“YOU ARE A TOOOOY!!!!!”

As you’ll notice through all my posts, my son is a HUGE part of my life. And, a HUGE part of our lives together is movies. He LOVES his movies and his collection grows rapidly. We have seen so many movies it will make your head spin. Most of that collection consists of 3D animated films. It’s amazing how far this genre has come through the years and has become such a mainstream part of our entertainment culture. When you were a kid, did you ever think anything would completely make Disney 2D animated movies almost non-existent? With all the golden classics like Snow White, Pinocchio, and Sleeping Beauty along with the more recent hits of The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, it seemed nothing would knock these movies off their collective perch as king of animated cinema. Well hold those pixels!!! Since the mid 90′s, 3D animated movies played the part of Hannibal Lecter and invited 2D over for dinner. Yea, we didn’t see much of 2D after that. So, with all of this in mind, I decided to compile my Top 10 3D Animated Movie list of all time. Enjoy!

10) Hoodwinked

A guilty pleasure. It’s not the most eye-appealing 3D movie ever made, but it more than makes up for it in just plain fun. A crazy twist on the classic Little Red Riding Hood story, this movie keeps you on your toes with every side-splitting twist to the plot. Nothing is as it seems. Also, I’m no Andy Dick fan, but he absolutely nails the role of the bunny in this film.

9) Flushed Away

It’s too bad this didn’t do better at the box office, because Aardman Animation Studios did a fabulous job with this movie. Fun throughout with a quirky sense of humor is what you will find from this tale of a pet rat who finds himself in a series of precarious situations. This movie is easily the award winner for “Best Use of Slugs”. Dreamworks has since ended their partnership with Aardman Animation Studios, which is a shame.

8) Meet the Robinsons

This is Disney through and through with every drop of its production. This movie took me by surprise by providing clever writing, a good story line and characters you can’t help but really fall in love with. You would have really thought Walt Disney himself was there throughout the making of this film as polished as it is, and gives the viewers a lesson is perseverance. 

7) Ratatouille

Who would have thought a story about a rat who dreams of being a 5-star culinary wiz, would be so captivating. I’m a sucker for a movie with a lot of heart and good story-telling, and this has both along with a great message of never giving up on your dreams. The movie may not be well received by the kiddos, but it’s a great, well made movie none-the-less.

6) Monster, Inc.

What more can you say about this movie other than it has everything? This is one of the most creative concepts to a movie I’ve ever seen. They turned monsters into humorous, lovable creatures with heart that you couldn’t help but root for. Kids love the colorful animation, silly antics and great one-liners by “Boo”, but parents can also relate to the love, care and sacrifice Sully shows for the young child he takes care of. 

5) Toy Story 2 / Shrek 2
 

How often can you say a sequel was every bit as good or better than the original? Well, with these follow-ups to two of THE BIGGEST heavy hitters in movie history, we got just that. More heart, more humor, more personality, more entertainment; these two delivered in a big way. 
 

4) Wall•e

Wall•e is the Triple Crown Winner. It impeccably blurs genre lines, has a great story full of heart all the while still entertaining enough on many levels to satisfy the masses at the box office. It’s really something when you hear people rank this summer animated blockbuster as one of the greatest sci-fi films ever. A love story through and through, it still teaches a great moral about how we treat our planet and ourselves. That’s quite an accomplishment, especially considering the leading man -er robot -er trash compactor barely says three words the whole movie. Brilliant.

 

3) Finding Nemo

If you ask any kid under the age of 8 what the best film ever is, this would probably be the consensus pick.  I mean, when did clown fish ever get so much pub? Seriously, every clown fish in the world (the smaller the better) were instant celebrities. Colorful, cute and entertaining for the little ones this film had an epic story about love at all odds that touched the hearts of older audiences as well.  

2) Shrek

What Toy Story did to launch a genre, Shrek did to make it REALLY take off. Dreamworks’s masterpiece raised the bar in 3D animated cinema all the while starting a trend of it’s own (How many fairy-tale knock-offs have there been now?) The mix of a rich fairy-tale land blended flawlessly with pop-culture humor, along with characters that beamed with personality, really pushed the envelope and screamed that 3D was here to stay.

1) Toy Story

This genre doesn’t even exist without this movie. Enough said. Sure, a 3D movie would have come out eventually no matter what, but none, NONE would have nailed it like this movie. It had a great story with a good plot, great characters, top-notch voice acting/actors, a lot of laughs and still tugged at the heart. THE PERFECT launching point for the 3D world.

HONORABLE MENTION:
Dinosaur, Open Season, Antz, Bolt

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