Sony Pictures Animation is one of the most prevalent animation studios in existence today, with incredible and influential films coming out of the company each year. Sony is behind massive franchises like Hotel Transylvania, KPop Demon Hunters, the Spider-Verse movies, and more, with them now being competitors with long-standing industry titans like DreamWorks and Disney. So, now that they have many great films under their belt, here are the 10 best Sony Pictures Animation movies from worst to best.
Sony Pictures Animation got their start with 2006’s Open Season, their debut animated feature and the start of their first major franchise. The studio spent its early years making movies like Surf’s Up, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and the live-action The Smurfs. Their reputation took a negative turn in the 2010s, with a string of poorly received movies like Surf’s Up 2: WaveMania, Smurfs: The Lost Village, and The Emoji Movie. However, Sony Pictures Animation had a miraculous reputational recovery in the late 2010s and 2020s, going from one of the most notorious studios in animation to one of the best.
10) Arthur Christmas
2011’s Arthur Christmas was produced by Sony Pictures Animation in collaboration with Aardman, the stop-motion animation studio behind franchises like Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep. However, the film wasn’t stop motion at all, with it instead being a computer-animated film. Aardman had previously gone this route with Flushed Away, but the DreamWorks film at least attempted to mimic Aardman’s signature style. Arthur Christmas, on the other hand, isn’t stop motion, and doesn’t look stop motion, which earned the film a lot of criticism at the time of its release.
Since Arthur Christmas, however, Aardman has returned to its stop-motion roots, easing fears about the medium’s erasure. So, when reappraising Arthur Christmas, it is actually a great film once you separate it from this controversy. The film’s militarized world of Santa offers a unique take on the Christmas mythos, a world that has been explored countless times in film. Plus, the story of Arthur bringing a present to a child that Santa missed is a heartwarming story that manages to focus the massive world of the North Pole.
9) Hotel Transylvania
2012’s Hotel Transylvania kicked off one of Sony Pictures Animation’s biggest franchises, and with four films under its belt, the original is still the best. The movie is directed by animation industry legend Genndy Tartakovsky, the creator of projects like Dexter’s Laboratory and Samurai Jack. His incredible character designs, stylized blocking, and lightning-fast humor are all perfectly employed here, and the world of classic movie monsters is a fantastic sandbox for him to play in. The film is funny and a great love letter to the monsters it features, meaning that it can be enjoyed by kids and adults alike.
8) The Pirates: Band of Misfits
2012’s The Pirates: Band of Misfits (also known as The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!) was a return to form for Aardman after Arthur Christmas, bringing back the stop-motion animation and comedy-focused storytelling that the studio is known for. It is a fantastic pirate movie, featuring all the hallmarks that you would expect from the genre, and it also manages to have some of the best laughs in Sony Pictures Animation’s filmography.
7) Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
2009’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs comes from directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who have since gone on to work on some of Hollywood’s biggest and best projects. As their feature directorial debut, Lord and Miller came out of the gate swinging, crafting an absolutely hilarious story with tons of great food-based puns. While the film is almost entirely a comedy, with very few emotional beats or story points that are meant to be taken seriously, it is a lightning-fast romp that features one of Bill Hader’s most fun performances to date.
6) Goat
2026’s Goat seemed like it could be awful upon its reveal. Its pun title and the heavily-advertised involvement of Stephen Curry made the film seem like a lazy mix between basketball and a Zootopia knockoff. Luckily, this wasn’t the case. Goat‘s animation is its biggest strength, with the anthropomorphized animal designs being a highlight. The underdog story is well told, and the star-studded voice cast does a surprisingly great job.
5) Surf’s Up
2007’s Surf’s Up is the oldest Sony Pictures Animation film on this list, and it is easily their best movie from the early days. Surf’s Up is a rare mix of animation and the mockumentary genre, with a documentary crew following a penguin who leaves Antarctica to win a surfing competition. The mockumentary format makes Surf’s Up a truly unique experience, and it is surprising that the studio would take such a big swing so early into its life.
Surf’s Up managed to stand out among the plethora of penguin films that were coming out around the time, notably Happy Feet and Madagascar, and it did so by exploring some more unique character designs when compared to its contemporaries. The film looks fantastic for 2007, and it still holds up to this day, which is surprising for a film that so heavily features water. While it isn’t a perfect movie, it was the studio’s best film for decades, and it is still a great time.
4) KPop Demon Hunters
Image Courtesy of Netflix
Upon its release, 2025’s KPop Demon Hunters was an absolute phenomenon. Everyone knew that an animated film about K-Pop would be big, but KPop Demon Hunters broke records, becoming arguably the most influential animated film of the decade. The movie features great action scenes, animation, and worldbuilding throughout, but the incredible soundtrack is the real highlight of the film. While the story is a little simplistic, it leaves room for the style and flashiness of KPop Demon Hunters, which is what makes the movie so great.
3) The Mitchells vs. The Machines
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse showed that Sony Pictures Animation could make incredible movies, but with only one instance of this occurring in years, it may have been a fluke. However, 2021’s The Mitchells vs. the Machines came along to prove that Sony was starting to do something right.
The film is gorgeously animated, and it is absolutely hilarious. The fast-paced family film tells a story that is a ton of fun while also being incredibly emotional, with the core father-daughter relationship never being outshone by action scenes or giant Furbys. The Mitchells vs. the Machines is arguably Netflix’s best original animated feature, and it’s thanks to the creatives at Sony Pictures Animation.
2) Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Image courtesy of Sony Pictures Animation
Sequels often fail to live up to their predecessors, but this wasn’t the case with 2023’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. The movie somehow manages to one-up the original’s animation, while featuring another incredible score from Daniel Pemberton. Across the Spider-Verse also tells a much grander story than its predecessor, although it won’t be wrapped up until the sequel that still isn’t out. It’s a coin flip as to which Spider-Verse movie is better, with the fact that Across isn’t a complete story being the one thing that very slightly holds it back.
1) Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Of all the films that Sony Pictures Animation has made, 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is easily the studio’s best. The movie hit theaters immediately after a string of some of Sony Animation’s worst films, meaning that expectations were low. Plus, the fact that it was based on one of the most popular superheroes of all time meant that Sony didn’t have to try hard in order for it to be a commercial hit.
Luckily, Into the Spider-Verse was incredible. The film is one of the most gorgeously animated features of all time, with its wholly unique animation style going on to influence films like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, and even KPop Demon Hunters. The story of Miles Morales learning how to be Spider-Man is complex, emotional, and captivating, while Daniel Pemberton’s score is astounding. Into the Spider-Verse is the best Sony Pictures Animation movie, the best Spider-Man movie, and one of the best animated movies of all time.
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