There are certain movies that are just improved upon when they’re witnessed on a giant screen with a passionate crowd, which certainly applies to animated feature films.
Animated movies have come a long way from endless Disney musicals and there are some truly innovative things being done in the field. However, animation is so technical that movies that once looked polished can now come across as embarrassing. That being said, plenty of animated movies can withstand the test of time and are even better now than when they were first released.
10 Aren’t As Good: A Goofy Movie’s Probing Subject Matter Falls Flat
It can sometimes be surprising to see what pieces of pop culture gain second lives as totemic classics due to the power of nostalgia. A Goofy Movie has experienced a major reclamation by Millennial audiences. While it deserves some credit, it’s not nearly as deep a piece of storytelling as people act.
Goofy is certainly one of the most simplistic Walt Disney characters that are in Mickey Mouse’s orbit, so the sheer premise of an emotionally mature examination of Goofy’s relationship with his son is compelling. A Goofy Movie is deeper than many expect, but much stronger animated stories have subsequently been told.
9 Still Hold Up: The Iron Giant Is A Timeless Classic That Tells An Eternal Story
It’s not easy for an animation director to transition over to live-action projects, but Brad Bird is a rare exception and he’d never be able to helm a challenging Mission: Impossible movie without first establishing his voice and style in 1999’s The Iron Giant. The Iron Giant feels impossibly lost in time and it’s easy to see how audiences initially skipped it.
It’s a movie that’s a loving tribute to 1950s serials, science fiction, and a bygone era of America. Thankfully, audiences have slowly found The Iron Giant and it’s transcended from cult classic into genuine hit.
8 Aren’t As Good: Biblical Retribution Makes For Stilted Storytelling In The Prince Of Egypt
It's a popular trend among animated movies to turn to existing legends, fairy tales, and actual history for story inspiration. Tone is everything here and it's not always easy to recontextualize these narratives in a way that's appealing to children.
An early misfire from DreamWorks Animation was The Prince of Egypt, which ambitiously retells the Book of Exodus. The Prince of Egypt has a phenomenal voice cast that includes Ralph Fiennes, Val Kilmer, Patrick Stewart, and Sandra Bullock, but it can't figure out what it wants to be.
7 Still Hold Up: An American Tail Uses Adorable Creatures To Shine A Light On Acceptance
Animated stories have a remarkable opportunity to present provocative and important lessons to younger audiences, yet to use the power of the medium to make these adventures more palatable. An American Tail is a tense story about immigration as Fievel Mousekewitz and his family are forced into uncertainty as they leave Russia for the promise of the United States.
Both An American Tail and its sequel, Fievel Goes West, are deeply layered movies that respect their audiences, but there’s more substance to the original movie.
6 Aren’t As Good: Antz Loses Itself In The Depressing Nature Of A Hive Mind Existence
There are a number of instances where parallel thinking can result in similar movies hitting the theater at the same time, only for one of these projects to ultimately falter in comparison to the other. Antz applies a more mature and existential approach to feeling like a lowly cog in a bigger machine, whereas A Bug’s Life is more playful and colorful in its approach.
A Bug’s Life feels like a worthy steppingstone in Pixar’s filmography, whereas Antz is a more awkward product of its time with themes that will go over many kids’ heads.
5 Still Hold Up: Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm Tells One Of The Strongest Dark Knight Tales
The past decade has truly spoiled audiences when it comes to superhero cinema, both in terms of live-action as well as animated features. There have been some impressive animated adaptations of iconic Batman stories over the years, but Batman: Mask of the Phantasm establishes an early precedence for excellence.
Functioning as a continuation of Batman: The Animated Series, many consider Mask of the Phantasm to be the superlative Batman story. It remixes the Batman: Year Two story in an inspired way and establishes an exceptional villain.
4 Aren’t As Good: The Land Before Time Is Paint-By-Numbers Emotional Exploitation
Disney would ultimately win the animation war against Don Bluth, but there was a period during the 1980s and '90s where Bluth's animated movies represented the medium's apex. The Land Before Time has a lot of pedigree behind it with both George Lucas and Steven Spielberg acting as executive producers, but at the end of the day it really just feels like Bambi, but with dinosaurs.
The fact that The Land Before Time gets milked for all its worth and becomes a franchise with diminishing returns also only hurts any legacy of the original.
3 Still Hold Up: South Park’s Movie Still Has Its Finger On The Pulse Two Decades Later
South Park has steadily evolved into one of the sharpest and most fearless satires on television, but its first two seasons are considerably more juvenile and happy to coast on the concept of foul-mouth children and crude animation. South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut is the series’ feature film and it functions as a turning point in the show’s level of sophistication and humor.
The movie, while steeped in the late ‘90s, is still incredibly relevant today. It also highlights Parker and Stone’s passion for musicals decades before their Broadway breakthrough, The Book of Mormon.
2 Aren’t As Good: Shrek 2 Trades Creativity For Comfort
The entire Shrek franchise is guilty of being affected by rose-colored glasses in many respects. The original Shrek is an important animated movie for its subversive approach towards fairy tales, but this angle has become the norm with these types of stories and subsequent animated movies have said more with the same subject matter.
Shrek 2 definitely doesn't hold up as well under modern scrutiny. It turns into a half-baked attempt at Meet the Parents, and its reflexive approach to the fantasy genre grows lazier.
1 Still Hold Up: The Nightmare Before Christmas Is An Evergreen Holiday Musical Classic
The Nightmare Before Christmas has been absorbed into Tim Burton’s filmography, but it’s much more Henry Selick’s passion project and the stop-motion auteur has created something truly prescient with this holiday classic. The Nightmare Before Christmas is a visual masterpiece that still looks incredible decades later, but it’s also one of the best movie musicals to come out of the 1990s.
All of the elements in The Nightmare Before Christmas perfectly come together, all while the movie tells a moving and mature story about malaise and cultural appropriation.