On my 40th birthday, my wife and I sat home and watched a random classic movie from my DVDs-To-Be-Watched pile. It turned out to be Singin' In The Rain, which is absolutely delightful. And so over the course of that year, I watched the 100 Best Movies of All Time (as decided by Jim Emerson). Then, I wrote up a capsule review for each one (or, at least, 72 of them, and the rest are coming soon).
This year (I'm one week into year 42), I'm watching the best cartoons of all time in chronological order. I have two lists. The list of shorts came straight from Jerry Beck's choices for his book (which I haven't read yet but am awaiting via The Pony Express). (I'm considering a third, secret, list of about ten documentaries, but haven't put it together yet.)
The list of features was a lot harder. I couldn't find a good one, so set out to compile one myself. It's deeply flawed, and has a serious case of recency bias, but it's what I've got. (The shorts will help cure the worst recency problems, since almost all of them predate 1970.) Before I get to the list, here's a roundup of my main sources:
TimeOut Magazine (A list of 100 including lots of critics and animators' choices.)
Complex (A group listing of 50)
Ten For Adults (A BBC roundup)
Ten Greatest (From The Guardian)
Richard Corliss (50 Best from Time Magazine)
50 Best of the 21st Century
Elle Magazine (32)
Two lists of stop-motion films -1- -2-
40 Best European
I also consulted Metacritic, the Annie Awards, the Academy Awards, the Saturn Awards, and this list of early features. Before doing all the math, I also compiled a list of my 30 must-sees, to fill any gaps in the math. (Features with an asterisk by the score came from that list.)
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Title (Year, Total Score)
The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926, 10.1)
The Tale of the Fox (1930, 6)
The New Gulliver (1935, 0*)
The Seven Ravens (1937, 0*)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937, 17)
Gulliver's Travels (1939, 2*)
Pinocchio (1940, 21.5)
Fantasia (1940, 20.8)
Dumbo (1941, 23.7)
Bambi (1942, 18)
Saludos Amigos (1943, 1*)
The Three Caballeros (1944, 3.5*)
Song of the South (1947, 1.5*)
Cinderella (1950, 7)
Alice In Wonderland (1951, 2.5*)
Peter Pan (1953, 1*)
Animal Farm (1954, 7)
Sleeping Beauty (1959, 4*)
101 Dalmatians (1961, 13)
The Jungle Book (1967, 8.5)
Yellow Submarine (1968, 22.1)
Charlotte's Web (1073, 0*)
Heavy Traffic (1973, 7)
Robin Hood (1973, 5.1)
Fantastic Planet (1973, 14.2)
Allegro Non Troppo (1976, 8)
Watership Down (1978, 17.7)
The King and the Mockingbird (1980, 8.4)
The Secret of NIMH (1982, 15.2)
When the Wind Blows (1986, 11)
Grave of the Fireflies (1988, 20.9)
My Neighbor Totoro (1988, 24.4)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988, 12.9)
Akira (1988, 21.7)
Alice (1988, 11.9)
Kiki's Delivery Service (1989, 7.6)
The Little Mermaid (1989, 21)
Only Yesterday (1991, 8)
Beauty and the Beast (1991, 28.8)
Porco Rosso (1992, 8.7)
Aladdin (1992, 21.7)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993, 24.6)
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993, 8)
The Lion King (1994, 22)
Ghost in the Shell (1995, 10.5)
Toy Story (1995, 31)
Princess Mononoke (1997, 19)
Perfect Blue (1998, 8.6)
Mulan (1998, 8)
South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut (1999, 18.4)
The Iron Giant (1999, 24.4)
Toy Story 2 (1999, 13.1)
Chicken Run (2000, 18.8)
Metropolis (2001, 7)
Shrek (2001, 11.7)
Spirited Away (2001, 40.8)
Millenium Actress (2001, 10)
Waking Life (2001, 18.6)
Monsters, Inc. (2001, 23.4)
Finding Nemo (2003, 28.7)
The Triplets of Belleville (2003, 31.5)
Tokyo Godfathers (2003, 6)
The Incredibles (2004, 30.9)
Corpse Bride (2005, 6.1)
Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005, 31.3)
Paprika (2006, 12.7)
Ratatouille (2007, 29.1)
Persepolis (2007, 31.7)
Sita Sings the Blues (2008, 11.6)
Waltz With Bashir (2008, 23.2)
Kung Fu Panda (2008, 9.4)
WALL-E (2008, 32.5)
Coraline (2009, 22)
The Secret of Kells (2009, 5.7)
Mary and Max (2009, 10)
Up (3009, 31.4)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009, 29.5)
The Princess and the Frog (20069, 2.5*)
How to Train Your Dragon (2010, 16.5)
The Illusionist (2010, 11.9)
Toy Story 3 (2010, 31.4)
Chico & Rita (2010, 6.7)
Tangled (2010, 7.6)
Rango (2011, 9.5)
Paranorman (2012, 6)
Wreck-It Ralph (2012, 13)
Consuming Spirits (2012, 9.2)
Ernest and Celestine (2012, 10.7)
The Wind Rises (2013, 7.6)
Frozen (2013, 12)
The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013, 9.6)
The LEGO Movie (2014, 21.6)
It's Such a Beautiful Day (2014, 24.8)
Shaun The Sheep Movie (2015, 5.7)
Inside Out (2015, 19.3)
Anomalisa (2015, 14.9)
Zootopia (2016, 10.1)
Your Name. (2016, 8.3)
Coco (2017, 12.2)
The Breadwinner (2017, 3.1*)
If you feel like buying any of these films, please consider using this link. I'll get a few pennies if you do, to help me buy all the films I don't already own. Thanks!
