The 15 Best Animated Movies of the 2020s So Far, Ranked According to Letterboxd
Writing from the Chicagoland area in Illinois, Robert is an avid movie watcher and will take just about any excuse to find time to go to his local movie theaters. Robert graduated from Bradley University with degrees in Journalism and Game Design with a minor in Film Studies. Robert tries his best to keep up with all the latest movie releases, from those released in theaters to those released on streaming. While he doesn't always keep up with the latest TV shows, he makes it a goal to watch nearly every major new release possible. He has been honing his craft and following any and all movie news all his life, leading up to now, where he has a vast knowledge of film and film history. He also logs every movie that he watches on his Letterboxd page, and has hosted a weekly online movie night with his closest friends for over 6 years.
Animation has continuously been considered one of the most effective and versatile creative outlets in feature-length filmmaking, always finding new ways to push beyond the barriers for what is possible. Even with the current decade not even being halfway done yet, there are already a high number of beautiful and powerful animated works of art that will surely stay in the conversation long after the 2020s are over.
As far as deciding which animated films have been the best of the decade, there are few better places to find answers than the quintessential film platform of the decade, Letterboxd. Acting as the leading community for younger film fans in the current digital era, Letterboxd's user base has approached cinema in a distinctly unique way. With an increased focus on worldwide filmmaking ventures and artistic visionaries, the platform is made for the most dedicated film fans of today. These are Letterboxd's choices for the best and most daring animated films of the 2020s, a mix of delightful adventures, emotional tales, and groundbreaking masterpieces.
15 'The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart' (2023)
Letterboxd Average Rating: 4.03/5
Acting as the cinematic finale to one of the most legendary and longest-running Adult Swim animated series, The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart takes place right where the series left off, with a nationwide manhunt for Hank Venture. While seemingly everyone in the world tries to find Hank, a number of devastating secrets and long-since-forgotten foes from the past threaten to tear down everything that these characters have worked for, forcing them to work together to either save the Ventures or end it once and for all.
The Venture Bros. has continuously been a fan favorite series for 20 years on Adult Swim, and Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart does its best to act as the perfect, bittersweet finale to the story and characters. It features just about everything a fan could ask for, from hilarious tongue-in-cheek comedy to effective character moments that help recontextualize the series. Even for those not acclimated with The Venture Bros., the action and comedy work wonders in making the film an effective standalone experience.
14 'Robot Dreams' (2023)
Letterboxd Average Rating: 4.09/5
A beautiful Spanish-French animated film that tells a weaving story of friendship and acceptance without having to speak a word of dialogue, Robot Dreams is a truly special work of art. The film follows Dog, a canine living in Manhattan who is tired of living life alone and decides to build himself a new robot companion. The friendship between Dog and Robot slowly blossoms as they spend their time exploring the beauty of 1980s Manhattan. Alas, like all great things, it must eventually come to an end.
Robot Dreams shows that, even in the modern era of animation, there are still barriers to be broken and challenged when it comes to experimental and beautiful films that go beyond the genre's standard conventions. The film makes excellent use of its characters and setting, and its absence of dialogue makes the story more powerful than any singular words could provide. It has only continued to leave an impact on the hearts and minds of viewers worldwide with its recent release in theaters.
13 'Puss in Boots: The Last Wish' (2022)
Letterboxd Average Rating: 4.13/5
Easily one of the biggest animated surprises in recent memory, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish defied all expectations, offering an engaging, philosophical, and undeniably stunning experience. The film sees the legendary Puss in Boots realizing he's on the last of his nine lives. Scared that his adventuring days are finally coming to an end, he runs away, attempting to hide from the inevitable. Puss soon learns about the magical Last Wish, and embarks on a journey with companions new and old to earn his adventuring life back.
While the original Puss in Boots film wasn't exactly terrible, it was far from exceptional and was largely seen as just a forgettable spin-off to the Shrek universe. However, The Last Wish's usage of stylized animation, top-notch comedic chops, and dynamic themes that are powerful for both children and adults helped it become one of DreamWork's best films. The hype surrounding the film was so massive that, at one point, it held a considerable spot in Letterboxd's Top 250 highest-rated movies of all time.
12 'Memoir of a Snail' (2024)
Letterboxd Average Rating: 4.18/5
A beautifully crafted stop-motion animated film from Adam Elliot, director of the highly acclaimed Mary and Max, Memoir of a Snail is a snarky dark comedy that isn't afraid to shy away from uncomfortable subject matter and hard-hitting emotional struggles. The film follows Grace (Sarah Snook), a misfit trying to find her place in the world and build confidence after a string of painful experiences in her childhood and young adulthood.
The distinct combination of stop-motion charm and dark humor makes Memoir of a Snail one of the most distinct and one-of-a-kind animated experiences out there. It's an intelligent R-rated comedy that doesn't take the audience for granted, using layered, memorable characters and a signature wit that truly stands out as an animated work of art tailored for mature audiences. The film isn't afraid to take risks and forge its own path to animation greatness, as Letterboxd users have largely responded to its emotional core and distinct charms.
11 'Blue Giant' (2023)
Letterboxd Average Rating: 4.18/5
An exquisite love letter to all things jazz and the art of musical performance, Blue Giant does a brilliant job of translating this distinct magical feeling into animation. The film tells the story of high school student Dai Miyamoto, whose life changes after discovering jazz music. Soon, he decided to drop everything, learn the saxophone, and dedicate his life to becoming a true professional musician. Dai forms his amateur jazz band with up-and-coming pianist Yukinori Sawabe and his roommate, Shunji Tamada, creating what they hope to be the next big jazz sensation in Tokyo.
Blue Giant's biggest strengths rely on showing off the grace and euphoria that come from creating music and performing in front of an engaged audience. The musical sequences are easily some of the most invigorating and masterful in recent memory, combining beautiful and stylish jazz renditions with striking 3D visuals to create a masterful cacophony for the senses. Even for those who aren't as accustomed to anime films, Blue Giant is a must-watch for anyone who has played an instrument at some point in their lives.
10 'The Wild Robot' (2024)
Letterboxd Average Rating: 4.21/5
Easily one of the greatest DreamWorks Animation movies in years, proving that the studio has risen to new heights as one of the best animation studios of the modern age, The Wild Robot is about as beautiful and endearing as a studio family movie can get. The film follows an intelligent robot that finds itself shipwrecked on an uninhabited island filled with wildlife. The robot finds itself forced to adapt to the harsh environment, as well as learning the ins and outs of the wilderness to care for an orphaned baby goose.
Featuring beautiful stylized animation and some exceptional themes of maternal love and kindness, The Wild Robot is one of the defining family movie masterpieces of the decade so far and one of the most easily accessible animated movies ever made. There's so much passion and love placed into the film that is easy to see, and it can be loved and appreciated by audiences of all ages as a true highlight of the modern age.
9 'HAIYKU!! The Dumpster Battle' (2024)
Letterboxd Average Rating: 4.21/5
One of the greatest strengths that comes from a cinematic installment of a beloved anime series is that the increased scale and budget of a movie allows these films to go all out in terms of animation quality and flair in ways that the original anime series wouldn't be able to do. This, combined with the built-in fanbases of many of these anime series, means that the very best of these anime movies soar to massively high ratings on platforms like Letterboxd, with one of the best examples of such being HAIKYU!! The Dumpster Battle.
Adapting from the massively beloved volleyball anime series, The Dumpster Battle brings a sense of explosive energy and cathartic spectacle to its volleyball match that makes it the absolute highlight of the franchise in the eyes of many fans. It quickly proves itself to be much more than a simple sports match, as it embodies all of this passion and fervor from the characters, crafting a complete cinematic experience that has certainly resonated with the Letterboxd userbase.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which Superhero Team Should You Join? Avengers · X-Men · Teen Titans · The Boys
Every team is a personality test with a uniform. One saves the world and argues about it the whole way home. One has been fighting for the right to exist since the day it formed. One is still working out who it is while the fighting happens. And one has no powers at all, plus no intention of playing fair. Eight questions decide where you actually belong.
🛡️Avengers(Marvel Studios)
🧬X-Men(Marvel)
🐦Teen Titans(DC)
💊The Boys(Prime Video)
01
What kind of power would you actually want? The power matters less than what you would be willing to do with it.
02
Why join a team at all? Nobody puts on the suit for the reason they say out loud.
03
How do you feel about the people in charge? Every team has a chain of command. Very few of them survive contact.
04
What is your role inside a group? Every roster needs the same handful of people to function.
05
How do you win a fight you should lose? This is the scene the entire film gets built around.
06
What is this work costing you? Nobody does this for free. The bill just arrives differently for everyone.
07
How should the world see your team? Half of this job is public relations, and everybody knows it.
08
The offer arrives. What makes you say yes? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides your team.
Recruitment Is Complete Your Team Is…
Four teams, four completely different reasons to put yourself in danger for strangers. This is the roster you actually belong on, what they would want from you, and what it would cost you to stay.
The Avengers
You belong where the stakes are largest and the personalities are loudest. This is a team of people who are all used to being the most important person in the room, which is exactly why it works and exactly why it keeps nearly falling apart.
- The Avengers are not friends who became a team. They are a team that slowly and reluctantly became friends, and you would recognise every stage of that process.
- You can hold your own among big egos without needing to win every exchange, which is the real entry requirement here.
- The arguing is part of the method. This group does its best thinking mid-disagreement, usually at volume, usually in a very expensive building.
- When the sky opens, they are who shows up. You would want to be standing in that line.
The X-Men
You have never had the luxury of being thanked for this. The X-Men protect a world that has never once been comfortable with them existing, and something in you understands exactly why they keep doing it anyway.
- This is the only team on the list whose central conflict is not a villain. It is being wanted gone by the same people they keep saving.
- You know what it is to be the outsider in a room and to decide, anyway, that you will not make yourself smaller so everyone else is comfortable.
- The X-Men are the most genuine found family in comics. People arrive with nowhere else to go and are never once asked to explain themselves.
- You would not be joining for the glory. There has never been any.
The Teen Titans
You do not want colleagues, you want your people. The Titans are the team where the friendship came first and the world-saving turned up afterwards as an inconvenient side effect.
- Every Titan is somebody's sidekick who decided to stop being one. That decision, not the villain of the week, is what the team is actually about.
- You would be joining people who are all working themselves out at the same time as you, which is far less lonely than being the only one.
- The Titans lose regularly. Then they eat together and come back better, which is a more honest model of growing up than any other team here manages.
- The tower would be loud, chaotic, and the first place that ever felt like yours.
The Boys
You are not asking who to trust. You worked out the answer a while ago and it was nobody in a cape. This is where you go once you have decided the people in charge need watching, and that nobody else is going to do it.
- The Boys have no powers, no mandate and no funding. What they have is leverage, patience, and a very high tolerance for consequences.
- You are the person in the room who notices the thing everybody else has quietly agreed not to mention.
- This is not a heroic team and it has never pretended otherwise. It is a group of damaged people doing necessary work in ways nobody would call clean.
- You would not sleep well. You would keep going anyway.
8 'Flee' (2021)
Letterboxd Average Rating: 4.22/5
Combining animation and documentary filmmaking to make a one-of-a-kind cinematic experience that will be analyzed and discussed for decades to come, Flee is a magnificent evolution of both genres. The film tells the story of Amin, who, as a child, had to make the treacherous journey as an immigrant from Afghanistan to Denmark with his family. Now, at age 36 and about to get married to his husband, Amin is forced to reveal this secret he's kept from the world for 20 years, threatening to completely upend his life in the process.
Flee makes exquisite use of the strengths of animation and documentary filmmaking to create a beautiful and genre-defining blend of genres. While this story could have been told through archive footage and live-action interviews, the animated style allows the audience to connect with the material in a deep and resonating way, especially with the dynamic recreations of Amin's painful childhood experiences. Flee is a must-watch for fans of animated films and documentaries, standing tall as one of the highest-rated documentaries on Letterboxd.
7 'Marcel the Shell with Shoes On' (2021)
Letterboxd Average Rating: 4.24/5
A quintessential chapter of stop-motion animation that was made with the digital era in mind, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is a sweet and kindhearted mockumentary that never fails to tug on one's heartstrings. The film sees an amateur documentarian examining and taking a closer look inside the quaint, small life of Marcel, a one-inch-tall shell living in the clutter of an Airbnb house. After learning that Marcel and his grandmother have been separated from his family, a journey begins to hopefully get Marcel to travel the vast open world and reunite with his family.
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On has the same simple, wholesome energy that made the short films that it was based on such a smash hit on YouTube. There is an inherent charm and energy emanating from Marcel, from his cute and wholesome design to his sweet demeanor and silly voice, to the point where it was inevitable for audiences and Letterboxd users to fall in love with him.
6 'Wolfwalkers' (2020)
Letterboxd Average Rating: 4.25/5
One of many pieces of 2D animation mastery from Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon, Wolfwalkers takes on the classic Irish fable of beings able to transform between human and wolf at will. The film follows Robyn, who is forced to acclimate herself to a new city after her father is hired to remove all the wolves neighboring the town. As luck would have it, Robyn finds herself transforming into a wolf after saving a wild native girl, leading her to uncover the mysterious underground world of the Wolfwalkers.
Much like the rest of Cartoon Saloon's catalog, the 2D animation on display here is some of the decade's best, proving the style still has a place next to all of the 3D computer animation dominating the charts. Wolfwalkers' brilliant mixture of music, breathtaking imagery, and powerful themes of persecution and genocide have made it a fan favorite of the streaming era. Sadly, it remains somewhat underrated, but those who have experienced Wolfwalkers are quick to share its numerous high qualities.
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