Ten Significant Family Films

     1.)  Toy Story (1995)

Toy Story was the first ever fully 3D Animated feature film.  3D Animation for special effects and shorts had been used for a while, but Pixar was the first to attempt an entire movie.  In total, the entire film required 800,000 machine hours and 114,240 frames of animation, with 2–15 hours spent per frame

2.)  Finding Nemo (2003)

Until Toy Story 3 Finding Nemo was the highest grossing G rated film of all time.  It won the Academy Award for best Animated Film.  It was not only a box office success, but also a success with critics and has won of the highest critic ratings for any animated movie.

3.)  Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Snow White was the first Full-length animated film created by Walt Disney.  It won Walt Disney an Honorary Academy Award.  He was presented with a full size statue and seven miniature statues at the 1937 Academy Awards.

4.)  The Lion King (1994)

Record Breaking grosses and Academy Awards went to this movie, which is considered the best of Disney’s 2D Animated films during the Disney Renaissance.  It is the highest grossing hand drawn film of all time and won two Academy awards for its music.

5.)  Cinderella (1950)

Cinderella is so much a part of the American Vernacular that I consider it required viewing.  Yeah, not the best message for girls, so use it to jump start a conversation about relationships.  The movie restarted the Disney film business after WWII and received 3 Academy Award nominations.

6.)  The Wizard of Oz (1939)

If we are going to have required viewing, this is another I consider a must see.  The Wizard of Oz was the first full color feature film.  Nominated for 3 Academy Awards, this movie was not a success early on because of the years other major film, Gone With the Wind.

7.)  March of the Penguins (2005)

The difficulty of filming this French documentary on the south pole and the amazing story that it tells make this a great experience for kids and families.  What greater way to introduce the genre of documentaries to your kids than this Oscar winner.

8.)  My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

If you only see one Japanese Animated film, then I suggest this one.  Totoro is the Mickey Mouse of Japan.  Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki have created some of the most amazing 2D Animations to ever hit the big screen and have been a giant influence on the work at Disney and especially Pixar. 

9.)  101 Dalmations (1961)

The Invention of xerography made making 2D animation cells much faster and more economical.   Disney had to change after the flop of Sleeping Beauty and this is how they became a more efficient studio. Before, each cell frame was hand drawn at 24 frames per second of film, now they could copy by machine.  You will notice that the line work is very different in 101 Dalmations.  It is heavier and vibrates a bit.  I feel like lends to the story and the hideousness of Cruella in particular.

10.)   Shrek (2001)

This movie was 6-7 years in the making and pretty disastrously managed.  The movie is significant in the development of some amazing technology and facial animation techniques regardless of Jeffery Katzenberg.  One significant technique developed was Facial Phoneme Blending.  It made Shrek capable of enunciating syllables in a lifelike and highly exaggerated fashion.   Movies and videogames all use this method for facial animation now, but this was where it started. Shrek won the first ever Academy Award for Animated Feature film.