17 2000s Cartoons That (For Better or Worse) Totally Shaped Us

There was something special about 2000s cartoons. Maybe it’s nostalgia talking, but from the animation styles to their often twisted storylines, cartoons of this era just hit differently.

Thanks to the doors that 1990s cartoons had opened, the stories told in a lot of early 2000s cartoons got to be more experimental, and the burgeoning influence of Japanese anime meant Western cartoons were becoming more visually interesting, too. Ultimately, compared with whatever the kids are watching nowadays, we’re pretty sure 2000s cartoons are wackier and weirder, for the better. (Cut to a scene of me googling “what cartoons are the kids watching today” and feeling tremendously old.)

Of course, many of these shows, from Cartoon Network fan favorites to the golden era of Nickelodeon and Disney cartoons, lived on well past their original heyday. A handful are even slated for upcoming live-action reprisals. Others, sadly, have slipped into the camp of forgotten 2000s cartoons — but that can make them all the more fun to reminisce on.

Below, we’ve rounded up 17 of the best 2000s cartoons that’ll get you nostalgic (and maybe explain a little more about the person you’ve become than you’d want them to). While some may have technically first hit Saturday morning screens in the 90s, we think these all fall pretty solidly within the 2000s cartoon canon!

1. Codename: Kids Next Door (2002-2008

We’re pretty sure the 10-year-old operatives of Kids Next Door, a secret organization that battled villainous adults, had the cartoon world’s coolest treehouse. There was something vaguely Out of the Box-y about it — if the playhouse in Out of the Box featured, y’know, high-tech weaponry.

2. Kim Possible (2002- 2007)