The ten best animated films of 2009 | Roger Ebert

"Fantastic Mr. Fox." In an age of limitless computer-generated images, the next of the year's best animated features also uses the stop-action method that reaches back to "King Kong" and before. Wes Anderson's landscapes and structures are picture-booky. Yet the extraordinary faces of his animals are almost disturbingly human (for animals, of course), and you feel as if Mr. Fox's fur is strokeable. The film tells a fable about a reformed chicken thief leading a war with the farmers.

"Sita Sings the Blues." Animated features are an expensive, high-stakes medium, but a visionary named Nina Paley staged an end run around the big guys with this enchanting feature made at home on her own computer. She combines the epic Indian tale of Ramayana with the 1920's jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw, and this not only works, but seems inevitable. Failing to obtain the rights to the long-unavailable recordings, she outsmarted the system by giving the film away--and made money doing it! You can view it free at her site.

"9. " A devastating war is survived by humanoid little rag dolls with binocular eyes. Led by the brave #9, the others venture out into a frightening post-apocalyptic world and do battle with the fearsome Beast, left behind by the horror. An intriguing beginning, too many pure action scenes toward the end for my taste, but delicate artistry by filmmaker Shane Acker, who first imagined this world in a student film which won an Oscar in 2006.

"Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs." The best of the three films about the inter-species herd of plucky prehistoric heroes. Uses a masterstroke that essentially allows the series to take place anywhere: There is this land beneath the surface of the earth, you see. Scratt the sabre-toothed squirrel pairs with the comely Scrattè, and Sid the Sloth adopts three dinosaur eggs and plans to raise the babies, which is asking for trouble. Carlos Saldanha, writer of the 2002 film, is the director, and some of his sequences are in the spirit of the brilliant Scratt-and-acorn scene that opened the first "Ice Age." 

"Ponyo." The word to describe "Ponyo," is magical. This poetic, visually breathtaking work by the greatest of all animators, Hayao Miyazaki, has deep charm. It involves a friendship between a 5-year old living at the seaside, and a goldfish who magically turns into a playmate. But the fish's crossing from sea to land triggers a tsunami. The two make a dreamlike journey among flooded treetops in a small boat: One of Miyazaki's most beautiful scenes, and the opening is another. 

"The Princess and the Frog." The opening scenes are like a cool shower after a long and sweaty day. This is what classic animation once was like! No 3-D! No glasses! No extra ticket charge! No frantic frenzies of meaningless action! And . . . good gravy! A story! And one starring the first african-American heroine in the genre. A young New Orleans girl named Tiana is cherished by her parents, but her father goes off to the First World War and doesn't return. The brave and resourceful Tiana holds fast to her dream of opening a restaurant and serving up her dad's gumbo. Real substance.