Anne Hathaway went from unknown to ingenue thanks to Disney. When she landed the role of Mia in The Princess Diaries, a whole world of possibilities opened up to her. She spent her early career playing similar roles, but over time, she’s really diversified her approach to movie making and found success, appearing as queens, thieves, and even an astronaut.
The last decade perfectly exemplifies the diversity in Hathaway’s roles. She’s had 18 movies release between the beginning of 2010 and the end of 2019. After combing the Internet Movie Database and checking out all of the user ratings, these are Anne Hathaway’s best of the decade, ranging from a 6.4 to an 8.6.
Alice In Wonderland (2018): 6.4
Alice In Wonderland is a beloved children’s story that has seen many adaptations over the years. For this version, Disney didn’t strictly remake their animated feature, but instead, gave a new spin on Alice’s adventures.
Here, Alice wasn’t simply a girl who stumbled on an adventure, but someone chosen to help save Wonderland. Hathaway was the White Queen to Mia Wasikawska’s Alice. While she was supposed to be a benevolent force, Hathaway played the part with just a hint of something lurking below the surface, like a too perfect Stepford wife, making the audience think twice about every character in the visually stunning story.
Don Jon (2013): 6.5
Anne Hathaway doesn’t have a large role in Don Jon. It’s one of the few movies that make her top ten of the decade in which she isn’t a main character. Instead, the titular character, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and his issues with emotional intimacy sit at the center of the movie.
Gordon-Levitt pulled triple duty on the film, penning the script, starring in it, and directing the feature. It’s better remembered for showing Hollywood that Gordon-Levitt can be a force behind the camera instead of just in front of it.
Love And Other Drugs (2011): 6.7
Love And Other Drugs is one of the earliest movies of the decade to make Anne Hathaway’s top ten. The movie seemingly began as a fairly typical romantic comedy, but it quickly became a more emotional tale of what a person will go through for someone they love as well as a commentary on the pharmaceutical industry.
Hathaway plays a young woman with an early diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. As a result of her diagnosis, Maggie finds it difficult to form long term relationships. She doesn’t want to attach herself to someone who can’t accept the realities of her disease. Hathaway gave an unflinching and vulnerable portrayal that wowed audiences.
Rio (2011): 6.9
The only animated movie to make the list, it’s not the only animated film Hathaway has done. In fact, she lent her voice to a Rio sequel during the decade as well, but as happens with most sequels, audience members preferred the first movie.
Hathaway voiced a macaw that was targeted by smugglers in the film. Framed as an adventure movie for kids to enjoy, the movie doubled as a cautionary tale against adopting exotic pets as many are smuggled out of their homes under dangerous circumstances.
One Day (2011): 7.0
It’s interesting that One Day has such favorable ratings on IMDb. Many critics disliked the movie, and one spot they disliked in particular was Anne Hathaway’s attempt at a Yorkshire accent.
The movie follows a pair of friends by examining their experiences on the same day over the course of 18 years. While the two have feelings for one another, they don’t start a relationship due to their very different paths in life. It’s not until well into the movie that they both end up on the same page.
One Day is a romance, but it’s also a tale of tragedy, and it’s possible that some initial critical reactions were the result of viewers not getting the exact happy ending they expected. Over the last eight years, IMDb users seem to have changed their mind.
The Intern (2015): 7.1
In this dramedy, Anne Hathaway was a woman who started a company based out of her own kitchen that grew so fast in a year that she struggled to keep up. Hathaway’s performance was measured and controlled in the movie as someone trying to hold all the pieces of their life together.
She had great chemistry with Robert De Niro, who played the titular intern. A seemingly cheesy stunt of hiring senior citizens as interns resulted in her having a trusted friend and valued employee, helping her turn her life around and finding ways to manage what she thought was out of control.
Dark Waters (2019): 7.3
Dark Waters is the newest movie in Hathaway’s top ten. The movie received a limited release in November with a wide release scheduled for December. With just over 500 ratings on IMDb, it could still change. (The movie that nabs the top spot has over one million ratings, providing for less biased ratings.)
Inspired by true events, Mark Ruffalo plays a lawyer who uncovers numerous links between unexplained deaths to a large corporation. Hathaway plays his wife in the movie. So far, reviews have made a point of noting that the movie honors the real life victims of the tragedy, though we haven’t heard as much about the performances in the movie themselves.
Les Misérables (2012): 7.6
Of the last decade, Les Misérables might be the film Hathaway is best known for. Her turn as Fantine surprised a lot of audience members and earned her a slew of awards, including a Golden Globe and an Academy Award.
Inspired by the Victor Hugo novel and the Broadway musical, the movie featured “sung through” lines more often than dialogue. While that caused a lot of criticism for some roles, for Hathaway, it earned nothing but praise. A factory working trying to provide for her daughter, Fantine turned to selling her body to make end’s meet, lamenting the dreams she had to give up. Her performance was truly heartbreaking.
The Dark Knight Rises (2012): 8.4
The casting of Anne Hathaway as Catwoman was, like her casting as Fantine, pretty surprising for longtime Batman fans. Of course, Hathaway’s role in the movie required less of her playing the Cat and more of her playing a regular cat burglar.
The Dark Knight Rises went more for grit than camp, as did all of Nolan’s Batman trilogy. It was hard to live up to the performances of The Dark Knight, but the cast in the final chapter of the trilogy certainly did their best, and it paid off. Instead of the straight up villain most movies portray Selina as, Hathaway got to play the character with a little more nuance, and she got to help save the city in the end.
Interstellar (8.6)
It used to be rare that science fiction films had high standings in “best of” lists. With Interstellar’s examination of hope, the human spirit, and a quest for survival though, it’s not surprising that the performances in the movie were praised.
Hathaway starred as one of a team of astronauts sent to explore three possibly viable planets for humanity to survive beyond Earth. Though Matthew McConaughey’s story was the primary one the audience followed, actors like Hathaway, Matt Damon, and Wes Bentley all drew praise for their part in the epic story.
