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In the strict sense of the term it isn't (By which I mean Box office gross and cultural impact). Not by a long shot, Any Disney film before 1999 could get that title or possibly Animie films.

To me personally it's definatley one of the greats.

This thread asks what we think though, in which case it's #1 for me!

Balto rules!

Balto is my favorite animated movie ever, even though I've seen a lot of classics. There were a few factors that I think made it such a good movie:

1) It was much darker than other animated movies. It was the 2nd darkest animated movie I've ever seen, only because TLK had the two deaths, along with almost having a third death.

2) It had really good animation, especially in the beginning (ie: when Jenna, Sylvie, and Dixie are talking, the animators did a really good job on the wind blowing through their fur. Another good example is when the bear cracks the ice in the lake.)

3) This might not be true for some Balto fans, but I was more emotionally bonded to the characters in Balto than those of any other animated movies. For example, I found myself hating Steele more than any other animated villain. I also found myself feeling more sorry for Balto than other animated characters in the same situation as him, and thought Jenna was much more heartwarming than others like her (I think that's because she just seemed to present a much kinder aura to me than, say, someone like Nala or Sarabi).

4) It didn't have any annoying sing-alongs, and the music that it did have was very heartwarming.

5) Bridget Fonda seemed to put more emotion into her character than I have ever seen in an animated movie. I found this to be the most obvious during the lake scene, when Jenna was scared about Balto drowning. IMO, Bridget actually sounded like she was in the same situation (which is probably quite a bit harder if you are only voice-acting). The other part that stood out to me was when it turned out that Jenna had been hurt immediately following Balto's rescue. Like before, Bridget sounded like she had actually been hurt, IMO.

tatsu_okami, I agree with every one of your points completely.

tatsu_okami, I too agree with everything you said!
And it's good to see another Steele hater

Have a look at this!------> http://baltosource.timduru.org/board/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16145&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=steele

I'm kind of disappointed that less than half of the people here think this is at least the best animated movie of all time.

Balto is absolutely one of what I would consider the greatest animated films ever...but there are quite a few of these..

Even though many people don't consider it the best, a lot of people who have seen it have it in their top 5.

I think that's because (and this is just what I think) many people are trying to see things from a critical point of view. From a nostalgic point of view, I'm sure that many people would consider it to be the best animated movie ever made.
Personally, I do not think that Balto's the best animated film ever made, but I think that it is one of the best and that it deserves a lot more than it got. I bet that if I gre up with it, I would probably agree that it's one of the best films ever made.

Even looking at other movies with nostalgia (I saw Land Before Time, The Lion King, and The Fox and the Hound as a kid), I still like Balto the best.

If people look with a critical point of view, they can find flaws in other popular animated movies too.

Better bump TLK down to second because, The Last Unicorn has got to be the darkest family movie. But I must say it was also very good in my opinion. Why you may ask? It had a cat that talked like a pirate. Having a swashbuckling talking animal, automatically wins my heart every time.

I'm posting so much in this thread that I'm beginning to annoy even myself >_>

Rather than saying "greatest", this thread should ask whether it is your "favorite" animated movie ever.

I agree. Even Bambi has its flaws. Nothing is perfect, although Balto's pretty close.