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 2014, the year everyone dumped ice-cold water on their heads as part of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, Chino Moreno of Deftones fame unleashed the debut full-length album for his sexy side project Crosses, and Pharrell Williams made a fashion statement with questionable hats.
Looking back, there are several wild pop culture milestones to mark the year that avocado toast became the tendiest snack of hipsters on Instagram. Still, today, we’re setting our sights on the greatest animated films of 2014, 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.
5) The Boxtrolls
Based on Alan Snow’s fantasy novel Here Be Monsters, LAIKA‘s third stop-motion feature is a delightfully grungy, steampunk-infused comedy bursting with personality, adventure, and hand-crafted wonder.
Underneath the cheese-obsessed streets of Cheesebridge, an orphan named Eggs is raised by a cavern-dwelling community of gentle, trash-collecting creatures who wear cardboard boxes like armor. When a ruthless exterminator frames the Boxtrolls as monsters to claw his way into high society, Eggs has to surface, team up with the mayor’s sharp-tongued daughter Winnie, and save his adoptive family from total annihilation.
The Boxtrolls takes stop-motion animation to another level with lovingly hand-built physical sets, intricate costuming, and a visual approach that blends tactile beauty with grotesque character design that’s endearing and magical in ways only LAIKA can conjure. In addition to being a rollicking odyssey into a strange society of unconventional heroes, The Boxtrolls takes high society to task with biting commentary that justifies eating the rich alongside a wedge of mouth-watering, foul-smelling cheese.
4) How to Train Your Dragon 2
2014 is by far one of the strongest years for animated features we’ve ever covered with this video series, and I don’t want people to get too bent out of shape about DreamWorks’ magnificent sequel to 2010’s How to Train Your Dragon landing in the fourth spot on this list. Regardless of its ranking, How to Train Your Dragon 2 is an outstanding film that expands its world, allows its characters to mature, and features stronger emotional beats than the original.
Five years after Hiccup turned Berk into a dragon-riding paradise, his peaceful mapping trips get derailed by a double dose of chaos: a warlord named Drago assembling a brainwashed dragon army, and the surprise return of his long-lost mother, Valka. What starts as a high-flying, world-building adventure quickly becomes a devastating, high-stakes story about stepping into leadership, coping with heavy loss, and protecting the bonds that matter most.
I don’t always enjoy the look of the How to Train Your Dragon films, but DreamWorks outdid itself with this stunning sequel filled with epic aerial battles, inspired creature designs, and frenetic action that brings the franchise to new heights. As the second film in a timeless trilogy, How to Train Your Dragon 2 is a lesson in avoiding a sophomore slump to create something grand, epic, and everlasting.
3) Big Hero 6
While the world was caught up in superhero mania, Disney developed one of Marvel’s lesser-known comic book properties into a dazzling and energetic animated film that introduced audiences to a new team of superheroes with Big Hero 6.
In the vibrant, neon-drenched metropolis of San Fransokyo, 14-year-old robotics prodigy Hiro Hamada is left reeling after his older brother Tadashi dies in a tragic lab fire. Hiro’s path to healing takes a turn when he activates Baymax, a soft-spoken, inflatable healthcare companion built by Tadashi. When a mysterious villain in a Kabuki mask steals Hiro’s microbot tech, Hiro suits up Baymax and Tadashi’s quirky lab friends to form a high-tech superhero crew, turning a grief-driven revenge mission into a heartwarming story about family and letting go.
I remain shocked that Big Hero 6 doesn’t have a proper silver screen sequel. Yes, there’s Big Hero 6: The Series, and Disney’s Baymax! shorts, but the fact that the House of Mouse allows this property to sit on the back burner baffles me. In addition to bursting with eye-popping action, Big Hero 6 has a deep emotional core that other Disney animated films lack. There’s so much potential for the studio to bring this franchise back for another larger-than-life adventure, and I’m sure the gooners wouldn’t mind spending more time with Aunt Cass. If you know, you know.
2) The LEGO Movie
I’m going to say the quiet part out loud. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s The LEGO Movie could have been little more than a heartless cash grab, a glorified commercial for the legendary build-a-brick toy company, with no substance or soul. Instead, this 2014 animated gem is a roller coaster of nostalgia and creativity, with more inside jokes than the Osterharrs hoarding all the Easter eggs.
In The LEGO Movie, Emmet Brickowski is an aggressively ordinary, rule-following construction worker who gets mistaken for “The Special,” a prophesied savior meant to stop the tyrannical Lord Business from gluing the entire LEGO universe together with the “Kragle.” Dragged into an absurd rebellion alongside mutinous Master Builders, Emmet has to embrace his own messy creativity to save the cosmos.
Lord and Miller’s The LEGO Movie is a masterstroke of ingenuity, with the film’s artists finding creative ways to craft movie magic using the toys that helped shape our imaginations. In addition to being a visual spectacle, the film is consistently funny, bursting with personality, and it reinforces the need for creativity in a world obsessed with order and rules. The LEGO Movie reminds us what it’s like to be young, full of potential, and willing to embrace chaos. In a world filled with Mr. Business-like overlords, be a Master Builder and build your own path toward unruly greatness.
1) Song of the Sea
One of the best animated films of 2014 is the second chapter of Tom Moore’s “Irish Folklore Trilogy,” Song of the Sea. Nestled between 2009’s The Secret of Kells and 2020’s Wolfwalkers, this hand-drawn animated fantasy film is a gorgeous and moving ode to coastal myths and the mysteries that lurk beneath the churning seas of northwestern Europe.
Set in 1980s Ireland, the story follows young Ben and his mute little sister, Saoirse. Their mother vanished without a trace right after Saoirse was born, leaving their father, Conor, paralyzed by grief in a looming coastal lighthouse. Ben harbors a sharp resentment toward his sister—until he discovers the truth: Saoirse is actually a selkie, a legendary creature who sheds her seal skin to walk among humans.
When the ancient owl witch Macha begins turning the region’s faerie folk to stone, Saoirse’s voice becomes the only key to breaking the curse. Forced together on a sweeping journey across Ireland, the siblings must retrieve Saoirse’s stolen coat and return her to the sea before the magic is lost forever. It’s a mesmerizing, haunting gut-punch of a story that balances deep emotional weight with pure, breathtaking wonder.
I agonized over the order of these movies for days before writing this video’s script, and when all was said and done, no other animated film hit me as hard as Cartoon Saloon’s Song of the Sea. Despite receiving overwhelming acclaim from critics, it’s often overlooked by casual fans, and one of my goals with this video series is to draw attention to the best films across animation’s broad spectrum. Song of the Sea is a movie that dazzles the eye, tells an inspiring story about sibling reconciliation, and stays with you long after it’s over.
There you have it, folks. What do you think about our Top 5 Animated Films of 2014 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 2014 are! Until next time. Cheers!
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