The 10 Highest-Rated Best Animated Feature Oscar Winners, According To Letterboxd

In 2001, the Academy Awards added an important new category when they began giving out an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. This set the stage for epic battles between Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Studio Ghibli, and a handful of other places to take home the top prize.

While every film to win the award was well-received and considered among the top movies in their genre, only a few can actually be the best. Using the ratings given out from reviews by the movie buffs at Letterboxd, you can see which Best Animated Feature winner actually has the highest overall average score.

10 Toy Story 3 (2010) – 3.98

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The decision to continue the Toy Story trilogy over a decade after the second installment was a risky one. However, Pixar made the smart move of having Toy Story 3 be about Andy growing up and leaving his toys behind, aging as the original fans had.

The film felt like a perfect ending to a trilogy and wrapped on a highly emotional note, while also being considered on par with those classics. It beat out a smaller than usual field to win the Oscar, overcoming How to Train Your Dragon and The Illusionist.

9 Finding Nemo (2003) – 4.04

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Most people view Disney as the undisputed king when it comes to animation, which is especially true now that Pixar is under their umbrella. So, it’s likely surprising to find out that it took two years before they won this award, losing to Shrek and Spirited Away.

They finally took home the gold with Pixar’s 2003 Finding Nemo. The movie features timeless animation that is gorgeous and a heartwarming story about a father frantically searching for his son. It also introduced an iconic Pixar character in Dory. The film beat Brother Bear and The Triplets of Belleville to win.

8 Soul (2020) – 4.05

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The most recent winner of the coveted prize also came from Pixar and was released straight to Disney+. Soul tells the story of a struggling musician who finally gets his big break, only to have an accident that causes his soul to leave his body and he must bring them back together.

Soul was praised for the depiction of the studio’s first Black lead character, the writing, the animation style, and especially the music. In fact, along with the Best Animated Feature Oscar, it also won the award for Best Original Score. Onward and Over the Moon were among the films it beat.

7 Up (2009) – 4.07

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By the time 2009 rolled around, Pixar was on a pretty incredible streak when it came to putting out high-quality films. Up marked a whole new level of emotion that they could pull out of a viewer, with a completely heartbreaking opening 10 minutes.

The movie centers on an elderly man who goes on an adventure he and his late wife always wanted to embark on, except he must do so with a stowaway kid who he bonds with. Like Soul, it also won Best Original Score. It had stiff competition from the likes of The Princess and the Frog and Fantastic Mr. Fox.

6 The Incredibles (2004) – 4.08

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The early Pixar films put the focus on non-human characters like fish, toys, ants, and monsters. That finally changed with The Incredibles, though these humans had superpowers. Set in a world where heroes were outlawed, the film follows a family of superheroes.

Once again, this was a case of a Best Animated Feature winner being heavily praised for the impressive visuals, a strong screenplay, and top-notch voice acting. The 2018 sequel was a long-awaited blockbuster hit that was nearly as good. This film beat Shrek 2 and Shark Tale for the award.

5 Ratatouille (2007) – 4.13

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In 2006, Cars became the first Pixar movie to not receive sparkling reviews. Reception was still strong but nowhere near what the studio was known for. They turned things back up the following year with Ratatouille, a story about a rat who works with a garbage boy to achieve his dream of being a chef.

While the premise might sound especially strange on paper, the film turned out to be a major hit. In fact, Ratatouille is the most popular movie from 2007 on Letterboxd and one of the highest-rated regardless of genre. It bested Surf’s Up and Persepolis to win.

4 WALL-E (2008) – 4.13

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Pixar took on what is arguably their most daunting task with WALL-E. They looked to tell a story that relied almost entirely on wordless storytelling and it can be difficult to engage audiences, especially young children, without dialogue.

However, WALL-E managed to tell one of the best love stories ever put on screen. The film is about a robot designed to clean up the over-polluted Earth who finds romance with another robot and follows her into space where they help save humanity. Bolt and Kung-Fu Panda are good movies but had no chance against WALL-E.

3 Coco (2017) – 4.18

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One of the most recent releases from Pixar is Coco and it is yet another that tugged on the heartstrings of everyone who watched. It centers on Miguel, a young Mexican boy who wants to be a musician against his family’s wishes and he ends up in the Land of the Dead trying to get permission from his ancestor.

While the visuals and writing were obviously top-notch, it’s the music that put this over the top. “Remember Me” is a tearjerker of a track that earned the film a Best Original Song Oscar alongside Best Animated Feature. It beat out the likes of Loving Vincent and Ferdinand to win.

2 Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (2018) – 4.44

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In a lot of ways, Sony Pictures Animation struggled in its early days as their movies were solid successes commercially but they hadn’t really competed for a Best Animated Feature Oscar. Things turned around for them with Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.

The film focuses on Miles Morales as he gets Spider-Man powers and is joined by Spider-People from other universes in a quest to save everyone. It was heavily praised for its unique comic book animation style, diverse characters, great storytelling, and dynamite soundtrack. Many consider it the best Spider-Man movie ever and it bested Isle of Dogs and Ralph Breaks the Internet for this award.

1 Spirited Away (2001) – 4.47

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The second film to win Best Animated Feature remains the only international movie to do so. Spirited Away is from Studio Ghibli and is arguably the best film ever made by the acclaimed Hayao Miyazaki, who wrote and directed it.

The movie tells the fantastical tale of a young girl who moves to a new neighborhood only to find that her parents are turned into pigs by a witch and she is now surrounded by spirits. Thanks to Miyazaki’s brilliant mind, the odd premise worked perfectly and Spirited Away is considered one of the greatest animated films ever created. It was good enough to beat Monsters Inc. in 2001.

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