10 Near-Perfect 3D Animated Movies That No One Remembers Today

With so many animated films created yearly, it's understandable that many fall by the wayside. Through today's emphasis on streaming, there are plenty of ways to stumble upon 3D hidden gems that come very close to perfection. These incredible animated features are sometimes even more relevant today than they were on release, and it'd be a shame if you never gave yourself a chance to experience them.

'9' (2009)

In a post-apocalyptic world, a scientist (Alan Oppenheimer) splits his soul into nine stitchpunks in the hopes that they might be able to restore the world after it was wiped out by a vengeful AI called the Fabrication Machine. Shortly after 9 (Elijah Wood) awakens and meets the elderly inventor 2 (Martin Landau), they are attacked by a robot made from a cat's skeleton, who steals 2 and the magic talisman the scientist used to bring them to life. 9 meets the other stitchpunks and defies the orders of the authoritative 1 (Christopher Plummer) to rescue 2, but accidentally awakens the Fabrication Machine, which begins hunting the stitchpunks while creative new, horrific robots.

9's story doesn't deviate too far from the usual adventure story tropes, but it more than makes up for this in its creativity and art design. The movie looks fantastic, with a grim, steampunk aesthetic that makes the world truly feel dead and desolated. Character-wise, the stitchpunks are given small but unique variations in their designs to showcase their personalities, while the robots made by the Fabrication Machine all mix metal and biological matter like bone, making them feel all the more wicked and destructive.

'A Bug's Life' (1998)

Flik (Dave Foley) is a worker ant with a head full of new ideas, whose colony is under the yoke of a gang of grasshoppers led by the brutal Hopper (Kevin Spacey). After Flik's most recent invention accidentally costs the colony all the food they gathered for the grasshoppers, Hopper demands double the payment before the last leaf of autumn falls. To get him out of their antenna, Princess Atta (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) agrees to let Flik go to the city to look for warrior bugs to fight the grasshoppers, but he instead comes back with some out-of-work circus bugs.

Due to coming out between the first two Toy Story films, A Bug's Life gets forgotten among Pixar's classics, and when it is remembered, it's seen as the company's sophomore slump. It has its quirks, though: the circus bugs are hilarious thanks to their diverse personalities and talented voice actors, Flik is a likable enough protagonist, and it's pretty cool to see how Pixar animation brings the world to life from the perspective of a bug. Hopper is also one of Pixar's best villains, thanks to his intelligence and how he commands the room whenever he shows up.

Soren (Jim Sturgess) is a young barn owl just learning how to fly who loves stories about the Guardians of Ga'Hoole, noble owl knights who fight the supremacist Pure Ones. After a scuffle with his older brother, Jutt (Ryan Kwanten), the two fall out of the nest and are kidnapped by Pure Ones. Taken to St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls, Jutt willingly becomes a recruit while Soren is nearly brainwashed into becoming an obedient servant. He and another young owl, Gylfie (Emily Barclay) manage to escape, and, meeting two more owls named Digger (David Wenham) and Twilight (Anthony LaPaglia), venture forth to warn the Guardians of the Pure Ones' return.

The Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole is based on the book series by Kathryn Lasky, and brought to life by the same studio that produced Happy Feet. As such, it is a visual marvel, especially during the sequences where the owls are on the wing during storms. The story is a little paint-by-numbers, but that's not necessarily bad: sometimes, a familiar story is what you want, especially when the visuals that bring it to life are so spectacular.

'Monsters vs. Aliens' (2009)

Just as Susan Murphy (Reece Witherspoon) is to be married, she is struck by a meteorite and imbued with an energy called Quantonium, causing her to grow to over 50ft tall. Soon after, she is taken by the US military to a secure facility inhabbited by other monsters: a mutated insect named Insectosaurus (Conrad Vernon) who is now the size of a kaiju; a 20 thousand year-old fish/ape hybrid named The Missing Link (Will Arnett); B.O.B. (Seth Rogen)—short for Benzoate Ostylezene Bicarbonate—a friendly sentient mass of slime who can consume almost anything; and Dr. Herbert Cockroach Ph.D. (Hugh Laurie), a mad scientist whose experiments made him as durable as a cockroach, but also gave him a cockroach's head. Susan and the monsters are soon offered a chance at freedom when an alien warlord named Galaxar (Rainn Wilson) sends a massive probe to Earth to recover the Quantonium for his galactic conquest.

Monsters vs. Aliens is DreamWorks' love letter to classic monster and sci-fi movies. There are a ton of references to unpack, from each of the main characters paying homage to a classic monster like the Blob or the Creature from the Black Lagoon, to Close Encounter of the Third Kind, when the US President (Stephen Colbert) tries to communicate with the probe. Susan also stands out as one of DreamWorks' most likable protagonists thanks to her arc going from an innocent victim of circumstance to someone who embraces her new norm, faults and all, while discovering strength she didn't know she possessed.

'Meet the Robinsons' (2007)

After a series of unsuccessful adoption attempts, child genius Lewis (Daniel Hansen) builds a machine to unlock his deepest memories in the hopes of tracking down his birth mother. However, the machine is sabotaged by a mysterious man (Stephen Anderson) and his robot bowler hat, Doris (Ethan Sandler), before traveling to the future with a strange boy named Wilbur (Wesley Singerman), who was tracking the Bowler Hat Guy in his time machine. In the future, Lewis meets Wilbur's extended family, the Robinsons, while the Bowler Hat Guy realizes he can't operate the machine, so he chases after Lewis to learn how.

Meet the Robinsons was one of the last movies to come out of Disney's experimental Post-Renaissance Era, and went through a rocky production that saw 60% of the film get scrapped and remade. It's also one of Disney's most underrated films, featuring colorful characters, inventive visuals, and a really strong message about identity, family, and dealing with failure. Finally, it's just really funny, with plenty of fast-paced physical gags and slapstick, plus Anderson's hilarious delivery as the Bowler Hat Guy, who is so inept that he's endearing.

'Antz' (1998)

Z (Woody Allen) is a neurotic worker ant who is struggling to maintain his individuality in a colony of millions, all focused on following orders. One night at the bar with his soldier best friend, Weaver (Sylvester Stallone), Z learns of a mythical paradise called Insectopia, and becomes smitten with Princess Bala (Sharon Stone), who snuck into the bar for a night of fun. As Z tries desperately to see her again, a series of events leads to the two of them being stranded outside the colony, which threatens the plans of Bala's fiancé, General Mandible (Gene Hackman), who intends to take over the colony and run it with a survival of the fittest mentality.

Antz was the first movie from DreamWorks, and though forgettable compared to some of their best, there's a lot to talk about, especially when compared to A Bug's Life. The design of the world is pretty unique, with each bug being to scale, and their designs looking closer to the real thing, making them feel more alien. The story emphasizes individualism over conformity, highlights the dangers of blindly following orders, and even some existentialism as Z tries to find his place and purpose in the grand scheme of things.

'Rise of the Guardians' (2012)

Jack Frost (Chris Pine) is a spirit of winter who travels the world bringing frosty fun while also trying to remember who he was before. One day, he is approached by the Guardians—Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), the Sandman, and the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman)—who protect different aspects of childhood like wonder, memory, hope, and dreams. They inform Jack that Pitch Black (Jude Law) has escaped imprisonment, and ask for his help in defeating the Boogeyman before he drowns the children of the world in nightmares.

Rise of the Guardians is an Avengers-leveled team up of childhood icons that sadly bombed on release. Every scene is oozing with creativity and color, especially in how it depicts the guardians' domains and the manifestations of their powers. It also has a great hero/villain dynamic between Jack and Pitch, since both characters want the same thing—to have a place in the world—but differ in that Jack wants to be loved and understand who he is, while Pitch wants to be feared.

'The Peanuts Movie' (2015)

When a Little Red-Haired Girl (Francesca Angelucci Capaldi) moves into the neighborhood, she catches the heart of Charlie Brown (Noah Schnapp), the resident unlucky kid. He tries to find a way to both impress her and increase his popularity with his peers, but every attempt blows up in his face. Meanwhile, his dog Snoopie (Bill Meléndez) writes a story about himself as a World War I pilot trying to rescue his love, Fifi (Kristin Chenoweth), from the Red Baron.

The Peanuts Movie was one of the last films to come from Blue Sky Studios, and often ranks among or as its best, thanks to how effectively it captures the timeless appeal of Charles M. Schulz's comic strips. Still, the film updates the characters with gorgeous and bright animation that retains the iconic style. The storytelling is done through episodic mini-adventures that keep the focus on Charlie, but still find time to give the other characters a chance to shine.

'The Book of Life' (2014)

Manolo Sánchez (Diego Luna) and Joaquín Mondragon II (Channing Tatum) are two best friends who are both in love with the mayor's daughter, Maria Posada (Zoe Saldaña). On the Day of the Dead, the boys are chosen by the gods La Muerte (Kate del Castillo) and Xibalba (Ron Perlman) for a wager: if Manolo marries Maria, Xibalba will stop meddling with mortals, but if Joaquín marries her, the gods will switch domains. Years go by, and Manolo follows the family tradition of bull fighting despite his wish to become a musician, while Joaquín, empowered by Xibalba's Medalion of Everlasting Life, has become a local hero.

The Book of Life is a beautiful movie dominated by bright colors and an art design that makes the characters look like living marionettes. This visual approach gives the film a tone akin to watching a puppet show, while not detracting from the important messages regarding love, friendship, self-acceptance, and writing your story regardless of what others say. While all the characters are fun and likable, Xibalba eclipses them thanks to his unique design, trickster personality, and Perlman's delivery, which captures every playful inflection as he tries to stack the deck in his favor.

'Hoodwinked!' (2005)

The police arrive at the home of Granny Puckett (Glenn Close) to find her, her granddaughter Red (Anne Hathaway), Wolf W. Wolf (Patrick Warburton), and a woodsman named Kirk Kirkendall (Jim Belushi), in the aftermath of a strange confrontation. Detective Nicky Flippers (David Ogden Stiers) takes over and interviews each of them one at a time, learning the circumstances that led all four of them to this situation. The more he learns, the more it seems intertwined with the notorious Goody Bandit, who is driving local bakeries out of business.

If you can get past its admittedly off-putting animation, Hoodwinked! is one of the best fairy tale-parody films to come out in the wake of Shrek, thanks to the absolutely stellar writing. The film is full of clever puns, references, clever wordplay, and snappy dialogue that leaves you enraptured whenever the characters start talking to one another. Everything is tied together with a catchy soundtrack and some top-notch performances from all the actors. It all leads Hoodwinked! to carve out a unique niche that prevents it from being a Shrek clone, and leaves it open to poking fun at itself just as much as the fairy tales it's satirizing.