7 Best Animated Movies of 2010 ...

I absolutely adored this movie! It starred the voice talents of Steve Carrel and Miranda Cosgrove. Carrel plays Gru, an evil scientist intent of shrinking, then stealing the moon. To shrink it, he needs to steal a shrink ray from a fellow villain… and to accomplish this, he adopts three little girls and uses a million of his tiny little minions. Of course, he ends up falling madly in love with his new family, and isn’t quite as evil as he pretends to be.

My boyfriend’s youngest son loved this movie, but I don’t know how much it will appeal to anyone other than ten-year-old little boys. It tells the story of two sets of owls — one set are basically bullies, the other are their targets. The storyline is empowering (the little guy can win) and the animation is top-notch, but the story may be scary for smaller kids, and girls might be bored.

Has there ever been an animated movie by Disney that wasn’t fantastic? 2010’s offering was “Tangled,” a modern update of the classic Rapunzel story. She’s got the long blonde hair, the evil step-mother, and the handsome rescuer… but since it’s Disney, the story is more complicated, the animation is amazing, and there are plenty of laughs. I loved it!

This is basically the same story as “Despicable Me,” only with a girlfriend instead of three little girls. Both movies are funny and sweet and feature a bad guy who’s not at all bad, in the end. Both are worth renting… I did prefer “Despicable Me,” be again, that’s just personal preference!

Okay, let me say this up front: my 6-year-old daughter and I both bawled through most of this movie. It was intense, scary, and so sad! I hated it for weeks after I saw it the first time, but I watched it again and the second time, I saw it for what it was — the perfect ending to the trilogy. I still think that big baby is creepy… but the movie is involving, engaging, and it was so good to see Woody and Buzz again!

For centuries, Vikings hunted dragons… until one young Viking, Hiccup, showed them there was more to dragons than they thought. This is another feel-good animated movie that’s full of laughs and is sure to keep young ones and adults alike entertained.

Another Shrek movie? Yep. Why not? The first — what, three? — were good, so why not keep the trend going? “Forever After” isn’t as original as the first one, or as funny, but it was still cute, and funny… and the characters were just as silly and strange as before. I still love Donkey!

Those were my favorite animated films of 2010, and I’m already excited about the ones that are coming out this year, like Rango (with Johnny Depp) and the sequel to Kung Fu Panda… which of these movies did you like best, and why? Or was there another animated movie in 2010 you liked better?

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