One of the best new movies, Flow (2024), is now available to stream on Max and after causing an upset at the 2025 Golden Globes I'm excited to see what the hype is about. It's great to see new movies land on the best streaming services right after their theatrical release, so with this new addition to Max in mind, it's got me thinking about five other animated features with over 90% from the critics on Rotten Tomatoes that you can stream now.
As well as modern classics in animation, three of the movies are relatively new releases including the Oscar nominated Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024) – a competitor of Fowl during this year's awards season. So if you have yet to tick off all of the nominees off your watchlist in time for the 2025 Oscars, take this as your chance to catch two of them here.
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024)
RT score: 100%
Runtime: 79 minutes
Directors: Merlin Crossingham & Nick Park
Where to stream: Netflix (US); BBC iPlayer (UK); Netflix (AU)
For us Brits, we spent the majority of Christmas Day waiting around for the anticipated return of Wallace and Gromit, and we weren't disappointed in the slightest. Returning to our screens for the first time since A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008), it's been 16 years since we last saw the dynamic duo in the short film, and almost 20 years since it's first feature-length movie since The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005).
In the most recent installment, Wallace is up to his old inventor tricks again when he creates a new robot smart-gnome named Norbot which raises concerns with Gromit that Wallace may be too reliant on his inventions. When their own nemesis Feathers McGraw (The Wrong Trousers) escapes prison, he hatches a plan to reprogram Norbot to develop a mind of his own, wreaking havoc among the town to get finally revenge on Wallace and Gromit.
How To Train Your Dragon (2010)
RT score: 99%
Runtime: 108 minutes
Directors: Christopher Sanders & Dean DeBlois
Where to stream: Netflix, Max (US); Paramount Plus, Stan (AU)
It goes without saying that How To Train Your Dragon is one of DreamWorks' best animated features, and I'm excited to see it be brought back to life again this year with its live action revival after speaking with director Chris Sanders.
Young Viking teenager Hiccup (Jay Burachel) has a dream of becoming a drag slayer just like the rest of the Vikings in his village of Berk, but his lack of strength and helplessness is the one thing holding him back. One day during training, he comes across a rare breed of dragon who he injures, but can't bring himself to kill it. When he spares the dragon's life, the two form an unlikely friendship which comes as a huge surprise to the rest of the village.
Robot Dreams (2023)
RT score: 98%
Runtime: 102 minutes
Director: Pablo Berger
Where to stream: Hulu (US); Mubi (UK); Stan (AU)
Another relatively new animated feature, Robot Dreams is based on a comic strip by Sara Varon set during the 1980s, and is the only one in the list I haven't had the opportunity to watch yet. Therefore, it's going straight into my Mubi watchlist.
DOG is a lonely dog living in Manhattan, and to cure his loneliness he invents a robot companion and a close bond is formed between the two. Happy that his lonely life has been left behind, DOG enters a great sadness when a situation forces him to abandon his new companion. But the question remains; will they cross paths again?
Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse (2023)
RT score: 95%
Runtime: 130 minutes
Directors: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers & Justin K. Thompson
Where to stream: Netflix (US)
I'm not the biggest fan of Marvel movies, but the Spiderverse movies are some of the most visually stunning features I've seen. Straight from the pages of a comic book, its animation style is bold and dynamic – and the soundtrack ties it all together.
In the second installment to the series, Myles Morales (Shameik Moore) returns for another adventure, this time across the multiverse with Spider-Woman Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld). On their journey, they meet a new team of Spider-People led by Miguel O'Hara (Oscar Isaac) while facing a new slew of enemies including supervillain Spot (Jason Schwartzman).
Isle of Dogs (2018)
RT score: 90%
Runtime: 101 minutes
Director: Wes Anderson
Where to stream: Disney Plus, Hulu (US); Disney Plus (UK and AU)
I've recommended Isle of Dogs a lot, including in my recent Wes Anderson movie roundup, but his 2018 animated feature is so good that I will recommend it at any given opportunity.
In Anderson's second stop-motion animation feature set in a fictional Japanese city, a virus outbreak results in the city's Mayor to banish all dogs to a remote island known as Trash Island. When the Mayor's nephew Atari (Koyu Rakin) learns that his bodyguard dog Spots has gone missing, he sets out on a mission to get him back.
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