Every child enjoys watching cartoon animations from the time they were young up until even when they are teenagers. It’s safe to say that you never tire of watching a good animated movie. Watching cartoon animations together can be a great bonding experience for the entire family. Add in some delicious snack foods, a nice, large television, and a great classic animated movie, and you have the ingredients of a special family night together.
Here are, in no particular order, some great classic animiated movies the whole family and enjoy together.
Shrek (2001) Rated PG
Summary: An orgre’s swampland becomes inundated with fairy tale creatures. He makes a deal with a king to find a princess and rescue her, in order to get his land back. On the way, he teams up with a loud mouthed donkey. In the rescue process, he falls in love with the beautiful princess, who is hiding a secret.
Review: The graphics are great. Funny characters and catchy songs. Of course, it teaches the old adage: beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
The Iron Giant (1999) Rated PG
Summary: A boy befriends a giant alien robot, and must protect it from the army coming to destroy it at all costs.
Review: The animation in this movie is both computer-generated and hand drawn. A moving and touching story.
Monsters, Inc. (2001) Rated G
Summary: Monsters living in their world cross over into the real world where they “harvest” children’s scream to power the monsters’ city. A 2-year-old baby girl accidentally sneaks into the monsters’ world and chaos breaks out.
Review: It’s actually a unique and funny concept of monsters harvesting children’s screams, and the fact that children are toxic to monsters. Highly entertaining and engrossing movie the whole family will enjoy.
The Lion King (1994) Rated G
Summary: A young lion prince comes to age after years of exile, and returns to confront his evil uncle who plotted the death of his king father.
Review: Hand drawn animation. A very moving and touching movie with great music and a powerful message.
A Bug’s Life (1998) Rated G
Summary: An ant named Flik goes out to recruit fighters who can defend his colony against greedy grasshoppers. Instead, he recruits a circus troupe.
Review: The animation is top class for its era. The movie characters are well-developed. All in all, “A Bug’s Life” is a very amusing and entertaining animation.
Toy Story (1995) Rated G
Summary: A toy cowboy named Woody is consumed by jealousy when his owner gets a new toy called Buzz LightYear.
Review: Plenty of funny lines and the movie never gets old as you watch it again. Includes a great voice cast with Tom Hanks as Woody and Tim Allen as Buzz LightYear.
Finding Nemo (2003) Rated G
Summary: A clown fish named Marlin loses his son, Nemo, who wanders off into the deep ocean and gets caught. Nemo ends up in an aquarium in a dentist’s office in Sydney. Marlin teams up with a fish with short-term memory loss named Dory to try and find Nemo.
Review: All of the animals in the movie are realistically based on real species. The animation of ocean life is colorful and high quality. The sea creatures are lovable and vibrant, and kids will enjoy watching them.
Frozen (2013) Rated PG
Summary: Anna goes off to find her sister Elsa, whose cold powers have exploded after being repressed for years, causing an eternal winter in their town.
Review: Most kids were humming Idina Menzel’s “Let It Go” in 2013. This is a newer classic from Disney, and should get the family singing together.
Mulan (1998) Rated G
Summary: Summary:Based loosely on the Chinese folktale where a daughter, disguised as a man, goes off to war in place of her aging father.
Review: The central character is a strong female, so this is a great movie for girls to watch. This is Disney’s take on the Chinese folktale, and while not historically accurate, is still nonetheless entertaining.
Chicken Run (2000) Rated G
Summary: Two chickens, Rocky and Ginger, lead their chicken comrades in a great escape from a farm, where if they stay, will mean inevitable death at the hands of the evil farm owners.
Review: The animation is actually claymation. The story has depth so it can be enjoyed by folks of all ages, from kids, parents to movie critics.
The Incredibles (2004) Rated PG
Summary: A family with superpowers living undercover jumps into action to save the world when a mad man seeking revenge threatens.
Review: A lot of action and interesting characters. It’s a great family movie, well, because it’s a movie about a family that happens to be superheroes.
