While the birth of cinema occurred during the late 1880s, rudimentary forms of animation can be traced as far back as the Paleolithic Age. In stop-motion animation, objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames. Stop-motion was first used in cinema in the 1898 film The Humpty Dumpty Circus.
Stop-motion animation is a painstaking process where only a few seconds of a film can be photographed per day. On top of this, CG animation dominates the box office, making the number of stop-motion films produced few and far between. Despite their rarity, stop-motion films represent the pinnacle of animated artistry, with many ranking among the greatest animated films ever made.
10 Chicken Run Remains The Highest Grossing Stop-Motion Film
Runtime: 1h 35m
Chicken Run was the first feature film released by legendary stop-motion studio Aardman Animations. Before the release of Chicken Run, Aardman Animations was famous for its short films. Three of its shorts, Creature Comforts, The Wrong Trousers, and A Close Shave took home Oscars.
Over twenty years after the film's debut, Chicken Run remains the highest-grossing stop-motion film of all time. The film has been praised for its slapstick humor, technically brilliant action scenes, and its profound social and political themes. Critics have noted Chicken Run's overtly feminist themes as well as its depiction of rebellion and class warfare.
9 Kubo And The Two Strings Is The Second Stop-Motion Film To Be Nominated For Best Visual Effects
Runtime: 1h 41m
Despite a poor performance at the box office, Kubo and the Two Strings received substantial critical praise. It became the second stop-motion film ever to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects.
At the time of Kubo and the Two Strings' release, its 101-minute run time made it the longest stop-motion film ever produced. The film contains some of the most visually stunning stop-motion animation ever put to celluloid. This includes a boat sequence that took Kubo's animators nineteen months to create.
8 The Nightmare Before Christmas Is Arguably The Most Famous Stop-Motion Film
Runtime: 1h 16m
Arguably the most famous stop-motion film of all time, The Nightmare Before Christmas, has amassed a huge cult following over the past thirty years. However, many people mistakenly credit Tim Burton as the director of the film, even though the movie's actual director is Henry Selick.
The Nightmare Before Christmas was the first animated film to ever be nominated for Best Visual Effects at the Academy Awards. Along with its technical mastery, The Nightmare Before Christmas features an iconic soundtrack that includes the now Halloween staple "This Is Halloween."
7 Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit Won The Oscar For Best Animated Film
Runtime: 1h 25m
Released in 2005, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit was the first feature-length film to star Wallace and Gromit, two popular characters created by Nick Park of Aardman Animations. The Curse of the Were-Rabbit became the first and only stop-motion film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Film.
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is a parody of classic monster movies and Hammer Horror films. It has been celebrated for its sense of humor and homages to other classic films. The movie's acclaim has extended beyond the bounds of animation, with the picture being included in Empire Magazine's list of 100 Best British films.
6 My Life As A Zucchini Brings Adult-Level Emotional Gravity To Stop-Motion
Runtime: 1h 10m
My Life as a Zucchini may have an innocent-sounding title, but this stop-motion film is certainly not for young children. An animated movie that mixes both comedy and drama, My Life as a Zucchini explores the somber emotional depths of childhood trauma.
The grim and heavy-handed nature of My Life as a Zucchini should not come as a shock considering the film was co-written by French auteur Céline Sciamma. Over the past twenty years, Sciamma has directed some of the most acclaimed films emanating from Europe, including Water Lilies, Tomboy, Girlhood, Petite Maman, and her magnum opus, Portrait of a Lady on Fire.
5 Shaun The Sheep Movie Is A Throwback To Silent Cinema
Runtime: 1h 25m
Shaun the Sheep Movie has no dialogue and instead relies on slapstick situations to tell its story. Shaun is reminiscent of the days of the greats of silent cinema, like Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd. Shaun the Sheep is another Aardman Animations creation and is a spin-off of the Wallace and Gromit franchise. The Shaun the Sheep franchise began as a television show and has morphed into multiple feature films and short films.
Like the great comedies of the silent era, Shaun the Sheep Movie's humor is derived from highly inventive gags that offer nonstop laughter from start to finish. The film is visual storytelling at its finest.
4 Wes Anderson Takes A Stab At Stop-Motion Animation With Fantastic Mr. Fox
Runtime: 1h 27m
With the release of Fantastic Mr. Fox in 2009, Wes Anderson was one of American independent cinema's elite directors. Some of the world's greatest filmmakers such as Richard Linklater and Steven Spielberg have taken on the animated medium before, but it is a rarity.
One of Anderson's biggest cinematic influences is Karel Zeman, the pioneering Czech filmmaker who revolutionized the blending of stop-motion animation with live action, like in Journey to the Beginning of Time, Invention for Destruction, and The Fabulous Baron Munchausen. Zeman's influence can clearly be seen in Fantastic Mr. Fox, which transports Anderson's highly unique visual aesthetic to the stop-motion medium.
3 Mary And Max Is One Of The Most Upsetting Animated Films Of All Time
Runtime: 1h 34m
Mary and Max is an adult stop-motion comedy-drama and is incredibly upsetting. The film tells the story of a shy Australian girl who becomes pen-pals with an autistic American man. Max and Mary's friendship is incredibly touching and the film follows them through life's trials and tribulations.
Mary and Max combines quirky and off-beat humor with a melancholic narrative that explores themes of depression, anxiety, addiction, trauma, and friendship. With phenomenal voice acting by Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bethany Whitmore, and Toni Collette, Mary and Max is a tearjerker in the truest sense of the word.
2 Charlie Kaufman Brings His Visionary Talent To Stop-Motion With Anomalisa
Runtime: 1h 30m
Charlie Kaufman began his career as a screenwriter of visually unique films such as Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. In 2015, Kaufman shifted his talents toward the stop-motion medium with Anomalisa, the first R-rated movie to be nominated for Best Animated Film at the Academy Awards.
Anomalisa follows a man who's consumed by the mundanity of his existence. In typical Kaufman fashion, the portrayal of the protagonist's tragic existence keeps the audience guessing as to what is really going on.
1 The Wolf House Is A Cinematic Masterpiece
Runtime: 1h 13m
Chilean stop-motion horror film The Wolf House is the most visually striking stop-motion film ever made. Audiences will find it difficult to not spend the entire duration of the film wondering how the animators crafted this impressive movie. Unsurprisingly, The Wolf House took five years to complete.
The Wolf House is inspired by the real-life story of Colonia Dignidad, an isolated colony run by Paul Schäfer that became infamous for its criminal activities and child abuse scandals. While its narrative is challenging and requires multiple viewings to truly comprehend, The Wolf House's unnerving surrealist imagery is truly unforgettable.