The Best Animal Movies Of All Time, Ranked

Who doesn’t love a good animal movie? Regardless of the genre, these stories have a knack for pulling us in and capturing our hearts. But which animal films are the best? Those nostalgic classics from our childhoods? New animated blockbusters with giant budgets? From marmalade-loving bears to a hungry shark, we’ve ranked the greatest animal films of all time. Has your furry favorite made the cut?

How we calculated our scores

To create our list of the greatest animal movies of all time, we combined the ratings from IMDb, Metacritic, the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer, and the Rotten Tomatoes audience score for each film — multiplying the IMDb score by 10 to make the math work — and arrived at an average score for all of them. The movie with the highest average is calculated to be the best. Hey, if you disagree, take it up with the math!

40. Beethoven

Our Score: 40.7

Stars: Charles Grodin, Bonnie Hunt, Dean Jones

Year: 1992

Director: Brian Levant


We wonder how many kids were desperate to get their hands on a St. Bernard after watching Beethoven? A lot, would be our guess! This family comedy is full of hilarious hijinks, all held down by excellent performances from Charles Grodin and the dog. It birthed a pretty large franchise, too. To date, it’s eight movies strong. Will we ever get a ninth entry?

39. Air Bud

Our Score: 45.3

Stars: Michael Jeter, Kevin Zegers, Wendy Makkena

Year: 1997

Director: Charles Martin Smith


Animal and sports movie-lovers were in for a treat in 1997 following the release of Air Bud. After all, it was about a basketball-playing dog. You don’t see those every day! And the film has created quite a legacy for itself. Yes, the Air Bud franchise is 13 movies strong, with the last one coming out in 2013. Would you say no to a 14th entry?

38. Doctor Dolittle

Our Score: 45.3

Stars: Rex Harrison, Samantha Eggar, Anthony Newley

Year: 1967

Director: Richard Fleischer


Doctor Dolittle is a ’60s classic, bringing Hugh Lofting’s book series to life. It proved to be a huge hit during the 1968 awards season, as it picked up nine nominations at the Oscars. The movie won two of them, which included the Best Original Song — “Talk to the Animals.” Both Eddie Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. have starred in more recent versions, but neither can touch the original’s brilliance.