Memeing Classic Movies: The Top Animated Films For Memes

Memes and movies fit well together, and with many of them aimed toward the Millennial and Gen-Z audience, memes featuring references to films that we all grew up watching fare exceptionally well in terms of imaginary internet points. Some of the best movies we can all relate to are animated, and some of them happen to contain incredibly popular meme formats, as well as potential scenes that could become the next fresh format. Here are three of our top picks for the best animated movies for memes from over the years.

Spirited Away (2002)

Perhaps the most famous film by Studio Ghibli, Spirited Away is the story of Chihiro, a young girl who gets trapped in the spirit world from Japanese folklore. Here, she has to save her parents from a curse and earn her freedom from a bathhouse owner named Yubaba. As a bonus, Yubaba is often accompanied by random sentient heads that will make you completely forget everything you’ve seen thus far in the film, and instead make you question existence as you stare in confusion at them bouncing around the room like discarded tennis balls.

This is one of the most successful Japanese films in the world, and it’s also an instant classic anywhere. The animation is enough to drag anyone further into the endless black hole of anime, and it has a complex plot and about the same level of world-building as The Lord of the Rings in only two hours.

Even if you haven’t seen it, you probably recognize the dark, masked form of No Face, one of the movie’s antagonists. He appears in several different meme formats, with a more current example being No Face Chasing Chihiro. Spirited Away is also known for sparking many memes, though not all of them are specific formats.

The mere bizarreness of the plot and world it exists in means every scene is similar to a dream you might have if you passed out on NyQuil. Because of this, you can find a meme anywhere in this movie, and it would go viral because of its popularity among everyone who grew up watching Spirited Away. The fact that it’s an anime means the door is open for many more memes, but keep in mind this is a wholesome and family-friendly movie … not a place for Rule 34.

The Lorax (2012)

Based on the book of the same name by Dr. Seuss, The Lorax is the extinction story of the imaginary Truffula trees, as told by the man responsible for their destruction after demolishing the entire forest to make ugly scarves. The story is framed by 12-year-old Ted (played by Zac Efron) who is looking for the last Truffula tree in existence to impress a girl.

Truthfully, anyone who’s seen this movie has probably forgotten it by now, and the typical viewing experience is similar to watching a PBS documentary shown on the overhead projector in your middle school environmental science class. However, for anyone interested in making memes, it’s an entertaining gold mine.

No one can forget the iconic line "I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees," which became a crudely drawn meme that was modified into another format as well. The main antagonist, O’Hare, who is both a mayor and the owner of a bottled air company, is also famously memed. Every possible moment in this movie where O’Hare appears can gain you karma and likes easily, and his character history has been corrupted on online forums to expose him as a racist. Then there’s Let it Grow, a musical number at the end of the film that was so corny it sparked hundreds of remixes.

Bee Movie (2007)

This may bee a more obvious pick, but there’s no way to complete the list without Jerry Seinfeld’s Bee Movie. This movie follows Barry B. Benson, an average bee who doesn’t want to commit to a job for the rest of his life. Instead, he decides to sue the human race for selling honey. He becomes a lawyer, develops a crush on a human named Vanessa, messes up the entire balance of the natural world, and then there’s an uncomfortably motivational ending that makes no sense.

Bee Movie does not know what it is, nor does it try to be something else; instead, it is a movie full of complex adult humor handed to children because Seinfeld crafted an elaborate joke with a $150 million budget.

This is one of the few films meme fans managed to bring back into popularity through repetitive online jokes. It’s often shown on YouTube with creative ways of getting around copyright infringement, like speeding up every time the characters say bee or replacement remixes. The entire script is memorized by some, and sold printed on shirts to others.

There are memes everywhere, mostly existential memes using the word "bee" as a pun, but plenty more about Barry’s unexplained line, "Ya Like Jazz?" If you want to bring the chaotic energy of the Bee Movie back into the world of memes, this is a great place to go looking for content.

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