The Best Animated Movie Kisses
Believe it or not, Disney doesn't have a monopoly on the best animated kisses (that makes one thing, at least). Certainly, some of the cutest animated kisses are Disney kisses, and you will definitely see some Disney couples on this list. But there are plenty of other memorable kisses in the world of animation that don't get enough credit.
All of these kisses took a lot of work — certainly more work than it would take for two celebrities to lock lips. To bring a single makeout session to the screen, the animators needed to spend hours of work hunched over a sheet of paper, a computer, or a puppet. But then, since these kisses were built from the ground up, this meant that the filmmakers could make these romantic moments look however they wanted. When you're staging the perfect kiss, every little detail counts.
Let's take a moment to swoon over these cute animated couples.
The kiss in Shrek throws Beauty and the Beast out the window
You probably know the story: Shrek gives Fiona true love's kiss, and she transforms into an ogre instead of a beautiful princess. This scene goes out of its way to reject happy-ending tropes, like when Shrek breaks the fourth wall to block the camera with his hand. Yet somehow, that only makes the scene more romantic. Giving the two lovers their privacy lends the kiss more intimacy. Plus, the church makes for a brilliant setting (at least after Dragon punches out all the stained-glass window renditions of Farquaad).
And if you pay attention to the little details, you'll notice that the rays of light shooting from Fiona's limbs are almost identical to the ones that surround the Beast as he transforms at the end of "Beauty and the Beast." The filmmakers were probably banking on the audience assuming, "Oh, she's gonna transform like the Beast," and it's quite a surprise when she doesn't.
This kiss was big. Something that had never been done before, at least not in an animated fairy tale. It would be like if Belle had taken one look at Beast in his human form and said, "Actually, I liked you better with a mane and claws." But the kiss in "Shrek" makes a lot of sense. Here, Shrek clearly loves Fiona for who she is (which isn't necessarily the case with Belle, if you think about the way she falls all over the newer and handsomer version of the Beast).
Sinbad and Marina from Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas have chemistry
Another bewitching animated kiss comes from a lesser-known DreamWorks film. "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas" bombed at the box office and is sadly underrated, according to Polygon. (Everybody ought to see the powerful scene where Sinbad sails his ship right off the edge of the world.) Nevertheless, nobody can deny that co-stars Sinbad and Marina have chemistry. After the two sling verbal and literal mud at each other, Sinbad's crew must nudge Sinbad and Marina until they finally give each other passive-aggressive apologies.
Their first kiss happens smack-dab in the middle of an action scene. After Sinbad and Marina argue over directions (guess which one of them is right), what follows is an eerie scene in which a bunch of hypnotic Sirens try to lure Sinbad and his men overboard. The Sirens resemble naked women made entirely from water — rather daring of DreamWorks for a PG movie. Only Marina can see what is happening, so she grudgingly saves everyone's butts.
To keep Sinbad from being dragged to a watery grave, Marina must stumble into his arms to get rid of the Siren that is caressing him, so naturally she and Sinbad end up kissing. Of course, Sinbad is still under the Siren's spell, and Marina wipes her mouth afterward, but this kiss is still a seductive prelude to the romance between them later in the movie.
Linguini makes a miraculous save in Ratatouille
This scene in "Ratatouille" is amazing because there is much going on besides the kiss. Little does Colette know, Linguini has a little hitchhiker under his chef's hat who is watching the kiss the whole time. Remy is the reason Colette is furious with Linguini, yet he is also the whole reason Colette likes Linguini to begin with (since it's Remy's talent that catches Collette's attention). What results is a refreshing first kiss in which the two lovers aren't even the main characters, yet it's the hero who brings them together at just the right moment.
Most viewers will totally relate to Linguini's adorable struggle to articulate his feelings. "I would follow your advice to the ends of the Earth because I love youuuuu ... r advice," he says in a lame but hilarious save. Just when it looks like Linguini is going to blow his chance (because nothing will turn off your lover faster than showing them the rat on your head), Remy nudges him forward into a kiss that surprises Linguini just as much as Colette.
There is so much tension building up in this scene — Colette feels like Linguini was using her, Linguini feels like he doesn't deserve her, and Remy just wants to scurry out of there before things get awkward — that there's an exhilarating release when the kiss finally happens. It's dizzying, and not just because of the gorgeous overhead shot spiraling away.
Kenji from Summer Wars can't kiss without getting a nosebleed
The kiss in "Summer Wars" is easily the weirdest animated kiss on this list. It's not so much romantic as it is entertaining. The hero of "Summer Wars" is Kenji, a shy mathletic genius who unwittingly unleashes a destructive computer virus while spending the summer with the Jinnouchi family. The reason Kenji is hanging out with these total strangers is because a girl named Natsuki roped him into pretending to be her fiancé so she could appease her great-grandmother (who wants to hear wedding bells). To make things even more awkward, Kenji has a major crush on Natsuki.
After Kenji stops the virus (which looks vaguely like Mickey Mouse with razor-sharp teeth), he finally earns the affection of Natsuki. But the moment Natsuki kisses Kenji, his nose starts bleeding, both nostrils gushing like a faucet, and then he faints in a comically dramatic fashion.
If you're wondering how such an innocent kiss got to be so bloody, it's actually a common trope in Japanese animation. As explained by Vice, a nosebleed in manga and anime is often used as the symbolic equivalent of giving a cartoon character hearts for eyes. Japanese viewers will immediately know this nosebleed means arousal, and director Mamoru Hosoda milks this for comic effect. Seeing as Kenji already had a bloody nose earlier in the film (a result of doing ridiculously complicated math in his head), it was only a matter of time before the blood started gushing again.
The kiss in Aladdin is the perfect 'Aw, Snap!' moment
The moment Jasmine leans in for a kiss, we're silently cheering, because we know Aladdin has totally earned it (mostly). We're gonna overlook the scene right before the kiss, when Jasmine demands, "Who are you? Tell me the truth," and then Aladdin basically lies to her face. Anyway, you can feel Aladdin's discomfort when Jasmine calls him a "handsome prince" — just watch his eyes dart slightly, because he knows that's not really true. The magic carpet senses his discomfort, too, which is why it stages an intervention.
But the most interesting part of this scene comes after the kiss is over. You'll notice that Aladdin only hisses "Yes!" after Jasmine is out of earshot (he's got a reputation to protect, after all). Then he drifts to the ground on his magic carpet, still coasting from his exhilarating flight. Seriously, Disney couldn't have picked a better metaphor to show what it's like to be in love.
Then, of course, Jafar ruins the moment by throwing Aladdin off a cliff. Call Jafar a buzzkill, but he's actually one of the ingredients that makes the kiss work. The part where Jafar yanks the rug out from under Aladdin is a perfect "Aww, snap!" moment that makes the kiss feel even more precious, because Aladdin was so close.
Two horses slow-dance in A Town Called Panic
Trust us, you haven't seen anything until you've seen two plastic horses slow-dance.
In the French stop-motion comedy "A Town Called Panic," all the characters are plastic. That's because they're supposed to be toys (with names like "Cowboy," "Indian," and "Horse"), so they look and move like actual toys. Their mouths don't move — instead, the characters bounce up and down when they talk, as if some invisible kid is "doing voices" for all his toys. The film's playful — almost meta — vibe can only be compared to "The Lego Movie," if "The Lego Movie" had been done in stop-motion with real toys.
The movie involves a weird love story between Horse and a lady-horse with Play-Doh hair named Madame Longray. At first, the romance exists only in Horse's head. There's a hilarious daydream sequence in which Horse is ice-skating with Madame Longray, who sheds her scarf dramatically and lets the wind carry it away. Then Horse and Longray inch closer and closer to each other, almost like a kid's playacted version of a kiss. Naturally, the dream ends before they finally touch. Don't worry, though — Horse finally gets that long-awaited kiss after he swoops in to rescue Madame Longray from a fire in an underwater department store. (We promise that sentence will actually make sense when you watch the movie.)
Nala gets her toes wet in The Lion King
Okay, it's a lick, not a kiss, but that's the closest you're gonna get in a world of talking lions.
Any couple will tell you that the tease is half the fun, and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" is the perfect way to build up romantic tension. First there's the way Nala butts her head underneath Simba's chin, then the way they circle each other under the waterfall. It's cute the way Simba drags her into the water with him, even cuter the way she climbs out, shivering. Fans who've grown up with the movie and have every scene committed to memory will notice the kiss is an unspoken callback to when the two were wrestling as cubs. This time Simba is on top, though Nala clearly doesn't mind. (We're betting this is only because she let him win.)
The funny thing is, while the lyrics describe "the world for once in perfect harmony," Simba and Nala are anything but in harmony. Hanging over the entire scene are the guilt and trauma Simba refuses to share with Nala, no matter how much she wants to help. So even as we're swooning over Simba and Nala's first kiss, we know that their first fight will soon follow. We know that the "perfect harmony" cannot last, and that's exactly why this song stole so many hearts (not to mention an Oscar). Nothing lasts forever, not even love — and certainly not Mufasa.
Rango gives us a bizarre kiss between two lizards
At first glance, there seems to be nothing romantic about "Rango." It's a gritty black comedy Western about a pet lizard who stumbles into the town of Dirt, where he adopts a gunslinger persona and bluffs his way into the role of Sheriff. Rango soon earns the romantic (but skeptical) attention of a desert iguana named Beans. (Don't ask why she looks like a lizard wearing a wig — that's not even the strangest thing in this movie.) To Beans' frustration, she has a bad habit of going rigid mid-sentence and staring into space because of a "defense mechanism."
The scene in question involves Rango and Beans in the desert at night, gazing out at the creepy-looking "walking cactuses." Near the end, Beans seems to "freeze up," and when Rango realizes he might as well be talking to a wall, he plants a quick kiss on her cheek. Maybe that would've been creepy, if it weren't for the fact that Beans was only pretending to "freeze" because she was hoping Rango would do exactly that.
We don't know why exactly this scene grabs us. Maybe it's because the desert backdrop looks so pretty, in a haunting way. Or maybe it's Rango's hilarious reference to his previous "girlfriend," who turns out to be just a headless Barbie doll ("She couldn't keep her head," he says). Whatever the reason, audiences won't easily forget this animated kiss between a wannabe cowboy and a lizard in a wig.
Tramp gives lady a kiss (and when that doesn't work, a meatball)
Let's face it — nobody is surprised to see "Lady and the Tramp" on the list. "Bella Notte," better known as "that spaghetti scene," is quite possibly the most famous animated kiss. Here's why.
The animation in this scene is incredibly observant. Tramp — scoundrel that he is — slurps his end of the spaghetti faster and more aggressively than Lady, who can barely get any into her mouth before she breaks away. It's super sweet the way she hides her face after the kiss. Plus, Tramp nudging the meatball with his nose is a nice touch, almost as if he's apologizing so they can put the whole embarrassing incident behind them.
However, there's something special about this kiss that makes it different from basically every Disney movie before it and most of the ones that came after it: we don't have to wait until the happy ending to see their first kiss. More importantly, the kiss is only the beginning. They don't just kiss and live happily ever after (because any couple can tell you it's a lot more complicated than that). Lady still needs to accept that she is the latest in a long line of previous girlfriends, while Tramp needs to quit being a womanizer and realize that this girl is the real deal. Kudos to Disney for deciding that the story isn't over as soon as the two lovers get together.
Everyone almost overlooks this kiss from Up
You know which scene we're talking about: one of Pixar's most heartbreaking moments, the montage of Carl and Ellie's life together from "Up." We're sure we don't need to remind you of the final kiss Carl gives Ellie on her deathbed. (You probably cried enough the first time you watched it.) But most people forget that there was another kiss during that montage that was almost as powerful. The kiss appears right after Ellie is seen adjusting Carl's colorful neckwear on his way out the door. A dozen ties later, we see Ellie lean into Carl and give him a kiss with one leg in the air, Barbie-style, with Carl laughing all the while.
This kiss is hardly the first thing that comes to mind when we say "romantic." We see it reflected in a smudged mirror, in the dimly-lit room of a house that has clearly seen better days. Carl and Ellie are no longer a young couple in love, so of course the kiss is not as passionate as some of the other kisses on this list. But for precisely that reason, this kiss is special. It's a mundane, everyday kiss that Carl likely experienced every day he was married to Ellie. It's one of the many sweet moments Carl almost missed because he was too busy searching for the next great adventure.
How To Train Your Dragon 2 turns an eww moment into a wow moment
For most teenagers, there's nothing more embarrassing than watching their parents kiss. Not true for Hiccup from "How To Train Your Dragon 2." When he sees his mom and dad getting all lovey-dovey, Hiccup watches hopefully. This is the first time he's ever seen his folks entwine their fingers. Heck, this is the first time since he was a baby that he's seen them both in the same room. Hiccup is afraid that Stoick and Valka won't get along. And why should they? Valka is a "vigilante dragon lady," as Hiccup puts it, and Stoick is a former dragon-slayer.
This is exactly what Valka expects, too. As Stoick gets closer and closer, you can see her screwing up her face, waiting for Stoick to call her selfish for never letting him know she was alive, or cowardly for never coming back home. To her surprise, Stoick lays down his sword and helmet (fans will notice this is the exact same gesture Hiccup uses to tell dragons that he means no harm). Then Stoick kisses his wife, and that's when we know all is forgiven.
And that, folks, is exactly how you do it. The way Stoick seems to melt when he sees Valka, the way Valka tearfully admits she was wrong, the fact that this all happens in a magnificent icy cavern ... everything in this scene is perfect. As far as romantic reunions go, it doesn't get much better than this.
The kiss under the waterfall in Fantastic Mr. Fox is cussing awesome
Only Wes Anderson could make a sewer look positively romantic. The quiet kiss exchanged between Foxy (the self-proclaimed "Fantastic Mr. Fox") and his wife Felicity happens in just such a bizarre setting. This is all because Mr. Fox got cocky and stole from three farmers (one fat, one short, one lean), who retaliated by shooting off Foxy's tail, kidnapping his nephew, and trapping Foxy and the rest of his family underground. Mr. Fox now must admit to his wife that this mess is all his fault, and it seems like the only way out is for him to sacrifice himself. It's heartbreaking when Felicity kisses her husband and tells him, "I love you, but I shouldn't have married you." Yet somehow, the sewer scene is one of the most beautiful scenes in the movie. Why?
The waterfall helps a lot. Yes, there is an actual waterfall in the sewer, brilliantly lit while Foxy and Felicity are silhouetted against it. It turns out that the rushing water is actually just plastic wrap carefully arranged by Wes Anderson and his cinematographer, says Indiewire, but the illusion is immersive. Even though Foxy only gives his wife a gentle peck, it feels more intense than a long and passionate kiss. That's because everything leading up to the kiss, from the blunt dialogue to the extreme close-up shots of their faces, conveys a feeling of intimacy.
Wall-E teaches us what it means to dance
For those of you who were about to say, "That's not a kiss, that's a bolt of electricity," we have one question for you: how else are robots supposed to kiss? Actually, don't answer that. The point is, the iconic scene with Wall-E and EVE is quite possibly the most electric (no pun intended) animated kiss in history. Nothing else even comes close to capturing the giddiness of a first kiss.
Before "Wall-E" came out, we never would have thought it possible that Pixar could take a fire extinguisher and Sigourney Weaver and turn it into a stunning cinematic moment. It was a stroke of genius to combine this scene with the voice-over of the shipboard computer explaining what "dancing" means.
The funny thing is, EVE might not even be thinking about Wall-E when she kisses him. It's possible she's more concerned with the plant in Wall-E's hands — that would actually be more in-character for her. (Hey, you would probably kiss Wall-E too if he had miraculously saved your life's work.) Most likely, she still feels some attraction to Wall-E during this magical moment. But as soon as the moment is over, she goes back to pushing him away. So even during this gorgeous scene, there's some romantic tension, because they both love each other, but Wall-E loves EVE way more than she loves him. Perhaps they will each remember this kiss a little differently.