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Best Animation Movies Alone On A Rainy Night From The 2000S Perfect For When You Need A Good Cry

The best animation movies alone on a rainy night from the 2000s perfect for when you need a good cry. A hand-curated list of animation films for Moviepiq.

A rainy night alone is one of the few situations that genuinely calls for a great film. No interruptions, no compromises on what to watch, no one talking over the quiet moments.

The 2000s were a decade of formal ambition in genre filmmaking — studios were willing to fund challenging, adult-oriented work at a scale that feels rare today.

Animation isn't a genre — it's a medium. And in the right hands, it reaches emotional places live-action simply cannot. Below are ten animated films that use the freedom of their medium to tell stories with a rawness and beauty that's uniquely their own.

1
2018 · ★★★★☆ 8.4/10

Teen Miles Morales becomes Spider-Man of his reality, crossing his path with five counterparts from other dimensions to stop a threat for all realities.

2
2009 · ★★★★☆ 8.3/10

78-year-old Carl Fredricksen travels to Paradise Falls in his home equipped with balloons, inadvertently taking a young stowaway along for the ride.

3
2008 · ★★★★☆ 8.4/10

In the distant future a small waste collecting robot inadvertently embarks on a space journey that will ultimately decide the fate of mankind.

4
1994 · ★★★★☆ 8.5/10

Lion prince Simba and his father are targeted by his uncle, who wants to ascend the throne himself.

5
2017 · ★★★★☆ 8.4/10

Aspiring musician Miguel, confronted with his family's ban on music, enters the Land of the Dead to find his great-great-grandfather.

The animated films that last are the ones that never condescend. They trust their audience — child or adult — to handle complexity, loss, and wonder in equal measure.

6
2016 · ★★★★☆ 8.4/10

Two strangers find themselves linked in a bizarre way. When a connection forms, will distance be the only thing to keep them apart?

7
1995 · ★★★★☆ 8.3/10

A cowboy doll is profoundly threatened and jealous when a new spaceman figure supplants him as top toy in a boy's room.

8
2004 · ★★★★☆ 8.6/10

When an unconfident young woman is cursed with an old body by a spiteful witch, her only chance of breaking the spell lies with a self-indulgent yet insecure young wizard.

9
2004 · ★★★★☆ 8.0/10

A family of undercover superheroes, while trying to live the quiet suburban life, are forced into action to save the world.

10
1988 · ★★★★☆ 8.5/10

A devastating story of a young boy and his little sister struggling to survive in Japan during World War II.

Crying at a film is not weakness. It's the sign of a story that got close enough to something real to matter. These films are worth the tissues.

A great animated film reminds you that the most universal emotions don't need to be rendered in flesh and blood to feel completely real.