An animated movie often gets labeled underrated, but many of those selections are just popular films that people want to sound special about. This list is different. These are the ones that feel quietly perfect and still somehow slip through the cultural cracks, even though they play like total classics. They’re not that popular either. You might not have heard about most of these.
Each pick is a clean 10 out of 10 for me because the craft disappears, and you just feel the story working. Some are funny, some are heavy, and a couple are downright strange, but every one of them has real staying power once you finally press play. So if you’ve been hunting down an animated 10/10 watch, lock in.
10
‘April and the Extraordinary World’ (2015)
Image via StudioCanal
April and the Extraordinary World is a pulp adventure that hides a surprisingly sharp idea inside its fun. In this version of history, science keeps vanishing, so Paris feels stuck in a smoky, steampunk limbo while a teen, April Franklin (Marion Cotillard), chases the truth behind her parents’ disappearance. The movie earns your attention fast because every invention feels practical, and every chase has stakes.
As it escalates, it never forgets the emotional core, which is April choosing curiosity over fear. There is a clean sense of momentum to the mystery, and the villains stay unsettling without turning cartoonish. By the time the finale clicks, the story feels complete rather than overexplained, and you realize it pulled off a big, strange premise with real control. It’s a good watch for both children and adults.
9
'The Red Turtle' (2016)
The Red Turtle barely uses dialogue, yet it still tells a full life story with clarity. A castaway washes up on an island and keeps trying to escape until a red turtle blocks him in a way that feels maddening, then meaningful. The film turns survival into a relationship with place, time, and consequence.
What makes it linger is how it keeps changing shape while staying simple. There is no wasted emotional noise, just images that do the work and transitions that feel earned. It’s a 10 out of 10 because it proves animation can hold an entire human life in a handful of images and somehow make it feel more real than dialogue ever could.
8
‘Tokyo Godfathers’ (2003)
Image via Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan
This film starts as a messy night out and turns into a chain of plot turns that never stops paying off. Tokyo Godfathers follows three homeless friends who find an abandoned baby, and instead of treating it like a cute gimmick, the movie forces them to follow the baby’s trail through Tokyo’s backstreets, debt, family secrets, and bad luck. Hana (Yoshiaki Umegaki) keeps the group moving with stubborn warmth.
The magic is that every “coincidence” hits like life, not writing (and that’s a major problem with most animated films). It is directed by Satoshi Kon, who seems to have kept that feeling checked. The film therefore keeps the pacing sharp like a thriller but never loses the bruised humanity underneath the jokes. It’s funny in that painful way where you laugh and immediately feel something catch in your throat. And by the time all the threads collide, you realize the movie wasn’t just about finding where the baby belongs — it was about watching these three people accidentally find their way back to themselves.
7
‘Persepolis’ (2007)
Image via Diaphana Distribution
Persepolis is so different. It looks simple on the surface yet carries enormous emotional weight without ever getting stiff. It follows Marjane (Chiara Mastroianni) growing up through the Iranian Revolution and its aftermath, keeping focus on what that does to a kid’s identity, friendships, and sense of safety.
This premise makes it an excellent film, giving it that rewatchability factor for anyone who connects with its themes while refusing to flatten anyone into a symbol. You get clear personal stakes in every phase from teenage rebellion to exile loneliness, and the film never pretends those phases are neat. Any child who feels similar things in their life ends up loving it.
6
‘Fantastic Planet’ (1973)
Image via New World Pictures
This film feels whimsical yet unnerving — it’s a sci-fi fever dream from1973 designed to make your skin crawl in the best possible way.
Fantastic Planetdropped you onto a distant world where humans aren’t heroes or explorers but tiny creatures treated like pets by towering blue beings called Draags.
The movie radiates imbalance from its very first minutes. Everything is off-kilter: scale, power dynamics, cruelty baked into everyday life. Terr (Jean Valmont) isn’t framed as some shiny savior figure but as someone merely surviving while learning and resisting against oppression without turning his struggle into simple fantasy triumphs.
The ending doesn’t wrap things up with satisfying overthrow or blood-soaked payback — Terr doesn’t defeat the Draags — nobody wins or is redeemed which makes it stick with you.
5
‘‘Millennium Actress’ (2001)‘
The film makes memory move like cinema itself — fast,
fluid,
impossible to hold still.
A filmmaker interviews retired legend Chiyoko Fujiwara (Miyoko Shōji), whose answers don’t arrive as neat recollections but explode into scenes of her life collapsing into roles she once played until performance blurs with reality.
The film jumps across centuries,
wars,
and romances with dizzying speed,
but never loses its center,
anchored by Chiyoko’s longing,
that single emotional current pulling her forward.
It<strong qualifies as a ten out of ten for me, framing love not as something she ever has but something she is always moving toward — not for any man exactly but for pursuit itself.
By the end,
it appears blurred timelines were only honest ways to show what she spent her life running after.
4
‘The Secret of Kells’ (2009)
3
‘A Scanner Darkly'(2006)‘
2
‘‘Ernest &
Celestine'(2012)‘
‘Song of the Sea'(2014)‘
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‘A Scanner Darkly'(2006)‘
2
‘‘Ernest &
Celestine'(2012)‘
‘Song of the Sea'(2014)‘
[nospin]Here you can find original article photos used in our article also come from this source We are not their authors they have been used solely for informational purposes with proper attribution to their original source.[nospin]
[nospin]Here you can find original article photos used in our article also come from this source We are not their authors they have been used solely for informational purposes with proper attribution to their original source.[nospin]
