With the release of Pixar’s underwhelming (yes, I’ve seen it) 24th feature, “Luca,” there’s reason enough to look back on not just the former glory days of the Disney-backed animated company, but animation in general. I do feel like we’ve hit a standstill with the medium. There has been no groundbreaker like “Toy Story” or “Spirited Away” such as in the previous decades.
Ever since “Toy Story” emerged in 1995, there’s been, what I like to call, a sort of “race to animated glory” by the major American and foreign studios. This fierce rivalry of trying to one-up each other with every release was one of the most exciting things to follow at the movies. Alas, that is, more or less, gone — consumerism has yet again entered the fray.
What better time to look back on the last 25 years of extraordinary Animation releases. I really do hope we enter a better era of toon-dom in the years to come, but I’m not hopeful. There’s a sort of “bottom line” that’s invaded animation, and we’ll have to look more and more at the foreign releases for any sort of artful statement.
And so, without further ado, an abbreviated 25 best animated movies of the last 25 years:
(1) Spirited Away (2) WALL-E (3) The Fantastic Mr. Fox (4) Finding Nemo (5) Ratatouille (6) Waltz With Bashir (7) Toy Story 2 (8) Princess Mononoke (9) Shrek (10) Triplets of Belleville (10) Waking Life (11) The Incredibles (12) Toy Story 3 (13) Up (14) Inside Out (15) Persepolis (16) Chicken Run (17) Zootopia (18) Le Illusioniste (19) Howl’s Moving Castle (20) Isle of Dogs (21) How to Train Your Dragon (22) Shaun the Sheep Movie (23) Cars (24) Ponyo (25) Brave