Top Kids Movies of the 90s
With the large number of movies marketed to children that are released every year, it can be difficult to make informed choices. The following children's films from the 1990s were originally released to critical acclaim and remain popular with kids and adults alike for their intelligent storytelling, superior visuals and for imparting important life lessons.
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Beauty and the Beast (1991, G)
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Disney's 30th animated film blends traditional and computer-generated animation with a French fairytale about a bookish girl named Belle whose love for a reclusive prince turned beast leads to his and his servants' salvation from a terrible curse. Popular with critics and audiences, Beauty and the Beast is the only animated feature that has ever been nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.
Porco Rosso (1992, PG)
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This film by Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki, who also directed the Academy award-winning Spirited Away, tells the story of an Italian World War I fighting ace who has been cursed and turned into a pig. Now known as Porco Rosso, he chases air pirates in the Adriatic Sea. The plot is complicated by Porco's romantic interest in Gina and his friendship with Fio, an aircraft engineer.
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The Wrong Trousers (1993, G) and A Close Shave (1995, G)
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This pair of Academy award-winning short films features director Nick Park's beloved stop-motion animated characters Wallace and Gromit. In The Wrong Trousers, Wallace rents a spare bedroom to a penguin that modifies the inventor's robotic "Techno Trousers" for his own nefarious purposes. A Close Shave finds Wallace and his canine friend Gromit caught up in a sheep rustling scheme organized by an evil robot dog.
The Secret of Roan Inish (1994, PG)
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This Irish film praised for its cinematography centers on a girl named Fiona and the legend of the selkies or seals that can become human. Fiona's infant brother Jamie was supposedly taken to the island of Roan Inish and raised by a selkie. When she later finds a child she thinks is Jamie playing in the grass on Roan Inish, Fiona must convince her family that the local legend is true.
The Lion King (1994, G)
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In the Pride Lands, Simba's father Mufasa rules benevolently over the other animals. When Mufasa is killed by his jealous brother Scar, Simba is forced into hiding and makes friends with a jovial meerkat and warthog. Simba matures while in exile and eventually returns to the Pride Lands to challenge his uncle. The Lion King remains the most financially successful traditionally animated film of all time.
Babe (1995, G)
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Babe is a lovable pig who dreams of being a sheep dog. Farmer Hoggett wins Babe at the fair, but the pig avoids becoming Christmas dinner by revealing his talent for herding animals. Babe improves his skills by working with the farmer's other sheep dogs and overcomes a devastating revelation about pigs and humans to achieve his dream.
James and the Giant Peach (1996, PG)
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This musical fantasy based on the novel by Roald Dahl combines live action and stop-motion animation. James Henry Trotter's parents were eaten by a rhino and he is forced to live with his abusive aunts. James escapes into a giant peach with an amiable collection of insects. Together they survive a series of adventures before reaching New York City where James is finally forced to confront his aunts.
Toy Story (1995, G) and Toy Story 2 (1999, G)
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The Toy Story films narrate the adventures of toys that come to life when their owners are absent. The principle conflict is between Woody the wooden pull-string cowboy and the astronaut action figure Buzz Lightyear who both strive to be Andy's favorite toy. Toy Story, the first feature film to use computer-generated imagery exclusively, solidified the reputation of the newly established Pixar Animation Studios.
Fly Away Home (1996, PG)
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A widower and his daughter adopt and raise 16 abandoned goslings in this heart-warming and award-winning film. When a game warden threatens to pinion the birds' wings, the family decides to help the geese migrate to a wildlife refuge by flying a slow-moving plane that the flock will hopefully follow. The adventure brings father and daughter closer together.
The Iron Giant (1999, PG)
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Based on the 1968 Ted Hughes novel The Iron Man, this poignant critics' favorite chronicles the story of a burgeoning friendship between a solitary boy named Hogarth and a giant robot that fell from space. Hogarth and Dean, a beatnik, try to prevent the U.S. military from discovering and destroying the iron giant.
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