30 Best Animated Movies for Kids

Picking an animated movie for kids looks easy until you’re 20 minutes into something with great animation and a story that’s putting everyone to sleep. I’ve watched hundreds of family films — some for work, most because there’s always a kid around who needs entertaining — and the difference between a good animated movie and a great one is simple: the great ones respect the audience, whatever its age.

These are the 30 best animated movies for kids, ranked by rewatchability, craft, and that unmeasurable thing: the gasp test. If it makes kids gasp, it makes the list.

Picks by age group

Ages 3–5: Bright, simple, musical. Moana, Finding Nemo, The Bad Guys, Trolls. Short attention spans need big colors and clear heroes.

Ages 6–8: Now they follow plots. Toy Story, Zootopia, How to Train Your Dragon, The Mitchells vs. the Machines. Adventure with jokes.

Ages 9–12: They want stakes. Spider-Verse, Coco, The Wild Robot, Kubo and the Two Strings. Films that don’t talk down.

The 30 best animated movies for kids

1. Toy Story (1995). The one that started it all, and still the best. Woody’s jealousy arc is genuinely sophisticated storytelling. Kids see toys; adults see a midlife crisis.

2. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). The most visually inventive animated film ever made. The “leap of faith” scene gives kids chills and adults goosebumps.

3. Coco (2017). Pixar’s masterpiece about music, memory, and family. The Land of the Dead is gorgeous, and the ending destroys every adult in the room.

4. The Lion King (1994). Shakespeare with lions. The stampede, the songs, the circle of life — the Disney Renaissance peak.

5. Finding Nemo (2003). Pixar’s funniest film. Dory’s “just keep swimming” is a life philosophy, and the shark support group is perfect.

6. The Incredibles (2004). A superhero film that’s really about marriage and midlife. The dinner-table argument plays like every family’s argument, with powers.

7. Shrek (2001). The fairy-tale parody that made DreamWorks matter. Donkey carries the comedy; the onion-carriage scene is iconic.

8. How to Train Your Dragon (2010). The flying sequences are pure joy, and the Hiccup-Toothless friendship is the genre’s best. The score soars.

9. Zootopia (2016). A bunny cop and a con-artist fox. The DMV sloth scene is the funniest three minutes in modern animation.

10. Moana (2016). The ocean as a character, songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and a heroine with real agency. “How Far I’ll Go” is an anthem.

11. Encanto (2021). The Madrigal family musical. “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” broke records, and the generational-trauma theme gives it depth.

12. Inside Out (2015). Emotions as characters, and the most honest film about sadness ever made for kids. Bing Bong’s sacrifice is devastating.

13. The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021). The funniest animated film of the decade. A dysfunctional family vs. the robot apocalypse, with Furby horror.

14. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022). A swashbuckling adventure about mortality — for kids. The Wolf is genuinely scary, the action is thrilling.

15. WALL-E (2008). Nearly dialogue-free for the first act, and completely captivating. The space-dance sequence is pure cinema.

16. Up (2009). The first ten minutes are the most emotional in animation history. The rest is a wonderful adventure with talking dogs.

17. Ratatouille (2007). A rat who cooks in Paris. Ego’s review monologue is the best speech about criticism ever written — in a kids’ film.

18. Kung Fu Panda (2008). Jack Black’s Po is the perfect underdog. The dumpling fight and the “secret ingredient” reveal are wonderful.

19. The Bad Guys (2022). An animated heist comedy with style to spare. Snappy dialogue, a great twist, and the “good” montage.

20. Big Hero 6 (2014). Baymax is the most huggable robot ever designed. The San Fransokyo world-building is gorgeous.

21. Wreck-It Ralph (2012). Video-game villains in therapy. The Sugar Rush world is candy-colored genius, and the twist ending is perfect.

22. Tangled (2010). Rapunzel’s tower escape with the lantern sequence — one of Disney’s most beautiful scenes ever.

23. The Lego Movie (2014). “Everything Is Awesome” hides a genuinely moving story about creativity. The live-action twist recontextualizes everything.

24. Kubo and the Two Strings (2016). Laika’s stop-motion masterpiece. The origami magic and the mother-son story are stunning.

25. The Wild Robot (2024). A robot raises an orphaned gosling. DreamWorks’s most beautiful film, with a story about kindness that earns every tear.

26. Beauty and the Beast (1991). The first animated film nominated for Best Picture. The ballroom scene remains unmatched.

27. Aladdin (1992). Robin Williams’s Genie is the most energetic voice performance ever recorded. “Friend Like Me” is a showstopper.

28. Mulan (1998). The “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” training montage is iconic, and Mulan’s arc is Disney’s strongest.

29. Lilo & Stitch (2002). The weirdest Disney film — a chaotic alien and a grieving Hawaiian family. “Ohana means family” earned its ubiquity.

30. The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023). Pure joy for game-loving kids. The Rainbow Road sequence is a thrill ride, and Jack Black’s Bowser steals it.

Classics vs. new releases

The Disney Renaissance films (Lion King, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast) have songs and sincerity the modern era rarely matches. But the new generation — Spider-Verse, Mitchells, Wild Robot — has visual ambition the old films couldn’t dream of. The honest answer: kids need both. Show them Toy Story and The Wild Robot in the same week and watch which one they quote.

The music in all of these — from “How Far I’ll Go” to the Spider-Verse score — is built with the same care I describe in how music videos are made: image and sound engineered together. And when the credits roll and they’re still buzzing, a puzzle or adventure game channels the energy — see how escape rooms actually work. For the grown-ups’ animation shelf, my ranked list of the best comedy movies ever made has the animated comedies worth your evening.

What kids actually remember

Here’s something years of watching with kids taught me: they don’t remember plots. They remember moments. Ask a kid about Finding Nemo and they’ll describe the sharks, not the story. Ask about Encanto and it’s Bruno’s song, not the family theme. The films on this list are built from memorable moments — set pieces, songs, characters — because that’s how children’s memories work. It’s also why rewatchability matters more than novelty: kids want the same moments again, like a favorite bedtime story. Don’t be surprised when they demand the same film five times in a week. That’s not a failure of your programming — it’s the highest compliment a film can get. The classics on this list earned their status one repeat viewing at a time, in millions of living rooms. The new entries — Wild Robot, Mitchells, Spider-Verse — are earning it right now, in yours.

One more practical note: the “scary” question comes up constantly. Is the Wolf in Puss in Boots too scary? Is the furnace in Toy Story 3 too intense? My rule: kids handle scariness fine when the film earns it and resolves it. The scary parts make the safe parts feel safe — that’s the emotional rhythm of every great kids’ film. What they don’t handle is meanness without purpose, or dread without payoff. Every film on this list keeps the scares in service of the story. Trust the list, and trust your kid — they’ll tell you when it’s too much by hiding behind the couch, which is also, let’s be honest, part of the fun.

And here’s the secret payoff for parents: the films they demand on repeat become the shared language of your family. Years from now, someone will quote a line from Shrek at the dinner table and the whole room will laugh — including the teenager who claims she’s too old for it. That’s what you’re really building with these movie nights. Not entertainment. Memory.

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