The 5 Best (& 5 Worst) Animated Movies From The '90s

Animated movies took perhaps their biggest technological leap in history in the 1990s, as Pixar pioneered computer animation and produced Toy Story, the first ever fully computer-animated movie. Since then, there have been hundreds of computer-animated movies, but very few of them have come close to matching the brilliance of Pixar’s 1995 debut.

Computer animation took a while to catch on, so the ‘90s brought a handful of traditionally animated features in addition to the computer-animated game-changers. The decade brought both undeniable masterpieces and shameful duds.

10
Best: The Iron Giant (1999)

While he would continue to cement his place as one of animation’s greatest writer-directors for years to come with movies like The Incredibles and Ratatouille, Brad Bird’s debut feature The Iron Giant established that immediately.

It’s about a boy befriending a robot that falls from space and trying to save him from being weaponized by the U.S. military. There’s gorgeous animation on the surface and a real exploration of human emotions and social commentary under the surface. The movie features the talent of Jennifer Aniston and Vin Diesel.

9
Worst: Bug Bites: An Ant’s Life (1998)

Pixar made A Bug’s Life, a beautifully designed, emotionally engaging animated movie about the lives of insects. Then, DreamWorks made Antz, a passable rip-off. But there was a second rip-off that was even worse than Antz entitled Bug Bites: An Ant’s Life.

The animation looks like an early animatic as opposed to a finished product, while the character designs are creepier than anything you’ll find in The Exorcist.

8
Best: Ghost In The Shell (1995)

Although its recent live-action remake was both a whitewashed failure of representation and a Hollywoodized slog devoid of meaning, the original anime Ghost in the Shell is a cyberpunk masterpiece. The story of an agent of the law tracing a dangerous hacker explores themes of figuring out your identity in a tech-savvy world.

Visionary sci-fi filmmakers ranging from the Wachowskis to James Cameron were heavily influenced by Ghost in the Shell, while the movie has amassed a cult fan base since initially bombing at the box office.

7
Worst: The King And I (1999)

Adapted from the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical of the same name, 1999’s The King and I is a bad movie in its best moments and pretty racist in its worst moments.

This is the worst kind of kids’ movie – the kind that will leave kids bored and their parents actively irritated. The movie has none of its source material’s charm and the animation is decidedly low-quality.

6
Best: Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm (1993)

At a time when live-action Batman movies were increasingly crushing disappointments, one animated masterpiece came along to assure fans that the Dark Knight’s big-screen adventures could still be salvaged.

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The stylish animation and compelling plot make Batman: Mask of the Phantasm a great movie, while Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill’s voice performances as Batman and the Joker, respectively, are fantastic as always.

5
Worst: Tom And Jerry: The Movie (1992)

There might be a way for the cartoonish charms of Tom and Jerry shorts to transfer to the big screen, but 1992’s Tom and Jerry: The Movie didn’t figure it out. The characters have dialogue – full-fledged conversations – in voices that don’t suit them, and the musical numbers are annoying.

Audiences will be treated to another Tom and Jerry movie next year, a live-action movie in which Chloë Grace Moretz will interact with computer-generated versions of the cat and mouse. That doesn’t sound like it’ll be the new Citizen Kane, but it has to be better than this one.

4
Best: The Lion King (1994)

Drawing from a wide range of influences, particularly Hamlet, The Lion King emerged as one of Disney’s finest accomplishments in ‘toon storytelling in 1994 when it captured the hearts and imaginations of moviegoers all over the world and broke all kinds of box office records in the process.

The story of Simba overcoming the grief he feels over his father’s death and returning to his pride to face up to his responsibilities has universal resonance, while the colorful animation, catchy musical numbers, and lovable supporting characters ensure that there isn’t a dull moment in the whole movie.

3
Worst: A Troll In Central Park (1994)

The voice talents of such greats as Dom DeLuise and Cloris Leachman aren’t enough to save A Troll in Central Park from its mind-numbing story. Don Bluth made a lot of cinematic failures in his time, but this is widely regarded to be the worst of the worst.

With its sickening sentimentality and cheap gags, A Troll in Central Park can only be enjoyed by babies who merely appreciate the sounds and colors. And even then, it’s a stretch.

2
Best: Toy Story (1995)

Toy Story, Buzz Lightyear and Woody
After innovating computer animation and honing it over a couple of shorts, Pixar gave the moviegoing public the first ever fully computer-animated feature film, Toy Story, and to this day, it remains one of the finest computer-animated movies ever made.

The key to the movie’s success is that Pixar didn’t rest on its groundbreaking new animation style; instead, it used that animation as a storytelling tool, exploring universal themes that we can all relate to through a tale of talking toys.

1
Worst: The Legend Of The Titanic (1999)

The first of two horrendous animated movies that desecrate the legacy of the Titanic (the other being 2000’s Titanic: The Legend Goes On), The Legend of the Titanic begins with an old man telling his grandkids the supposedly “true” story of the sinking of the Titanic.

This repulsively animated version of the story involves a giant octopus attack, a handful of inexplicably evil sharks, and a bunch of whalers.
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