Top 10 Best Films of 2024

What a crazy year it was for movies! From blockbuster hits like Inside Out 2 to unexpected box office flops like Joker: Folie á Deux, this year shaped up with its records for the 2020s decade. This year, I reviewed 38 movies in total, with 23 of them being 2024 movies and the remaining 15 being revisits of movies before 2024. Let's count which movies from this blog are the best of 2024!

10) Ultraman: Rising (Netflix)

Okay, we know Netflix does not have much of a good film category this year. This springs about when they are compared to last year when they had The Monkey King which was a surprising #1 of that year. However, they are still delivering some movies that can go on the list. This movie is a great starter for newbies who want to get into the Ultraman franchise. Industrial Light & Magic did a spectacular job animating this to look like an anime-inspired painting with a lot of colors and visualization. If you are wondering, this is meant to be a serious parenthood story about a superhero who has a double life of raising a kaiju. Instead of coming out as boring, the movie just goes with the flow and handles the themes of parenthood just right. Even though logical issues and misconceptions about parenting hold this film back, it still holds its place on the list for its heartwarming story in the Ultraman franchise.

9) Orion and the Dark (Netflix)

The movie at the ninth spot is one of the better movies to come out of Netflix. Additionally, this is one of the good movies to come out of the animated DreamWorks film library, with Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate being their only bad movie this year. This one may be a simple animated movie exclusively released for streaming only but it has a fun story with a deep moral. It tells about a boy who goes on a magical journey to overcome his fear of night time. On his journey, he meets other magical friends who are based on the other states of sleep, from noises to quietness. DreamWorks does not just have theatrical releases. They have their straight-to-streaming releases, including this one, and this shows that DreamWorks can make the good for streaming services.

8) Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy (Netflix)

Copyright © Netflix, Grain Media

In this decade, Netflix never misses with its documentaries. Their two music documentaries of BLACKPINK and LiSA, from 2020 and 2022 respectively, were phenomenal. Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy is one of their best in that category, if not, their best movie of the year unironically. This time, it comes out with a commentary on how companies are causing overconsumption all over the world. Notorious companies, especially Amazon and Adidas, are exposed for their hidden tactics to engage consumers into purchasing without any knowledge. Sadly, this does not get as much attention compared to anything like Thelma the Unicorn or Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver. Without a doubt, this movie deserves to be on the list for telling things right about buying products from any department.

7) Kung Fu Panda 4 (Universal Pictures)

Personally, I am a huge fan of the Kung Fu Panda franchise, so this sequel is no exception in my opinion. The fourth film in this series is a way to end the original film series for a new trilogy. It is not just the Chinese-styled animation that makes this movie all worth enjoying. Po learns another lesson on his journey to Juniper City, so the story is also made this film yet another awesome watch. The previous three movies explored believing the ordinary as special, forgetting the past, and finding your unique strengths. As he passes the Dragon Warrior torch to Zhen, he learns that change can lead to growth, when Master Shifu passes on the Spiritual Leader torch to him. Even though this may not be in the top five either, it still deserves to be on the list as DreamWorks did not fail yet again with another new entry of its kung fu fighting saga.

6) Wicked (Universal Pictures)

As this movie is one of the highly anticipated box office successes, this movie is an expensive spectacle in the Wicked collection. Its high marketing of products, from toys to makeup, helped so much to get people interested in paying theaters to see the movie. To get the elephant out of the room, the production is brilliant thanks to Universal putting in the $150 million budget for this Broadway musical adaptation. There are also iconic songs and performances, from actresses Cynthia Erivo (as Elphaba) and Ariana Grande (as Glinda), that make this movie a fun Wizard of Oz prequel. Aside from its style, the story is a fun magical journey of how the Good Witch and Wicked Witch came to be. Even though it is just the first part for now, let's hope that the writers will make the second part defy gravity as much as this part did this year.

5) Piece by Piece (Focus Features)

Out of all the ideas for animated movies, a music biopic animated with LEGO was one of the most unexpected ideas. In this biography, Pharrell Williams tells the story of how he came to stardom with an iconic toy. Sadly, it became a box office bomb due to its unconventional concept, compared to how other movies like this use live-action. Although you can tell the bricks are CGI, the colorful direction shows what Pharrell Williams thinks producing music is like in his head. From the life of Pharrell, he learned that inspiration is a door to creativity. He also learned about perseverance and gratitude throughout his musical life. Again, it is a box office bomb because Focus had little marketing as well as not enough interest from kids. However, this poor movie deserves its fifth spot for its artistic expression.

4) Inside Out 2 (Walt Disney)

Although Disney has been going through some trouble lately, this year is their big box office moment, especially how this movie became the highest-grossing film of the year. Disney and Pixar teamed up once again to make this animated sequel to the hit animated movie, Inside Out. Surprisingly, it ended up way better than expectations went. It is modern Disney but the company did not disappoint this time. The second part shows new emotions joining the Headquarters as Riley reaches 13 years old. Like Turning Red, it addresses puberty. However, this one shows the issue metaphorically instead of physically, and did it better than how that movie did so two years ago. Even though this is a Disney movie, this is still an amazing story that made a huge impact in 2020s animated movie history.

3) Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Paramount Pictures)

We're flying on the top three now! No pun intended, this installment is marked as the best movie in the Sonic the Hedgehog movie series. Paramount is always going to make amazing content for the blue blur's universe and this is no exception, of course. From Jim Carrey's return (as Dr. Ivo and Gerald Robotnik) to the introduction of Shadow the Hedgehog (thanks to Keanu Reeves), the actor performances make the film a whole lot of fun. Even better, this is based on Sonic Adventure 2 which is one of the most popular games in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. This movie is packed with a lot of action and jokes to make the movie thrice as exciting. Just like the previous two movies, the story has a strong message. As for this installment, it tells us to move on from the loss of a loved one, as well as to not answer pain with revenge. The third movie of the blue hedgehog proves that Paramount has a chance at beating Disney in box office competition.

2) The Wild Robot (Universal Pictures)

The best fully-animated movie of the year would be this movie from DreamWorks. When a company comes out with a movie that is not related to any well-known franchise, we all know that it is going to be amazing. This movie is the final DreamWorks project to be animated entirely in-house. Therefore, The Wild Robot is a perfect way to end their fully-made productions with a toast. It is based off of the book series of the same name, written by Peter Brown, and yet an adaptation of these books would end up as a masterpiece. Weaved with beautiful CGI animation, the story has multiple messages, especially when it comes to parenthood, love, friendship, and saying goodbye. As expected from the trailers, the movie is enough to make someone cry. DreamWorks deserves this movie to be put as the runner-up here.

Before we get to our number one movie of the year, we will take a look at the honorable mentions! The ones who did not make it to the list are...
That Christmas (Netflix)
A Quiet Place: Day One (Paramount Pictures)
Fly Me to the Moon (Apple)
Dragonkeeper (Viva Pictures)

1) IF (Paramount Pictures)

Let's be completely honest. The heartwarming movie about imaginary friends, IF, is our best movie of the year. It is too bad to hear that this movie is a box office flop regardless of familiarity. For a family movie, the plot is to 100% die for when we see a girl helping imaginary friends go back to their grown up kids. This proves that an all-star cast does not mean a bad movie. In fact, they nailed it very well, with stars like Ryan Reynolds, Steve Carell, Phoebe-Waller Bridge, Brad Pitt, and so on. Even though the CGI imaginary friends make the movie feel more like it is aimed at younger kids, adults can also watch it because it has the strongest message. The main message of the movie is to get in touch with our inner child, no matter how old we are, and it gives out a huge cry. There are also some other messages that relate to childhood (of course), hope, loss, and love. To conclude, this really poor movie earns the #1 spot for the impressive visuals and the most emotional depth.

...and that does it for our list of the top 10 best movies of 2024! Would next year be as promising as this year was? We will find out as the movies come out! Goodbye and see you later in 2025!

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