Fantasy movies are all about transporting the viewer to another world. Animation allows producers to do this with ease. It's a creative license to use colors, imagery, and imagination to new heights in the name of thrilling the audience. Some of the most memorable movies in history have been animated fantasy films, such as Disney's Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs. That film has endured for generations and is largely considered to be the first feature-length animated movie.
More recently, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has been thrilling audiences since it arrived in theaters in June 2023. While it's not a traditional fantasy movie, it certainly blends elements of fantasy with action, comedy, and of course, superhero lore. There have been a ton of animated fantasy movies released over the last nine decades, but here are the most whimsical ones for you to seek out and enjoy with your family.
10 FernGully: The Last Rainforest
Many people who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s will remember FernGully: The Last Rainforest. It's an Australian and American co-production that was released by 20th Century Fox back in 1992. In the movie, a fairy named Crysta (Samantha Mathis) grows up thinking that human begins are extinct. She's shocked to find out they do exist when a logging company rolls into her forest in Australia and starts destroying the environment.
Crysta shrinks Zak (Jonathan Ward), a human man, and he is sad when he realizes what his company is doing to Crysta's home. Together they try to stop the destruction. FernGully also features an impressive voice cast that includes Tim Curry, Christian Slater, and Robin Williams, to name a few. It's a whimsical fantasy movie for fans of Disney favorites like Peter Pan. Some people even consider FernGully: The Last Rainforest to be one of the best-animated films of the '90s.
9 Spirited Away
Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away is not only a whimsical family adventure, it's Japan's highest-grossing film of all time. The movie tells the story of Chihiro (Rumi Hiiragi) who visits a mysterious theme park with her parents. When her mom and dad and turned into giant pigs, Chihiro learns that the park is actually a resort for people looking to escape their earthly forms. It's a world filled with gods, monsters, and spirits, and Chihiro must work there to free her parents.
Spirited Away was a massive box office hit for Walt Disney Pictures, who released the movie in North America in 2001. It also won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. With beautiful animation and a moving story, Spirited Away is an animated fantasy film that's not to be missed.
8 James and the Giant Peach
In 1996, Walt Disney released an animated version of James and the Giant Peach. The film is an adaptation of the popular children's novel by Roald Dahl. James (Paul Terry) is a British boy who's forced to live with two of his mean aunts. He discovers a magic peach and is able to get inside. Once there, he discovers a colorful cast of talking insects who help him float the peach across the ocean toward New York City.
James and the Giant Peach is beloved for being faithful to its source material. It's a fun, family-friendly adventure that incorporates music to great effect as well. Frequent Disney/Pixar collaborator Randy Newman wrote the songs in the film, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score.
7 Frozen
Staying with the Disney theme, it's hard to picture an animated movie that's more magical or whimsical than Frozen. Idina Menzel voices Princess Elsa, a royal girl who lives in Arendelle with her sister Anna (Kristen Bell). As a child, Elsa learns she has the power to control snow and ice, which causes her to be locked away. When she turns 18 and becomes Queen of Arendelle, Elsa accidentally unleashes a curse that turns the kingdom into permanent winter.
Whether it's the funny characters or the amazing songs, Disney fans connected with Frozen almost instantly. The world of Arendelle is so vivid and the animation of the movie is stunning. Menzel uses her natural singing voice to draw viewers into the character of Elsa. Audiences love the Frozen franchise, even if some of the other characters don't make sense.
6 How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
The How To Train Your Dragon franchise has been tremendously successful since the first film was released in 2010. In How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) is the leader of a fantastical Viking world. With the help of his dragon Toothless, Hiccup finds and rescues captive dragons. Since his land is becoming overpopulated, Hiccup yearns to find "The Hidden World", a haven for dragons. But he has to stop a dragon hunter named Grimmel the Grisly (F. Murray Abraham) first before it's too late.
The Hidden World is the third movie in the franchise originally based on the children's books by British author Cressida Cowell. Once Hiccup finds "The Hidden World", the colors pop on screen and the animation reaches a whole new level. These movies have always been popular with kids and The Hidden World is the epitome of a fantasy movie that feeds the viewers' sense of curiosity.
5 Howl's Moving Castle
Another Hayao Miyazaki animated fantasy movie worth checking out is 2004's Howl's Moving Castle. Emily Mortimer voices Sophie, a young woman working as a milliner who meets a wizard named Howl (Christian Bale). Sophie is cursed and turned into an elderly woman by an evil witch who comes into her hat shop unannounced. Seeking to break the curse, Sophie visits Howl's magic castle in the countryside. She makes a deal with Calcifer (Billy Crystal), a fire demon who controls the castle's movements, to break the curse and return to her normal self.
Howl's Moving Castle introduces the audience to a rich and whimsical universe where the heroes and villains are not always clear. The movie also contains some powerful anti-war metaphors, as Miyazaki has bluntly stated the themes of the film were inspired by the United States 2003 invasion of Iraq. Nevertheless, Howl's Moving Castle is a fun fantasy film where magic and technology collide.
4 Trolls
Who knew a movie based on a toy could be so successful? Trolls came out in 2016 and took the world by storm. Kids loved it for its bright imagery, fun characters, and catchy cover songs. Poppy (Anna Kendrick) is a happy-go-lucky troll who enjoys life and loves living in a fantasy world called Troll Village. When the evil Bergens invade, she enlists a grumpy troll named Branch (Justin Timberlake) to help her rescue her friends and save the village.
Audiences love Trolls for its positive vibes and endless optimism. Poppy's enthusiasm is contagious, and it's hard not to want to sing along with songs in the movie by Simon & Garfunkel, Diana Ross, Earth, Wind, & Fire, and more. Trolls was followed by a sequel, Trolls World Tour, in 2020. Another Trolls sequel entitled Trolls Band Together is coming in November 2023.
3 Encanto
Encanto is one of Disney's most recent hits. The film follows Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz), a teenage girl who lives in a magical Casita with her large family, the Madrigals. Every member of the family has a special magical gift that they learn about as a kid - except Mirabel. Mirabel notices everyone's magic is starting to crack and sets out on a journey to find out why. After digging into the Madrigal's past, Mirabel learns that she is actually the key to keeping the family together.
Encanto is a whimsical fantasy film filled with catchy songs, lovable characters, and a solid storyline. It's a canonical Disney movie that breathes life into the fantasy genre for a whole new generation. The movie's signature song, "We Don't Talk About Bruno", is destined to be a children's favorite for years to come.
2 The Boxtrolls
In The Boxtrolls, a fictitious town called Cheesebridge becomes overrun with trolls who wear boxes as clothing. The residents of the town see these creatures as pests, so they hire exterminator Archibald Snatcher (Ben Kingsley) to get rid of them. An orphan named Eggs (Isaac Hempstead-Wright), who lives among the peaceful and mischievous trolls, steps in to help them escape Snatcher's evil plans.
The Boxtrolls received mixed reviews when it was released by Universal Pictures in 2014. The film was praised for its offbeat visual style and unique sense of humor, but it's a bit dark. It takes the stop-motion animation style to extremes and gets a bit demented in some scenes, making it better for older children than younger ones. Still, the movie tells a unique story and incorporates fantasy elements to great effect.
1 My Little Pony: The Movie
My Little Pony: The Movie, released in 2017, continued the iconic toy and movie franchise that Hasbro has been building since the early 1980s. It's about a pony named Twilight Sparkle (voiced by Tara Strong) who lives in a fantasy world called Equestria. Twilight Sparkle must band together her pony friends in order to save their kingdom when the evil sorcerer Tempest Shadow (Emily Blunt) attacks.
While it's not a groundbreaking animated fantasy movie, My Little Pony: The Movie is a crowd-pleaser that caters to its fans. Animated by DHX Studios (now WildBrain Studios) in Vancouver, the movie features eye-popping visuals, bright colors, and upbeat songs. It didn't fare too badly at the box office, either, raking in $61.3 million ($73.7 million in 2023 dollars) on a measly $6.3 million budget ($7.6 million in 2023 dollars).