The ten highest-grossing movies of 2010, and what that says about America

We'll take it.

​The top grossing movie of 2009 was, of course, Avatar, and this year the title goes to Toy Story 3. We're calling that social progress, although there's something a little too futuristic about computer-animated movies taking the crown back-to-back -- we're pretty sure it means there will be a robot overthrow within the next ten years. As for the rest of the top ten, more kids' movies and even more sequels. And only two of them were among the 10 best reviewed movies of the year, which is disheartening if you're a movie critic. Not surprising, however. America does not have a history of voting for quality with its dollars. After the jump, the full rundown.

10. The Karate Kid
In so many ways, this movie is 2010 incarnate: A remake for '80s babies, a fourth sequel, a Will Smith offspring in popular culture. Totally unfaithful to the original, which we actually appreciate, but nevertheless not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination.

9. How To Train Your Dragon
This is one of the more encouraging entrants in the top 10 this year. It had the lowest opening weekend by far for any of the movies on this list but hung around forever because it's fantastic. What's interesting is that it's a very straightforward story, and you can more-or-less deduce the ending from the title. But it's so perfectly executed, from the animation to the characters to the dialogue, that it became something more than the other bajillion animated movies that come out every year. This would be the first of the two movies where critical consensus was met with box office success.

8. Shrek Forever
The first one was funny but hasn't held up well at all, and now we've gotten to the point of self-parody. Irony and adult-only jokes in kids movies is nearly extinct, yet this franchise continues to churn out condescending sequels. It's a simple formula: Establish a brand, and shove it down everyone's throats until you've destroyed your legacy and worn out your welcome with even the die-hards. Now, let's not encourage this behavior by buying $240 million worth of tickets, America.

7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1
And at last, Harry Potter is the highest-grossing franchise of all time. Another example of banking on safe and watching it pay off. There's something especially lame about these movies in their inscrutable faithfulness to the books. Movies, as it turns out, are different from novels, and the right move would be to adapt the story to accommodate your medium. Instead, we have this, where everyone goes out of nostalgia for the books.