Movies Under Two Hours: The 100 Best Reviewed

Updated: June 17, 2024 10:17 AM EDT | Originally published: December 7, 2017 1:08 PM EST

In 1984, TIME film critic Richard Corliss wrote a piece titled “Why Do Movies Seem So Long?” In it, he recalled a piece of wisdom from Columbia Pictures co-founder Harry Cohn, whose method for judging the quality of a film came down to this: “If my fanny squirms, it’s bad. If my fanny doesn’t squirm, it’s good.”

The question Corliss explored that year is a perennial one, and it’s typically posed as a gripe. In Corliss’ estimation, movies had become “longer but not richer,” a trend he argued began toward the end of World War II when movies shifted, broadly speaking, from creations of the studio system to the artistic visions of directors. Speaking to the Daily Beast three decades later, Rolling Stone film critic Peter Travers blamed the bloat on studios’ misguided belief that the longer the movie, the greater the sheen of prestige, the greater the potential for prestigious awards. Newsweek critic David Ansen wondered if studios weren’t reluctant to give notes to some of the biggest and most visionary directors in Hollywood.

In reality, a chart of average movie length over time looks less like the trajectory of the flying bikes in E.T. (114 min.) than the waves in Jaws (124 min.). Yes, movies today are on average much longer than they were in the 1930s — excluding the 222-min. Gone With the Wind — but they’re not necessarily much longer than popular films of the ’50s and ’60s. This year’s Best Picture winner Moonlight is practically a Vine when compared with past winners Ben-Hur (1959, 212 minutes) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962, 222 minutes) and nominee Cleopatra (1963, 248 minutes).

Still, even if today’s movies aren’t the longest they’ve ever been, there’s still the problem of the squirming fanny. To help you out, we’ve analyzed Rotten Tomatoes reviews to come up with a list of the top-scoring movies that ring in under two hours, using a dataset of IMDB’s 10,000 top-grossing films.

There’s something for everyone on the list: classics like Frankenstein (1931) and The Wizard of Oz (1939); animated favorites like Pinocchio (1940) and 101 Dalmatians (1961); Oscar Best Picture winners like On the Waterfront (1954) and Moonlight (2016); and, among other genres, documentaries like Twenty Feet From Stardom (2013) and Blackfish (2013). Below is the list, presented from lowest to highest average score:

99. Chicken Run (2000), 85 min.

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99. Chicken Run (2000), 85 min.

98. 50/50 (2011), 100 min.

97. Fruitvale Station (2013), 84 min.

96. Monsters, Inc. (2001), 92 min.

95. Lost in Translation (2003), 102 min.

94. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), 115 min.

93. Anomalisa (2015), 96 min.

92. Looper (2012), 119 min.

91. The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), 115 min.

90. The Nice Guys (2016), 116 min.

89. 101 Dalmatians (1961), 79 min.

88. Night of the Living Dead (1968), 90 min.

87. City of Ghosts (2017), 90 min.

86. Twenty Feet from Stardom (2013), 89 min.

85. Blackfish (2013), 80 min.

84. Stronger (2017), 119 min.

83. Little Men (2016), 85 min.

82. Project Nim (2011), 99 min.

81. What We Do in the Shadows (2014), 86 min.

80. The Edge of Seventeen (2016), 98 min.

79. Enough Said (2013), 93 min.

78. The Queen (2006), 103 min.

77. All Is Lost (2013), 105 min.

76. Logan Lucky (2017), 119 min.

75. Spy (2015), 117 min.

74. Moonrise Kingdom (2012), 94 min.

73. Nightcrawler (2014), 117 min.

72. Dallas Buyers Club (2013), 117 min.

71. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), 105 min.

70. Whiplash (2014), 106 min.

69. Dunkirk (2017), 107 min.

68. To Catch a Thief (1955), 106 min.

67. King Kong (1933), 103 min.

66. Taxi Driver (1976), 112 min.

65. Don’t Think Twice (2016), 92 min.

64. The Big Sick (2017), 119 min.

63. Man on Wire (2008), 94 min.

62. Toy Story 2 (1999), 92 min.

61. Sing Street (2016), 106 min.

60. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), 115 min.

59. Life Itself (2014), 120 min.

58. The Florida Project (2017), 115 min.

57. Paterson (2016), 115 min.

56. The Muppets (2011), 102 min.

55. The Lego Movie (2014), 101 min.

54. The Incredibles (2004), 115 min.

53. Ratatouille (2007), 110 min.

52. WALL-E (2008), 97 min.

51. Carol (2015), 118 min.

50. True Grit (2010), 110 min.

49. The King’s Speech (2010), 118 min.

48. Room (2015), 113 min.

47. Finding Dory (2016), 100 min.

46. Arrival (2016), 116 min.

45. Some Like It Hot (1959), 120 min.

44. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), 95 min.

43. I Am Not Your Negro (2016), 93 min.

42. Short Term 12 (2013), 21 min.

41. Before Midnight (2013), 108 min.

40. Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), 101 min.

39. How to Train Your Dragon (2010), 98 min.

38. The Wrestler (2008), 109 min.

37. Moana (2016), 103 min.

36. The Artist (2011), 100 min.

35. The Jungle Book (2016), 111 min.

34. The Social Network (2010), 120 min.

33. Bambi (1942), 69 min.

32. It Follows (2014), 94 min.

31. Hell or High Water (2016), 102 min.

30. Finding Nemo (2003), 100 min.

29. Argo (2012), 120 min.

28. Gravity (2013), 91 min.

27. High Noon (1952), 85 min.

26. Citizen Kane (1941), 119 min.

25. Baby Driver (2017), 113 min.

24. Zootopia (2016), 108 min.

23. Up (2009), 89 min.

22. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), 120 min.

21. Cat People (1942), 73 min.

20. Double Indemnity (1944), 107 min.