Top 5 Best & Worst Animated Films of 2021

In a year where we summon the last dragon, rise against the machines, do some family business, go on some road trips, save a miracle and sing with a legend, who will be amongst the best and the worst of 2021?
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PATREON

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#Animation #AniMat #2021

[MysticMindAnalysis]

Encanto was such a beautiful ride, I can't say I'd blame anyone for making it their #1. For me, I thought the Mitchells vs. the Machines was one of few films that really spoke to me, both as an animation lover and an autistic nerd in general. It's a film all about special interests, and it had me grinning ear to ear all the way through. Either way, great list, as always, and I hope to keep up with more animated films in 2022!

[disneyvillainsfan]

I still crack up at how in The Mitchells vs the Machines, the entire world was saved by the dog's weirdness. The robots identify him as a dog, then a pig, then a loaf of bread, and then they all explode in confusion. 😂

[shaundeepak]

I dont get why people call Encanto overrated. It is my favorite animated movie since Coco or the Boss Baby . I loved it way more than Moana.i literally rewatched it 5 times since it came to Disney+.

[Treeeee]

To be honest, Disney's most recent films haven't really impressed me all that much, even their more praised work I found a little overrated, Encanto on the other hand is one of my favorite Disney films in recent years!

[femkev.]

I definitely disagree with Raya being rated above Mitchells and Luca. It was, to me, a good movie filled with wasted potential and poorly executed messages. Don’t get me wrong; I really enjoyed it, but the problems were so distracting. The comedy was awful and deeply anachronistic, the side characters were ultimately pointless and underdeveloped, and the message was a good one that was presented in a really iffy way. Trust is important, yes, but there are times when blindly trusting someone is ABSOLUTELY the wrong idea. There’s a difference between trust and having faith, and I think the message would have been much better if it had focused on having faith in someone to do the right thing rather than trusting them outright.

[jish]

Yeah, I definitely have to give Encanto the best film this year for animation, because it's just that good. What made it the best wasn't even the music or the animation, it was basically how good the characters were, to the point they felt real, and not just characters to root for. I mean hell, the argument between Mirabel and Isabela STILL has to be one of my favorite scenes in all of film this year, because it was so close to when my younger sister and I got into screaming matches that I legit felt what the characters were feeling.

[hunterolaughlin]

I honestly forgot that Spirit Untamed was a Dreamworks animated film that came out this year. That’s how bad it is when I still remember other bad animated films of this year like The Addams Family 2.

As for my thoughts on the upcoming Puss in Boots sequel, while I’m glad you’re optimistic about it, AniMat, I’m more skeptical about it considering it’s going to be coming out 11 years after the original and how everyone views Dreamworks since their purchase by Comcast which might effect its box-office performance. Maybe I could be wrong and there’s a possibility that it could still turn out to be a success, but I just feel like it’s a sequel that’s already going to come out way too late.

Update: It’s been over a year since Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’s release and considering how much of an impact it’s made on the internet with many reviewers, especially Schaffrillas giving it praise, I’m glad I was proven wrong and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish was a success despite the 11 year gap between the first film.

[sarasamaletdin]

Dreamworks has been on the decline for a long time box office wise and can’t say they ever had consistent quality overall. It’s the box office decline since Rise of Guardians (with the major franchises like Kung Fu Panda and Dragons doing well still) that caused their lessened impact on pop culture.

[ReleaseCoyoteVsAcme]

"I'm glad Pixar is returning to theaters", that aged poorly

[analyzgolden]

I legitimately forgot some of those worst movies came out this year. Wow.
I was actually very late in watching Mitchells vs the Machines with my family, a movie I wanted to see but couldn't due to stuff going on with my life this year. We actually saw it a week ago together, and I absolutely LOVED IT
Sony is really pushing animation's boundaries and being more experimental and creative with their stories recently, and I am here for them to keep up this sort of work (instead of just making trash all the time like they used to) Actually, Sony's kind of reminding me of a villain redemption arc with this progress.
Yeah I think Mitchells should have been at least 3 or 2 on your list personally. But I do really love Luca and Encanto as well, as those films have also spoken to me in such great ways, Luca with it's charming story and friendship allegory that feels refreshing from Pixar, and Encanto being such a beautiful musical and family story that from what I've heard from several other critics, has spoken to them in so many different ways, as well as myself.
Yeah, Mitchells, Luca, and Encanto would be my top three personally. I can't wait for the Oscars to not give any of them the Oscar and instead give Best Animated Feature to Raya, which...
I'm very sorry for people who like this film, and I don't hate Raya or anything, but it really offended me personally. Specifically with it's trust message being handled so poorly in my opinion, with little subtlety to it, as well as encouraging kids to trust strangers all the time, and just forgive people who destroy your life. That's not a good message to me. I trusted someone I thought was a friend once, and they tried to crush my artistic dreams and gave me severe trauma, and I regretted not leaving that person sooner so I could be myself. Plus I can't stand the dragon character, sorry not sorry. I think the score of Raya is excellent, and it has potential to be as great of a story as you say it is, but for me, if I were to choose between Raya and Encanto, I would pick Encanto 100%.
PLEASE let's just have Covid die already so we can move on with our lives

[TheImaginator]

I enjoyed watching best animated films of 2021, but I highly consider MCU's "Shang-Chi and The Legend Of The Ten Rings" and the awesome "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" are two of my most favorite movies of 2021!

[alexmillar]

I’ve mostly only seen the top 4 best ones, and while personally I would switch the places of Raya and Luca around (even though I think people give the former movie WAY too much hate and I still really enjoyed it.) At least I can say that those four were definitely brilliant movies and I will gladly look forward to seeing them all over again in the near future.

Next year opinions,

Hotel Transylvania 4 - Even though I thought the first one was okay, I am now getting so sick and tired of this franchise, but at least it’s confirmed to be the last one.

Ice Age: Buck Wild - Me: “I… I thought you were dead!” Ice Age: “My death was greatly exaggerated.” Me: Also sees that it’s about the worst characters from the fifth film… Proceeds to laugh maniacally before slitting my throat.

Luck - Ignoring the fact that this is coming from a certain disgraced former Pixar head, it seems like a decent idea, although I think it would work better as a short instead of a movie.

Turning Red - HEAL YEAH!!!

The Bad Guys - Praying that this will be DreamWorks’ return to form.

DC Superhero Pets - ‘insert everyone face palming clip from Naked Gun 3’

Lightyear - Looks REALLY promising, and we’ll see if we can consider it canon or not to the Toy Story franchise depending on how it goes.

Minions: Rise of Gru - The living definition of hell on Earth for most, but for me who is a fan of Despicable Me and a somewhat Illumination defender… ehh. Hopefully the franchise will rightfully conclude after this so it doesn’t go down the same route as another certain animated franchise.

Wendell and Wild - Henry Selick?! AND it’s still stop motion?! The Return of the King.

Bob’s Burgers and Puss in Boots 2 - Really? Those are still happening? I thought they were WAY in development hell at this point but…. Okay.

Spider-Man Across the Spiderverse Part 1 - THE HYPE IS ON!!! Just don’t immediately expect it to be the best thing ever like with the first film where everyone was already saying it would sweep all the awards and be the next greatest animated film of all time even before it was released. But still… HYPE TRAIN!!!!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules - Jim Carrey Robotnick: “NOBODY CARES!!”

Guillermo del Toro Pinocchio - Love Guillermo but hopefully he can do something different with the story that we haven’t already seen millions of times before and hopefully he doesn’t make the titular character too much of a douche-sack if he’s sticking closer to the book.

Mario Movie - I am begging you Illumination, even if Minions turns out bad, PLEASE make this film somewhat faithful and enjoyable and don’t make me say “Look how they massacred my boy.”

[jamesgeorgi]

1. Encanto: Magical, enchanting, and amazing! Best animated film of the year for me

2. Raya and the Last Dragon: thought provoking and action packed

3. The Mitchels vs. the Machines: unique, funny, fast paced, and entertaining

4. Luca: charming, relaxing, and colorful

5. Vivo: really fun adventure with great songs

[WillieManga]

This year's good films really go to show just how amazing animation can be as a medium. Even Sony has been breaking away from making it look more like a genre exclusive to the younger demographic lately and I hope they stick to that. Hell, as much as I love Raya, I think The Mitchells is my personal favorite.

[peytonmichael]

Here are my thoughts on the upcoming 2022 animation releases:

Belle (it's being released here in the US in January, so I'm counting it in the 2022 lineup) - This looks amazing.

Hotel Transylvania: Transformania - I hope this will be the last one because as someone that liked the first two movies, even I am tired of this franchise.

The Ice Age Adventures Of Buck Wild - Hasn't there been enough damage done to the reputation of this franchise after the release of Continental Drift and Collision Course? I know Blue Sky is not responsible for this one since they have unfortunately shut down (which is a bummer because I did enjoy some of their work when they weren't making Ice Age sequels), but still, can this franchise just die already?!

Luck - I don't know enough information about it to really form an opinion, so we'll have to wait and see.

Turning Red - This looks cute. Sure, it may seem like a simple plot conceptually, but if Pixar has taught us anything with Luca, it's that sometimes a simple story is really all you need.

The Bad Guys - Not going to lie, the plot sounds pretty generic, but the animation looks amazing and it does look like it could be a fun watch, so I'll keep an open mind.

DC League Of Super Pets - The animation is good, but it doesn't look like it's going to offer much outside of that.

Bob's Burgers: The Movie - I've never watched any of the episodes, so we'll see.

Lightyear - As a Toy Story fan, you better believe I'm hyped for this!

Minions: Rise Of Gru - The wait had better be worth it if you're going to release it this year.

Wendell And Wild - Sweet! A brand new stop-motion movie!

Puss In Boots 2: The Last Wish - I was wondering when this was going to come out. I want to see this.

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse: Part One: I want to see this one too!

Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules - I hated the first one, so I hope this one will be better.

Pinocchio - I love Guillermo del Toro's work (even though I wasn't too big on the Nightmare Alley remake, but that's just me), so I'm curious to see what he'll bring to the table with his take on this.

Strange World - The concept art looks fascinating, and I hope the movie is too. Then again, it is Disney, so I have faith in them to deliver something good with this.

Illumination's Mario Movie - Please don't suck. Please. I was a major fan of the games growing up, and I would hate to see this become another botched video game movie adaptation like the live-action Mario movie.

[Slo]

Thank you for giving Raya the praise it deserves. I do agree, it probably would’ve worked better with NO JOKES, maybe just a serious movie with occasionally sarcastic remarks that don’t get old. But the jokes didn’t ruin it for me. I wish it were longer though because I wanted way more time in kumandra. Also, I don’t see the problem with all of the south East Asian cultures inspiring this movie. People keep on comparing Encanto: Colombia and Luca: Italy/portorosso with having single destinations. Aka real places. But Raya isn’t based on a real place. It’s based in the fantasy world of kumandra. FANTASY. Gosh

[Lauren_]

Out of the big three from your best list, Luca was definitely my favorite from this year. My ranking on those would be:

1. Luca
2. Encanto
3. Raya and the Last Dragon

As for Dreamworks, The Bad Guys definitely looks promising and it might be Dreamwork’s return to form again. I haven’t been excited/invested for a Dreamworks film since HTTYD3 back in 2019. Abominable was also decent to me and I liked it quite a bit. I can’t wait for Turning Red next year and Lightyear should be fun. 😌

[madhatterpatrick]

My thoughts on the upcoming/possible animated films of 2022:
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania - Boring
The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild: I'll stick with Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Luck: I don't use Apple TV+ that much, so I don't plan on seeing it
Turning Red: Looks like fun
The Bad Guys: Finally, an actual original DreamWorks movie!
DC League of Super Pets: Unless Captain Snowball makes a cameo, I'm not interested
The Bob's Burgers Movie: This should be good
Lightyear: Awesome!
Minions: The Rise of Gru - Ok
Wendell and Wild: Cool
Puss in the Boots: The Last Wish - Now, that's a DreamWorks sequel I definitely want to see.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse Part One - The hype is on!
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules: Another one already!?!
Pinocchio (2022 Film): Is it finally going to happen? I'm open to see Guillermo del Toro's version on this fairytale.
Illumination's Mario Movie: Please, don't let this film get a game over.

[shaneaycock]

I think in terms of the best list here, I almost saw everything mentioned! I just have to get Vivo, and we're all set!

Also, with Vivo and Mitchells Vs the Machines, I think Sony's starting to turn themselves around! They've had two great movies this year, and I know they've got potential to deliver more great projects down the line.

But it's the Mitchells V the Machines that shine the most. It's animation really helped bring it to life!

[TECfan]

Lol the most surreal thing to me about America The Motion Picture is that my friend worked as a character artist on it. It was her first big project out of our animation schooling. I got little bits of information about it as far back as a few years ago. I feel bad that her and her team had to face that it was a terrible end product. Luckily she is now working at Warner Bros animation on far better projects.