The 15 Best Netflix Original Animated Movies, Ranked
Born with Autism (formerly classified as Asperger syndrome), Tyler B. Searle has been obsessed with storytelling since he was old enough to speak. He gravitated towards fairy tales, mythology, the fantasy genre, and animated movies and shows aimed at family audiences. When not writing, Tyler enjoys watching more cartoons and reading fantasy books in his home in Ontario, Canada.
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Since the rise of streaming services, Netflix has been among the largest and most successful options available. One reason for this is its decision to focus on creating animated movies and shows as a large part of its exclusive content. Though recent years saw Netflix cancel many highly anticipated projects, they still produce a healthy supply of new animated content.
Netflix has been making a big splash with many of its original films. Through teaming up with many high-quality companies, they've been able to contend with established companies like Disney, and some of their movies have even won or been nominated for major awards. These are Netflix's best animated movies so far, ranked from great to greatest.
15 'Hilda and the Mountain King' (2021)
Picking up after her adventures in the stone forest, Hilda (Bella Ramsay) awakens to find herself transformed into a troll by Trylla (Rachel August), a female troll who believed Hilda would be happier as a troll than a human. In her attempts to find a way home, Hilda stumbles upon Trundle (Dino Kelly), a massive troll trapped behind a curtain of bells, who offers to help her in exchange for three favors. Meanwhile, Hilda's mother, Johanna (Daisy Haggard), tries to locate her daughter, while the head of the Trolberg Safety Patrol, Erik Ahlberg (John Hopkins), makes preparations for what he believes is a major troll offensive against the town.
Hilda and the Mountain King takes place between Hilda's second and third season, and serves as proper closure to the second season's troll plot. The decision to make it into a film allows the story more time to delve into both the troll and human sides of the conflict, though in the case of the latter, it expands a lot on troll culture. The improved animation budget also helps the film greatly, with a stylistic intro sequence and plenty of more dynamic camera angles, especially when conveying the size and majesty of some of the biggest trolls.
14 'Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood' (2022)
A man named Stanley (Milo Coy and Jack Black) reminisces about his childhood growing up in the 1960s. Since his father worked for NASA, Stanley developed a fascination with space and the possibility of alien life. One day, he is approached by NASA scientists who reveal that he has been selected for a secret mission to pilot the Apollo 10 ½ craft to the moon, since it was accidentally built too small and needs a child to operate it.
Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood is pure childhood nostalgia, reminiscing about how much simpler things looked back then, and how simple activities with one's family could be the greatest experiences in the world. The secret mission is treated rather ambiguously, leaving it up to interpretation whether Stanley actually did it or if it only exists in his imagination. Finally, the film uses rotoscoping to give the animation a more life-like appearance, which helps to fit the aesthetic of looking back in time, and how the years play with our memories.
13 'Wish Dragon' (2021)
As a child, Din Song (Jimmy Wong) loved spending time with his friend Li Na Wang (Constance Wu) until she moved away. Years later, Din receives a teapot from an old man claiming to be a god (Ronny Chieng) that contains a wish-granting dragon named Long (John Cho). Din decides to use this opportunity to reconnect with Li Na, but he must also avoid some goons led by a martial arts expert called Pockets (Aaron Yoo), who are also after the teapot.
An underrated gem, Wish Dragon follows many of the same story beats as Disney's Aladdin, but it has more than enough creativity to still be an original product. This is mainly felt through Din and Long's relationship, which is a strong contrast between optimism and cynicism. Long has been a wish dragon for so long that he has lost faith in humanity, while Din challenges him by taking joy in the small things in life over fame and fortune.
12 'Nimona' (2023)
For a thousand years, humanity has been protected from monsters by a powerful institution of knights. Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed) is the first commoner to become a knight, but during the knighting ceremony, his sword activates and kills the queen (Lorraine Toussaint). Now on the run, Ballister meets a chaotic shapeshifter named Nimona (Chloë Grace Moretz), who forcibly becomes his sidekick as he tries to clear his name.
Nimona's themes focus on marginalized people rebelling against an unfair system, which, coupled with Nimona's shapeshifting powers, lends itself to a strong queer narrative. Nimona herself is easily the highlight of the film: her rebellious nature plays well off Ballister's more law-abiding one, and her shapeshifting lends itself to numerous creative situations. The only thing that holds the film back is a weak villain, poor texturing, and some less-than-idealistic writing choices.
11 'Wendell & Wild' (2022)
Demon brothers Wendell (Keegan-Michael Key) and Wild (Jordan Peele) are forced to spend their time restoring the hair of their father, Buffalo Belzer (Ving Rhames), after the boys attempt to build a theme park for deceased souls. While hallucinating on their father's hair cream, they have a vision of Kat (Lyric Ross), a young girl who blames herself for the death of her parents, who has the power to summon them to the land of the living. The demons trick Kat into doing so by promising to raise her parents from the dead, but their real intention is to gather the funds for their park.
Wendell & Wild is another knockout stop-motion film by director Henry Selick. It targets an older audience than his previous films like The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline, allowing for some creative visuals and hard-hitting themes about regret, guilt, and private prison systems. The script can be a little convoluted at times when it comes to the rules of the world, but each of its numerous characters has a memorable and distinct personality, resulting in plenty of fun interactions.
10 'Leo' (2023)
As a new generation of students prepare for fifth grade, class pet Leo (Adam Sandler) learns that he is nearing the end of his long life and decides to run away to enjoy what time he has left in the wild. He attempts to do this when the students are tasked by their substitute teacher with taking a pet home every weekend. However, Leo discovers a new purpose when using his decades of wisdom to help the kids through their problems.
Netflix's Leo is a surprisingly wholesome film that touches on universal themes of growing up. Each child has a different obstacle that they need to overcome, which is relatable to everyday audiences, from learning to listen rather than speak to understanding humility. It also showcases how aging can be difficult for adults as well, humanizing the teachers in a way that isn't seen very often in family pictures. Its main downside comes from the music, which isn't very memorable, and the songs are oddly placed throughout the film.
9 'My Father's Dragon' (2022)
Elmer Elevator (Jacob Tremblay) and his mother, Dela (Golshifteh Farahani), are forced to close down their small shop and move to Nevergreen City, where they struggle to make money. When his mother, in a moment of stress, tells Elmer that their dream is unobtainable, he runs off to the docks. There, a talking cat (Whoopi Goldberg) tells him of a dragon that can be found on the nearby Wild Island, which Elmer hopes to use to raise the money he needs for the store.
My Father's Dragon is a wonderfully creative film about the troubles of adjusting to a new stage of life and the dangers of fear. Many characters are motivated by or hindered by fear, which offers children a diverse array of ways that giving in to this emotion can negatively affect their lives. While they all stand out in one way or another, the best is easily the leader of Wild Island, the gorilla Saiwa (Ian McShane), who offers a complex look at the burden of leadership.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which Netflix Character Would Be Your Best Friend? Dustin · Emily · Wednesday · Gi-hun
Some friends drag you out of the house. Some sit with you on the worst night of your life. Netflix has written both, plus the one who tells you the truth you have been avoiding all week. Answer eight quick questions about how you actually do friendship, and find out which of them was always going to end up in your corner.
🧢Dustin(Stranger Things)
🗼Emily(Emily in Paris)
🕷️Wednesday(Wednesday)
🟢Gi-hun(Squid Game)
01
How do you usually end up making a new friend? The origin story says a lot about the friendship that follows it.
02
What is a perfect Saturday with your best friend? Friendship is mostly built out of very ordinary hours.
03
You call them at two in the morning. What happens? This is the real test of a friendship, and everybody knows it.
04
What do you want from them when you are clearly wrong? The best friendships are the ones that survive being corrected.
05
What do your friends actually value about you? The friend you attract says something about the friend you are.
06
You have a falling out. How does it go? How a friendship repairs itself matters more than how it breaks.
07
What do you actually need a best friend for? Everybody is missing something. The right friend fills that gap.
08
Ten years from now, what keeps the two of you close? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides who you get.
The Group Chat Has Spoken Your Best Friend Is…
Four Netflix characters, four completely different ways of showing up for somebody. This is the one who fits how you actually do friendship, and what having them in your life would be like.
Dustin Henderson
You do not do friendship at half volume, and neither does he. What you want is somebody who says yes to the plan before you have finished describing the plan.
- Dustin is the friend the entire show runs on: loyal past the point of sense, enthusiastic about everything, and incapable of leaving anybody behind.
- You have the same instinct. Your friendships are loud, specific and slightly ridiculous, and they last for decades because of it.
- He is also the one person who would take your strangest interest completely seriously, which is far rarer than it sounds.
- You would have a group chat. It would never once be quiet.
Emily Cooper
You are the friend who makes things happen, and so is she. Together you would be mildly exhausting to everyone around you and completely delighted with yourselves.
- Emily treats an ordinary Tuesday as something that could be turned into an occasion, which is either the best or the worst quality in a friend depending on your energy levels.
- You share her refusal to sit still. Neither of you has ever accepted a night in when something was happening somewhere else.
- She is far more loyal than people give her credit for. She defends her friends loudly, publicly, and occasionally before checking the facts.
- She would post the photo without asking. You would forgive her, because it is a very good photo.
Wednesday Addams
You have no patience for pleasant lies, and she has no ability to tell them. What looks like coldness from the outside is the most reliable friendship on this list.
- Wednesday never says a kind thing she does not mean, which makes the rare ones count for an enormous amount.
- You would rather be told the truth than be made comfortable. She is constitutionally incapable of offering you anything else.
- Underneath all of it she is ferociously protective. She simply refuses to make a performance out of caring.
- Do not expect a birthday message. Do expect her to ruin anyone who wrongs you.
Seong Gi-hun
You look after whoever is having the worst day. So does he. It is the least strategic way to move through the world and the best possible quality in a friend.
- Gi-hun is not the strongest player in Squid Game, or the cleverest. He is the one who keeps choosing to protect somebody else, over and over, at genuine cost to himself.
- You have the same instinct. You notice who is struggling and you stay with them, long after anybody would blame you for leaving.
- He is a flawed friend, and that is part of why it lands. He lets people down, then comes back and tries again, which is more than most manage.
- He would give you his last chance and never once mention that he had done it.
8 'Over The Moon' (2020)
Fei Fei (Cathy Ang) is a firm believer in the moon goddess, Chang'e (Phillipa Soo), thanks to stories her late mother told her. When she learns that her father plans to marry another woman with an eight-year-old son named Chin (Robert G. Chiu), she decides to build a rocket ship to the moon, hoping to prove Chang'e is real and remind her father of true love. She and Chin meet Chang'e, who refuses to help Fei Fie until she delivers a gift that can help Chang'e reunite with her lover, Hou Yi (Conrad Ricamora).
Over the Moon is the directorial debut of legendary Disney animator Glen Keane, and it's a strong first go. The story tackles strong themes of loss while showing the harm that comes from trying to live in the past instead of moving on. The animation is gorgeous, filled with vibrant colors, expressive faces, and creative designs for the lunar residents, most of which are based on pareidolia images one can see when looking at the moon.
7 'The Mitchells vs. the Machines' (2021)
Katie Mitchell (Abbi Jacobson) is an aspiring filmmaker who can't wait to attend a film school in California. After an argument with her technophobic father, Rick (Danny McBride), he decides to take the family on a cross-country road trip to deliver Katie to her school. Unfortunately, this takes place right when a virtual assistant named PAL (Olivia Colman) decides to lead a robot uprising to collect all the humans on Earth and fire them into space.
The Mitchells vs. the Machines is one of Sony Pictures Animation's best films for a fair few reasons. Its animation is on a whole other level, taking inspiration from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse to create a unique blend of old and new techniques. This in turn helps to support the movie's story, which focuses on generational divides and when it's best to use old or new methods to solve a problem.
6 'The Sea Beast' (2022)
In a world populated by massive sea beasts, the royal family offers a challenge to the crew of the Inevitable: if they can kill the elusive Red Bluster before the Royal Navy, then the crown will continue to allow private hunters to slay the beasts. As the Inevitable sets sail, they are joined by a stowaway named Maisie Brumble (Zaris-Angel Hator), the daughter of two fallen hunters, who idolizes the crew. During the hunt, she and boatswain Jacob Holland (Karl Urban) are taken by the Bluster to an elusive island populated by sea beasts.
The Sea Beast has a very similar plot to How to Train Your Dragon, such as a setting that involves humans and creatures at war while hinting that there is more to the conflict than it seems. Much like Wish Dragon, there's lots of creativity to set them apart, such as the high-seas aesthetic and the camaraderie between the crew of the Inevitable. The animation is some of the best in any Netflix movie, especially the perspective shots from underwater, which capture just how massive the sea beasts are.
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