Before I start with the list, some explanations: Those are not necessarily my favorite movies. Those are movies I believe to be special in one way or another, movies which I think offer something different from the standard animated movie. And while I numbered the list, most of the placements are pretty much exchangeable – to make it on the list, it had to be a full-length movie (regardless of theatrical release, though don’t expect any TV specials), it had to be a stand-alone (not a sequel or TV-show based) and it had to offer something special, preferably in terms of animation (though sometimes I went for well written plots and characters, too), but the placement itself very much hinged on my personal experiences with those movies.

I also tried to be as diverse as possible, especially in terms of the different types of animation out there. Some of the movies of the list are very well known some are fairly obscure. Awards don’t make much of a difference to me, even though there are some award winners on the list. I also mostly went for older movies, because I believe that it is one thing if a movie is relevant and impressive the year it's made, but another thing how it is seen when the years pass. So, please don't complain that let's say "The Little Mermaid" isn't on the list. It's a great and important movie, but what I was searching for is mostly "different".

I don’t claim to have seen every animated movie out there, so naturally I might have missed some real gems. Feel free to suggest some more obscure movies if you like, but if it’s a well known one, it is very, very likely that I have seen it at one point or another or will see it sooner or later.