10 Best Animated Movie Scores, Ranked

Animation is a unique medium with no equal. It’s like a blank canvas for filmmakers to plaster whatever their imagination desires, a tool that allows them to go as out there as they want. Visually stunning and refreshingly creative, good animated films are an absolute delight with a charm of their own. One thing that they often rely on to be truly absorbing is a great musical score.

Many of the best composers in cinema’s history, including Hans Zimmer and Joe Hisaishi, have worked extensively on animated films, producing some of their best work for the medium. From the deep magnificence of The Lion King to the introspective magic of The Boy and the Heron and beyond, animation’s best scores make use of inventive instrumentations and catchy leitmotifs to empower their respective movies.

10 ‘Monsters, Inc.’ (2001)

Composed by Randy Newman

The first-ever Pixar film to be nominated for a Best Animated Feature Oscar during the award’s introduction, Monsters, Inc. remains one of the studio’s most charming and fun efforts. In the film, monsters need to scare children to harness the energy of their screams and power the city of Monstropolis. However, after a child sneaks into their world, two monster colleagues realize that things may not be as they seem.

Monsters, Inc. is effortlessly funny and playful, and so is Randy Newman‘s incredibly energetic score. A member of the most Oscar-nominated family ever, Newman uses vibrant jazz and lively melodies to give the film its enchanting personality—and he definitely succeeds. Though it’s not massively different from Newman’s other incursions into Pixar, it’s definitely his best, giving Monsters, Inc. a distinct and instantly memorable tone that perfectly matches its equally colorful screenplay.

9 ‘Akira’ (1988)

Composed by Shôji Yamashiro

Known for being the film that brought anime to the Western mainstream, Akira is a timeless classic whose importance to the genre cannot be overstated. At a breakneck speed and with some of the most stunning visuals in ’80s animation, Akira tells the story of a teenager, his gang of biker friends, and a group of psychics. They’re the only ones who can stop a former colleague who was turned into a psychic killing machine by a secret military project.

Shôji Yamashiro composed Akira‘s score, capturing the chaotic, restless, and glacial nature of the movie’s world and story perfectly. Its mixture of colorful percussion with techno sounds results in a score that’s dripping with personality, effortlessly conveying the tone of both the movie’s exhilarating action scenes and hopelessly bleak character moments. Akira has been endlessly imitated and paid homage to over the years, just as Yamashiro’s score has been incredibly influential in the realm of sci-fi.

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8 ‘The Boy and the Heron’ (2023)

Composed by Joe Hisaishi

When master anime filmmaker and poster boy of Studio Ghibli Hayao Miyazaki announced that he would be retiring after The Wind Rises, cinephiles around the world shed tears of sadness. When the auteur came out of retirement to make The Boy and the Heron, they turned into tears of joy. Probably Miyazaki’s most personal work, The Boy and the Heron is about a headstrong boy who ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead in the wake of his mother’s death.

Not only is The Boy and the Heron Miyazaki’s most intimate film, but also one of his most surrealistic and atmospheric. This is in no small part thanks to the work of his common collaborator Joe Hisaishi, who composed some of the most abstract and moody tracks of his career for this beautiful film about grief and maturity. Magical yet surprisingly restrained and undeniably atmospheric, The Boy and the Heron has one of the best movie scores of the 2020s thus far.

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7 ‘Pinocchio’ (1940)

Composed by Leigh Harline, Paul J. Smith, Frank Churchill, Edward H. Plumb

Fresh off of revolutionizing the film industry with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the very first cel-animated feature film in history, Walt Disney knew that he needed to make something just as memorable next and that he did. Walt Disney Animation’s second feature was Pinocchio, an adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s classic about a living wooden puppet who must prove himself worthy of becoming a real boy with the help of a cricket as his conscience.

The sheer beauty of Pinocchio‘s score doesn’t come only from the iconicity of “When You Wish Upon a Star,” which has deservedly been Disney’s theme song for decades. Leigh Harline, Paul J. Smith, and the uncredited Frank Churchill and Edward H. Plumb composed a gorgeous score that became the blueprint for the music of all fairytale films since then. Charming, innocent, and moving, it’s a perfect collection of memorable songs that have stood the test of time. Pinocchio is the earliest Disney film with a Certified Fresh 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, and its enchanting music is a big reason why.

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6 ‘Beauty and the Beast’ (1991)

Composed by Alan Menken

Beauty and the Beast was the first animated movie to receive a Best Picture Oscar nomination, and it isn’t hard to see why. The film features a beautifully nuanced and profoundly moving romance, telling the story of a young woman who’s trapped in the castle of a prince cursed to spend his days as a hideous monster until he finds true love.

To many, Alan Menken’s composing style is the voice of Disney, having written the scores of Disney classics ranging from The Little Mermaid to Enchanted. Aside from having some of the best songs in Disney’s library, the revered Beauty and the Beast has an utterly legendary score that is both haunting and enchanting, elegant and natural and an absolute treat throughout. The way the leitmotifs evolve along with the characters throughout the story is beautiful and really empowers this story about love and acceptance.

5 ‘Up’ (2009)

Composed by Michael Giacchino

Though it definitely peaks in its first act, Up is consistently phenomenal throughout, so much so that many still remember it as one of Pixar’s best outings. It’s the tale of 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen, who flies to Paradise Falls in his house equipped with balloons, reluctantly taking a young stowaway with him. Funny, exciting, and touching, Up is one of the most moving films about an unlikely friendship.

Michael Giacchino has composed some of the most memorable scores in modern Hollywood cinema, and this is easily one of his best works. From the way “Married Life” enhances its scene’s emotional power to the way “Carl Goes Up” is a perfect introduction to the wonder and excitement of the adventure that’s about to happen, the score of Up is as thrilling and emotionally touching as its story needs it to be. Like the film, the score is melancholic, finding beauty even in the most tragic moments.

4 ‘The Tale of the Princess Kaguya’ (2013)

Composed by Joe Hisaishi

Japanese cinema is not all Hayao Miyazaki. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, directed by the great Isao Takahata (arguably Ghibli’s second best-known voice), is by far one of its studio’s greatest works. Audiences shouldn’t be fooled by its beautiful watercolor animation; this is far from a simple children’s film. The Tale of Princess Kaguya is a mature and complex drama about a beautiful young woman coveted by five nobles. Not wanting to marry a stranger she doesn’t love, she sends her suitors on impossible tasks.

Princess Kaguya has an incredible amount of nuance in how it deals with themes of gender roles, love, and spirituality. The depth and complexity of instrumentation that Joe Hisaishi provides to accompany those themes results in an absolutely flawless piece of work. Sometimes, the composer throws in beautiful vocals. Other times, strings and winds say more than words ever could. What remains consistent is Hisaishi’s perfect understanding of the film’s story and strong homage to ancient Japanese music.

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3 ‘The Lion King’ (1994)

Composed by Hans Zimmer

Hans Zimmer’s first Oscar win came for The Lion King, which many will undoubtedly call Disney Animation’s greatest film. Loosely inspired by Hamlet, the Biblical stories of Joseph and Moses, and African mythology, it’s about a lion prince exiled from his kingdom by his deceitful uncle, who killed his father and usurped the throne.

After thirty years, The Lion King remains one of Hans Zimmer’s best-ever scores. Not only are the various leitmotifs super memorable but their development and growth matching Simba’s journey of maturity and spiritual evolution is incredibly smart. No modern composer can harness simple melodies to convey the most complex emotions like Zimmer. Through evocative and atmospheric melodies, Zimmer elevated what was already a terrific movie into so much more.

2 ‘The Incredibles’ (2004)

Composed by Michael Giacchino

Not only is The Incredibles arguably Pixar’s best movie, but it’s also one of the best superhero movies of all time. Surprisingly mature for a family film, it’s about a family of undercover superheroes thrust into action to save the world while trying to lead a quiet suburban life. Touching on themes like masculinity, midlife crises, authority, and the importance of family, The Incredibles is an action-packed adventure that’s gripping from the opening titles to the credits.

The charming Big Band flavors that Michael Giacchino infuses in The Incredibles‘s score pair perfectly with the movie’s playful yet suspenseful tone. From the haunting escalation of tracks like “Kronos Unveiled” to the restless spectacle of ones like “The Incredits,” the score explores a full range of emotions, putting the very spirit of heroism into melody. Giacchino clearly had an absolute blast composing this incredibly catchy score, and his passion becomes apparent in every note. Just like The Incredibles feels like more than the sum of its parts, so too does its music surprise audiences with just how well its variety of instruments and motifs blend.

1 ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ (2010)

Composed by John Powell

Queen among draconic movies, at least as far as animation is concerned, How to Train Your Dragon is a tale of forbidden friendship. Its protagonist is the hapless young Viking Hiccup, who comes from a village that prides itself on hunting dragons. After becoming the unlikely friend of a dragon, Hiccup discovers that there’s more to the creatures than he thought.

John Powell had been one of DreamWorks Animation’s composers of choice for many years, but 2010 was the year when not only his career but animated film music as a whole peaked. His work on How to Train Your Dragon elicits all sorts of emotions. “Forbidden Friendship” is a perfect accompaniment to a touching moment of characterization; “Test Drive” is utterly exhilarating; “Romantic Flight” is… well, incredibly romantic. Atmospheric, fun, cheerful, and exciting, the music of How to Train Your Dragon is about as full of personality as all animated movie scores should aim to be.

NEXT:The Most Underrated Hans Zimmer Scores, Ranked