The Underrated Animated Movies

When we talk about classic animated movies, all of the cream rises to the top of those conversations. And why wouldn’t they? , , … how can we not talk about them? But there are always so many great ones that get forgotten. The following are my top 10 animated movies that are underappreciated, underrated, and under-watched:

1. The Mitchells vs. The Machines (2021). A silly, yet hilarious adventure with high stakes. This is often what animated movies are trying for, but only a few can pull it off.

2. Nimona (2023). Last year there was a lot of talk in the movie world about 1) and 2) Miyazaki’s return with So for me, was just an “other” animated movie. Once I saw it, I wished the other two mentioned hadn’t been released yet so that this one could get more attention and recognition. It was amazing! Action packed and filled with relevant cultural metaphors.

3. Robots (2005). I guess my love for this movie comes from a lot of nostalgia. I used to watch it with my kids when they were young. But with Robin Williams, Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Mel Brooks, and Jennifer Coolidge giving voice to a ton of interesting mechanical visuals, it really is a lot of fun.

4. The Boxtrolls (2014). Most stop-animation movies in the last 20 years that have been given any recognition at all have come from LAIKA: (2009), (2016), (2019), etc. For me, these movies could be watched with the sound off. The animation is fascinating! You could get lost in the moment just taking in the textures. Turn the sound on and the characters are pretty rich too. I didn’t expect to like , maybe because I thought it had something to do with Troll dolls. But this ended up being my favourite of Laika’s releases.

5. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2021). Admittedly, this movie is mostly a mix of live action and animation. However, it did get nominated for best animated feature, and I heard that there is much more animation that what one would expect. Anyway, this was 2021’s little movie that could. As silly as the premise and appearance may seem, Marcel will win your heart, guaranteed. 

6. Rango (2011). As we saw from last week, this is potentially the 36th best western of all time!

7. An American Tail (1986). I think most of us enjoy the setting of early America with European immigrants settling in the new world with little more than $10 in their pocket. And honestly, I can’t think of any other movies–animated or live action–that’s as good as An American Tail. It’s also probably the only performance by Dom Deluise that I actually like.

8. James and the Giant Peach (1996). I loved it when my teacher read us this book when I was in grade 5. Then, months after Joy and I got married it was made into a stop motion movie. It didn’t do very well at the box office, but I found it captured the story perfectly.

9. Anastasia (1997). My daughter Erika watches this movie almost every December (It has a song, “Once Upon a December”). You don’t often hear Meg Ryan’s or John Cusack’s voices in an animated movie, and after watching this you may wonder why. Then there’s Christopher Lloyd, Kelsey Grammar, Angela Lansbury, and Hank Azaria who are all awesome in this as well. Some of the best parts involve a beautiful winter backdrop, especially the opening scene at the old palace and the exciting train scene.

10. A Bug’s Life (1998). It boggles my mind that this Pixar movie gets as little recognition as it does. Even seems to be talked about more. It is a familiar story ( et al.) that’s told with such creativity and smart writing. The colours look a little muted compared to today’s animated features, but that’s about the extent of its shortcomings.

And our movie of the week is one that does get some praise, but doesn’t exactly sit at the head table with the likes of and . It does, however, deserve to be.

Congratulations . This is your week.  

Best Actress:

Demi Moore as Esmeralda in

Best Actor: Wayne Knight as Tantor in

Best Quote: MAX: “Dad it’s Bigfoot!” GOOFY: “Could you back up a bit, Mr. Foot, uh, you’re out of focus.” – Bill Farmer and Jason Marsden in

This week I watched for the umpteenth time, but I watched it with Luke, his first. He said it was awesome, and even if he only said that for my sake, I’m happy.