Animated Movie Viability Ranking Thread

Toy Story 3 for S rank, it's extremely rewatchable and impactful and better for more than one viewing, which is the mark of a great animated movie.

Tangled for A+, Despicable Me 1 for A and 2 for A-, Frozen for S
 

Ampharos

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Monsters Inc. - A
The Incredibles - S
The Lion King - S
Cars - B
Cars 2 - D

I haven't seen Frozen OR The Lego Movie yet..................................
 
About The Lego Movie... I haven't seen it, quite frankly I could not believe the rave reviews when I first heard them, I assumed it was some kind of conspiratorial joke at first. I mean, come on, it's "The Lego Movie". Does that sound like it's going to try to have artistic merit, or to sell plastic blocks to kids?
 

GatoDelFuego

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About The Lego Movie... I haven't seen it, quite frankly I could not believe the rave reviews when I first heard them, I assumed it was some kind of conspiratorial joke at first. I mean, come on, it's "The Lego Movie". Does that sound like it's going to try to have artistic merit, or to sell plastic blocks to kids?
It's seriously enjoyable. The "funny jokes" aren't funny at all (as you'd expect out of a "family" movie), but it's just a good film.
 

New World Order

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Bleh, I've watched so many Animated movies I don't even remember exactly what happened in all of them and probably can't even list all the ones I've watched. So this is based off what my initial impressions were at the time and what I remember from them.
Disney Pixar:
Toy Story: S
A Bug's Life: A
Toy Story 2: A+
Monsters Inc: A
Finding Nemo: S+, seriously I can watch this 5 times in a week and not get tired of it
The Incredibles A+
Cars: B
Wall-E: S
Up: S
Toy Story 3: S
Brave: B+
Monster's University: B+

Disney Animation Studios:
Snow White: B+
Pinocchio: B
Bambi: A-
Cinderella: A
Peter Pan: B+
101 Dalmatians: B
The Little Mermaid: A+
Beauty and the Beast: S
Aladdin: A+
The Lion King: S
Pocahontas: C
Hercules: B+
Mulan: A-
Bolt: B+
Wreck It Ralph: S
Frozen: S

Dreamworks:
Chicken Run: B
Shrek: A-
Shrek 2: B
Shark Tale: C+
Madagascar: B+
Flushed Away: B
Shrek 3: C
Bee Movie: F, this is the only animated movie I've ever seen that I can definitively say never waste a second of your life on it
Kung Fu Panda: A
Madagascar 2: B
Monsters vs Aliens: B+
How to Train Your Dragon: A+
Shrek Forever After: C
Megamind: A-
Kung Fu Panda 2: B+
Madagascar 3: C

Warner Bros Animation:
Osmosis Jones: C
The Lego Movie: A

Universal Studios:
Despicable Me: A
Despicable Me 2: A-

Blue Sky Studios:
Ice Age: A
Ice Age 2: B
Ice Age 3: A-
Ice Age 4: B-
Rio: B

Studio Ghibli:
My Neighbor Totoro: S
Princess Mononoke: S
Spirited Away: A-, didn't really find the story to be as inspirational as people say, may have went in with too high expectations

I'll put in others when I see them mentioned in thread, but basically Pixar is in a class of it's own (haven't watched much of Studio Ghibli's stuff)
 
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Ice Age 4 was pretty mediocre. Watched it on a date, probably C+ ranking at best. There's honestly not that much interesting about it, it's rather predictable and not terribly funny. The romance between Peaches and Louis is... incredibly awkward to me, to say the least, and Scrat's bit of fucking up no matter what he does is getting a bit old at this point.

that said it does hold sentimental value to me due to my seeing it on my second date arughhhhh

I really liked the sequel to the Lion King, though. Lion King II was actually pretty fresh in my mind, and it was cool to go back to the Pride Lands and to see how everything had changed, as well as the negative consequences of Scar's death and that Simba is not in fact a perfect leader. I love how Zira's also a conniving bitch; it's cool to see a female antagonist that you could actually hate/wasn't just being "used" or something [well, she was kinda used, but she was still supreme queen bitch even after Scar's death]
B+, maybe higher?


Also, her expression in the final deleted scene is totally chilling. Wow. I can understand why they didn't keep it, Jesus Christ.
 

UncleSam

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Holy fuck reserve S rank for things that really deserve it, at least half of the recommendations made thus far are "X random movie that I love for S rank".

Frozen I love and have seen at least five times in full but it is not one of the best movies I have ever seen or even in the top ten; I would put it in the "A" tier (which btw should mean an incredible recommendation except that everyone else is grade-inflating so massively).

In no particular order:

Beauty and the Beast: B+. Very strong, memorable movie with one real shortcoming: it's villain (Gaston) is at best an average Disney villain, and doesn't hold a candle to the likes of Scar or Frollo.
The Little Mermaid: B. Personally, I always found this movie to be very drawn-out and boring for long periods. Some of the songs in it are among Disney's best, however, and much of the supporting cast is top-tier.
The Incredibles: A. A movie I could watch over and over again and never get bored, it suffers a bit from Death Star/Stormtrooper syndrome (heh get it) in that there is an overwhelming arsenal of weapons and personal at the disposal of the villain that never really amounts to anything.
Frozen: A. The best animated movie in a decade (since The Incredibles, in my opinion), and also possibly the most unique Disney movie ever. The music is like something from an S ranked film and the characters/plot are both compelling and powerful. The reason I do not give this a higher rating is that I did not at all buy into Anna's character until at least half way through the movie, and felt that her (small spoiler alert) 'fight' with her sister in front of everyone at the coronation after party was very forced in terms of moving the plot along; I feel that with a royal upbringing the various attendants who presumably helped raise her (not to mention her parents before their death) would have ensured she had a better understanding of her duties, as Elsa did. A small quibble but considering the entire plot hinges on this point and that Anna is the main character and I found her the least compelling of any major character in the movie, I feel it is not too much of a stretch.
Aladdin: A-. In the same vein as Beauty and the Beast, it has a fantastic score and supporting cast, with the difference being that Jafar is in my opinion a stronger villain than Gaston, and that Robin Williams as the Genie outstrips any of the characters in Beauty and the Beast in terms of sheer screen presence (in terms of personality; there's really no beating the Beast in terms of screen presence physically :O)
Pochahantas: C-. My god there are so many problems with this movie...I didn't feel much of a connection with any of the characters or anything they were doing, and the villain I literally cannot even recall the name of (Governor something I think, idk he was fat and greedy or something). Manages to avoid a complete fail because if this movie didn't exist than Colors of the Wind would also not exist, and that song is one of my personal top five favorites in any Disney movie.
Tangled: C-. Am I going to be the only one to say it? Tangled was a bad movie. The premise was preposterous, the characters were caricatures of more interesting characters of past Disney movies, Flynn Rider couldn't figure out whether he was a hero, villain, or thief with a heart of gold (at least Aladdin stayed consistent the entire time), and apart from one very powerful scene near the very end of the movie when (spoilers) Rider 'dies' (a scene which lifts this movie just out of failing), they somehow manage to fuck that up too by randomly making her tears heal things as well in order to get a happy ending. This movie would've actually gotten a B- (I kid not) if it had kept him dead, because at least then it would've done SOMETHING original or thought-provoking. Her relationship with her kidnapper/fostermother the witch is a pale imitation of the relationship shared by Frollo and the Hunchback in Notre Dame, and one I never bought whatsoever. Last point: the 'scene' in which she tries to stuff Flynn's unconscious body into a wardrobe is one of the worst scenes I have seen in any film, ever.
Finding Nemo: B. Yes it is an engaging story, but honestly there wasn't anything that stood out to me. I cared about the father, the opening scene was a heart-wrencher, and I was never bored but...it just doesn't quite rise to the level of many of the aforementioned movies (again, with the exception of the opening scene).
Cars: B-. The Pixar movie everyone hated on until Pixar started making bad movies with regularity...I bought the weird as hell premise (ie that everyone is a car) and I bought the main character's development (though I found him incredibly annoying to start...I guess that's sort of the point though?). Lack of much of an interesting villain (I cannot recall the rival car's name even or one line he had) or much tension at all throughout the movie made it run a little dry at times, and, again, there was no single 'great' scene in it.
Toy Story: A+. A classic, open and shut. The entire main cast is memorable, the dialogue is witty and engaging, and the difficulties facing them are incredibly hazardous for toys (and I really cared what happened). Not my absolute favorite because while Sid is malicious and serves his purpose perfectly well, there is no real evil 'force' at work; the only evil forces are Sid's whims, which isn't as engaging as a story with a truly dangerous enemy.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame: C+. Poor Claude Frollo...possibly the best, most realistic, and consequently most disturbing villain in a main stream animated movie, and he gets stuck in this hodgepodge of a 'retelling' of a classic that tries to avoid most or all of the powerful themes that the novel it purports to be based on explores. Disney punts on taking on religion, punts on any serious dealings with the perversity of human nature in either Frollo or the Hunchback, and instead makes it a cut-and-dried 'racism against the gypsies' tale where the most attractive male in the story ends up with the most attractive female in the story and the villain pays for his misdeeds while everyone else gets a happy ending. I don't even bother to say spoiler alert for this one because it was so goddamned predictable. Still, 'Hellfire' is another on the top five list of Disney songs, and many of the scenes between Frollo and the Hunchback are incredibly compelling.
Tarzan: C+. I didn't find Phil Collins' soundtrack all that memorable (although I'm aware I'm in the minority on that count), and I didn't think any of the characters were all that interesting. Nevertheless, it is an engaging tale and one I wasn't ever finding myself questioning, so I guess it is as 'meh' as it comes for me (and yes, 'meh' should be a high C, at best).
Mulan: B-. Let's get this out of the way first: 'I'll Make a Man Out of You' is another song on my top five list. And, yes, Mulan is a compelling character who deals with a difficult, realistic situation as well as she can, and grows from it. However, the villainous forces are so bland (the Huns are just this raw destructive force that don't even speak as far as I can remember, though that one super muscular guy seems to be at least cognizant of his surroundings, while that annoying fucker who demands Mulan be executed when it's discovered she is a woman is such a forced 'let's introduce sexism as a theme into this movie' character...) and the ending is so mundane that it's hard not to think of this movie in very black and white terms. The opening is amazing, it has one of the best songs of any movie, and the avalanche scene will stick with me forever, but much of the rest of it is just so bad that it's hard for me to call it a 'good' movie so much as a missed opportunity.
Toy Story 2: B. The worst of the Toy Story movies by far, as well as easily the most preposterous. It is still a compelling story that I cared about the entire way, and I still for some reason remember the ending in the airport vividly even though honestly it's not a very strong ending, but as weird as it sounds, I miss Sid in comparison to fat sheriff and that slimeball collector. The supporting cast remains excellent, though there is less for them to do in this movie than in either of the installments before or after.
Toy Story 3: A-. The funniest of the three (for the first half), it requires a bit of a leap to get them to the school but once there, it feels almost like something out of "One Flew Over a Cuckoo's Nest". That feeling of being trapped comes out so well in this movie, and fuck that teddy bear. The ending was really sappy and drawn-out, and there I felt as though Tom Hanks sorta phoned it in on this one, as did the writers who wrote Woody's lines...he just felt uninspired in comparison to either of the first two.

And obviously, the one I've been purposefully saving for last:
The Lion King: S. This is the best Disney movie ever, and my personal favorite animated film ever. The intro sequence is one of the best sequences in any movie across any format. Scar is a Shakespearean-esque villain. Timon and Pumba are the best comic relief characters in any animated movie because they are real and are not just there to elicit laughter. The entire supporting cast is memorable. The music is as complete as it is in any Disney movie, as 'The Circle of Life', 'Hakuna Matata', 'I Just Can't Wait to be King', 'Be Prepared', and 'Can You Feel the Love Tonight' would all be the best song in almost any other Disney movie. The only small regret I have is that 'He Lives in You' was not written until after this was released (for the Broadway musical, which I highly recommend to anyone with the chance to go), and so was relegated to the opening credits of 'The Lion King 2', a movie I have not seen in full nor ever plan on seeing lest my impression of the first be tainted. I've occasionally wanted to re-watch other movies more (Frozen most recently), but in the long run if there is any animated movie that will stand the test of time, I am confident it will be The Lion King.

Finally, my choices for five best songs:
1. Circle of Life ('The Lion King')
2. Hellfire ('The Hunchback of Notre Dame')
3. Let It Go ('Frozen')
4. I'll Make a Man Out of You ('Mulan')
5. Colors of the Wind ('Pochahantas')

Honorable mentions: 'Tale as Old as Time' ('Beauty and the Beast'), 'Hakuna Matata' ('The Lion King'), 'A Whole New World' ('Aladdin')
 
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Alice

The worst taste in music
Shame on you for neglecting Ratatouille, which is clearly S+ tier.
I also support Toy Story 3 for S tier
 

Alice

The worst taste in music
And if it counts (well you already listed chicken run), Fantastic Mr. Fox is S tier, and Coraline is A tier
 

verbatim

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Man, Coraline was great (I'd call A for the level of originality that went into the world design). I've never really been able to verbalize why I love it so much, but if I had to try I'd call How to Train Your Dragon an S for its styling and character arcs. Not sure how I feel about the upcoming sequel.
 
Happy Feet was on tonight, I'm gonna give it a solid D+.
Also Space Jam is animated enough, and it also is beyond-elder god tier.
 
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UncleSam

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Saying that Scar is a "Shakespearean-esque villain" is a bit of an understatement considering that The Lion King is literally "Hamlet But With Lions"
I honestly have no idea why people spout this misconception so regularly.

Hamlet is a tragedy that concerns a prince who takes vengeance on his uncle who has murdered his father, the previous king, and taken up with his mother the queen. Literally none of those things happen in The Lion King except that his uncle kills his father, the king, and succeeds him. Simba is not out for revenge (he doesn't kill Scar), Simba's mother is not part of the conspiracy nor does she fuck Scar, The Lion King is not a tragedy, and Hamlet never goes into exile. Scar is a Shakespearean-esque villain because he is eloquent, compelling, and manipulative.

There are similarities between the two, yes, but it is literally impossible for me to bring up The Lion King without someone being like 'well it's really just Hamlet' and the differences between the two are just way too vast for anyone to say that reasonably (unfortunately, so many people say it that it has become a 'common knowledge' thing which really just means that no one thinks about saying it when if they did they would realize it wasn't the case).
 
Nominating Spirited Away for S-Rank
One of the best animated movies ever seen, Spirited Away should be S-rank - from Miyazaki's story-telling to the simple but lovable characters, Spirited Away is in every essence an S-Rank animated movie film.
 
^Agreed, but I'm requesting a crackdown on Miyazaki snobbery. I tend to find that any negative word said about his films is immediately countered by accusations of philistinism from his fanboys. While Spirited Away is a masterpiece (there's a reason it's the only hand-drawn film to win the Best Animated Picture Oscar), I personally found Ponyo requiring too much suspension of disbelief to buy into, and it was B rank at best.

(By the way I'm not someone who has seen every Miyazaki movie; I don't know if that affects my opinion.)

EDIT: Alice I've only seen half of Fantastic Mr Fox, and I've only seen half because I got bored by it. Something pretty spectacular must happen in the half to turn it around and earn it a S rank. I think the problem for me was that it was too busy trying to be clever rather than entertaining. This is a bad enough problem at the best of times, but in a family film? I can't imagine that any kids would sit through this.
 
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Celever

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Toy Story - S

A Bug’s Life - B

Toy Story 2 - B

Monsters Inc - S

Finding Nemo - S

The Incredibles - S

Cars - B

Wall-E - C

Up - S

Toy Story 3 - A

Snow White - A

Pinocchio - B

Bambi - S

Cinderella - B

Peter Pan - A

101 Dalmatians - C

The Little Mermaid - C

Aladdin - S

The Lion King - A

Pocahontas - C

Hercules - D

Chicken Run - S

Shrek - A

Shrek 2 - A

Shrek 3 - D

Shrek 4 - E

Shark Tale - B

Madagascar - A

Flushed Away - A

Bee Movie - C

Kung Fu Panda - A

Kung Fu Panda 2 - D

Madagascar 2 - C

Monsters vs Aliens - B

Megamind - A

The Lego Movie - S

Despicable Me - A

Ice Age - A

Ice Age 2 - A

Ice Age 3 - C

Ice Age 4 - E

Spirited Away - B

Dumbo - S

Antz - A

Ratatouille - C

Alice In Wonderland - B

The Sword in the Stone - B

The Lady and the Tramp - C

The Hunchback of NotreDame - C

Sleeping Beauty - A

The Jungle Book - S

The Jungle Book 2 - E

The Aristocats - S

The Polar Express - S

Robin Hood - A

The Fox and the Hound - B

DuckTales the Movie: The Treasure of the Lost Lamp - B

The Triplets of Belleville - S

Tarzan - C

Dinosaur - A

The Emperor’s New Groove - A

Lilo and Stitch - C

Chicken Little - C

The Nightmare Before Christmas - A

Disney’s A Christmas Carol - B

Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas - B

Wallace and Gromit - The Curse of the Were-Rabbit - A

Over the Hedge - B

Open Season - A

Open Season 2 - D

Fantasia 2000 - S

The Iron Giant - A

Fantastic Mr.Fox - C

The Simpsons Movie - A

Rango - D

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - A

Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride - B

Dr Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who - B

The Adventures of TinTin - B

Happy Feet - E

Monster House - A

The Lorax - E

Curious George - B

An American Tail: Fievel goes West - B

Space Jam - A

Who Framed Roger Rabbit - S
 

Chou Toshio

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So many Gibli films need to be banned to ubers...

I'm sure the Chinese and Koreans want a ban on The Wind Rises (風立ちぬ), Miyazaki's newest master piece (is it on subtitled DVD yet? I saw it in theater in Japan so...), a beautiful animated biography on the life of one of Japan's great airplane engineers... who just happened to live and make planes during WWII... (beautiful movie, as amazing as the political outrage is ridiculous)



One Piece Film: Z => A+
(Probably the only Shonen series movie that belongs in the A rankings...)

The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? => A+
Classic animation, beautiful re-telling of a popular series, and space romance the way Star Wars wishes it could tell it? Oh yeah
 
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If you're including the japs, then End of Evangelion is a certain S-tier simply for the impact that it had on its own medium.
 

Alice

The worst taste in music
noobcubed: I never felt what you said, in fact I felt totally the opposite: I saw it on a day I was quite bored and just wanted to chill out, I didn't plan to put too much attention but not only I was stuck to the screen the whole time, I enjoyed it so much I ran to buy it the same day (and I have bought no more than 30 movies in all my life, so go figure).

Also it seems I disagree with most users here; i found the incredibles pretty meh, C+/B- at best.

And about jap movies:

Kotonoha no Niwa: A
Madoka Magica Rebellion: A
Ano hana the movie: A
And finally, Kumo no mukou, yakusoku no basho: SSS+
 

Soul Fly

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Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke and The Wind Rises for Insta S-Rank f we're doing JP
 
just watched grave of the fireflies for the first time and i give it a D- for being one of the most powerfully effective and gut-wrenching films i've ever seen in my life, throwing me into a period of depression and general brokenness for the entirety of the last two hours
 

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