Summary

• How to Train Your Dragon is Rotten Tomatoes' highest-ranked non-Disney animated film, placing 15th overall among the greatest movies of all time.
• The film's success is evident in its $1.6 billion gross, indicating its impact on launching sequels and a live-action remake.
• While highly rated, some may question its ranking above classics like Spirited Away and Shrek on Rotten Tomatoes' list.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, a $494 million hit is the best-animated movie that was not produced by 2023's box office was disappointing for Disney, they have continued to lead the way when it comes to animation, creating some of the best-animated films ever made in the process. While Rotten Tomatoes ranked two of Disney's strongest hits as the best-animated films ever, one non-Disney movie offered some surprisingly strong competition.

Given how much animation has improved over the years, it becomes tougher and tougher to directly compare animated movies. A revolutionary film from the 90s may not hold up visually today, but could still be a pioneer of the genre. This makes it difficult to decide which non-Disney animated film is the best, but Rotten Tomatoes' greatest movie list provides some sort of answer. While the order is still subjective, both the Tomatometer and audience score seem to play a role in compiling the list, with a $494 million hit emerging as the best-animated film not produced by Disney.

How To Train Your Dragon Is Rotten Tomatoes' Best Animated Movie Not From Disney

How To Train Your Dragon Is The 15th Best Movie Of All Time According To Rotten Tomatoes

How to Train Your Dragon received a wonderful response when it debuted back in 2010, and according to Rotten Tomatoes' top 300 movies of all time, it is the greatest non-Disney animated film. Despite the tough competition, How to Train Your Dragon finished 15th on Rotten Tomatoes' list, with the first two Toy Story films being the only animated movies to finish higher. This makes it the third-best animated movie ever made according to the review website, which proves just how highly it is rated among audiences and critics.

The franchise has also grossed over $1.6 billion, indicating that the original had to be good in order to launch so much success. Without the first film, the exciting How to Train Your Dragon live-action remake and fourth movie wouldn't be in the works, highlighting the impact of the original movie. Of course, the sequels continued this momentum, but the 99% Tomatometer score and 91% audience score show just how positive the reception was to How to Train Your Dragon, and perfectly illustrates why it finished so high on Rotten Tomatoes' best movies of all-time list.

Is How To Train Your Dragon Really The Third Best Animated Movie Ever?

Rotten Tomatoes Ranked How To Train Your Dragon Above Some Animated Classics

Although How to Train Your Dragon is undoubtedly a fantastic movie, Rotten Tomatoes may have been a little generous by crowning it the third-best animated movie of all time. It finished two spots above Spirited Away, meaning How to Train Your Dragon is ranked higher than any Hayao Miyazaki movie. Given he is one of the most influential figures in animation, it seems harsh that none of his projects are placed higher than How to Train Your Dragon. DreamWorks alone has other solid competition, with both Shrek and Kung Fu Panda having a lasting impact on the world of animation.

Even the best-animated movie of 2023 could arguably rival How to Train Your Dragon, with The Boy and the Heron alongside Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse offering some jaw-dropping visuals and storytelling. Ultimately, these sorts of lists always have a level of subjectivity to them, meaning it would be impossible to create a ranking that everyone agrees with. How to Train Your Dragon is an incredible film that deserves its place among the best-animated movies, but there are plenty of other films that have just as many accolades to claim the crown of the best non-Disney animated movie.

How to Train Your Dragon did not win an Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes