Introduction
Happy New Year, fellow adventurers! Blaziker is here to celebrate the beginning of a brand new year! With 2025 being such a banger year in terms of the big non-mainstream animated movies in general, it is time we look back at the 74 animated movies we covered that year!
I got to be honest, this year I was a bit more selective as to the animated movies I am covering by reviewing less disposable animated movies that are just not worth seeing and cover more good quality animated movies with more interesting stories, unique animation and the lot that are worth exploring. In the end, I covered a lot less bad animated movies, and even my least favourite animated movies of that year were not as horrible as some of the really terrible ones from last year (Johnny Puff: Secret Mission, I’m looking at you).
In fact, there were quite a lot of interesting animated movies to cover, so much so that for one of those movies, I travelled overseas on a whim in order to cover it early, and while my finances may file a complaint, I came back from that screening a happy camper. Speaking of travelling overseas, this might give you a hint of what was to come later in 2026, eh?
In terms of the statistics, for my least favourite animated movies, there were 3 2025 animated movies that scored “Extra Mild” compared to 5 “Extra Mild” animated movies in 2024, and no “No Flavour!” rated animated movies in 2025 compared to 3 in 2024, which is a great improvement despite less animated movies in 2025. In terms of the good stuff however, I covered 13 “Straight Up Fire!” animated movies in 2025 (just shy of the 14 “Straight Up Fire” animated movies in 2024) and 25 “Extra Hot” animated movies in 2025 which is also one movie short compared to the number of similarly rated animated movies I did in 2024 (26).
So, which of the animated movies from 2025 do I really want to see again, and which ones belong in the trash? Let us begin our look back in 2025 and rank my least to most favourite animated movies of 2025, starting with 19 of my least favourites!
(Also, as always, there were changes to the overall scores of some movies because I either liked them more or less as time progressed.)
74. Sneaks
Assemblage Entertainment is one of my least favourite theatrical animation studios that exist, and once again, Sneaks proves why that is. An extremely low quality looking animated movie with bizarre character designs and even poorer rendering, a nonsensical story with poorly developed characters, Sneaks is just as frustrating as Assemblage Entertainment itself. At least they did another movie on this list that was more tolerable…
73. Zak & Wowo: The Legend of Lendarys
France is considered the Mecca of European animation, but this movie is a massive insult to the French animation scene. Another poor-quality animated movie with terrible and annoying characters, an incomplete story and equally terrible and poorly rendered animation, and to add further salt to the wound, this movie was funded by NFTs, and as someone who is against cryptocurrency in general, it was the last straw.
72. Smurfs
While the animation is not as terrible compared to those two animated movies, there is no denying Smurfs has one of the most outdated concepts of the year so far. We had already seen that concept so many times, and the writing is just full of tropes and clichés that even most mainstream animated movies are avoiding in 2025. Yet another reason why Paramount’s animated movies are just not good enough for 2025 standards.
71. SuperKlaus
While SuperKlaus is my first animated movie of the year, it is also one of my most frustrating animated movie experiences for me. It is not a good Christmas story, the animation is not good enough and is yet another typically bad family-friendly foreign CG animated movie that I am striving to avoid.
70. Kayara
Once again, South America underwhelms me with a not-so-good animated movie that, while at least is not that insulting, but leaves a lot to be desired with what it was trying to achieve. This cliché plot that is paired with inferior-looking animation just ain’t it in 2025.
69. The Summer of Mermaid
While 2025 is without a question the best year for Chinese animated movies yet, unfortunately China produced a single dud, and it is this animated movie that was held back by its lack of manpower and resources. Sure, the result is at least not too bad, but it was clear The Summer of Mermaid was not good enough for Chinese animation standards in 2025.
68. Rebellious
… What movie? Oh, that family-friendly foreign CG animated movie that was straight up in the middle, with the usual elements you would expect from that type of animated movie? Oh. I forgot.
67. Plankton: The Movie
2025 has two SpongeBob SquarePants animated movies, and Paramount made the right decision to push it to a Netflix release. While Plankton’s movie is at least watchable and there are a few good moments, it is unfortunately not a standout by any means.
66. Dalia and the Red Book
Probably the least bad South American animated movie I had covered throughout the existence of this Blog, Dalia and the Red Book is still not a great animated movie. It has an interesting and decent animation style, but the writing is just too confusing to keep up, which lets the entire movie down.
65. The Twits
The lowest-ranked animated movie on this year’s Oscars Best Animated Feature shortlist, The Twits is both bizarre and lacks the cohesion needed to be a good Roald Dahl adaptation of one of his bizarre stories. It’s still has some personality, but there were just too many factors that muddled the entire experience in the end.
64. Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass
While the titular cat-and-mouse duo had success with their Asian adaptations in Japan and Singapore, unfortunately their Chinese feature film adaptation did not work out as much as I hoped. While it has its moments, and great animation, it still does not feel like a fun Tom and Jerry movie I was hoping for.
63. Masameer Junior
Despite me not liking much about the second Masameer movie from Netflix in terms of its technical qualities, the amount of madness and satire this movie provides is why it’s one of my handful of guilty pleasures for this year.
62. The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants
Coming to the movies that got a passing score of 12/20 onwards, we got the second SpongeBob SquarePants movie that at least felt a lot better than Plankton: The Movie. It still suffered from he same issues I had with that movie, but there were enough redeeming elements to be worthy of its theatrical release.
61. Bartali’s Bicycle
Speaking of obscure animated movies, we got this rare Italian animated movie that is nothing much but is competent enough. Italian animated movies are almost nonexistent, but this is good enough for what it is.
60. Super Charlie
2025 is the year I finally felt at peace with family-friendly foreign CG animated movies as the quality of such movies has improved compared to last year. While Super Charlie has elements I should not like, I am surprised over how much I personally enjoyed this little Swedish movie that I should have hated.
59. Stitch Head
For the first time ever, Assemblage Entertainment (together with familiar faces Aniventure and GFM Animation) produced an animated movie I actually liked with Stitch Head. A similar and unique enough animated movie that might not feel complex but is enjoyable enough for Assemblage’s low standards.
58. Sultana’s Dream
Sultana’s Dream is a movie that unfortunately was a letdown in spite of it winning the Contrechamp prize at the 2024 Annecy Film Festival. Despite its unique and well-done animation, the story leaves a lot to be desired, unfortunately.
57. Dance with the Finless Porpoise (Rating Updated)
With how amazing this year’s Chinese animated movies are, unfortunately this means I have to moderate some of these movies that did not hit the mark, and Dance with the Finless Porpoise is unfortunately one of them. It’s a good animated movie, but in 2025, being technically good is not good enough.
56. Norbert
While Norbert lacks the punch it needed to stand out, I personally enjoyed how different that feels compared to most Spanish CG animated movies. Even if the third act leaves a lot to be desired, at least I had some fun with this movie, which cannot be said for most CG animated movies from that country.
To Be Continued
That is it for Part 1. Tune in next time to part 2 where we cover some of the better animated movies that came out in 2025. Until next time, see you on our next adventure!
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