There is just something about talking animal movies that audiences respond to. Whether it's because we love the sight of human characters interacting with their animal friends, or it's the idea of combining two worlds, or the magic of seeing animals appear to talk in live action movies, kids and parents alive can enjoy these stories on on both the big screen and from the couch at home. The latest big screen offering is The Garfield Movie, starring Chris Pratt as the voice of the iconic character in one of the most anticipated animated films of the year.
As you'll learn from this list, if you want a great modern talking animal move you've got to animate. Take a funny yet heartfelt script, find the right voices to go with the right animals, bring them to life with CGI, and you’ve got a recipe for success. From animated Disney movies to the CGI-generated Marvel Cinematic Universe and plenty in between, check out these 20 talking animal movies, as chosen by Fandango movie fans.
Too Long, Didn't Read summary:
• Talking animal movies strike a chord with audiences because of the worlds they create and the beloved characters they produce.
• From Disney movies with hand-drawn animation to the CGI worlds of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, these talking animal movies cover a wide range of settings and genres.
• These 20 talking animal movies were chosen by Fandango movie fans.
20. Bambi (1942)
Chosen by 20% of survey participants
91% on the Tomatometer
Based on Felix Salten's 1923 novel Bambi, a Life in the Woods, this classic Disney animation centers around a fawn and his friends – a young rabbit and skunk – as they explore the woods. The main talking animal in this classic, Bambi the fawn, was mainly voiced by Donnie Dunagan, who retired from voice acting after the film and went on to earn a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts while serving for the United States Marine Corps in Vietnam. But the big story with Bambi is the sad ending, one that is credited for sparking Paul McCartney’s interest in animal rights.
19. Madagascar (2005)
Chosen by 21% of survey participants
55% on the Tomatometer
This DreamWorks animated film follows a group of animals from the Central Park Zoo who end up stranded on the island of Madagascar, and are forced to adapt to their new world. It features the voices of Ben Stiller as a lion, Chris Rock as a zebra, Jada Pinkett Smith as a hippopotamus and David Schwimmer as a giraffe. Despite some mixed reviews from critics, Madagascar performed well at the box office, ultimately becoming the sixth-highest grossing film of 2005. That was enough to go full-on franchise with sequels, TV series, video games, short films, theme park rides and more.
18. Charlotte's Web (2006)
Chosen by 21% of participants
79% on the Tomatometer
Coming over 50 years after the book it's based on and over 30 years after the original animated adaptation from 1973, this CGI and live-action remake of Charlotte’s Web was a big hit with fans and critics in its own right. And that’s in part because of its loaded voice cast of talking animals that includes Julia Roberts as Charlotte the spider, plus Steve Buscemi as a rat, John Cleese as a sheep, Oprah Winfrey as a goose, Robert Redford as a horse, Kathy Bates and Reba McEntire as cows, and Thomas Haden Church and André Benjamin as crows. Add in heroine Fern (Dakota Fanning) and the inquisitive Wilbur the pig (voiced by Dominic Scott Key), and you have quite a farm-full.
17. The Emperor's New Groove (2000)
Chosen by 21% of participants
86% on the Tomatometer
David Spade leads the cast of this animated kids' flick as the young and arrogant Emperor Kuzco, who is transformed into a llama by his power-hungry advisor Yzma, voiced by Eartha Kitt. With the help of a peasant, voiced by John Goodman, Kuzco looks to restore his good life. The movie also features another talking animal in the form of Bucky the Squirrel, voiced by Bob Bergen. The Emperor’s New Groove was considered a box office disappointment compared to other Disney movies of the time, but it went on to find success in the home video market and has become something of a cult classic.
16. Scooby-Doo: The Movie (2002)
Chosen by 22% of participants
32% on the Tomatometer
This talking animal movie is based on the long-running animated franchise about a group of four young adults and a talking dog who solve mysteries. The screenplay was written by James Gunn, and the cast of humans includes Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard, Isla Fisher, Linda Cardellini and Rowan Atkinson. The voice of Scooby-Doo was provided by Neil Fanning, an Australian actor, stuntman and safety supervisor, while Scott Innes reprised his role as the voice of Scrappy-Doo from various projects, and J.P. Manous provided the voice of Scrappy Rex.
15. Winnie the Pooh (2011)
Chosen by 22% of participants
90% on the Tomatometer
This film served as a revival for Disney’s Winnie The Pooh franchise, based on A.A. Milne's book series of the same name. Jim Cummings, the official voice of both Winnie The Pooh and Tigger since the late '80s, reprised his voice roles, and Travis Oates reprised his voice role as Piglet. The rest of the voice cast includes Tom Kenny as Rabbit, Craig Ferguson as Owl, Bud Luckey as Eeyore and Kristen Anderson-Lopez as Kanga, with John Cleese serving as narrator. The movie follows the aforementioned group of characters as they venture out to save Christopher Robin from an imaginary culprit.
14. The Jungle Book (2016)
Chosen by 25% of participants
94% on the Tomatometer
Directed and produced by Jon Favreau, The Jungle Book combines live action shots with lush CGI animation in a remake of Disney's 1967 animated movie of the same name. Favreau worked with producers to develop a story that borrows elements from the 1967 movie and also the original works from Rudyard Kipling on which the movies are based. With Neel Sethi playing Mowgli, an orphaned human boy who begins a journey of self-discovery, the film’s voice cast includes Bill Murray as Baloo, the sloth bear; Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, the black panther; Idris Elba as Bengal tiger Shere Khan; Scarlett Johansson as Kaa, the Indian python; Giancarlo Esposito and Lupita Nyong'o as Indian wolves Akel and Raksha; and Christopher Walken as the ape King Louie.
13. Kung Fu Panda (2008)
Chosen by 26% of participants
87% on the Tomatometer
Jack Black leads an all-star voice cast in Kung Fu Panda that includes Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Michael Clarke Duncan and Jackie Chan. The film takes place in a version of ancient China populated by anthropomorphic animals, and follows Black’s Po character, a kung fu junkie living in the Valley of Peace who’s forced to take on a savage snow leopard, voiced by McShane, who is attacking the Valley. The film launched a multimedia franchise with three theatrical sequels, numerous animated series, short films, video games and more.
12. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
Chosen by 26% of participants
75% on the Tomatometer
This film is based on the second chronological novel in C. S. Lewis's fantasy book series, The Chronicles of Narnia, and follows four London children who find a wardrobe that takes them to the land of Narnia, which is ruled by a cruel witch. Voice actors in this film include Liam Neeson as Aslan the great lion, Rupert Everett as Mr. Fox, and Michael Madsen as a wolf named Maugrim. The film was followed by two more book adaptations from the series, Prince Caspian (2008) and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010).
11. The Muppets (2011)
Chosen by 26% of participants
95% on the Tomatometer
Jason Segal co-wrote and stars in the seventh theatrical film to feature the Muppets. He was joined by fellow humans Amy Adams, Chris Cooper and Rashida Jones, along with Muppet performers Steve Whitmire, Eric Jacobson, Dave Goelz, Bill Barretta, David Rudman, Matt Vogel and Peter Linz giving life to their fuzzy counterparts. And it was Linz who was the voice behind a new character, Walter, introduced in the film as a Muppet fanatic who tries to help Kermit the Frog get the Muppets back together.
10. A Bug's Life (1998)
Chosen by 27% of participants
92% on the Tomatometer
A Bug's Life was the second feature-length film release from Pixar after 1995’s Toy Story, with a voice cast that includes Dave Foley, Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Dennis Leary and Hayden Panettiere, among others. It follows a misfit ant who’s looking for help saving his ant colony from a gang of grasshoppers, but the “warriors” he recruits turn out to be a group of Circus Bugs. Despite a similar movie from DreamWorks called Antz being released a month prior, A Bug’s Life went on to have success and even inspired A Bug's Land at Disney’s California Adventure park from 2002 to 2018.
9. Zootopia (2016)
Chosen by 27% of participants
98% on the Tomatometer
Set in the titular city where anthropomorphic mammals coexist, the Oscar-winning Zootopia follows the unlikely partnership of a rookie bunny cop and a fox con artist as they untangle a criminal conspiracy. The voice cast features Ginnifer Goodwin as the rabbit Judy Hopps and Jason Bateman as Nick Wilde the fox. They're joined by stars like Idris Elba as an African buffalo, Jenny Slate as a sheep, Tommy Chong as a yak, J. K. Simmons as a lion, Octavia Spencer as a river otter,and Shakira as a gazelle. Zootopia was followed by a Disney+ series, Zootopia+, and a sequel film is slated for 2025.
8. Up (2009)
Chosen by 29% of participants
98% on the Tomatometer
One of the highlights of this heartfelt Pixar film is Dug, a talking Golden Retriever voiced by co-writer Bob Peterson. Up follows an elderly widower, voiced by Ed Asner, who travels to South America by attaching thousands of balloons to his house, but unknowingly brings along a child in the process. Up was the sixth highest-grossing film of 2009 and received five Academy Award nominations, winning two for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score.
7. Planet of the Apes (1968)
Chosen by 30% of participants
86% on the Tomatometer
In what would launch a franchise that is still going strong 55 years later, Planet of the Apes stars Charlton Heston as part of an astronaut crew in the distant future that discovers a strange world where apes with human-like intelligence are the dominant species and humans are mute. The film is loosely based on Pierre Boulle’s similarly-titled 1963 novel, and won an honorary Academy Award for its groundbreaking prosthetic makeup techniques.
6. The Little Mermaid (1989)
Chosen by 31% of participants
91% on the Tomatometer
The Little Mermaid marks Disney’s 28th animated feature film and is based on the 1837 Danish fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen. Jodi Benson provided the voice of Princess Ariel, but when it comes to talking animals, The Little Mermaid features Samuel E. Wright as a red Caribbean crab named Sebastian, Jason Marin as a yellow tropical fish named Flounder, Buddy Hackett as a seagull named Scuttle and Pat Carroll as Ursula the sea witch.
5. One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
Chosen by 32% of participants
98% on the Tomatometer
Talking dogs are front and center in this Disney classic that's based on Dodie Smith’s similarly titled novel from 1956. The movie revolves around a litter of Dalmatian puppies who are kidnapped by one of the most notorious villains in animated movie history – Cruella De Vil – so she can make herself a fur coat. Legendary Hollywood actor Rod Taylor provides the voice of Pongo, the fraternal Dalmatian, while other talking animals include various dogs, cows, a horse, a white goose and even a scrawny talking cat.
4. Ratatouille (2007) 33%
Chosen by 33% of participants
96% on the Tomatometer
The eighth film produced by Pixar stars Patton Oswalt as a young rat who dreams of becoming a chef at a fancy French restaurant, with Brian Dennehy as the voice of his father and leader of the rat clan. Speaking of which, pet rats were reportedly kept at the Pixar studios so that the animators could study their movements. The result was five Academy Award nominations and a win for Best Animated Feature.
3. Shrek (2001)
Chosen by 37% of participants
86% on the Tomatometer
This family film is loosely based on William Steig’s 1990 picture book of the same name, with the titular ogre character being voiced by Mike Myers. But much of the comic relief came from Eddie Murphy’s Donkey character, which was reportedly inspired by a real miniature donkey named Perry from Barron Park in Palo Alto, California.
2. The Lion King (1994)
Chosen by 42% of participants
93% on the Tomatometer
1994’s highest-grossing film, The Lion King features James Earl Jones as the lion Mufasa, King of the Pride Lands and father to the film’s central character, Simba, voiced by Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Matthew Broderick. Other talking animals in this iconic film include Nathan Lane as Timon the meerkat, Ernie Sabella as Pumbaa the warthog, Rowan Atkinson as Zazu the hornbill, and Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin and Jim Cummings as spotted hyenas.
1. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Chosen by 48% of participants
92% on the Tomatometer
At the center of this, the tenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is Rocket, a genetically-engineered raccoon who is a master of weapons and battle tactics and voiced by Bradley Cooper. He teams up with a group of memorable characters in the form of extraterrestrial criminals who go on the run after stealing a powerful artifact. Cooper has said Joe Pesci's character in Goodfellas (1990) was an influence for Rocket's voice, which he has since provided for multiple sequels and other Marvel projects.
