Animated Movies of The Year 2000 That Defined Our Childhood
Every year without fail, Hollywood and other foreign markets bring unforgettable cinematic experiences to the masses, feeding our senses with creativity, imagination, and in rare instances, the impossible. In many cases, we’re spoiled when it comes to live-action offerings, but what about animation? Today, we’re looking back on the year 2000, the year Y2K became a humorous footnote of paranoia, Deftones’ “White Pony” defied expectations, and Jessica Simpson declared tuna the “Chicken of the Sea.”
Looking back, there are any number of wild pop culture milestones to mark the turn of the century, but today, we’re setting our sights on the greatest animated films of 2000, with a Top 5 list that’s sure to make you feel nostalgic and appreciative of the leaps we’ve made in the cinematic art form since then. Let us begin!
5) Blood the Last Vampire
Blood: The Last Vampire is often my go-to recommendation for anyone curious about watching anime. I don’t want to overwhelm this person with a 100+ episode series, and a feature too complex could scare them away from exploring all anime has to offer. With a runtime of 48 minutes, Hiroyuki Kitakubo’s Blood: The Last Vampire is an essential “get in, get ’em hooked,” experience.
The story revolves around Saya, a Japanese vampire slayer, whose next mission takes place in a high school on a US military base in the 1960s. The animation is exquisite, beautifully lit, and meticulously executed in style. The soundtrack drips with hot, sweaty jazz, thunderous orchestral pieces, darkwave, industrial constructs, and lo-fi beats to chill to. The vampiric events emerge on Halloween, adding an inherent spookiness to the Gothic themes, drama, and slice ‘n dice action. It’s a tradition in my house to watch Hiroyuki Kitakubo’s Blood: The Last Vampire once a year around Halloween season. It’s a ritual I’ve kept for 24 years, counting, and I plan to make it 25 soon. While The Last Vampire didn’t break the bank, it’s a cult favorite among Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust and Kizumonogatari fans.
4) Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Before Netflix’s Castlevania stunned audiences with its Gothic tale of forbidden love, charismatic undead, and unrivaled monster hunters, Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust took the classic story of the rogue vampire hunter to new heights for an anime so gorgeous, visceral, and moody that it’s still one of the best of the best twenty-five years later.
In Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, a legendary dhampir competes with a motley family of bounty hunters to return a young woman, who has been seemingly abducted by a vampire, to her family. The result is a display of beauty, brutality, and ungoldy sights that only the boldest artists in anime could conjure. Dripping with eerie, grotesque charm, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is a visual feast from beginning to end with memorable characters, unsightly monstrocities, and one of the smoothest vampires ever resurrected for the silver screen.
3) The Emperor’s New Groove
Pull the lever, Kronk! If you need a classic Disney animated feature as endlessly quotable as movies like Fight Club, The Big Lebowski, or Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, look no further than Emperor’s New Groove. Inspired by Mark Twain’s classic novel The Prince and the Pauper, as well as Incan architecture and mythology, The Emperor’s New Groove stars David Spade as Kuzco, a self-centered emperor in desperate need of an attitude adjustment who meets Pacha, a humble llama herdsman voiced by John Goodman. Together, the duo embarks on a soul-searching journey through the wilderness while being chased by the emperor’s evil advisor, Yzma, voiced by Ertha Kitt, and her hunky dolt of a boyfriend, Kronk, voiced enthusiastically by Seinfeld’s Patrick Warburton.
There are many reasons The Emperor’s New Groove appears on so many best-of lists. It’s a blend of dry wit with slapstick rarely seen in Disney animated classics, and its reflective narrative prompts audiences to look inward, encouraging them to examine the ways they treat those around them, especially the less fortunate. Whether you’re tuning in to watch Kuzco learn a vital lesson in humanity, clutch your sides at the oil and vinegar comedy stylings of Yzma and Kronk, or delight in a cautionary tale with humor, heart, and herotics, The Emperor’s New Groove has a spot for you on the dancefloor.
2) Titan A.E.
After Don Bluth’s Dragon’s Lair and Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element asserted their place in pop culture history, Bluth and Gary Goldman’s Titan A.E. took flight in what would become the duo’s most ambitious feature to date. Set in the 31st century, Titan A.E. follows Cale Tucker, a young man striving to save humanity by protecting a massive ship that could create a new planet. With the Drej, a hostile alien species, hot on his trail, Cale partners with a ragtag crew of misfits to follow a genetically encoded map that could lead to humanity’s salvation.
While some naysayers might argue that the film’s look is outdated, more discerning animation enthusiasts contend that Titan A.E.‘s use of CGI is timeless and helped set the pace for generations to come. The stacked cast includes Matt Damon, Drew Barrymore, Janeane Garofalo, Nathan Lane, John Leguizamo, and Ton Loc, among others. The adventure spans solar systems as Cale and the crew race against time to establish a new Earth and send the Drej back to whatever intergalactic hell they came from. In 2000, Titan A.E. was a thrilling rollercoaster ride of effects, imagination, and inspired storytelling. As your attorney, I advise you to find a copy of this aspiring film and take the ride.
1) Chicken Run
Popping into first place is Aardman Animation‘s Chicken Run. Inspired by the 1963 film The Great Escape, this stop-motion animated marvel blends humor and endless creativity with a grim backdrop. In the movie, a dreadful and deadly machine that effortlessly turns chickens into delicious pies becomes fully operational. With the threat of death just days away, the chickens of Mrs. Tweedy’s Farm must hatch an escape plan that will grant them safe passage away from their inevitable and collective demise.
Chicken Run is not only my favorite of Aardman’s films, but it is also one of my all-time favorite animated films. It’s a brilliant film that manages to execute uproarious slapstick comedy while its characters become trapped in an oppressive setting where death and servitude consistently loom. It’s an emotional bit of cinema as well, wherein a lie from the film’s savior character is poised to undo the efforts of the group who’ve suffered for so long under the watchful eye of the fascist-inspired Mrs. Tweedy and her dolt of a husband. It’s not all doom and gloom, though – and for me, this is where the Chicken Run truly shines. Amidst its more dour themes, there is also a good deal of fun, inspired comedy, and hope. Honestly, once you start seeing the parallels drawn between the chickens’ desire never to give up and how their incarceration serves as a mirror into humankind’s own cruel practices, the film achieves a level of depth not found in most blockbuster animated presentations.
There you have it, folks. What do you think about our Top 5 Animated Films of 2000 list? Are your favorite films represented here? Are there any grievous omissions? Leave us a comment and let us know what your Top 5 Animated Films of 2000 are! Until next time. Cheers!
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