The Best Stop-Motion Films Ever Made (and a Few Glorious Misses)

The slowest way to make a movie, and maybe the most magical.

Why stop-motion is wild

In stop-motion, artists move a real puppet a tiny bit, take a photo, move it again, take another photo, and repeat. REAL: a feature film shot at 24 frames per second needs more than 100,000 frames. On a big production, an animator might finish just a few seconds of film in a whole day.

That's why every great stop-motion film deserves applause, and why every miss hurts a little more.

The toast: the 10 best stop-motion films

10. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964). Rankin/Bass's holiday classic. REAL: it's one of the longest-running TV specials in history. Roast: Santa is honestly kind of rude to Rudolph.

9. Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015). Aardman's almost-silent comedy proves you don't need words to tell a story. Roast: The sheep are total troublemakers.

8. ParaNorman (2012). Laika's story about a boy who can talk to ghosts, and about how fear makes people treat others badly. Spooky, funny and kind. Roast: Some scenes are scary for younger kids.

7. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009). Wes Anderson's take on Roald Dahl. REAL: the puppets had real fur, which is why it ripples in every shot. Roast: Mr. Fox is not exactly a responsible dad.

6. Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022). REAL: it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. A beautiful, emotional retelling. Roast: It's sad. Bring tissues. Better for older kids and teens.

5. Kubo and the Two Strings (2016). Laika's epic with origami that comes to life. REAL: the giant skeleton puppet built for the film was about 16 feet tall. Roast: It didn't do well at the box office, which is a crime against good taste.

4. Coraline (2009). A girl finds a door to a "better" version of her life, and it's a trap. REAL: Laika's first feature. Roast: It has made generations of kids suspicious of buttons.

3. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). REAL: directed by Henry Selick and produced by Tim Burton. Incredible songs, incredible puppets. Roast: Jack Skellington is a terrible project manager.

2. Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (1993). REAL: it won the Oscar for Best Animated Short, and the train chase is one of the best action scenes ever made with clay. Roast: Wallace never notices anything. Gromit notices everything.

1. Chicken Run (2000). A prison-break movie with chickens. REAL: it's the highest-grossing stop-motion film ever made. Funny, thrilling and full of heart. Roast: We have no roast. It's perfect.

The roast: a few glorious misses

Gumby: The Movie (1995). Gumby is a legend of clay animation. The movie, though, barely reached theaters and is mostly remembered for being strange and slow.

Rudolph and the Island of Misfit Toys (2001). A computer-made sequel to a stop-motion classic, and it lost the handmade charm that made the original special.

Beautiful flops

Some of the best stop-motion films lost money. Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), Missing Link (2019) and Early Man (2018) all struggled at the box office. REAL: Missing Link still won the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature.

Box office tells you what sold. It doesn't tell you what's good.

The lesson

Stop-motion takes so long that every frame is a choice. That's the lesson for every artist: slow down, make choices on purpose, and the audience will feel it.

What's your favorite stop-motion film? Tell us in the comments.

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