Ten Years of Metacritic: The Best (and Worst) Movies of the Decade

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor
Publish Date: December 17, 2009
Comments: ↓ 112 user comments

Our top movies from 2000-09

Earlier this week, we published our list of the best music of the decade. Now, it's time to do the same for movies.

Our film staff has been collecting reviews for each week's new theatrical releases since the fall of 1999, and, as a result, we have a nearly complete database of films from the past decade: certainly every major release from 2000-09, and virtually all minor releases, including obscure titles that barely made an appearance on the big screen.

As a result, the various lists below represent the best the decade had to offer -- at least in the eyes of top professional film critics. Below, we look at the best and worst overall movies from the past ten years. On the next page, we break down the results by genre, with lists of top comedies, documentaries, blockbusters, comic book adaptations, horror films, musicals, and many other categories.

Our top overall movie: Pan's Labyrinth

The eyes have it

Guillermo del Toro's gothic fairytale Pan's Labyrinth may not have been the most seen movie of the past ten years (that honor goes to The Dark Knight, which led all films with over $533 million in domestic box office receipts) but it was the one most praised by critics. With a Metascore of 98, it tops our list of best-reviewed movies of the past decade.

What won't you see on the list below? Some of the most commercially successful movies of the decade. Shrek 2 (#2 on the decade's list of top-grossing films, and a Metascore of 75), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (#3 box office, 53), and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (#4 box office, 35) were among many box office successes that didn't score big with critics. In fact, just two of the ten highest-grossing films of the decade appear in the Top 100 list below: Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

The Best-Reviewed Movies of the Decade, 2000-09
	Title	Year	Metascore	Users
1	Pan's Labyrinth	2006	98	8.3
2	4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days	2008	97	8.0
3	Ratatouille	2007	96	8.6
4	Spirited Away	2002	94	9.3
5	Hurt Locker, The	2009	94	7.6
6	Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The	2003	94	8.6
The best-reviewed of all Best Picture winners of the decade
7	Sideways	2004	94	6.1
8	WALL-E	2008	93	8.9
9	Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon	2000	93	7.0
10	35 Shots of Rum	2009	93	7.3
11	Yi Yi (A One and a Two)	2000	92	8.2
12	Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The	2007	92	8.1
13	Class, The	2008	92	6.9
14	There Will Be Blood	2007	92	7.1
15	Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The	2001	92	8.4
16	Werckmeister Harmonies	2001	92	7.0
17	Moolaadé	2004	91	7.9
18	Fast Runner, The	2002	91	7.8
19	Triplets of Belleville, The	2003	91	7.8
20	Queen, The	2006	91	6.0
21	Beau Travail	2000	91	7.8
22	Waltz with Bashir	2008	91	8.1
23	No Country for Old Men	2007	91	6.9
24	My Voyage to Italy	2001	90	7.0
25	Bloody Sunday	2002	90	8.4
26	Incredibles, The	2004	90	8.7
27	Before Sunset	2004	90	8.2
28	Almost Famous	2000	90	8.3
29	American Splendor	2003	90	8.0
30	Gosford Park	2001	90	6.1
31	United 93	2006	90	7.5
32	Capturing the Friedmans	2003	90	8.5
33	Persepolis	2007	90	8.1
34	Lost in Translation	2003	89	6.3
35	Best of Youth, The	2005	89	9.1
36	Lives of Others, The	2006	89	9.0
37	Still Walking	2009	89	9.1
38	House of Flying Daggers	2004	89	7.7
39	Man on Wire	2008	89	8.1
40	Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan	2006	89	6.9
41	Finding Nemo	2003	89	8.5
42	Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind	2004	89	8.6
43	No End in Sight	2007	89	8.2
44	Goodbye Solo	2009	89	7.5
45	Letters from Iwo Jima	2006	89	8.1
46	Once	2007	88	8.0
47	Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The	2002	88	8.9
48	Ghost World	2001	88	8.4
49	Capote	2005	88	7.9
50	Tulpan	2009	88	5.7
51	Time Out	2002	88	7.2
52	Away from Her	2007	88	8.0
53	Chicken Run	2000	88	7.1
54	Up	2009	88	9.0
55	Y Tu Mamá También	2002	88	7.8
56	Nobody Knows	2005	88	9.0
57	L'Enfant (The Child)	2006	87	8.4
58	Gomorrah	2009	87	6.1
59	Fog of War, The	2003	87	8.7
60	Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit	2005	87	8.2
61	Maria Full of Grace	2004	87	8.4
62	Fateless	2006	87	8.4
63	Brokeback Mountain	2005	87	8.2
64	Tarnation	2004	87	7.3
65	Murderball	2005	87	9.0
66	Grizzly Man	2005	87	6.7
67	Marooned in Iraq	2003	86	7.3
68	Wind Will Carry Us, The	2000	86	8.2
69	Slumdog Millionaire	2008	86	7.9
70	Million Dollar Baby	2004	86	7.8
71	To Be and to Have	2003	86	10.0
72	In the Bedroom	2001	86	7.4
73	I'm Going Home	2002	86	7.0
74	Ten	2003	86	8.3
75	Russian Ark	2002	86	7.1
76	Deliver Us from Evil	2006	86	8.5
77	Beaches of Agnes, The	2009	86	8.2
78	Traffic	2000	86	8.0
79	Under the Sand	2001	86	8.7
80	Talk to Her	2002	86	8.4
81	Our Daily Bread	2006	86	7.7
82	This Is England	2007	86	7.4
83	Son, The	2003	86	7.5
84	Sweet Sixteen	2003	86	8.5
85	Departed, The	2006	86	7.7
86	Ponyo	2009	86	7.6
87	Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film	2006	86	8.0
88	Flight of the Red Balloon, The	2008	86	5.5
89	Before Night Falls	2000	85	9.0
90	Bourne Ultimatum, The	2007	85	7.7
91	Pianist, The	2002	85	8.6
92	You Can Count On Me	2000	85	8.5
93	Children Underground	2001	85	9.8
94	Edge of Heaven, The	2008	85	8.7
95	Savages, The	2007	85	7.4
96	Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition, The	2001	85	8.2
97	Offside	2007	85	8.6
98	Los Angeles Plays Itself	2004	85	7.8
99	Knocked Up	2007	85	6.4
100	Turtles Can Fly	2005	85	9.4

Movies released between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2009 and having 7 or more reviews in Metacritic's database were eligible for the above list as well as all other lists in this report. Re-releases and alternate versions (e.g., director's cuts) are excluded. All Metascore data is from December 16, 2009, and all data on this page will be updated at the end of the year (if necessary) to reflect any late 2009 releases. The Metascore is a weighted average of scores from top professional critics, on a scale from 0 (bad) to 100 (good). User scores represent an average of scores assigned by Metacritic.com site visitors.

But where are the real movies?

Unless you are a cinema aficionado, you probably noticed something else about the list above: you haven't heard of many of those movies. Indeed, a large portion of that Top 100 is occupied by foreign films and less-publicized art house films -- films that played in few theaters (especially outside of Los Angeles and New York). A full 43% of the films listed above are foreign-language films, and many of those that are in English are obscure gems, like the documentary Los Angeles Plays Itself (which isn't even available on DVD) and the unconventional buddy drama Goodbye Solo.

What if we filtered out those limited release movies, and compiled a list of the Top 100 wide releases from the past ten years? It would look a lot like this ...

The Best-Reviewed Wide-Release Films of the Decade, 2000-09
	Title	Year	Metascore	Users
1	Pan's Labyrinth	2006	98	8.3
2	Ratatouille	2007	96	8.6
3	Spirited Away	2002	94	9.3
4	Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The	2003	94	8.6
The first of four films in the Top 100 for director Peter Jackson
5	Sideways	2004	94	6.1
6	WALL-E	2008	93	8.9
7	Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon	2000	93	7.0
8	There Will Be Blood	2007	92	7.1
9	Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The	2001	92	8.4
10	Queen, The	2006	91	6.0
11	No Country for Old Men	2007	91	6.9
12	Incredibles, The	2004	90	8.7
13	Almost Famous	2000	90	8.3
14	Gosford Park	2001	90	6.1
15	United 93	2006	90	7.5
16	Lost in Translation	2003	89	6.3
17	House of Flying Daggers	2004	89	7.7
18	Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan	2006	89	6.9
19	Finding Nemo	2003	89	8.5
20	Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind	2004	89	8.6
21	Letters from Iwo Jima	2006	89	8.1
22	Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The	2002	88	8.9
23	Capote	2005	88	7.9
24	Chicken Run	2000	88	7.1
25	Up	2009	88	9.0
The decade of Steve Jobs? "Up" is the fifth Pixar movie in the Top 25
26	Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit	2005	87	8.2
27	Brokeback Mountain	2005	87	8.2
28	Slumdog Millionaire	2008	86	7.9
29	Million Dollar Baby	2004	86	7.8
30	In the Bedroom	2001	86	7.4
31	Traffic	2000	86	8.0
32	Departed, The	2006	86	7.7
33	Ponyo	2009	86	7.6
34	Bourne Ultimatum, The	2007	85	7.7
35	Pianist, The	2002	85	8.6
36	Knocked Up	2007	85	6.4
37	About Schmidt	2002	85	5.4
38	Atonement	2007	85	7.2
39	Children of Men	2006	84	7.6
40	Milk	2008	84	7.4
41	Mystic River	2003	84	5.4
42	Shrek	2001	84	8.7
43	Volver	2006	84	8.8
44	Dave Chappelle's Block Party	2006	84	7.3
45	Hero	2004	84	7.0
46	Adaptation	2002	83	7.4
47	Avatar	2009	83	n/a
48	Fantastic Mr. Fox	2009	83	8.2
49	Star Trek	2009	83	7.9
50	Tim Burton's Corpse Bride	2005	83	7.0
51	Up in the Air	2009	83	7.9
52	Spider-Man 2	2004	83	7.7
53	Drag Me to Hell	2009	83	6.1
54	U2 3D	2008	83	7.8
55	Kill Bill: Volume 2	2004	83	7.3
56	Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street	2007	83	7.4
57	Constant Gardener, The	2005	82	6.9
58	School of Rock	2003	82	9.3
59	Pride & Prejudice	2005	82	8.9
60	Chicago	2002	82	7.9
61	Michael Clayton	2007	82	7.0
62	Dark Knight, The	2008	82	8.8
The decade's highest-grossing film, with a total domestic take of $533,345,358
63	Eastern Promises	2007	82	7.2
64	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban	2004	81	6.6
65	Mighty Wind, A	2003	81	7.5
66	History of Violence, A	2005	81	6.8
67	Juno	2007	81	8.5
68	Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World	2003	81	5.6
All the good reviews in the world couldn't save this big budget adventure from disappointing at the box office
69	Hot Fuzz	2007	81	8.5
70	Wrestler, The	2008	81	8.2
71	Hours, The	2002	81	8.5
72	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire	2005	81	7.8
73	Hairspray [2007]	2007	81	7.7
74	King Kong [2005]	2005	81	7.0
75	Casino Royale	2006	81	7.7
76	District 9	2009	81	7.9
77	Simpsons Movie, The	2007	80	7.2
78	Coraline	2009	80	7.8
79	Good Night, and Good Luck	2005	80	7.4
80	Little Miss Sunshine	2006	80	7.4
81	Minority Report	2002	80	7.5
82	Frost/Nixon	2008	80	7.5
83	March of the Penguins	2005	79	8.2
84	Hotel Rwanda	2004	79	8.5
85	High Fidelity	2000	79	8.5
86	Flags of Our Fathers	2006	79	7.0
87	Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire	2009	79	8.1
88	Iron Monkey	2001	79	8.2
89	Iron Man	2008	79	8.3
90	Monsters, Inc.	2001	78	8.7
91	28 Weeks Later...	2007	78	7.0
92	Hellboy II: The Golden Army	2008	78	7.2
93	Punch-Drunk Love	2002	78	6.0
94	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	2009	78	6.6
95	Insomnia	2002	78	6.6
96	Zodiac	2007	78	7.7
97	Kung Fu Hustle	2005	78	8.9
98	Aviator, The	2004	77	6.8
99	Happy Feet	2006	77	5.8
100	8 Mile	2002	77	8.3

And now for something terrible

But enough with all the good movies. Let's get to the important list: the worst films from the past ten years. Just over half of the 50 films below are comedies, although several others might also fall into that category if you have an open mind.

The Worst Movies of the Decade, 2000-09
	Title	Year	Metascore	Users
1	Singing Forest, The	2003	1	3.1
The next time you make a romance movie, maybe you should skip the Holocaust footage
2	Chaos	2005	3	2.5
3	Strippers	2000	5	5.1
Congratulations go out to writer-director Jorge Ameer, for landing two of the bottom three films
4	Vulgar	2002	5	4.1
5	National Lampoon's Gold Diggers	2004	6	2.7
6	Hottie and the Nottie, The	2008	7	2.1
7	Screwed	2000	7	7.2
8	Miss March	2009	7	3.9
9	Transylmania	2009	8	2.7
10	State Property	2002	9	5.6
11	Dirty Love	2005	9	3.0
12	Meet the Spartans	2008	9	2.7
13	Alone in the Dark	2005	9	1.7
14	Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2	2004	9	2.3
We'd call this a "rare misfire" for the director of A Christmas Story and Porky's, but then how do you explain Baby Geniuses 1?
15	Battlefield Earth	2000	9	2.6
16	Whipped	2000	10	5.8
17	Pinocchio [2002]	2002	11	2.3
18	Date Movie	2006	11	3.1
19	3 Strikes	2000	11	4.8
20	King's Ransom	2005	11	1.2
21	Master of Disguise, The	2002	12	4.0
Remember when Dana Carvey was funny? It wasn't in this decade
22	Adventures of Pluto Nash, The	2002	12	4.9
Ditto for Eddie Murphy
23	Slackers	2002	12	6.0
24	Strange Wilderness	2008	12	4.7
25	New Best Friend	2002	13	7.2
26	Down To You	2000	13	7.7
27	Beautiful Life, A	2009	13	3.3
28	Freddy Got Fingered	2001	13	6.4
29	Fascination	2005	13	5.1
30	Daddy Day Camp	2007	13	1.4
31	In Crowd, The	2000	14	2.5
32	Dungeons & Dragons	2000	14	5.3
33	Glitter	2001	14	5.7
34	From Justin to Kelly	2003	14	4.0
It was a dominant decade for "American Idol," but not on the big screen
35	Sculptress, The	2000	14	4.5
36	Kung Pow!: Enter the Fist	2002	14	8.9
37	Rollerball	2002	14	2.5
38	Dischord	2003	14	n/a
39	What Love Is	2007	14	8.7
40	House of the Dead	2003	15	1.6
41	College	2008	15	2.5
42	Disaster Movie	2008	15	1.4
43	Yu-Gi-Oh!	2004	15	5.2
44	Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2	2000	15	3.3
45	Darkness	2004	15	2.9
46	In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale	2008	15	8.1
47	Tomcats	2001	15	6.2
48	Cookout, The	2004	15	5.6
49	Kangaroo Jack	2003	16	4.5
50	Deuces Wild	2001	16	7.4

On the next page, we return to examining good movies, as we reveal the top films of the decade in over a dozen different genres and categories ...

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Comments (112)

First to Last
Latest

chick vrees
- Jan 2, 2010 8:50AM
Dead Man's Shoes even!!!
chick vrees
- Jan 2, 2010 8:49AM
Dead Man's Shes should be on that list, probably one of the greatest films I've ever seen.
chump jackson
- Jul 24, 2010 1:55PM
Omission of "City of God" alone bleeds these lists of credibility.
Anonymous
- Jul 17, 2010 4:17AM
Silent Hill is better than the other 5 you place on the Video Game adaptation list.
Grandma
- Jul 14, 2010 4:59PM
The Proposition was a western you know.
Sagen
- Jul 10, 2010 3:27PM
I know! What the hell?
Sagen
- Jul 10, 2010 3:26PM
Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut? It received a score of 88, and it's nowhere to be found. This seems oddly selective; I'm sure there are several highly rated films missing.
Brent M
- Jul 2, 2010 3:25PM
the best of the decade should have Law Abiding Citizen, Man on Fire, Behind Enemy Lines, Wedding Crashers, The curious Case of Benjamin Button, What Lies Beneath , and The Bourne Identity. The wosst movies of the decade were Surrogates, RV, Four Christmases, Vanilla Sky, Training Day, and Gone Baby Gone. Most overrated films of the decade were Avatar, Harry Potter films, Lord of the Rings films, and Million Dollar Baby.
Uwe Boll miffed only
- Jun 25, 2010 1:28PM
[...] the biggest hack in the industry, so when only three of his films appeared on Metacritic’s “Worst Movies of the Decade” list, Boll was understandably [...]
rizzo
- Jun 8, 2010 1:55PM
The Hillz with paris hilton should be on the crappy movies list. it was painfully bad.

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