The 15 Best Animated Movies According to Real People

Studio Ghibli dominates the top 5. Pixar fills the rest. Here's what everyday audiences think.

Published March 18, 2026 · ThumbScore Editorial

Animation is a genre that bridges generations. A great animated film can make a five-year-old and a fifty-year-old feel the same emotions. But which ones do everyday audiences love the most?

Key finding: Studio Ghibli films hold 5 of the top 15 spots despite having a fraction of the TMDB votes of Pixar/Disney films. When people watch Ghibli films, they overwhelmingly love them.

Spirited Away (2001)

Hayao Miyazaki's universally beloved masterpiece

👍 95%18,061 votes

Your Name. (2016)

Makoto Shinkai's body-swap romance that broke records

👍 95%12,351 votes

Princess Mononoke (1997)

Miyazaki's epic battle between nature and industry

👍 93%8,836 votes

Toy Story 2 (1999)

Pixar proves sequels can surpass originals

👍 92%14,724 votes

Howl's Moving Castle (2004)

Ghibli's magical war-time fantasy

👍 92%10,890 votes

WALL·E (2008)

A love story told mostly without dialogue

👍 91%20,007 votes

My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

Pure childhood magic from Miyazaki

👍 91%8,678 votes

Ratatouille (2007)

Anyone can cook — and everyone can love this film

👍 90%18,265 votes

Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Disney's most beloved Renaissance musical

👍 90%10,551 votes

The Lion King (1994)

Hakuna Matata — beloved by 89% of audiences

👍 89%19,465 votes

Shrek 2 (2004)

The rare comedy sequel that outdoes the original

👍 89%13,270 votes

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Is it Halloween or Christmas? It's both.

👍 89%10,221 votes

Coco (2017)

Pixar makes everyone cry about family and death

👍 88%20,739 votes

Finding Nemo (2003)

Just keep swimming through this beloved adventure

👍 88%20,355 votes

Toy Story 3 (2010)

The emotional gut-punch that hit a generation

👍 88%15,545 votes

The Ghibli Effect

Studio Ghibli's dominance of this list is remarkable. Despite being a Japanese studio with smaller global audiences than Pixar or Disney, their films consistently achieve ThumbScores of 91-95% — higher than any Pixar film except Toy Story 2. When people actually watch Ghibli films, they almost universally love them. The challenge isn't quality — it's discovery.

Where's Frozen?

Despite being one of the highest-grossing animated films ever, Frozen (2013) scored 79% — good, but not great. Its massive cultural footprint doesn't translate to universal audience love. Compare that to Spirited Away at 95% with far less mainstream marketing. Sometimes the quiet films win the hearts.

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