Best of the 2010s Roundup

And I’m back again! Ha-ha.

Here are my top movies and films of the decade. I tried my best to pick one for every year, but the fact of the matter is…some years just had better animation than others.

BEST ANIMATED MOVIES OF THE DECADE.

 

1. Klaus (2019)

 

 Explained here.

 

2. Spider-Man: Into the SpiderVerse (2018)

 

Do I even need to go into the reasons why this film is amazing? 

Unique animation, amazing soundtrack, interesting characters and a nice plot with the perfect balance of lore references to please die-hard fans without alienating other viewers.

And it’s a great way to introduce Miles Morales to a wider audience. 

3. The Captain Underpants Movie (2017)

The movie perfected George and Harold’s characters, so they were mischievous without being annoying brats and made Mr. Krupp a sympathetic and well-rounded character.

It incorporated all the best things from the books and I loved how they kept the stylization of the characters.

4. My Life as a Zucchini (2016)

I maintain my opinion that this movie has one of the best English-dubs I’ve ever heard. The voices suit the characters perfectly.

But this is a very interesting story that turns a lot of the expected tropes on their head and in a good way. It’s just a very quiet story about love and family.

5. Inside Out (2015)

I think this film just has a really great understanding of what it’s like to be 11. It’s an awkward age and big changes don’t help the matter.

Yeah. I was all over this film when it first came out. While the emotions have personalities thing has been done before, I really like how it’s done with Inside Out. And Riley is 11, which is a really vulnerable awkward age.

I also think it does a good job of showing how depression is more “not feeling anything” than it is feeling sad 24/7.

6. Song of the Sea (2014)

I love this film so much. 

It has a unique, distinct and just beautiful art style that is just brimming with emotion.

7. Frozen (2013)

If I had seen The Wind Rises, I’d probably rank that the best film but I haven’t so the title goes to Frozen.

As much as my opinion of the movie has downgraded over the years, I think it’s still a pretty decent film. When it was made, it was revolutionary but I don’t think Disney is planning to move on from that.

There are a lot of reasons to like it.

8. ParaNorman (2012)

Laika is very good when it comes to this dark kind of surrealist fantasy. This film borders on the line of horror and I love the fact that it’s an original story. It’s just lovely.

And I can’t imagine the kind of work that goes into a film like this. It looks so alive,

9. Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)

Normally, I don’t like sequels. I find the second movie in a trilogy is always kind of downgrade.

But not this one. It isn’t just a resting beat between two films. The studio worked really hard to bring an interesting, powerful villain to the screen and sets up the final film nicely.

10. Toy Story 3 (2010)

It was really hard to pick which film as the winner for 2010. 

This the perfect conclusion to the Toy Story saga. Everyone’s stories are wrapped up nicely and it’s a great send off for the characters.

I’m so glad that Pixar recognizes that the story is finished and has no plans to expand on it.

Best Cartoons of the Decade.

 

1. Infinity Train (2019)

 

It was hard to pick my favorite show for this year, but I picked Infinity Train simply because of the premise and creativity that went into and how promising the next season looks.

2. Zombieland Saga (2018)

This is such a unique, extreme premise that could have easily gone wrong. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a show designed to be a marketing tool.

And I’m psyched there’s going to be a sequel.

3. Aggretsuko   (2018)

This is my go-to show. 

Short episodes. Great characters. And it’s one of the few anime where I actually prefer the dub over the sub. 

I never have to pay too much attention to it if I don’t want to and I can relate to a lot of Retsuko’s issues. It helps me feel less alone.

4. Samurai Jack (2017)

This final season of Samurai Jack was really great. Except for the finale. 

But, I think in general the final season was really creative and interesting.

It was great to see Aku again and there was just enough call-back to the previous seasons to feel like fan service but not too much that it overpowered everything.

5. BoJack Horseman (2014)

I’ve written about this show a lot. And for good reason, it’s really creative and interesting. I can’t believe it’s ending and I hope the characters end up in a good place or at least a satisfying one.

 

6. Over the Garden Wall (2014)

 

Yeah. I can never praise this show too much. When I first saw it, I thought it was great and interesting and now I recognize it as genre-defining. It’s a mini-series with a real plot and character development, based on an original concept.

It’s not short because the source material was too thin, but because it’s what the creator wanted. And you can never analyze it too deeply. There’s always something new to explore.

7. Steven Universe (2013)

For all the crap I give this show, I do think it’s one of the best shows of the decade. I criticize it hard because I know the crew is capable of some good stuff. It has a really interesting mythology and Earth, and there’s so much potential that they’ve just kind of left unexplored.

8. Gravity Falls (2012)

I’ll never be happy that I only started getting into this show when it was ending.

I missed out on all the hype and had most of the mysteries spoiled but it was still really enjoyable. The setting was interesting and I loved Bill as an antagonist. I also have mad respect for Alex Hirsch for ending the show on his terms and giving us one of the best finales of the decade.

9. Bob’s Burgers  (2011)

I find this series to be very enjoyable. It doesn’t rely on political, sexual or gross-out humor to entertain. Though their personalities are very exaggerated, it’s not too hard to think there’s probably a family like them out there.

And I like how the show skates its way between more realistic episodes and more fanciful ones. It has good original music and I like the “clip” episodes they have in each season where the different kids tell their stories.

10.  Sym-Bionic Titan (2010)

I hadn’t seen this series until it came up on Netflix recently. I watched the entire thing in like 3 days and I have never been so pissed that a show has been cancelled in my life.

I’ll be writing a full review soon, so I’ll go into more detail there.