By the time the first decade of the new millennium drew to a close, it was fair to say it had been a great 10 years for, well, drawings. The '00s were full of incredible animated movies. Sure, the fabled Disney Renaissance that defined the '90s was over, but the House of Mouse was still making wonderful films, to say nothing of Pixar's ascendency.
Having established themselves and redefined what computer animation could look like, Pixar released several of the greatest cartoons of all time in the '00s. Their rival, DreamWorks Animation, was very much in Pixar's shadow in this decade, but they still managed to produce some wonderful films, too. Meanwhile, in Japan, some of the best anime movies of all time were made, making a bigger impact in the West than ever before. Add to that some assorted movies from other countries or other studios, and you've got a magnificent slate of animated films.
So with so much quality to choose from, here are the 32 best animated movies released between 2000 and 2009 that everyone should watch at least once in their lifetime. From talking animals to trippy thrillers, there's something for everyone to add to their watchlist below.
32. The Road to El Dorado
Year: 2000
Directors: Eric "Bibo" Bergeron and Don Paul
Back when DreamWorks Animation started, the studio made traditionally animated movies, like The Prince of Egypt, alongside computer animated films like Antz. It wouldn't be too long before they switched to only CG, but one of their traditionally animated efforts was The Road to El Dorado, a fun adventure romp featuring the voices of Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh as two Spanish con-artists who find themselves in the New World, inside of the fabled city of gold. Though some parts haven't aged especially well, The Road to El Dorado is a hoot, and it makes you wish DreamWorks would do more films in this style again.
31. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Year: 2009
Directors: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
The beloved children's book of the same name that Cloud With a Chance of Meatballs, is charming but fairly light on plot. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who would go on to make The Lego Movie and Spider-Verse films, helmed this adaptation, which is a lot busier but no less enjoyable. Bill Hader stars as the voice of Flint Lockwood, an inventor who creates a machine that transforms the weather into food, in the process turning his fishing island hometown into a bustling tourist destination… until something goes wrong with the machine, and the weather gets as dangerous as it is tasty.
30. The Emperor's New Grove
Year: 2000
Director: Mark Dindal
The Emperor's New Groove began development as a movie called Kingdom of the Sun, a musical epic set in the Incan Empire that was intended to be in the same straightforward mold as the hits of the Disney Renaissance, like Aladdin or The Lion King. Instead, it turned into a zany, irreverent comedy starring David Spade as the titular emperor, a selfish monarch who finds himself transformed into a llama and in need of a humble peasant's help. Who knows if Kingdom of the Sun could've been great; The Emperor's New Groove isn't high art, but it might just be Disney's funniest true comedy.
29. The Simpsons Movie
Year: 2007
Director: David Silverman
It took almost two decades for The Simpsons to get a big-screen movie, which felt like a long time coming. (Never mind that the show would continue to run for just as long and then some, making the movie feel like far less of a culmination in retrospect.) Regardless of its place in the series history, The Simpsons Movie is a worthy blockbuster take on Springfield, following Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa, as they deal with the consequences of one of Homer's dumb decisions that puts the whole town at risk.
28. The Animatrix
Year: 2003
Directors: Andy Jones, Mahiro Maeda, Shinichirō Watanabe, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Takeshi Koike, Kōji Morimoto, Peter Chung
Released between the two Matrix sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, this anime anthology movie features nine shorts that all add to the lore of the cyberpunk world. Some, like Final Flight of the Osiris, are directly connected to the events of the live-action films. Others, like Beyond or World Record, are side stories that add color to the mythos. The best part about The Animatrix, though, is The Second Renaissance, a haunting two-part backstory that explains how the machines and humanity came to be at war and how the Matrix was founded.
27. Metropolis
Year: 2001
Director: Rintaro
This anime adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's manga, which in turn is a very loose adaptation of Fritz Lang's seminal 1927 sci-fi film, is visually astounding and narratively ambitious. Set in a dystopian future city, Metropolis follows a young boy who comes across a robot girl who is far more advanced than any of the other robots that serve as laborers. It's a colorful trip, and worth watching as a double feature with the silent classic; it's fascinating to see where the two approach the same basic story in similar ways and where they're wildly different.
26. Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Year: 2005
Directors: Nick Park and Steve Box
Wallace and Gromit, a cheese-loving inventor and his silent, dutiful dog, went on a feature-length adventure after appearing in several universally adored claymation shorts. In Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which was a collaboration between DreamWorks Animation and Aardman Animations, the pair find themselves dealing with a monstrous rabbit who threatens Tottington Hall's annual giant vegetable competition. It's a perfectly charming movie that serves as a loving homage to the monster movies of the '30s and '40s, like Frankenstein or especially The Wolf Man.
25. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Year: 2000
Director: Yoshiaki Kawajiri
The second feature adaptation of the horror sci-fi fantasy series Vampire Hunter D, after the cult classic 1985 movie, follows the title character, a terse dhampir who hunts monsters in this gothic post-apocalyptic world. When he's hired to rescue a young woman, Charlotte, after she's been seemingly kidnapped by the powerful vampire Baron Meier, D finds himself fighting all sorts of strange creatures as he pursues them. But the relationship between Charlotte and Meier might be more than it appears. Bloodlust is a cool and violent action anime with a perhaps surprising amount of nuance and heart.
24. The Princess and the Frog
Year: 2009
Directors: John Musker and Ron Clements
Disney's first Black princess made her debut in this 2009 movie that was intended to be a return to the Disney Renaissance, a traditionally animated musical. The Princess and the Frog might not have reached those heights, but it was a delight to see Disney doing traditional rather than CG animation once again, and Tiana (Anika Noni Rose) is a more than worthy addition to the Disney Princess canon. A riff on "The Frog Prince" fairy tale from the Grimm Brothers' collection, The Princess and the Frog swaps the Middle Ages Europe setting for Jazz Age New Orleans. Another twist? This time, the beautiful maiden gets transformed into a frog herself upon having that first amphibian kiss.
23. Chicken Run
Year: 2000
Directors: Peter Lord and Nick Park
Another collaboration between DreamWorks Animation and Aardman Features, the claymation studio behind Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run is a rousing World War II-style adventure that swaps the German prison camp of The Great Escape for a Yorkshire farm. The egg-laying chickens, led by Ginger (Julia Sawalha), can't find a way to escape, but when a cocksure Yankee rooster (Mel Gibson) appears, the hens think it's their ticket out of there. That is, if the rooster really can fly like he claims.
22. Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem
Year: 2003
Director: Kazuhisa Takenouchi
Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem is a feature-length music video for the iconic French electronic duo Daft Punk's second studio album, Discovery. It is also a pretty dazzling sci-fi adventure anime in its own right, using the sweet dance cuts from Discovery to tell a story of a band of blue-skinned aliens who are kidnapped from their home planet, brainwashed, and forced to play on Earth while disguised as humans. Only an intrepid alien hero (who happens to be a fan of the band) can hope to rescue them.
21. The Secret of Kells
Year: 2009
Directors: Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey
The United States has Disney, Pixar, and DreamWorks, Japan has Ghibli and a host of other anime studios, and Ireland has Cartoon Saloon, which makes gorgeous hand-drawn animated movies that don't look like anything else at the box office. The studio's first film, 2009's The Secret of Kells, is a tale straight from Irish myth and legend about a young boy living in an abbey in 9th-century Ireland who befriends a forest fairy. The movie is gorgeous, styled to look like a lavishly detailed illuminated manuscript. It's frankly breathtaking to see such unique animation of the sort Cartoon Saloon excels in.
20. Shrek
Year: 2001
Directors: Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson
Shrek's online legacy may be irony-poisoned memes, but the first-ever Best Animated Feature-winner at the Oscars was earnestly refreshing and funny when it first came off. A sarcastic spoof of Disney-style fairy tales, Shrek starred Mike Myers as the titular ogre, who goes on a quest to rescue Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) in an effort to save his swamp. And, although there are pop culture references galore and lots of irreverent humor, there is some heartfelt emotion in Shrek. The movie is like an onion, if you will. It has layers.
19. Rejected
Year: 2000
Director: Don Hertzfeldt
Celebrated indie animator Don Hertzfeldt broke out with this surreal short film, a collection of supposed advertisements he made that were so nonsensical and deranged they were all rejected by the companies that hired him. (The real Hertzeldt hasn't done any advertisements; they're all fake.) It doesn't take long before we see the cartoon ads—manifestations of the animator's psyche—start to degrade. Rejected was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short, and Hertzfeldt would go on to make several more profound animated projects. However, Rejected's biggest legacy might be online; it was a video that went viral before YouTube was around, and so much of its random style of humor became foundational web culture.
18. Persepolis
Year: 2007
Directors: Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
This adaptation of Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel of the same name tells the story of how she grew up as a young girl in Iran during the Iranian Revolution in the late '70s. Animated in black and white in a style that closely resembles Satrapi's comic illustrations, Persepolis takes a coming-of-age tale that's both universal and deeply personal and places it within the context of Satrapi's lived experience, a backdrop of massive geopolitical and cultural significance.
17. Paprika
Year: 2006
Director: Satoshi Kon
The great anime director Satoshi Kon died tragically young from cancer at just 46 years old. His final film, 2006's Paprika, is both a wonderful movie to go out on and a sad reminder of how many more great, imaginative works he never got to make and the world never got to see. The trippy sci-fi flick is about a technology that lets people explore dreams, and buttoned-up scientist Atsuko Chiba moonlights as a dream therapist with her outgoing digital alter-ego, Paprika. She soon finds herself in the midst of a conspiracy theory that threatens to distort the barrier between dreams and reality.
16. Monsters Inc.
Year: 2001
Director: Pete Docter
Pixar was on such a run in the '00s that it could almost casually toss off such a winning, imaginative concept like Monsters Inc., which is set in a world where workaday monsters pop out of children's closets to scare them because monster society runs on scream-powered energy. John Goodman and Billy Crystal voice Sulley and Mike, a wonderful odd couple duo of friends and co-workers who get in hot water when an adorable human child follows them back through the door and into the power plant.
15. Waltz With Bashir
Year: 2008
Director: Ari Folman
Animation is not always used as a medium for documentary filmmaking, but when it works, it can be extremely effective, as in this 2008 war documentary. Waltz With Bashir follows an animated version of director Ari Folman as he tries to uncover his own seemingly repressed memories of his experience fighting in the 1982 Lebanon War, leading up to an infamous massacre of civilians. A complex meditation of the costs of war—including the psychological damage it inflicts even on survivors—Waltz With Bashir was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. (It was not nominated for Best Animated Feature nor for Best Documentary Feature; a 2021 movie titled Flee would go on to be the first movie to get that trifecta of nominations.)
14. Lilo and Stitch
Year: 2002
Directors: Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
One of the more beloved Disney movies by a certain segment of Millennials, Lilo and Stitch is a quirky, heartfelt ode to family (or "ohana") in all its forms. Lilo is a little girl living in Hawaii under the care of her older sister following their parents' deaths, while Stitch is a hyper, destructive, and cute genetic experiment who escapes from a sci-fi alien prison and crash-lands on the island. These two very different characters, both in need of love and companionship, prove to be a perfect match.
13. Howl's Moving Castle
Year: 2004
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
The legendary anime director Hayao Miyazaki released three films in the '00s. Of course, since he's Hayao Miyazaki, all three are masterpieces. Howl's Moving Castle is one of his most complex works, telling a story about a girl who finds herself cursed to be an old woman and living in the fantastical castle of a powerful, eccentric wizard named Howl. Heavily influenced by Miyazaki's opposition to the War in Iraq, Howl's Moving Castle is a dazzling, wondrous, and heavy anti-war fable.
12. Fantastic Mr. Fox
Year: 2009
Director: Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson, one of the more singular directors of all time, took his distinct style to animation for the first time in Fantastic Mr. Fox, an adaptation of the Roald Dahl novel of the same name. Starring an impossibly charismatic and charming George Clooney as the voice of Mr. Fox, the movie is a brisk, confident, and slightly twee crime caper as Mr. Fox feels forced to return to a life of stealing livestock from farmers to support his family. Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, and Owen Wilson also voice characters.
11. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Year: 2006
Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Makoto Konno is a teenage girl who discovers that she can time-travel in this sci-fi romance from Mamoru Hosoda, a celebrated anime director. When Makoto starts using this mysterious power willy-nilly, jumping through time to improve her grades or avoid awkward situations, it leads to unexpected consequences as she realizes that she might have a limited number of leaps. It all builds up to a pretty tear-jerking but cathartic conclusion, and The Girl Who Lept Through Time is well worth checking out for any viewers who haven't yet branched out to non-Ghibli anime movies.
10. Finding Nemo
Year: 2003
Director: Andrew Stanton
For a while, water was notoriously hard to animate, though you wouldn't know it from watching Finding Nemo. The beloved Pixar film's watery world looked gorgeous then, and it still looks gorgeous now, and it does showcase a lot of the ocean. Albert Brooks voices Marlin, a clownfish and overprotective father to his son, Nemo. When Nemo is captured, Marlin sets off on a journey across the Pacific to find his boy, joined by Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), a forgetful fish. Finding Nemo was Pixar's first Oscar winner for Best Animated Feature; the studio would go on to win several more.
9. Tokyo Godfathers
Year: 2003
Director: Satoshi Kon
Satoshi Kon is known for his paranoid, trippy genre movies, but he also made one of the best Christmas movies in Tokyo Godfathers. The 2003 anime follows three unhoused people: a teenage runaway, a trans woman, and a middle-aged deadbeat—through the streets of Tokyo on Christmas Eve after they find a baby and resolve to try to return the infant to its parents. Madness and miracles ensue in this offbeat and extremely earnest story about found family, love, and the Christmas spirit.
8. Kung Fu Panda
Year: 2008
Directors: John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
Kung Fu Panda could easily have gone so wrong. Jack Black voices a big fat panda bear who becomes the unlikely inheritor of a kung fu master's legacy in a version of ancient China populated by animals. Instead, Kung Fu Panda is one of DreamWorks Animations' best films, a fun action romp that eschews body-shaming or stereotypes to instead tell a respectful and earnest kung fu story. It helps that the action in Kung Fu Panda is just extraordinary, and there are a few fight scenes in the movie that are up there with the best fights in cinema history.
7. Up
Year: 2009
Director: Pete Docter
People rightfully celebrate (and break down into ugly tears because of) the first 10 minutes of Up. It's a nearly wordless sequence that's a masterpiece of animation and storytelling in how it succinctly tells the life story of a couple, from Carl and Elle's meeting as kids to Elle's death and the elderly Carl's grief. The rest of Up, which turns into a Lost World-style adventure with Carl and an eager young boy, isn't the emotional gut-punch of the opening, but it's still pretty great filmmaking.
6. Ponyo
Year: 2008
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
"Ponyo loves ham!" Perhaps Hayao Miyazaki's most child-friendly movie in the best possible way, Ponyo is a sheer delight. A riff of sorts on The Little Mermaid, the 2008 anime follows Ponyo, a little goldfish living in the sea who befriends Sōsuke, a five-year-old boy, and thanks to magic, becomes a little human girl. With a different visual style from any of Miyazaki's films, Ponyo is beautiful and fun, especially in sequences where the magical sea comes alive.
5. Millennium Actress
Year: 2001
Director: Satoshi Kon
Memory and movies blend together in Satoshi Kon's sophomore film, Millennium Actress. When a once-storied movie studio is shutting down, two reporters track down Chiyoko Fujiwara, who is now an old lady but was once one of the studio's biggest and brightest movie stars. As she recounts her life story, the recollections take on aspects of the films she starred in, resulting in a mind-blowing animation tour de force. It's one of the great movies about the power that fiction has on how we perceive reality.
4. WALL-E
Year: 2008
Director: Andrew Stanton
Not unlike Up, another Pixar film, WALL-E gets a ton of praise for its first act, an essentially dialogue and human-free 30 minutes of the titular little trash-collecting robot going about his daily business on a garbage-covered Earth that mankind long since abandoned. When he meets an advanced probe, EVE, WALL-E's smitten, eventually following her back to the stars to see what's become of humanity. It's a beautiful story with beautiful visuals, and it's undeniably one of Pixar's best films.
3. The Incredibles
Year: 2004
Director: Brad Bird
The Incredibles hit theaters four years before The Dark Knight and Iron Man solidified the superhero genre's domination over the box office, but you can make a credible case that none of the dozens and dozens of superhero movies that have come out since are better than this Pixar effort. A riff on The Fantastic Four, The Incredibles follows a family with superpowers (Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Spencer Fox) as their dad, Mr. Incredible, is lured out of heroic retirement. A retro-futuristic wonder, The Incredibles has heart, action, and basically everything you might want from costumed crime-fighting cinema.
2. Ratatouille
Year: 2007
Director: Brad Bird
Patton Oswalt voices Remy, a rat living on the outskirts of Paris who aspires to more than just digging through garbage and eating whatever he and his rodent family find. He wants to be a chef in the fine dining restaurants of Paris… which is a bit of a problem since he's vermin. Luckily, he finds a hapless wannabe chef who could use the help, and the two take the culinary world by storm. Ratatouille might just be the most purely lovely Pixar film; a heartfelt ode to food, partnership, and how talent can be found everywhere, even in the most unlikely places.
1. Spirited Away
Year: 2001
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Almost universally agreed to be one of the greatest films of all time, Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away is a masterpiece in the truest sense of the word. An astoundingly animated coming-of-age fable, Spirited Away follows a young girl, Chihiro, when she gets trapped in a world of spirits and forced to work in a glorious bathhouse. As she learns the value of hard work and befriends many of the strange denizens of the bathhouse, she learns more about herself than she could've expected. If there's one animated movie of the '00s to watch if you haven't seen it yet, it's this.
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