The 100 best animated movies: animators and filmmakers, A to D
Experts including Disney and Pixar directors, Wes Anderson, Nick Park and Carlos Saldanha vote for their favorite animated movies
How did we choose the 100 best animated movies of all time? We went straight to the experts and asked them to tell us their personal top ten films. From there we calculated the top 100 overall best animated movies. Here, you'll find the personal selections of animators and filmmakers including Wes Anderson (writer-director of Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Grand Budapest Hotel), Sylvain Chomet (director of The Illusionist and The Triplets of Belleville) and Chris Sanders (director of How to Train Your Dragon).
Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson is the writer-director of Rushmore and this year’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. His first (and thus far only) animated film was Fantastic Mr. Fox.
1. Akira2. The Iron Giant
3. Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion
4. 101 Dalmatians
5. Only Yesterday
6. Porco Rosso
7. Princess Mononoke
8. The Secret of NIMH
9. Spirited Away
10. Watership Down
Nancy Andrews
Nancy Andrews is an artist and animator whose work combines documentary, storytelling, puppetry and drawings.
1. The Adventures of Prince Achmed2. Consuming Spirits
3. Faust
4. Heaven and Earth Magic
5. King Kong
6. My Neighbor Totoro
7. The Nightmare Before Christmas
8. Persepolis
9. Sita Sings the Blues
10. The Tale of the Fox
“This was tough, because most of my favorite animations are shorter than 60 minutes, and it hurts to make a list that doesn’t include Bruce Bickford, Yuriy Norshteyn, Looney Tunes and the Fleischer brothers (among others).”
Kelly Asbury
Kelly Asbury is the codirector of Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Shrek 2 and Gnomeo & Juliet.
1. Dumbo2. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
3. 101 Dalmatians
4. Pinocchio
5. Bambi
6. Sleeping Beauty
7. Peter Pan
8. Lady and the Tramp
9. Toy Story
10. The Nightmare Before Christmas
“Never has there been made—in animation or otherwise—a more solid, emotional, character-driven story than Dumbo, and it is produced with lush simplicity and grace. This is a true cinematic treasure on all levels. It is animation at its finest. Snow White is transportive and gothically theatrical, hugely influenced by the silent-era melodramas that proceeded it. The audience is escorted into the pages of a storybook world never quite achieved before or since. And how much more adult in theme can a movie get than Bambi? ‘You’re alone in this world…so get up!’”