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Best Animation Movies of the 1980s

Animation films released 1980–1989, ranked by TMDB rating among titles with at least 500 votes.

📊 A century of movies in numbers 31 titlesavg ★ 7.19 avg 73 min Animation Family Fantasy Adventure

All Animation 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s

#1 Grave of the Fireflies (1988) · ★ 8.4 · 6,595 votes · 1h 29m · drama, animation, war
In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with t…
#2 My Neighbor Totoro (1988) · ★ 8.1 · 9,112 votes · 1h 26m · fantasy, animation, family
Two sisters move to the country with their father in order to be closer to their hospitalized mother, and discover the surrounding trees are inhabited by Totoros, magical spirits o…
#3 Castle in the Sky (1986) · ★ 8.0 · 4,826 votes · 2h 5m · action, fantasy, adventure
A young boy and a girl with a magic crystal must race against pirates and foreign agents in a search for a legendary floating castle.…
#4 Akira (1988) · ★ 7.9 · 5,026 votes · 2h 4m · action, science-fiction, animation
A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.…
#5 Warriors of the Wind (1984) · ★ 7.9 · 4,221 votes · 1h 35m · fantasy, adventure, animation
After a global war, the seaside kingdom known as the Valley of the Wind remains one of the last strongholds on Earth untouched by a poisonous jungle and the powerful insects that g…
#6 Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) · ★ 7.8 · 4,760 votes · 1h 43m · fantasy, animation, family
A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service.…
#7 Vincent (1982) · ★ 7.8 · 946 votes · 0h 6m · fantasy, animation
Young Vincent Malloy dreams of being just like Vincent Price and loses himself in macabre daydreams that annoy his mother.…
#8 Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) · ★ 7.7 · 1,007 votes · 0h 25m · animation, family
Ebenezer Scrooge is far too greedy to understand that Christmas is a time for kindness and generosity. But with the guidance of some new found friends, Scrooge learns to embrace th…
#9 Angel's Egg (1985) · ★ 7.7 · 609 votes · 1h 11m · fantasy, science-fiction, animation
In the ruins of a strange city, a young girl takes care of a large egg she holds carefully in her arms. She bonds with a boy who is searching for a bird he saw in a dream.…
#10 Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) · ★ 7.5 · 6,365 votes · 1h 44m · comedy, fantasy, animation
Toon star Roger is worried that his wife Jessica is playing pattycake with someone else, so the studio hires detective Eddie Valiant to snoop on her. But the stakes are quickly rai…
#11 The Little Mermaid (1989) · ★ 7.4 · 8,498 votes · 1h 23m · fantasy, animation, family
This colorful adventure tells the story of an impetuous mermaid princess named Ariel who falls in love with the very human Prince Eric and puts everything on the line for the chanc…
#12 The Secret of NIMH (1982) · ★ 7.4 · 981 votes · 1h 23m · fantasy, adventure, drama
A widowed field mouse must move her family -- including an ailing son -- to escape a farmer's plow. Aided by a crow and a pack of superintelligent, escaped lab rats, the brave moth…
#13 The Last Unicorn (1982) · ★ 7.3 · 621 votes · 1h 33m · fantasy, adventure, animation
A unicorn learns from a riddle-speaking butterfly that she is supposedly the last of her kind, all the others having been herded away by the monstrous Red Bull. The unicorn sets ou…
#14 The Fox and the Hound (1981) · ★ 7.2 · 3,596 votes · 1h 22m · adventure, drama, animation
When a feisty little fox named Tod is adopted into a farm family, he quickly becomes friends with a fun and adorable hound puppy named Copper. Life is full of hilarious adventures…
#15 The Land Before Time (1988) · ★ 7.2 · 2,836 votes · 1h 9m · adventure, drama, animation
An orphaned brontosaurus named Littlefoot sets off in search of the legendary Great Valley. A land of lush vegetation where the dinosaurs can thrive and live in peace. Along the wa…
#16 The Dark Crystal (1982) · ★ 7.2 · 1,317 votes · 1h 33m · fantasy, adventure, animation
On another planet in the distant past, a Gelfling embarks on a quest to find the missing shard of a magical crystal and restore order to his world, before the grotesque race of Ske…
#17 The Great Mouse Detective (1986) · ★ 7.1 · 1,824 votes · 1h 14m · adventure, animation, family
When the diabolical Professor Ratigan kidnaps London's master toymaker, the brilliant master of disguise Basil of Baker Street and his trusted sidekick Dawson try to elude the ulti…
#18 The Transformers: The Movie (1986) · ★ 7.1 · 645 votes · 1h 25m · action, adventure, science-fiction
The Autobots must stop a colossal planet-consuming robot who goes after the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. At the same time, they must defend themselves against an all-out attack fr…
#19 Luxo Jr. (1986) · ★ 7.0 · 684 votes · 0h 2m · comedy, animation
A baby lamp finds a ball to play with and it's all fun and games until the ball bursts. Just when the elder Luxo thinks his kid will settle down for a bit, Luxo Jr. finds a ball te…
#20 Knick Knack (1989) · ★ 7.0 · 629 votes · 0h 4m · comedy, animation, family
Life on a shelf as a snowman trapped in a snow-globe blizzard can become wearing, especially when you're surrounded by knickknacks from sunnier locales. When the jaded snowman fina…
#21 An American Tail (1986) · ★ 6.8 · 1,496 votes · 1h 20m · comedy, adventure, drama
A young mouse named Fievel and his family decide to migrate to America, a "land without cats," at the turn of the 20th century. But somehow, Fievel ends up in the New World alone a…
#22 All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989) · ★ 6.8 · 1,151 votes · 1h 24m · comedy, fantasy, drama
When a casino-owning dog named Charlie is murdered by his rival Carface, he finds himself in Heaven. Wanting to get back at his killer, he cons his way back to the living with the…
#23 Asterix in Britain (1986) · ★ 6.8 · 746 votes · 1h 19m · comedy, adventure, animation
One little ancient British village still holds out against the Roman invaders. Asterix and Obelix are invited to help. They must face fog, rain, warm beer and boiled boar with mint…
#24 Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone (1989) · ★ 6.8 · 637 votes · 0h 41m · action, fantasy, animation
In order to wish for immortality and avenge his father, Garlic Jr. collects the dragon balls, kidnapping Goku's son Gohan in the process. Goku, Kami, Piccolo, and Krillin unite to…
#25 Oliver & Company (1988) · ★ 6.7 · 1,749 votes · 1h 14m · comedy, animation, family
Putting its own 'twist' on the story of Oliver Twist, the orange runt of a litter of kittens must fight for survival on the rough streets on New York City, finding unlikely friends…
#26 Vampire Hunter D (1985) · ★ 6.6 · 558 votes · 1h 20m · fantasy, horror, animation
In a far-future time ruled by the supernatural, a young girl requests the help of a vampire hunter to kill the vampire who has bitten her and thus prevent her from becoming a vampi…
#27 Heavy Metal (1981) · ★ 6.5 · 831 votes · 1h 30m · fantasy, adventure, science-fiction
The embodiment of ultimate evil, a glowing orb terrorizes a young girl with bizarre stories of dark fantasy, eroticism and horror.…
#28 Asterix vs. Caesar (1985) · ★ 6.5 · 660 votes · 1h 19m · comedy, adventure, animation
Obelix falls for a new arrival in his home village in Gaul, but is heartbroken when her true love arrives to visit her. However, the lovers are kidnapped by Romans; Asterix and Obe…
#29 The Black Cauldron (1985) · ★ 6.4 · 1,472 votes · 1h 20m · fantasy, adventure, animation
Taran is an assistant pigkeeper with boyish dreams of becoming a great warrior. However, he has to put the daydreaming aside when his charge, an oracular pig named Hen Wen, is kidn…
#30 Asterix and the Big Fight (1989) · ★ 6.3 · 686 votes · 1h 21m · comedy, adventure, animation
Due to an unfortunate accident involving Obelix throwing a menhir, Getafix the druid not only loses his memory, but goes completely mad. Now deprived of the wisdom of their beloved…
#31 Tin Toy (1988) · ★ 6.1 · 507 votes · 0h 5m · animation, family
Babies are hardly monster-like, unless you're a toy. After escaping a drooling baby, Tinny realizes that he wants to be played with after all. But in the amount of time it takes hi…

Questions

What is the best animation movie of the 1980s?

Grave of the Fireflies (1988) tops the decade with 8.4/10 on TMDB, ahead of My Neighbor Totoro (1988).