like me" or "Prince Ali." Who doesn't want to ride a magic flying carpet, save a princess or battle a big bad evil guy? This movie has it all!


A few that didn't quite make the cut: Spirited away (you need to see this), Beauty and the Beast, Nightmare before Christmas and The Little Mermaid.


The most overrated animated movie: Finding Nemo.