The Millennium Age of Animation



""We're waiting for the pendulum to swing back again, which I am absolutely confident it will.""

- An exceedingly optimistic Don Bluth, speaking about hand drawn animation

This is the Age of Animation we live in now, starting from the early 2000s--with the end of The Renaissance Age of Animation--and continuing to the present day. The usage of traditional 2-D animation methods that thrived in the previous eras is now seemingly all but abandoned, at least when it comes to American works; CGI animation is the rule, not the exception--just as Limited Animation ruled the Dark Age during the '60s and '70s (especially animation not coming from the USA or Japan). A lot of these shifts resulted from the constant deterioration of the global recession, which came to a head in 2008 and resulted in cheaper production procedures like outsourcing, studios taking safer bets, higher competition, bankruptcy, and massive layoffs. It did not help that any fan of content from the Renaissance Age could not get any decent work in the field by the time they were finally grown up and out of college by 2005. Studios hired unpaid interns by the hundreds, and veterans from the past eras were either out of work, doing their own thing, or dead.

Disney began to experience its first box office failures since the early '80s. Treasure Planet is often cited as the film where the downward spiral began, though some might say it began earlier with Pocahontas. The company's next three films would each do worse than its predecessor; after the failure of Home on the Range, Disney announced that it would discontinue traditional animation for good (blaming the medium itself instead of, perhaps, the Misaimed Marketing that went on for most of these movies). For the next five years, they certainly tried to kill 2-D animation; their second attempt at producing a CGI film of their own, Chicken Little, had a mediocre showing (but ended up making a profit)--then there was a two year gap before their next canon entry, Meet the Robinsons, was released. That film was followed in 2008 by Bolt, which achieved (at least) critical success in spite of having languished in Development Hell after a much-needed Executive Meddling by John Lasseter.

While this was going on, Disney was undergoing a shake-up in upper management. Since the release of Toy Story, Disney had been the distributor for all of Pixar's films, which were making much more money for them than most of their in-house fare. There was prolonged wrestling between the two companies over creative control, IP rights, and financial stakes over the films. In 2004, Pixar announced that they would be seeking other distribution partners when their contract with Disney was up--despite this, the two companies continued to negotiate in an attempt to patch things up. While this was going on, Michael Eisner left Disney in 2005--some say "pushed out", as Disney was struggling across the board and Eisner was one of the main obstacles to cooperation with Pixar. Ultimately, Disney bought Pixar outright in 2007, though Pixar was allowed to remain a separate entity; as part of the deal, Pixar co-founder John Lasseter became Disney's Chief Creative Officer and Pixar studio president Edwin Catmull also became president of Walt Disney Animation Studios. Allegedly, one of Lasseter's first executive actions was to discontinue the rampant Direct to Video sequels of Disney's back catalog and put that specific animation division - DisneyToon Studios - to work on new properties (such as the current CG Tinkerbell series). Under Lasseter's watch, traditional animation also got a second chance with The Princess and the Frog. The movie was successful enough to make Disney agree to greenlight a new traditionally animated film every two years, starting with a reboot of Winnie the Pooh. Around this time, a number of Disney classics got converted to the 3D format using the same process as Winnie the Pooh and were re-released in theater in short runnings, the first title of which - The Lion King 3D - has been met with rave success. Their next 2D release was to be an adaptation of Mort; however, the film was canceled due to rights issues, most likely because of the upcoming Discworld live action TV series. Their other originally planned hand-drawn movie, based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen, has been taken off the shelf and is now in production under the title Frozen and is now a CG feature, slated for release in 2013, thanks to the death of Mort. On March 23rd, 2012, 38-year-Disney-animator and producer Glen Keane officially resigned, signalling proof that Lasseter has yet failed to bring hand-drawn animation back to the forefront, and proving that despite his efforts, Disney still has no hand-drawn animation on the pipeline!

Network Decay has had a devastating effect on television animation. Many channels have jettisoned their Saturday morning cartoons and after-school cartoon blocks due to cable competition and increasing restrictions on advertising, and 4Kids! Entertainment has created a monopoly over what's left (and even they're facing financial problems). Cartoon Network is pushing increasingly towards live-action kids' shows in order to compete with Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel, which are in turn becoming increasingly dependent on their respective Cash Cow Franchises (live-action kid coms for Disney and SpongeBob SquarePants for Nick). Toon Disney was consumed by Jetix and eventually scrapped altogether to make way for Disney XD.

Overall, thanks in large part to economic woes mentioned above, animation as a whole is widely considered to have suffered, though there are exceptions. Avatar: The Last Airbender started a growing trend of high-budget animated action series for TV, and is one in a long list of popular shows that are pushing against the walls of the Animation Age Ghetto. On a different but related front, the phenomenally successful My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is creating a stir because it has taken great steps to blur the line between "Girl shows" and "General Audience Shows" thanks to defying many of the "Girl show" cliches, and using clever writing to attract audiences of all ages and both genders. It airs on The Hub, which replaced Discovery Kids in 2010 and is run by Hasbro, who intend to make it a fourth competitor to the big three kid's networks. The influence of anime on American shows is largely the reason for the rise of shows with continuous, overarching story lines such as the aforementioned Avatar: The Last Airbender, which may be a Trope Codifier in this regard. Further examples of shows of this type include Star Wars Clone Wars (the Tartakovsky cartoon), Star Wars: The Clone Wars (the Lucas CG show), Samurai Jack, The Spectacular Spider-Man, The Batman, Sym-Bionic Titan and Young Justice, a number of them becoming smash successes in their own right. Shows with looser continuity are still the norm, however, such as SpongeBob SquarePants, which rose to the position of Nickelodeon's Cash Cow Franchise. This era also saw "Adult aimed" cartoons, which started their comeback with The Simpsons in the 80s, reaching mainstream status with the ongoing success of shows like South Park, Futurama, Family Guy, as well as The Simpsons itself, along with many others.

Cartoons from previous eras are either shoved onto Boomerang or not shown at all, relegated chiefly to DVD releases. While home video releases of classic cartoons initially thrived during the early-to-mid 2000s, this trend eventually came to a crawl when a combination of piddling sales, the high cost of restoring the cartoons, and the general state of the economy caused many companies to pull back or scale down future releases of old cartoons, much of the chagrin of many collectors. Fortunately, older cartoons are starting to see more of a comeback, with future DVD releases lined up for Warner Bros. (including an all new and improved Tom and Jerry collection and, to the delight of animation purists everywhere, the first official home video release of The Censored 11). Columbia has also began reairing many of its old cartoons on Antenna TV, with plans for DVD releases in the works; Fox is also planning to release a Mighty Mouse collection in a couple of years, and Jerry Beck has been attempting to get the classic cartoon anthology program "Totally Tooned In" to finally air in the US--but the real highlight of all of this is that the original Looney Tunes have finally returned to air on Cartoon Network! Sadly, its successor, Tiny Toon Adventures, has not been returned to air on any channel. Many fondly-remembered Saturday morning cartoons during the Renaissance Age such as the aforementioned Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Jonny Quest the Real Adventures or Centurions have yet to receive this revival, much to the cry of the young adult demographics.

Anime dubbing has struggled too; Geneon and ADV Films both folded from poor sales, Network Decay resulting in disappearing anime blocks on television, and competition from internet subtitled episodes (which could be posted shortly after their Japanese premieres). FUNimation is probably the only dubbing studio to remain prosperous--it acquired a number of Geneon, ADV Films, and 4Kids' titles--but even they have financial issues. After its fold, ADV eventually formed Section 23 Films, and along with Funimation, Aniplex, the recent newcomer NIS America and (who else?) Disney, are currently holding licenses to the majority of essential anime titles on this side of the Pacific (though NIS America is not actually dubbing them). Around New Years Day 2012, Bandai Entertainment announced their end releasing prints and DVDs of manga and anime, focusing on digital distribution, broadcast and merchandising instead.

Despite all of that, there are more theatrical feature films coming out every year, with more major American companies becoming viable, sustained competitors than any time in history. The opening signal could be considered when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) introduced the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film starting in 2001, indicating a new level of respect and vibrancy for the art form; it could also be considered an aid to encourage more films, since they now have an Oscar of their own to shoot for. This presented a problem, too: with animation in its own category, there is an implication that an animated film will never be considered for plain old "Best Picture". This trend was reversed thanks to Pixar--Up and Toy Story 3 got nominated for Best Picture in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

Now we can get to the big American companies in the field. For starters, there's Pixar; while the studio's roots are planted deeply in The Renaissance Age of Animation, it still flourishes and finds success to this day, thanks to a solid track record in regards to the quality of their films. Dreamworks Animation (the spiritual successor to Steven Spielberg's earlier animation studio, Amblimation) began making its own waves with great films once it found its footing, first in partnership with Aardman Animations (with features like Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit), and then with its acclaimed computer animated films (the Shrek series, Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon). There are also the efforts of production studios like Blue Sky Studios (for Twentieth Century Fox) and their Ice Age series, Warner Brothers' Happy Feet, Sony's Open Season, and Universal/Illumination's Despicable Me. Blue Sky Studios were later shut down after Disney brought Twentieth Century Fox, citing financial difficulties brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. Even ILM got in on the action with its debut film, Rango, a film so successful that distributor Paramount has decided to get into the animation game with their own department 40+ years after they fired Ralph Bakshi in closing their old one in 1967. (Incidentally, Avatar isn't listed here because--despite the fact that the bulk of it involves a handful of live-action actors in a CGI setting--it is generally considered a live-action film.)

On the Direct to Video market, the fans of the now-deceased DC Animated Universe franchise found a new source of sophisticated Superhero animation with the DC Universe Original Animated Movies--and, to a lesser extent, the Marvel Universe videos. All of these films were explicitly produced for the formerly Periphery Demographic of teens and adults.

European traditional animation, meanwhile, has made a comeback with the development of several new studios and directors who have produced critically acclaimed films, including The Secret of Kells and The Triplets of Belleville. These films tend to address serious or artistic subjects in an avant-garde style (influenced by John Hubley and lost animated classics such as The Thief and the Cobbler) while still going out of their way to appeal to families with small children. Hayao Miyazaki and his colleagues at Studio Ghibli have carried the torch for traditional, movie-plotted, fully-animated films in Japan, returning to hand-drawn films which Disney (and especially John Lasseter, a Ghibli fanboy) has taken it on to promote in the US, with mixed results. The result has been a series of art films that didn't do well financially in the US, but were critically acclaimed enough to grow their studios and gather a small cult following. It is during this period that Miyazaki dropped Spirited Away, widely considered to be the best Ghibli film and one of the best, if not the best animated film ever made. The film is notable for being the only traditionally animated and non-American film to win the Academy Award for the Best Animated Feature. It's clear that the Academy has a heavy bias towards American produced films, however Spirited Away managed to overcome that bias and snatched a win against Disney's own Lilo & Stitch and Blue Sky's Ice Age. The challenge, of course, will be to determine how long the backers of such films insist on making art films restricted to families with children, especially since Ghibli has shut down (and later reopened) their department in 2014.

Adult aimed animation found a new home on Cartoon Network's nighttime block, Adult Swim, which turned out to be responsible for Family Guy and Futurama both getting Uncancelled. After the fall of Toonami, Adult Swim continued airing adult-oriented anime as well, while 4Kids still aired watered-down dubs of anime on Saturday mornings for the kiddies. Syfy showed Anime for a period, but was short lived, ending in 2011 as part of the network's shift from Sci-Fi in general. MTV revived their Liquidation animation block since the 90's in 2011 and kicked it off by bringing back Beavis and Butthead! Anime continues to be popular among teens and young adults, although the effects of the Animation Age Ghetto polarize it just as it does Western Animation, with an extra spoonful of All Anime Is Naughty Tentacles. Meanwhile, adult Western Animation tends to rely a bit much on pop culture references and Black Comedy, but at least the Animation Age Ghetto is gradually weakening.

On the Internet, a huge amount of Adobe Flash animation (most of which can be viewed for free) arose in various genres, with fewer restrictions on creativity than commercial releases. Leading the way here was the popularity of the Flash site Newgrounds. While the early 2000s saw a rise of ultraviolence genre series like Madness Combat and Happy Tree Friends, more sophisticated series also appeared as time went on. When Adobe stopped supporting Flash in 2017, Flash animation became a relic of the past... but 3D-modeling software such as Blender and Daz Studio strengthened their support for animation at the same time, so CGI animation continued to be something that even a hobbyist could do with only a computer and a lot of 3D art.

Despite all the success, it appears many American studios became antagonistic towards 2D animated TV shows in the 2020s. Animated shows such as Final Space became tax write offs for major studios, and was cancelled. Other shows, such as Infinity Train suffered the same fate. Inside Job, a show with a positive reception, was cancelled on a Cliff Hanger. If you get lucky, you get The Owl House, which was cut short. Although the third twenty-episode season was shortened to three specials, it at least got to finish its story.

Series/Films that are associated with this era:

 * Adventure Time: One of Cartoon Network's better animated shows. (2010)
 * Almost Naked Animals (2011)
 * Alpha and Omega: Lionsgate's CGI film about wolves that should really get more recognition than it does. (2010)
 * Alvin and the Chipmunks: Receiving a new incarnation in seemingly every era of animation since their creation, now they're back as computer animated characters in a live-action setting--and because of this movie's success, Yogi Bear and The Smurfs have already gotten similar treatments. Other Hanna-Barbera properties such as Tom and Jerry and Wacky Races are rumored for future projects (to the dismay of many).
 * The Amazing World of Gumball (2011)
 * Aqua Teen Hunger Force (2001 - present, currently (as of 2011) airing under the title of Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 01, but the premise is still the same.)
 * Arthur Christmas (2011)
 * Astro Boy (2009 American CG film)
 * Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008)
 * The Legend of Korra (2012-2014)
 * The Backyardigans (2004)
 * The Batman (2004)
 * Batman Beyond Return of the Joker (2000)
 * Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman (2003)
 * Batman the Brave And The Bold: Re-invigorated the Silver Age essence of Batman and introduced this generation to more obscure DC characters (Blue Beetle, The Metal Men, Crazy Quilt, etc). It found success despite debuting not too long after The Dark Knight.
 * Beached Az (2009)
 * Ben 10 (2005)
 * Ben 10 Alien Force (2008)
 * Ben 10: Ultimate Alien (2010)
 * Ben 10 Omniverse (2012)
 * Beowulf
 * Big Buck Bunny (2008)
 * Biker Mice From Mars (the 2006 Revival)
 * The Boondocks (2005)
 * Brandy and Mr. Whiskers (2004)
 * Bubble Guppies (2011)
 * Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000)
 * The Buzz on Maggie (2005)
 * Cartoonstitute (2010) (A multi-short cartoon showcase project that never got off the ground.)
 * Camp Lazlo (2005)
 * Chowder (2007)
 * CJ the DJ (2009)
 * Clone High (2002-2003)
 * Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)
 * Coconut Freds Fruit Salad Island: A shameless knockoff of SpongeBob SquarePants, made by Warner Bros Only lasted for 13 episodes.
 * Code Lyoko (2003)
 * Codename: Kids Next Door (2002)
 * Coraline (2009)
 * Da Boom Crew (2004)
 * Dan Vs. (2011)
 * Danny Phantom (2004)
 * Despicable Me (2010)
 * Disney Animated Canon:
 * Dinosaur (2000)
 * The Emperor's New Groove (2000)
 * Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
 * Lilo and Stitch (2002): The only animated film in Disney's Dork Age to be a hit. It got several sequels, a TV series, and even an anime.
 * Treasure Planet (2002)
 * Brother Bear (2003)
 * Home on the Range (2004)
 * Chicken Little (2005): Disney began experimenting with CG with this film, amidst pressures stemming from Pixar threatening to part ways with them and competition from Dreamworks. This film in particular is often criticized for imitating the pop-culture-heavy humor in Shrek, and is often considered to be the Canon's worst film.
 * Meet the Robinsons (2007)
 * Bolt (2008)
 * The Princess and the Frog (2009): Disney's return to hand-drawn features. Also the first time Disney has a black princess and a prince who Really Gets Around.
 * Tangled (2010)
 * Winnie the Pooh (2011)
 * Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
 * Frozen (2013)
 * Disney's Tinker Bell and its sequels.
 * Dora the Explorer (2000)
 * Drawn Together (2004)
 * Dreamworks Animation films:
 * The Road to El Dorado (2000)
 * Shrek (2001)
 * Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)
 * Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003)
 * Shrek 2 (2004)
 * Shark Tale (2004)
 * Madagascar (2005)
 * Over the Hedge (2006)
 * Flushed Away (2006)
 * Shrek the Third (2007)
 * Bee Movie (2007)
 * Kung Fu Panda (2008)
 * Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)
 * Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)
 * How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
 * Shrek Forever After (2010)
 * Megamind (2010)
 * Kung Fu Panda 2(2011)
 * The Drinky Crow Show (2007)
 * Duck Dodgers (2003)
 * Enchanted: This movie had traditional animation only at the beginning and a few more times throughout; the rest was CG/live action hybrid. A Shout-Out and Affectionate Parody of classic Disney.
 * Elephants Dream
 * The Fairly OddParents (2001)
 * Family Guy (1999, though it was canceled twice [once in 2000 and again after the show's third season in 2002. Due to high ratings on Cartoon Network, high DVD sales, and FOX dropping all of their replacement live-action shows left and right, the show finally came back in 2005 and has completed its ninth season)
 * Fanboy and Chum Chum (2009)
 * Fantastic Four Worlds Greatest Heroes (2006)
 * Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
 * Father of the Pride: The first totally-CG theatre-quality rendered network sitcom, this Dreamworks Animation effort starred John Goodman and Carl Reiner as White Lions in Seigfred and Roy's Las Vegas act.
 * Felix the Cat Saves Christmas
 * Fish Hooks (2010)
 * Foot 2 Rue
 * Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends (2004)
 * Futurama (1999; much like Family Guy, FOX dumped this show after screwing with its timeslot and gained a cult following that led to its revival -- only Futurama now has new life on cable TV. It found a temporary home on Cartoon Network until 2007, when it lost the rights to Comedy Central, which now airs not only the original series, but also the made-for-DVD movies and new episodes)
 * Geronimo Stilton (2009)
 * Get Ed
 * G.I. Joe Renegades (2010)
 * Go, Diego, Go! (2005)
 * The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy (2003)
 * Growing Up Creepie (2006)
 * Happiness Is A Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown (2011)
 * Happy Feet (2006)
 * Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi (2004)
 * Harvey Birdman Attorney At Law: A parody of cartoons from The Dark Age of Animation. (2000)
 * Hoodwinked (2005)
 * Horton Hears a Who! (the Blue Sky film), (2008)
 * House of Mouse: A much-loved Massive Multiplayer Crossover about Mickey Mouse owning a club for Disney characters only and showing animated shorts.
 * Ice Age (2002)
 * Invader Zim: Too Good to Last, (2001)
 * Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks (2003)
 * Johnny Test (2005)
 * Kappa Mikey (2006)
 * Kim Possible (2002)
 * Kong: The Animated Series (2000)
 * Korgoth of Barbaria (2006)
 * Krypto the Superdog (2005)
 * The Legend of Tarzan (2002)
 * The Life and Times of Juniper Lee (2005)
 * The Lion King 1½: A midquel reinterpreting the original movie from the viewpoint of Timon and Pumbaa, this is another of Disney's more successful direct to video sequels, as it doesn't go by their standard rules of storytelling.
 * Looney Tunes: Many things related to it are listed below:
 * Looney Tunes in the Seventies and Onward
 * Loonatics Unleashed: While Tom and Jerry got a fairly nice revival with Tom and Jerry Tales, Looney Tunes saw Looney Tunes Back in Action flop at the box office and consequently got this.
 * Looney Tunes would get the short end of the stick again with Baby Looney Tunes, which may even be worse than Loonatics Unleashed.
 * Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003)
 * The Looney Tunes Show (2011): Warner's latest attempt to revamp the Looney Tunes franchise, which so far has been fairly well-received, although also hated to a extent by fans of the original Looney Tunes and Tiny Toon Adventures.
 * The Lorax (2012)
 * MAD (2010): an animated sketch show based off MAD Magazine and may or may not be the revamped cable version of Mad TV (a live-action sketch show on FOX that was canceled in 2009 due to low ratings, budget restrictions, and Seasonal Rot. Unlike MAD, Mad TV was only tenuously related to MAD Magazine).
 * The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack (2008)
 * Megas XLR (pilot broadcast in 2002, series premiere in 2004)
 * Moral Orel (2005)
 * Mucha Lucha (2002)
 * My Life as a Teenage Robot (2003)
 * My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic (2010): The latest My Little Pony series, notable for its tremendous Periphery Demographic.
 * The Oblongs (2001)
 * Oggy and the Cockroaches (1999)
 * Pearlie
 * The Penguins of Madagascar, the first Nicktoon from DreamWorks.
 * Phineas and Ferb: Notable for its Periphery Demographic (many parents and teenagers admit to enjoying the show, despite the show being marketed mainly to 8-12 year olds) due to its insanely clever writing, musical content, and engaging characterization.
 * Pixar's films:
 * Monsters, Inc. (2001)
 * Finding Nemo (2003)
 * The Incredibles (2004)
 * Cars (2006)
 * Ratatouille (2007)
 * WALL-E (2008)
 * Up (2009): In 2010, this movie became the second animated movie ever to be nominated for Best Picture.
 * Toy Story 3 (2010): Currently the highest-grossing animated film of all time.
 * Cars 2 (2011)
 * Brave (2012)
 * The Problem Solverz (2011)
 * Rango (2011)
 * Regular Show (2010): One of Cartoon Network's 15-minute animated series that airs on Monday nights (along with Adventure Time, MAD, Problem Solverz, and The Amazing World of Gumball). Based on J.G. Quintel's "2 in the AM PM" and "The Naive Man From Lolliland," this show (like many of Cartoon Network's past oeuvres) is What Do You Mean It's for Kids? incarnate.
 * Robotomy (2010): Cartoon Network's shortest-lived cartoon series ever (and one of the only current shows it had that used traditional cel animation). It only lasted ten episodes (it would have been 12, but two episodes were never finished), and was canceled due to high production costs and lack of appeal in foreign markets. The show is also the very definition of Keep Circulating the Tapes (though a lot of episodes are available on iTunes): after the final episode ("From Wretchnya With Love") aired, Cartoon Network never reran the show and a week later, deleted all evidence that the show existed from their website. Seems like they were ashamed of it...
 * Robots (2005)
 * Ruby Gloom (2006)
 * Samurai Jack (2001)
 * Scaredy Squirrel
 * Scooby Doo, like Alvin, continues to be adapted into a slew of new shows and DVD specials--as well as two particular movies no one likes to mention. There was "What's New, Scooby-Doo?", which brought the original team back and updated the stories for the times, and then "Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get A Clue!" "Scooby-Doo! Mystery Inc." is currently airing, which takes a darker, more action-oriented, and slightly dramatic spin on the show. Cartoon Network also produced a series of original, live-action TV movies about slightly younger versions of the characters.
 * Secret Mountain Fort Awesome (2011)
 * The Secret of the Magic Gourd: A CG and live action hybrid. Co-produced by Disney and China Movie Co Ltd and marketed towards mainland China.
 * The Secret Saturdays (2008)
 * The Simpsons Movie: One of the only hand-drawn films in this era to be successful, and the most profitable movie to be based on a TV show.
 * Skyland (2005)
 * Spliced: a Canadian George Lucas Throwback of '90s Cartoons that is probably Too Good to Last (2009)
 * SpongeBob SquarePants: This is arguably the most popular show of this era. (1999)
 * Stanley (2001)
 * Star Wars Clone Wars (2003)
 * Star Wars the Clone Wars (2008)
 * Static Shock (2000)
 * Studio Ghibli films:
 * Spirited Away: The only hand-drawn animated film to receive an Oscar for Best Animated Film ...by a Japanese guy! (2001)
 * The Cat Returns (2002)
 * Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
 * Tales From Earthsea (2006)
 * Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea saw a US release in August of 2009, though it performed well under expectations. (2008)
 * The Borrower Arrietty (2010)
 * From Up on Poppy Hill (2011)
 * The Wind Rises (2013)
 * The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013)
 * When Marnie Was There (2014)
 * The Red Turtle (2016)
 * Super Duper Sumos
 * Superjail (2007)
 * Sym-Bionic Titan (2010)
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the completely CG movie in 2007)
 * Teen Titans (2003)
 * Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo (2006)
 * Thomas Timberwolf: A short-lived 13 episode flash series, the very last work directed by Chuck Jones.
 * Three Delivery (2008)
 * ThunderCats (2011)
 * Titan A.E. (2000): Don Bluth's final film, unless he ever gets around to making that Dragon's Lair movie. Its box office failure led to the closure of Fox's animation studio.
 * Tom and Jerry Tales: An interesting Shout-Out to the original Tom and Jerry shorts (something rare for this era), the series ran from 2006 to 2008, being cancelled when 4Kids took over Kids WB. Another good cartoon that never had a chance on American TV.
 * There have also been quite a few Tom and Jerry Direct to Video films in the past decade, all of which seem to have been far more well received than their first film in the 1990s.
 * Total Drama Island is Cartoon Network's saving grace of the later half of the first decade (2006), resulting in more Canadian-made sitcom teen shows, including:
 * 6teen (2004)
 * Stoked (2009)
 * Sidekick (2011)
 * Titan Maximum (2009)
 * Totally Spies! (2001)
 * Transformers Animated (2007)
 * Transformers Go Bots: The most obscure and short-lived series in the Transformers franchise. (2003-2005)
 * Transformers Prime (2010)
 * The Triplets of Belleville (2003)
 * Trollz (2005)
 * Ugly Americans (2010)
 * The Venture Brothers: A wildly popular Adult Swim-distributed tribute to '70s Hanna-Barbera action shows like Jonny Quest. (2003)
 * Wakfu (2008): From the French studio Ankama, and one of the culminating points of Flash art maturing into a legitimate tool for animation rather than a plague.
 * The Wild: A Disney-distributed film from Canada. (2006)
 * Wishology: A The Fairly OddParents film aired in 2009.
 * The Xs (2005)
 * Yakkity Yak (2003)
 * Zevo-3 (2010)

Real life people who are associated/are directly involved with this era:

 * Notable Disney Regulars (writers, directors, composers and songwriters for Disney films):
 * Bob Iger, current Chief Executive Officer
 * Ed Catmull, current President
 * John Lasseter, current Creative Chief Officer (also see Pixar below)
 * Mark Dindal and Randy Fullmer, directors (The Emperor's New Groove, Chicken Little)
 * Stephen Anderson and Don Hall, directors (Meet the Robinsons, Winnie the Pooh)
 * Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, directors (Lilo and Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon). Now at Dreamworks Animation.
 * Ron Clements and John Musker, directors (The Princess and the Frog)
 * Glen Keane, animator ([Mulan], Treasure Planet [Silver]), producer and conceptual designer (Tangled) Resigned as of March 23rd, 2012.
 * Mark Henn, animator (Meet The Robinsons [Wilbur], The Princess And The Frog [Tiana], Winnie the Pooh [Pooh, Christopher Robin])
 * Eric Goldberg, animator (The Princess And The Frog [Louis], Winnie The Pooh [Rabbit], Looney Tunes: Back in Action [all cartoon characters], Flintstones Coco Pebbles commercials) Is now teaching.
 * Tony Bancroft, director (Mulan), animator (The Emperor's New Groove [Kronk])
 * Andreas Deja, animator (Lilo And Stitch [Lilo], The Princess And The Frog [Mama Odie and Juju], Winnie The Pooh [Tigger])
 * Dale Baer, animator (The Emperor's New Groove [Yzma], Home On The Range [Alameda Slim and Junior], Winnie The Pooh [Owl])
 * Bruce Smith, creator of The Proud Family, animator ('One by One' sequence for the scrapped Fantastia 2006, The Princess And The Frog [Doctor Faciliar], Winnie The Pooh [Piglet, Kanga, Roo])
 * Alan Menken, composer (Tangled)
 * Henry Jackman, composer (Winnie The Pooh)
 * Notable Pixar Regulars (writers, directors, composers and songwriters of Pixar films):
 * John Lasseter (Cars, Toy Story 3)
 * Lee Unkrich (Finding Nemo, Toy Story 3)
 * Pete Docter (Monsters, Inc., WALL-E, Up)
 * Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille)
 * Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, WALL-E, Toy Story 3)
 * Joe Ranft (Monsters, Inc., Cars)
 * Michael Giacchino (The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Up)
 * Randy Newman (Monsters, Inc., Cars, Toy Story 3)
 * Thomas Newman (Finding Nemo, WALL-E)
 * Seth MacFarlane
 * Jeffrey Katzenberg
 * Emily Hamshire
 * Henry Selick - director (Coraline)
 * Chris Wedge and Carlos Sandahla - directors (Blue Sky Studios)
 * Chris Meledandri - executive producer (Twentieth Century Fox, Illumination Entertainment}
 * Tress MacNeille
 * Genndy Tartakovsky: Artist and creative director largely responsible for The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Dexter's Laboratory, and the original launch of Star Wars: Clone Wars (among others). He faded into obscurity with personal projects about 2005, but resurfaced in 2010 with Sym-Bionic Titan. Is currently helming his own studio.
 * Spike Brandt: Animator at Warner Bros who has directed much of the studio's output in recent years.
 * Greg Weisman: The man behind Gargoyles has written for many recent animated titles seen above, such as The Batman, and has been heavily involved with The Spectacular Spider-Man and Young Justice.
 * William Joyce: Children's book writer and illustrator whose stories were adapted by many studios (Meet the Robinsons and Rolie Polie Olie for Disney, Robots for Blue Sky Studios, and Rise of the Guardians for Dreamworks Animation).
 * Peter De Seve: Illustrator and character designer (all of Blue Sky Studios's films, A Bug's Life, Hop).
 * Lauren Faust: The wife of Craig McCracken (creator of The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, who left Cartoon Network in 2009 thanks to CN Real) and the developer of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.
 * Jeff Kline: Veteran animation producer, responsible for shows like Big Guy and Rusty The Boy Robot, Jackie Chan Adventures, and Godzilla: The Series. Seemed to have vanished for a while throughout the mid-to-late 2000's, but re-emerged in 2010 to produce G.I. Joe: Renegades and Transformers Prime, core series in The Hub's action block.
 * Studio Ghibli directors, most of whom also did work in The Renaissance Age of Animation:
 * Hayao Miyazaki (director for Spirited Away, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea)
 * Isao Takahata (mostly active in the Renaissance Age, but directed The Tale of the Princess Kaguya)
 * Hiromasa Yonebayashi (director for The Borrower Arrietty, When Marnie Was There (film), Mary and the Witch's Flower)

Tropes that are associated with this era:

 * 3D Movie
 * Adobe Flash
 * All Animation Is Disney: Or, to update this trope to the 21st Century, All Computer Animation Is Pixar/DreamWorksAnimation.
 * All CGI Cartoon: Chronic.
 * Animated Adaptation: Actually is being seen less, though The Mummy Trilogy and Jackie Chan randomly received animated shows, among a few others. Plus there was Star Wars Clone Wars.
 * Animation Age Ghetto: While it's not as strong as it used to be, it still has quite the influence on works and viewership.
 * Animesque
 * Arch-Competitor: Pixar and Dreamworks Animation, although they're very different as well.
 * Pixar uses polygons to model characters, DreamWorks uses NURBS models.
 * Pixar isn't union. DreamWorks is.
 * Pixar is part of one of the six big movie studios in entertainment. DreamWorks is not.
 * Pixar has a good reputation for well written films, the exception being the critically panned Cars 2, and released one a year as part of the Disney Company. DreamWorks has gone for more comedy-based stories but have improved their writing quality as well as seen with their newer franchises, Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon, and releases at least two animated films per year as a contracted company with major film studios.
 * Dance Party Ending: A favorite ending to lot of animated movies (Shrek is a big example... and is probably the Trope Codifier) end with everyone dancing to old music kids have never heard before.
 * Direct to Video: Had to release those Disney and The Land Before Time sequels somehow.
 * Dreamworks Face: Phenomenon that changed how animated films are marketed. Characters who never sport a Fascinating Eyebrow in the movie will do so on movie posters to make the movie seem more edgy and comedic.
 * George Lucas Throwback: Disney appears to over-use this trope in their recent films, especially after returning to 2D. The Princess and the Frog was meant to be a throwback to the Disney films of The Renaissance Age of Animation, Tangled is supposed to be yet another princess film as a throwback to their 90's musicals, and Winnie the Pooh is taken directly off of the 60's film. Even though we aren't very far removed from the Renaissance period, there's already enough nostalgia for it for there to have been a throwback.
 * Human-Focused Adaptation: Just about every old cartoon character given their own movie has this: Alvin and the Chipmunks, Smurfs, Transformers, and so forth.
 * Ink Suit Actor: Already existed for traditional animation, but this became far more feasible (and common) among CGI films as technology progressed.
 * Lighter and Softer: The animated films of this era were less dramatic and were more comical than the previous era.
 * Limited Animation: Akin to the age before it, shades still exist. Serves as the norm for most Flash animated shows.
 * Limited Special Collectors' Ultimate Edition: Disney did this a lot.
 * Live Action Adaptation: Or more increasingly, live action/CG adaptations.
 * The Movie: Continues to be strong from the Renaissance era.
 * Network Decay
 * Non-Human Sidekick
 * Parental Bonus
 * Serkis Folk: The line between live-action and animation has become increasingly blurred. Computer-generated characters appear in movies of all genres.
 * Sequelitis
 * Small Annoying Creature: There is a character like this in every movie. He is usually the sidekick.
 * Thick Line Animation: Nowadays if a cartoon isn't Animesque, it's this.
 * Toilet Humour
 * Toon Boom: If a 2D cartoon in the Americas is not animated with Flash, it's most likely animated with this.
 * Unusual Animal Alliance: You can find this trope in about anything where the protagonist is an animal.
 * Vanilla Edition: If an animated movie from the Renaissance age was NOT Disney, chances are the Vanilla Edition is the only one that exists.