5 Best Sony Animated Movies, Ranked (Including KPop Demon Hunters)

In 2006, Sony Pictures Animation released its very first animated film, the obvious Shrek pastiche Open Season. 11 years later, the studio was responsible for unleashing The Emoji Movie into theaters everywhere, but since that creative nadir, Sony Pictures Animation has led a revolution in mainstream American animation thanks to the stylized computer animation of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. That film’s bold visuals and striking artistry opened up exciting new doors for what CG-animated cinema could look like. It also sparked a creative revolution for Sony Pictures Animation.

With the Sony Animation/Netflix collaboration KPop: Demon Hunters dominating pop culture, it’s clear Sony Animation has gone far beyond its humble origins. Ranking the top five Sony Animation movies makes it abundantly clear how this company has undergone a drastic transformation for the better.

5. KPop Demon Hunters

What’s instantly impressive about KPop Demon Hunters is how it doesn’t waste any time in displaying a remarkable sense of showmanship. Right from the opening musical number “Takedown,” Demon Hunters exhibits all the lively camerawork, toe-tapping music, and vibrant colors that make the rest of the movie so entertaining. There’s a gloriously theatrical quality to the proceedings, echoing the best razzle-dazzle displayed at unforgettable concerts. Better yet, the three lead characters are enjoyable to hang out with, especially when they’re acting feral around food or yearning for time on the couch. Goodness knows so many movie musicals, animated or otherwise, wish they could come up with a finale musical number as good as the sweeping Demon Hunters tune “What It Sounds Like.”

4. The Mitchells vs. The Machines

It’s a crying shame Sony sold The Mitchells vs. The Machines to Netflix during the first year of COVID-19. This crowd-pleasing comedy deserved to be displayed on the big screen and watched with a ton of other people. After all, its enjoyably kooky character designs and art flourishes inspired by journal doodles would look so good in a movie theater. Plus, a movie with such big comedic and emotional swings as Mitchells vs. The Machines deserves a grand theatrical canvas. Regardless of where it premiered, this is still a terrific comedy that demonstrates impressive deftness in blending apocalyptic robotic mayhem with intimate family drama. Great vocal turns from Abbi Jacobson and Danny McBride, not to mention the welcome presence of a pug, are also a delightful treat in this production.

3. Surf’s Up

Not all of the superb Sony Pictures Animation titles were made in 2018 and beyond. The label’s second title, Surf’s Up, endures as one of its most inspired creations. The ballad of penguin surfer Cody Maverick (Shia LaBeouf) could’ve been a generic talking animal comedy, yet directors Chris Buck and Ash Brannon made the ingenious move to realize the feature as a mockumentary. This informs uniquely memorable jokes and camerawork that simply couldn’t exist in any other mainstream American animated film.

A sequence where jerk surfer Tank (Diedrich Bader) shows off his trophies to a documentary crew, for instance, has a sense of timing and comedic rhythm that could only exist in a mockumentary. Surf’s Up was an early demonstration of how Sony Pictures Animation could house incredibly distinctive projects in the world of American animation.

2. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Given how it’s so thoroughly entrenched in so much of American pop culture, it can be easy to forget how Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is so very worthy of every ounce of praise it’s received. What’s especially impressive about the first fully-animated theatrical Spider-Man outing is how exceptional it is in its most intimate moments. A quiet scene of Miles Morales listening to his dad open up his heart behind a closed door, for instance, makes digital humans emotionally transfixing. The iconic “What’s Up Danger” set piece, meanwhile, wouldn’t work if Morales hadn’t captured people’s hearts.

Into the Spider-Verse is as rich thematically as it is visually, which is truly saying something given how dazzling this title is in its animation. Pulsating with energy and lovely stylized touches, Into the Spider-Verse is a filmmaking triumph.

1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Somehow, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse exceeded the lofty artistic heights of even a movie as grand as Into the Spider-Verse. It accomplished that goal not by necessarily “fixing” problems in its predecessor, but by simply adding new joys into the proceedings. Fresh levels of emotional power, for instance, were uncovered in sequences chronicling the difficulties in Gwen Stacy’s relationship with her father. The even more varied artistic impulses of both the animation and Daniel Pemberton’s score, meanwhile, amplified Into the Spider-Verse’s best facets.

Best of all, Across the Spider-Verse felt like an effective expansion of a pre-established universe rather than a pointless cash grab. Even its cliffhanger ending leaves one eager to see what happens next, rather than frustrated over the existence of a cliffhanger ending. In every respect imaginable, Across the Spider-Verse is a mesmerizing accomplishment.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now streaming on Disney+, KPop Demon Hunters is now streaming on Netflix.

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}