The 21st century has been underway for the past couple of decades, and fans have already been blessed with some of the best films of all time. Among the best genres is animation, a medium that has evolved drastically in recent years. From classics such as The Lion King to modern-day sensations, including KPop Demon Hunters, animation is ripe with masterpieces no matter the era, but lucky for fans, the 21st century is better than ever.
The 21st century has many decades left, but even two decades in, there are some absolute masterpieces for fans to experience, which is why this list will highlight 10 of the greatest, spanning from 2001 to the present day. Based on elements such as writing, animation, story, voice acting, themes, relevance, originality, influence, popularity, critical acclaim, and overall quality, these 10 masterpieces are the best of this century.
10 'Inside Out' (2015)
Image via Pixar Animation StudiosFans have often criticized Pixar for its unnecessary sequels, but, like them or not, it is massively successful, as was the case with Inside Out 2. However, the first movie, Inside Out, is an iconic film that is Pixar's best modern film. When Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) moves to a new town, her emotions are out of sorts, and she is unable to process this new life. However, her personified emotions are in trouble when sadness disappears, turning everything blue.
It's hard to believe that Inside Out is over a decade old, but it remains a masterful display of emotion and charm that Pixar excels at crafting. This film uses its inventive concept to create a deeply personal tale that everyone can relate to, resulting in a standout film from the 21st century. Inside Out will make fans laugh, cry, jump with joy, and relate to every moment, capturing the essence of childhood and all the good and bad times that come with it.
9 'The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl' (2017)
Image via TohoAnimation comes in many shapes and sizes, and anime is one of them, being a unique medium known for its creativity and dynamic animation. The Night is Short, Walk on Girl is a charming film that follows a boy trying to win his crush's affection by finding ways to connect their fates. However, all she wants to do is enjoy her life, wherever it takes her, resulting in a romance about fate, life, and wherever they take you.
Directed by visionary Masaaki Yuasa, The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl is one of the most visually stunning anime films of all time, using its imaginative art style and vibrant colors to create a mesmerizing masterpiece. This film will take fans into random directions that connect to create a dazzling story that is moving, profound, and wildly entertaining. The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl is an underrated gem that, despite a lack of popularity, is one of the greatest animated movies of the past 10 years.
8 'Loving Vincent' (2017)
Image via Altitude Film DistributionOne of the best things about animation is that it keeps pushing the bounds of possibility and creativity, and Loving Vincent is a prime example. When the famous artist Vincent van Gogh passes away, the deliveryman doesn't believe it's from natural causes. After delivering his final letter, he decides to investigate the unnatural causes behind the painter's death, hoping to reveal the truth.
Loving Vincent is one of the most ambitious animated movies of all time, using over 65,000 hand-drawn oil paintings. This magnificent feat is a testament to the film crew and the genre as a whole, as well as a fitting homage to the legendary figure, using 94 of his paintings as inspiration. The detail, style, finesse, and strenuous process are an honor to the craft, making Loving Vincent an essential animated movie of the 21st century.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz
Which Sci-Fi World
Would You Survive?
The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Ten questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you'd actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
Test Your Survival →
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
APull on every thread until I understand the system — then figure out how to break it. BStop asking questions and start stockpiling — food, fuel, weapons. Questions don't keep you alive. CKeep my head down, observe carefully, and trust no one until I know who's pulling the strings. DStudy the patterns. Every system has a rhythm — learn it, and you learn how to survive it. EFind the people fighting back and join them. You can't fix a broken galaxy alone.
Next Question →
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
AKnowledge. If you understand the system, you don't need resources — you can generate them. BFuel. Everything else — movement, power, escape — runs on it. CTrust. In a world of fakes and informants, a truly reliable ally is rarer than any commodity. DWater. And after water, information — the two things empires are truly built on. EShips and credits. The galaxy is big — you survive it by being able to move through it freely.
Next Question →
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you're honest about what you're actually afraid of.
AThat reality itself is a lie — that everything I experience has been constructed to keep me compliant. BA raid. No warning, no mercy — just the roar of engines and then nothing left. CBeing identified. Once someone with power decides you're a problem, you're already out of time. DBeing outmanoeuvred — losing a political game I didn't even know I was playing. EThe Empire tightening its grip until there's nowhere left to run.
Next Question →
04
Which of these comes most naturally to you? Your strongest skill is your best survival asset — use it accordingly.
AHacking, pattern recognition, finding the exploit in any system — digital or human. BMechanical skill — I can strip an engine, rig a weapon, or fix anything with whatever's around. CReading people — knowing when someone's lying, hiding something, or about to run. DDiscipline and endurance — mental and physical. I outlast things rather than overpower them. EPiloting, navigation, knowing how to get from A to B when every route is dangerous.
Next Question →
05
How do you deal with authority you don't trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
ASubvert it from the inside — learn its rules well enough to weaponise them against it. BIgnore it and stay out of its reach. The further from any power structure, the better. CAppear to comply while doing exactly what I need to do. Visibility is the enemy. DManoeuvre within it carefully. You can't beat a system you refuse to understand. EResist openly when I have to. Some things are worth the risk of being seen.
Next Question →
06
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn't just tactical — it's physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
AUnderground bunkers and server rooms — cramped, artificial, but with access to everything that matters. BOpen wasteland — brutal sun, no shelter, constant movement. At least the threat is honest. CA dense, rain-soaked city where you can disappear into the crowd and nobody asks questions. DMerciless desert — extreme heat, no water, and something enormous living beneath the sand. EThe fringe — backwater planets and busy spaceports where the Empire's attention rarely reaches.
Next Question →
07
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
AA tight crew of believers who've seen behind the curtain and have nothing left to lose. BOne or two people I'd trust with my life. Any more than that and someone talks. CNobody, ideally. Alliances are liabilities. I work alone unless I have no choice. DA community bound by shared hardship and mutual survival — people who need each other to last. EA ragtag team with wildly different skills and total commitment when it counts.
Next Question →
08
A comfortable lie or a devastating truth — which can you actually live with? Some worlds offer one. Some offer the other. Very few offer both.
AThe truth, no matter the cost. I'd rather live in a brutal reality than a beautiful cage. BNeither — truth and lies are luxuries. What matters is surviving the next hour. CI've learned to live with ambiguity. Some truths don't have clean answers. DThe truth — but deployed strategically. Knowing something others don't is power. EThe truth. Even when it means confronting something in yourself you'd rather leave buried.
Next Question →
09
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they're actually made of.
AI won't harm the innocent — even the ones who'd report me without hesitation. BI do what I have to to protect the people I've chosen. Everything else is negotiable. CThe line shifts depending on who's asking and what's at stake. DI draw a long-term line — nothing that compromises my people's future, even if it'd help now. ESome lines, once crossed, can't be uncrossed. I know which ones they are.
Next Question →
10
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
AWaking others up — dismantling the illusion so no one else has to live inside it. BFinding somewhere — or someone — worth protecting. A reason to keep moving. CAnswers. Understanding what I am, what any of this means, before time runs out. DLegacy — shaping the future in a way that outlasts me by generations. EFreedom — for myself, for others, for every world still living under someone else's boot.
Reveal My World →
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You'd Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for.
💊 The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You're a systems thinker who can't help but notice the seams in things, the places where the official version doesn't quite line up. In the Matrix, that instinct is the difference between life and permanent digital sedation. You'd find the Resistance, or it would find you. The machines built an airtight prison. You'd be the one probing the walls for the door.
🔥 Mad Max
The wasteland doesn't reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That's you. You don't need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon. You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it. You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
🌧️ Blade Runner
You'd survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely. You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer. In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional. You're not a hero. But you're not lost, either. In Blade Runner's world, that distinction is everything.
🏜️ Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards. Patience, discipline, pattern recognition, political awareness, and an understanding that the long game matters more than any single victory. Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You'd learn its logic, earn its respect, and perhaps, in time, reshape it entirely.
🚀 Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn't have it any other way. You're someone who finds meaning in being part of something larger than yourself. You'd gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire's grip can be broken. Whatever you are, you fight. And in Star Wars, that willingness is what makes the difference.
↩ Retake Quiz
7 'Toy Story 3' (2010)
Image via Pixar Animation StudiosThere is already one Pixar movie on this list, and while Toy Story 3 is the second, fans can expect a third later on. Toy Story is where it all started, and Toy Story 3 is where it all should have ended. When Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz (Tim Allen), and the gang are mistakenly abandoned, ending up in a day-care center, they plan a great escape after being abused and mishandled by the children.
While fans will get to watch Toy Story 5, the newest entry in the franchise, Toy Story 3 was the perfect ending, making the franchise the best animated trilogy ever. Wrapping up storylines for each character while playing on themes of outgrowing one's worth, this film was a beautiful and touching finale. Toy Story 3 is a cathartic masterpiece that expresses its themes wonderfully and its characters with nuance, creating the best animated sequel of this century.
6 'Flow' (2024)
Image via Dream Well StudioWhether fans agree with the Oscar winners or not, they can't deny that the nominees are all fantastic films, and that is especially true for Flow, which won Best Animated Film in 2024. Set in a post-apocalyptic world where the planet is flooded, the film follows a group of animals traversing the sunken Earth, trying to survive the dangerous circumstances and the vicious animals.
The key feature of animated movies is the animation itself, and Flow is a visual masterclass of storytelling and wonder. There may not be any dialogue, but it says a lot without needing words, portraying its themes subtly, yet clearly. Displaying complex social dynamics and having an immersive aesthetic, Flow is a masterpiece of technical ingenuity and natural beauty that far surpasses most of the films of the past two decades.
5 'Paprika' (2006)
Image via Sony Pictures JapanSatoshi Kon is a legendary filmmaker known for having some of the most influential anime films, including Perfect Blue, but his best of the 21st century is Paprika. Using the device known as the DC Mini, the titular mind detective and her team delve into the psyches of their patients and targets to learn important secrets. However, when the prototype is stolen, Paprika springs into action to get the machine back before whoever has it does irreparable damage to it and the world.
Paprika has aged like a fine wine, similar to many Kon films, as his predictive talent, mesmerizing style, and philosophical themes remain ageless and more relevant than ever. This trademark psychological thriller is known for its staple and seamless editing that blends dream logic with gritty realism. Paprika is a chaotic spectacle with psychological depth and nuance, which elevates it above most anime films.
4 'Kubo and the Two Strings' (2016)
Image via Focus FeaturesAnimation isn't just moving pictures; it can also be used in the form of claymation or stop motion, and Kubo and the Two Strings pushed the boundaries of the latter. When the titular character leaves on an adventure to save his family, he must battle against gods and monsters, all while learning the history and truth about his father, the greatest samurai to ever live.
There isn't a better stop motion than Kubo and the Two Strings, using its stunning pieces that boast a unique style and grand design. However, while it is a visual spectacle, this animated masterpiece also has a surprising maturity and grace that comes along with its story. In the end, Kubo and the Two Strings is a technical achievement and a timeless story that is a testament to this century's animation.
3 'WALL-E' (2008)
Image via Pixar Animation StudiosThe third and final Pixar movie on this list is WALL-E, which many fans will agree is the best the studio has to offer, and therefore, is one of the greatest animated films of all time. The titular robot has the impossible task of cleaning the Earth, but when he discovers signs of habitability, he brings the plant to the home vessel, only for the ship's AI to try to stop him.
Like Flow, WALL-E delivers a masterful and touching story without saying much, truly flexing its storytelling skills to portray a silent narrative. Despite the lack of dialogue, the characters are full of life and expression, creating a funny, tense, entertaining, and profound atmosphere. WALL-E is a genre-defining animated movie, and therefore, it establishes itself as one of the best.
2 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse' (2018)
Image via Sony Pictures ReleasingSpider-Man is one of the most iconic superheroes of all time, and in 2018, fans were blessed with arguably the best movie the webcrawler stars in, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. After becoming Spider-Man, Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) needs to learn what it takes to become a hero, and he can start by helping multiple Spider-People find a way to get back to their universe.
While it tells a similar story to many other Spider-Man origins, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse gains its masterpiece status because of its jaw-dropping animation, dazzling art, comic book style, and vibrant colors. As one of the most ambitious animated movies of all time, it pushed the medium forward, influencing future animated titles and cementing its legacy as a modern classic.
1 'Spirited Away' (2001)
Outside of Pixar, Studio Ghibli is the best animation studio of all time, and their magnum opus is Spirited Away. Chiyo and her family move to a new house, and right behind it is an abandoned theme park. However, when her family is turned into pigs, Chiyo discovers it is actually a resort for the supernatural, leading her to explore the resort and find a way to reverse the curse.
Spirited Away is one of the most decorated animated films in history, providing a timeless coming-of-age story full of wonder, whimsical mystery, and supernatural vibes. Its story may be good, but this movie is a masterpiece because of its comfy, nostalgic atmosphere and phenomenal hand-drawn animation. Spirited Away is an animated experience unlike any other, and nothing this century has been able to top it so far.
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