10 Animated Movies That Are 10/10, No Notes

There are some animated movies that you start watching for comfort or curiosity, and an hour later you’re laughing, tense, or straight-up emotional because the movie knew exactly where to press. And it doesn’t happen often, sadly. It certainly does not happen with cheap tricks. It only happens with character choices you can track, world rules that stay consistent and are emotional with impact, and scenes that land so clean you remember them so fondly. Otherwise, it’s just graphics moving on a screen.

And yeah, you already know these titles. The point here isn’t to introduce you to them, it’s to remind you why they’re worth your time right now: who you’re following, what happens that makes you lean forward, and what each movie gives you emotionally that you don’t get from the average good animated film. The following 10 movies are all inarguably 10/10.

10 'WALL·E' (2008)

WALL·E sells you in the first few minutes because it’s brave enough to let a lonely little robot (Ben Burtt) carry the movie with behavior. You watch him compress trash into cubes, rummage through human leftovers, and keep tiny treasures like a Rubik’s Cube and a spork because he’s built a personality out of survival routines. Then EVE (Elissa Knight) drops into his world and is fast, precise, and completely uninterested in his feelings — until he gives her something she can’t ignore: proof that life might still be possible.

The second half of the film hits even harder by turning the story into a battle over what humans have become. Captain McCrea (Jeff Garlin) starts as a guy who can’t even stand up without help, then gradually remembers he’s allowed to make decisions. The ship’s autopilot becomes the enemy because it’s following the keep everyone comfortable program like a religion. When WALL·E keeps pushing, literally, physically pushing, you feel the joy of watching one small stubborn character restart an entire species’ will to live. It’s a beautiful watch.

9 'Akira' (1988)

Akira grabs you by the collar. The movie treats its world like it’s already boiling over. Kaneda (Mitsuo Iwata) leads a biker gang through Neo-Tokyo with swagger and loyalty, and the movie makes the city feel unstable: riots, military crackdowns, and a government scrambling to contain something it already lost control of. Then Tetsuo (Nozomu Sasaki) gets pulled into a secret experiment and comes back changed, power flooding into a kid who’s been feeling weak and disrespected for years.

The film brilliantly takes you through emotions of guilt, loyalty, and anger colliding. Tetsuo’s choices get scarier because the movie shows how power amplifies insecurity into cruelty — he stops asking for respect and starts taking it. You’re watching friendship, ego, government fear, and unstoppable psychic force crash together, and it lands with the kind of “I can’t believe they went there” satisfaction that makes you replay scenes immediately.

8 'Grave of the Fireflies' (1988)

When it comes to animated films, Grave of the Fireflies is one of the most direct, emotionally honest war stories you can watch, and it does it by staying tight on two kids. Seita (Tsutomu Tatsumi) becomes the caretaker for his little sister Setsuko (Ayano Shiraishi) after the firebombing devastates their lives. You see it all and feel everything they feel. How do they sleep, how do they eat, who will help, what happens when help runs out. Seita’s pride becomes a real plot force. It shapes where they go and what support he accepts.

The movie brilliantly focuses on practical details that hit your gut. The candy tin, for instance, becomes both comfort and measurement: how much is left, what can be shared, what can’t be replaced. Setsuko’s small behaviors, asking for food, playing, trying to stay cheerful, turn into moments that hurt because you understand exactly what she doesn’t understand. The movie leaves you shaken. It never asks you to admire tragedy either. It just brilliantly makes you witness how quickly ordinary life collapses and how hard love fights to keep going anyway.

7 'Ratatouille' (2007)

Ratatouille is a dream-come-true story. A rat is passionate about cooking and it becomes the chef that it always wanted to be. Just not how you’d hope though. And it’s not magical either. There’s extreme hard work and logic involved and that’s what makes this film so unique, and so good. Remy (Patton Oswalt) has a chef’s palate and a chef’s obsession, and the movie makes you believe it by showing how he tastes — cheese and strawberry combining, soup needing balance, ingredients being respected.

He ends up in a real Paris kitchen and forms the most ridiculous partnership that somehow feels perfect: Linguini (Lou Romano) becomes the hands while Remy becomes the brain, and suddenly their fraud turns into real cooking. You finish it wanting to cook, wanting to chase a skill, and wanting to rewatch the exact kitchen sequences that make ambition feel fun.

6 'Princess Mononoke' (1997)

Princess Mononoke is the first Hayao Miyazaki masterpiece on this list. And while it’s not better than the other one mentioned below, it, too, feels huge from the start because it refuses simple sides. The film follows Ashitaka (Yōji Matsuda) getting cursed protecting his village, and the curse becomes both a ticking clock and a truth serum: it forces him toward conflict and reveals what rage does to the body. He enters a war between Iron Town and the forest’s gods, and the film makes every faction feel understandable.

Ashitaka keeps trying to see with eyes unclouded, and you feel the strain of that when everyone around him is ready to kill. The boar god’s corruption is terrifying. The climax lands because the film commits to consequences. The film shows you what happens when humans take too much, what happens when nature strikes back, and what happens when someone chooses restraint in a world that rewards fury.

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

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is the most motivating superhero origin story in years. Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), although animated, is such a smooth change in pace. He gets bitten, panics, and immediately starts failing in public — sticking to things, breaking things, messing up the suit, freezing when it matters. The movie makes that phase different, fun and stressful at the same time, then throws him into a multiverse mess where he has to learn faster than he’s ready for. Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) then shows up as a mentor who’s talented and burnt out, and their dynamic works because it’s messy and honest.

Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) carries her own grief with discipline, and you feel why she doesn’t open up easily. Kingpin (Liev Schreiber) works well too because his goal is personal and desperate, not abstract evil. The leap-of-faith moment hits like adrenaline because the movie spent real time showing Miles earn the courage, then gives you the clean reward of watching him finally move like Spider-Man.

4 'The Incredibles' (2004)

The Incredibles hits because it understands the itch of wanting your life to mean more. Bob Parr (Craig T. Nelson) misses being Mr. Incredible, and the movie makes that longing feel specific: the “glory days” talk, the secret hero work, the way his job and his body feel like cages. Helen Parr (Holly Hunter) holds the family together with discipline and love, and their marriage tension feels real because it’s built on choices and secrets.

Then the family gets pulled into danger, and the movie turns superpowers into family dynamics. Dash wants to run, Violet wants to disappear, and both of those instincts become literal. That is brilliant. The villain plot clicks with satisfying precision too — Syndrome (Jason Lee) is fueled by obsession and resentment, and his tech and traps feel engineered by someone who studied heroes for years. It’s like a superhero animated film but for family, by a family.

3 'Spirited Away' (2001)

Spirited Away earns its legendary status because it makes you feel Chihiro’s growth step-by-step. And this is Miyazaki’s second entry on this list. The film follows Chihiro (Rumi Hiiragi) who starts scared and stubborn, then her parents turn into pigs after eating food meant for spirits, and the problem becomes brutally simple: she has to survive alone. Haku (Miyu Irino) helps her get work in Yubaba’s bathhouse, and the bathhouse becomes a crash course in pressure and bizarre: rules, deadlines, and adults who can erase you if you mess up.

Yubaba (Mari Natsuki) runs it like a tyrant manager, and you as a viewer just want to hug Chihiro. By the end, you’re proud of Chihiro because the movie didn’t hand her bravery; it made her build it through action. Spirited Away feels like a bizarre dream that you don’t want to end.

2 'Toy Story' (1995)

Toy Story is a perfect movie because the premise is fun and the emotions are sharp: toys have lives, and their biggest fear is being replaced. Woody (Tom Hanks) begins as the confident leader of Andy’s room, and you can feel how much his identity depends on being the favorite. Then Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) arrives with new-toy shine and total delusion, and the movie makes their rivalry hilarious and tense because it threatens Woody’s status and also threatens the group’s stability.

When the two end up lost in the real world, the story turns into survival, teamwork, and forced honesty. That whole premise is so unique, and so fun. It’s for kids, and it’s about toys. And that becomes emotional because that plot seeps into the real world — the kids who watch it also perceive their toys to be in these unique fantasy worlds, making both parents and kids love it for the same reason.

1 'The Iron Giant' (1999)

The Iron Giant is the animated movie that wins people over forever because it gives you a friendship you instantly believe. Hogarth Hughes (Eli Marienthal) finds a gigantic metal being in the woods and reacts like a kid would: curiosity first, then protectiveness, then full commitment. The Giant (Vin Diesel) starts as a confused creature learning the world through Hogarth’s guidance, eating metal, copying behavior, slowly understanding what “friend” means. Dean McCoppin (Harry Connick Jr.) then adds warmth and stability, and his bond with Hogarth makes the town feel lived-in instead of just a backdrop.

The movie is a straight 10/10 for teaching you who the Giant wants to be through choices: he learns restraint, he learns kindness, and he learns that power can be controlled. The decision at the center of it lands with a punch because you’ve watched the Giant build a self-image that matters. You finish it full of emotion and full of respect for how cleanly the movie earned every tear.