Top 23 Worst Animated Movies of Each Year (2000 - 2022)
2000: “Titanic: The Legend Goes On”
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To be clear this Titanic movie wasn’t directed by James Cameron and doesn’t feature an iconic Celine Dion ballad. It does, however, feature mediocre animation, a lame story, and animal side characters that include a family of Yiddish mice and a rapping dog. Sadly for this Italian-made animated film, the only legend that it has maintained is that of being a terrible film. While the 1997 live-action movie won the Oscar for Best Picture, Total Film magazine voted the animated “Titanic: The Legend Goes On” as the worst film ever made.
2001: “The Trumpet of the Swan”
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Based on a novel by the great E.B. White, this one definitely had some top-notch source material. But while we know that movies for grown-ups are often not as good as the books they’re based on, “The Trumpet of the Swan” proves that old adage is also true for animated kids' movies. The film did have some impressive voice talent, including Reese Witherspoon, Jason Alexander, and Carol Burnett. And the message about being different, overcoming - and finding strength - in your personal challenges is definitely inspirational. However, the film itself is, to quote the Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus, “uninspired.”
2002: “Eight Crazy Nights”
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Adam Sandler has had a whole lotta success in the 21st Century, but 2002 was, shall we say… an off year for the Sandman. On the live-action side, he starred in “Mr. Deeds”, a lame remake of a Frank Capra film that earned him a Razzie nomination for Worst Actor. On the animation front, Sandler starred in, and co-wrote, the Chanukah musical-comedy “Eight Crazy Nights.” And while there are some pretty good Sandler songs in the film, the movie itself is vulgar, immature, and not as funny as it thinks it is. Along with “Mr. Deeds,” “Eight Crazy Nights” earned Sandler a second Worst Actor Razzie nomination.
2003: “Bolívar el héroe”
Simón Bolívar was a South American hero who led many countries on the continent in their fight for independence from the Spanish Empire in the 1800s. Also known as El Libertador, Bolivar has an important place in the history of South America. As for “Bolívar el héroe,” the animated film about his life - well, it has a much less respected place in people’s hearts and minds. In fact, many who have seen it probably wish they could erase it from their memory. But trust us when we say that it would be hard to forget seeing this poorly-drawn, Spanish-language, Anime-styled film.
2004: “Shark Tale”
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It does seem a little odd to make a kids’ movie in 2004 that’s a parody of movies from the 1970s like “The Godfather” and “Jaws.” But if the little ones didn’t understand the references, it didn’t stop them from seeing the movie, as “Shark Tale” made over $370 million at the box office. And while the critics were generally unkind to the film, its place on this list is as much a victim of its surroundings as it is a consequence of the mediocrity of the movie itself. Unfortunately for “Shark Tale,” the film found itself being compared to DreamWorks’ previous award-winning “Shrek” and Pixar’s recent underwater adventure “Finding Nemo,” two films with high bars that “Shark Tale” couldn’t come close to reaching.
2005: “Chicken Little”
Talk about mixed feelings. While “Chicken Little” made over $300 million and was nominated for the Annie award for Best Animated Feature, it also has an unimpressive 36% on Rotten Tomatoes and won Worst Animated Film at the Stinkers Bad Movie Awards. And for us, we’re team “Stinkers.” While “Chicken Little” looks good, provides a few laughs, and was the first film released in Disney Digital 3-D, in the end, it all comes down to story - and this one brings nothing really original, or overly interesting to the table. But at least the sky isn’t falling.
2006: “Doogal”
In the 1960s and 70s, there was a show on British television called “The Magic Roundabout” that dubbed an original English script over content from an animated French show called “Le manège enchanté.” In 2005 “The Magic Roundabout” movie, based on that show, was released in the UK. In 2006, an American-dubbed version of that film was released in North America. That movie is “Doogal,” and it sucks. While the Original UK version had pretty average reviews, that film looks like “Citizen Kane” compared to the brutal things people had to say about “Doogal’s” writing and forced celebrity voice talent. We wish The Weinstein Company had stayed far away from this one.
2007: “Elf Bowling the Movie: The Great North Pole Elf Strike”
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Have you seen the movie “Elf Bowling 2: The Great Halloween Pumpkin-Heist?” No, you haven’t. And you know why you haven’t? Because “Elf Bowling the Movie: The Great North Pole Elf Strike” was so bad they canceled the plans to make a sequel. Although, are we really that surprised that a film based on a 1998 video game in which Santa Claus knocks down Elf pins wasn’t any good? Maybe having the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants in the film would give you hope, but even Tom Kenny can’t save this one. He even sings a song in the movie called “Slavery Makes The World Go Round.” Enough said!
2008: “Delgo” (2008)
We know at least a few people who were happy that “Delgo” came out - the people who made “Doogal.” Because until “Delgo,” “Doogal” held the record for the lowest-grossing computer-animated film of all time. But with its take of just over $900,000 at the box office, “Delgo” easily claimed the top spot on that list (or we guess the bottom spot depending on how you look at it). And it wasn’t just the audience who rejected it. “Delgo” has an 11% score on Rotten Tomatoes, due to its rehashing of standard fantasy film ideas and less-than-impressive animation.
2009: “The Frog Prince”
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In case you’re a little confused right now, we aren’t talking about Disney’s 2009 Academy Award-nominated “The Princess and the Frog.” But rather this entry belongs to “The Frog Prince” - a Brazilian company’s animated take on the same Grimm fairytale. And while Brazil has many amazing exports, this film isn’t one of them. From the poor animation to the uninspired voice acting, this frog of a movie would need more than just princess kisses to turn into a prince of a film.
2010: “Space Chimps 2: Zartog Strikes Back”
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The first “Space Chimps” movie in 2008 wasn’t beloved, but it did make some money at the box office and Roger Ebert called it “delightful from beginning to end.” So, we can understand why they went ahead and made a second one. But, as unimpressive as the first film’s 33% score on Rotten Tomatoes is, it’s a whole lot better than the 0% that “Space Chimps 2: Zartog Strikes Back” scored. A score it earned in part because of the step-back it took in the quality of CGI as well as the uninspired - or as some reviewers called it - “unnecessary” script.
2011: “Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil”
2005’s “Hoodwinked!” was a major financial success. The film was made for only $8 million and earned $110 million at the box office. The same cannot be said about the sequel, “Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil.” Sure, it has a pun-tastic title, but a good pun will only get you so far. In this case, it got as far as a $23 million box office on a $30 million budget and a review calling it “one of the most obnoxious and least necessary animated films of the century thus far.” Before we jump away from 2011, we should also mention “Hop” - a film that, while praised for its use of live-action and animation, was generally panned for its script and ho-hum story.
2012: “Foodfight!”
2012 saw Dr. Seuss’ wonderful story “The Lorax” turned into a computer-animated film. And while it was well-animated and a hit at the box office, it was criticized for its watering down of Seuss’ message of environmentalism and over-consumption. Not to mention the irony of the film’s rampant licensing to companies from disposable diapers to gas-fueled cars. But that being said, it certainly wasn’t the worst thing we saw in 2012. That honor belongs to the truly awful - on all fronts, “Foodfight!” And if you don’t believe us, watch about 30 seconds and see for yourself. From the terrible writing to the animation that looks half-finished, “Foodfight!” rightly deserves its spot on the many “worst movies of all time” lists it has found itself on.
2013: “Planes”
The following year’s “Planes: Fire & Rescue” received mixed reviews, but the one thing most people could agree on was that it was better than 2013’s “Planes.” The latter one did do better business at the box office, and - as with most Disney productions - it was well-acted and well-animated. But once you get past the pretty visuals, “Planes” doesn’t really have much substance below that surface. One reviewer went so far as to say that “Planes” is “dead in its big, googly eyes and hollow inside.” Maybe a little harsh, but you get the point.
2014: “The Nut Job”
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Will Arnett is a very funny guy and he and the rest of the cast do their best to make “The Nut Job” a worthwhile cinematic experience. However, while very young kids might have been happy with the solid animation, a few sight gags, and silly jokes - most people weren’t. As evidenced by the 13% score the film received on Rotten Tomatoes. Unfortunately for most of us who watched it, this computer-animated heist film ended up stealing an hour and 26 minutes of our lives we will never get back.
2015: “Strange Magic”
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“Strange Magic” was a film from Lucasfilm Animation based on a George Lucas story that he came up with using William Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night's Dream” as inspiration. And although it is the company’s only film that isn’t part of the “Star Wars” universe, it has a few things in common with the iconic franchise (specifically the lesser episodes). Namely the fact that it looks great but the writing is, shall we say, not so great. And it wasn’t just critics who railed against the film either. “Strange Magic” bombed at the box office like it was the Death Star in “A New Hope.”
2016: “Norm of the North”
You might have assumed that, since there were three “Norm of the North” sequels, the first film was worthwhile. Well, you know what they say about assuming. First off, the three sequels all released direct-to-video. And second, we honestly aren’t sure how they got approved given the audience and critical rejection of this first film. It might sound crazy, but a movie needs more than just a dancing polar bear to be good. And besides that, and some very lame and worn-out jokes, “Norm of the North” doesn’t have much else. One critic called it “an excruciating endurance test” - and thankfully it's one most people didn’t take given the paltry $30 million box office.
2017: “The Emoji Movie”
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In “The Emoji Movie,” Sir Patrick Stewart voices a poop emoji. We don’t really need to say anything else, do we? But we will. No offense to Patrick Stewart, but his character would also be the emoji we would use to describe the entire film. Maybe throw in a “thumbs down” and the angry red-faced guy as well - to represent how most people felt walking out of the theater afterwards. And while the film received a ton of criticism for its lack of originality, it did do something no other animated film ever did before… It won Worst Picture, Worst Director, and Worst Screenplay at the 38th Golden Raspberry Awards.
2018: “Sherlock Gnomes”
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For those who thought there were no more good gnome pun movie titles after “Gnomeo & Juliet,” “Sherlock Gnomes” proved them wrong. But those who thought there would be no more good gnome animated movies, well “Sherlock Gnomes” proved them right. Sure, Elton John wrote a song for the movie and it’s performed by Mary J. Blige in the film, but even the Rocketman and the Queen of R&B can’t save this weak effort. A good song, good animation, and a laugh or two aren’t enough to save the lame script and an uninteresting mystery.
2019: “Playmobil: The Movie”
Just because they made an awesome movie based on Lego doesn’t mean that every animated movie based on a line of toys is going to be great. Case in point, “Playmobil: The Movie.” While we’d stand up for Playmobil toys any day of the week, there’s no denying they screwed the pooch when it came to the movie. The film has none of the originality, brilliant storytelling, and laugh-out-loud humor that “The Lego Movie” does. Instead, it feels like an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of other films while trying to do nothing more than sell more Playmobil toys.
2020: “Bobbleheads: The Movie”
According to IMDb, this movie was 35 years in the making as they tried to figure out a character for Cher to voice. They eventually chose a Bobblehead. Really? 35 years to pick a toy that, by 2020, wasn’t even that popular - just so Cher could show up for 2 minutes at the end of the movie as herself (in bobblehead form). Unfortunately, while they were spending 35 years coming up with that, it feels like they spent about 35 minutes figuring out the rest of the movie. The story barely makes any sense, the animation looks worse than stuff released decades prior and the main characters are generic and stereotypical. And the most annoying thing of all…. The constant bobbling of their heads.
2021: “The Addams Family 2”
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There’s a lyric in “The Addams Family” theme song that goes, “When people come to see 'em They really are a scream.” And unfortunately, what most people were screaming about after seeing “The Addams Family 2” was how bad a movie it was. While the first film earned a not-so-great 45% Rotten Tomatoes score, the 2021 sequel did even worse, coming in at 28%. And even though the audience score was more generous, the general consensus was that it was a decent family film, but it didn’t do justice to the ookiness and kookiness that makes the Addams Family so endearing in a creepy kinda way.
2022: “The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild”
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Some of the best things about the “Ice Age” movies are the celebrity voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, and Queen Latifah. Let’s not forget Scrat the saber-toothed squirrel! Well, “The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild” has none of them. Besides Simon Pegg (the voice of Buck) all of the other characters had new voice actors and Scrat was nowhere to be seen. And speaking of what we saw, the animation is really not up to par with 2022 standards, looking - as one reviewer put it - “akin to a late-stage pre-viz pass.”
