Animation has evolved slowly, as well as in visible leaps in bounds, like any genre or medium in filmmaking — with a handful of groundbreaking movies that changed animation forever. However, some of these movies weren’t fully appreciated in their time, despite their proving that things could be done differently. While some of the most famous animated movies ever were widely recognized and awarded upon release, others didn’t quite land when they were well ahead of their time.
Some hyper-stylized animated movies show the artistic potential that has long gone untapped, while others weren’t met with an overwhelming reception when they deal with mature subject matter still gradually making its way into the medium. However, with Flow‘s Oscar win ending Disney’s dominance and the advent of the best adult animated shows, it is safe to say that animation is having a moment in entertainment history. Some animated movies that were ahead of their time will now be reflected upon, in how they helped get us here.
10
Fantasia (1940)
Disney Continued To Play With The Nature Of Cartoons
Fantasia
- Release Date
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November 13, 1940
With a sequence of releases in the late 1930s and early 1940s, Walt Disney and his team proved they would pull no punches when it came to producing animated movies unlike anything anyone had ever seen before. The notion of a feature-length animated picture is not so shocking today, but we can still, to some degree, understand how the nature of Fantasia is inherently experimental. Perhaps Fantasia can be seen as simply a string of classic cartoons pulled together into a movie, but it is greater than the sum of its parts.
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Disney reportedly told his team (via Smithsonian Magazine): “We’ve got more in this medium than making people laugh.” And so, after extending the length of a story told through animation, Disney reversed it with a collection of shorts, but ones accompanied by lofty classical music that dealt with weightier themes, such as the mediation on power and ambition as seen in the iconic “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” Fantasia flopped, demonstrating the marketing problems with this take, especially then; it then got an update in 2000 and is considered a Disney staple.
9
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (2018)
The Movie To Kickstart Stylized 3D Animation
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse gave us a refreshing story of believing in oneself, complex families and friendships, and responsibility, making for one of the best superhero movies separate from the big cinematic universes, that avoids everything causing superhero fatigue. A great cast including Mahershala Ali, Kathryn Hahn, Nicolas Cage, and John Mulaney makes every character vibrant, either delightfully cartoonish or perfectly grounded. However, where Into the Spider-Verse was really ahead was in the animation.
The movie is simply gorgeous, capturing movement and details in the animation that doesn’t prioritize realism, and blends artistic styles to suit each character. It was a safe bet that after this, several more movies would follow that would also move away from typical 3D. Into the Spider-Verse took home an Oscar for its efforts, as it made a huge leap forward, putting miles between it and the movies that came before.
8
Akira (1988)
Western Animation Was Nowhere Close To Making Anything Like This
While the major studios built up their repertoires in Hollywood, Japanese animation was doing something completely different. Akira and Spirited Away are both credited with helping to bring anime into the Western cultural zeitgeist, achieving ground in this regard a decade apart. In the case of Akira, the anime movie showed off new animation techniques and an R-rated story that was practically unthinkable for Hollywood producers.
Akira
- Release Date
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July 16, 1988
It would take the Western entertainment industry a long time to start backing adult-targeted animated films and even longer for them to get their due recognition, illustrating how far ahead Akira‘s success was. Movies inspired by Akira include everything from The Matrix to Ghost in the Shell, owing to its new cyberpunk backdrop, among other things. The Akira slide is also seen practically everywhere in pop culture, showing how this movie’s influence is far-reaching.
7
Toy Story (1995)
Pixar Changed The Animation Game With Woody & Buzz
Toy Story, of course, shattered the animation industry by debuting 3D computer animation in a feature-length format. It’s still one of Pixar’s best movies, as it leverages the lives of anthropomorphic toys to meditate on the symbols of childhood and the realities of growing up. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen shine as a cowboy doll and astronaut action figure, becoming one of the best duos in movie history. Additionally, while today, the original Toy Story‘s animation appears dated, it was mind-blowing in its time.
Toy Story
10/10
- Release Date
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October 30, 1995
Quickly, every other company in Hollywood began scrambling to catch up in the late 1990s. Within a couple of decades, the medium Pixar pioneered would become the norm, and it would be many more years before anyone truly experimented with the style they had created. Toy Story‘s status at the Oscars also shows that it was ahead of its time — there was no Best Animated Feature award yet, forcing the Academy to give them an honorary award when they couldn’t ignore what had just happened in entertainment history.
6
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
The (Then) Underappreciated Beauty Of Tim Burton’s Imaginings
It’s well-documented that Tim Burton struggled to get some of his creepy visions off the ground when working as a young animator at Disney, eventually resulting in him being let go. Disney revisited the idea for The Nightmare Before Christmas after Burton became famous for other projects, and his collaborator Henry Selick took over as director. Even then, The Nightmare Before Christmas had a quiet release back in 1993, with no immediate indications that it would become the deeply beloved cult classic it is today.
Eventually, the world caught up with the elements of the movie that the industry wasn’t ready for at the time. The gothic, macabre, and very imaginative worlds of Burton became a fan-favorite aesthetic, with characters like Jack and Sally only growing more relatable with time. The Nightmare Before Christmas was also far ahead of stop-motion’s place in pop culture at the time, as it is still a very demanding and tedious process if one is doing it per the traditional technique rather than computer animation.
5
Happy Feet (2006)
George Miller Threw Us A Curveball On Environmental Concerns
Happy Feet
- Release Date
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November 16, 2006
Brought to us by the director of the Mad Max franchise, Happy Feet did win Best Animated Feature over a strong Pixar offering (Cars), but still was and is one of the most bizarre concepts that hits very hard in its messaging. Amid a primary narrative about an emperor penguin who is an outcast because he can’t sing the classic rock covers all the other penguins deliver — but is a naturally talented tap dancer — Miller delves into environmental exploitation with a similar approach to flow, from the perspective of animals who don’t fully understand why their home is being ravaged.
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Happy Feet carefully balances its morbid narration and darker moments of revelation with essentially being a very wacky and upbeat jukebox musical. The weirdest blend of genres and settings possible hadn’t been seen in animation before and mostly hasn’t been seen since (except for in this movie’s own sequel). Somewhat amazingly, this movie still got its due recognition when it first came out.
4
Grave Of The Fireflies (1988)
Studio Ghibli’s Flagship War Epic
Notably, Grave of the Fireflies is an earlier release from Studio Ghibli, which moved into more family-friendly stories for decades before circling back around to the World War II setting with The Boy and the Heron in 2023. Grave of the Fireflies saw decent profits when it was first released, and the critics had nothing bad to say about it. However, it perhaps wasn’t the wave-making phenomenon it could have been because of when it came out.
Again, animated movies not targeted at children were a long way off in Hollywood. Akira made strides that same year, but Grave of the Fireflies also isn’t really Studio Ghibli’s best film and therefore had a lesser influence. Yet the tragic war movie now stands out as one of the greatest of several genres, after boldly setting out to tell such a story through animation.
3
Paprika (2006)
A Fever Dream Of An Animated Movie
Like several similar titles, Paprika is a psychedelic animated movie that hit theaters long before animation for the sake of stunning visuals was fully appreciated. There’s also something to be said about the timeliness of the story being off when Paprika is very similar in premise to Inception but arrived four years earlier with nowhere near the same reception. However, while it was stylistically and content-wise too early, Paprika is a sensational anime.
Paprika
- Release Date
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November 25, 2006
- Runtime
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90 Minutes
- Director
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Satoshi Kon
A doctor who infiltrates her patients’ dreams to treat them is sent on a mission to find a more harmful intruder, spiraling into reality-bending scenery — also very much like Inception. However, Paprika proves that such an idea can get so much more out of the non-realism of animation. The movie is a sensory overload that didn’t even get a nomination from the Academy.
2
Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937)
The Disney Movie That Made All Animated Movies Possible
At the time, Disney setting out to make a feature-length animated movie was ludicrous. Animation was for cartoons; cheaper, child-friendly entertainment to show before the real movie. But there was a vision behind the Walt Disney Company to bring more fantastical stories to the world; to show the potential impact of fairy tales on viewers of all ages. And so, Disney and his cohorts took one of the classic fairy tales and turned it into a magical, groundbreaking success.
When we look at Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in comparison to today’s animated movies, it may seem rudimentary, but it succeeded in its time because of the straightforward use of the medium. It tells an engaging, well-paced, and visually stimulating story through animation, which strikes emotional notes of grief and happy endings. Of course, the very format was unheard of; Disney was taking a massive risk with something with absolutely no precedent in the market, and it paid off in spades.
1
The Secret Of Kells (2009)
Would This Have Won Best Animated Feature Today?
There is some comparison between The Secret of Kells’ run at the Oscars and the 2025 Best Animated Feature category. The Secret of Kells lost to Up, with essentially no chance, as Pixar’s offering was also nominated for Best Picture. However, the Cartoon Saloon production exhibits some beautiful animation and an overall meditative world; the film moves at a slower pace to allow audiences to simmer in the setting, and reflect on the meaning of the fictionalized creation of the Book of Kells.
What they are left with is a message of hope and beauty through art and friendship in a cruel world. The Book of Kells was widely acclaimed, but it might have seen different results on the awards circuit today when its more fluid and atmospheric approach has gained more traction with awarding bodies. Many such movies played with ideas and techniques that would truly take off much later in animation; we can now see the clairvoyance of such groundbreaking pictures.
Source: Smithsonian Magazine
