Worthwhile Animal Movies Exist. Here Are Twenty.

I’m not sure why I feel the urgent need to provide you with this list, as I’m sure it has nothing to do with our upcoming Film Club reviews... Let’s just say I went to the movies recently, who’s to say why? I looked around and was astonished at just how many people were in this particular theater, for this particular movie. Say I saw a bunch of kiddies in the audience, for this was a “children’s” film, and felt nothing but pity for their tiny little minds and souls... Let’s just say that the feature film on the screen was one that had a lot of animals in it, and typically children love animals. Since that fateful day, I haven’t been able to help but think of dozens and dozens of ‘family-friendly’ animal movies that these kids could have been watching at home instead. 

     Here’s a just-off-the-top-of-my-head list of twenty animal movies worth showing kids. Not necessarily the best films, just ones that naturally came to mind as movies that use animals to teach us something about humanity and/or humanity’s relationship with animals. Your kids already saw these films? Show them again! They’re worth it! Or, reach out to me. I have a hundred more recommendations that are popping into my head by the second. But for now, here are twenty.

1.  Old Yeller (1957, dir. Robert Stevenson)

2.  Finding Nemo (2003, dir. Andrew Stanton)

3,  Zootopia (2018, dir. Byron Howard, Rich Moore)

4.  One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961, dir. Wolfgang Reitherman, Hamilton Luske,  Clyde Geronimi)

5.  Dumbo (1941, dir. Ben Sharpsteen)

6.  Babe (1995, dir. Chris Noonan)

7.  Ratatouille (2007, dir. Brad Bird)

8.  The Lion King (1994, dir. Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff)

9.  Lady and the Tramp (1955, dir. Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wilfred Jackson)

10.  Bambi (1942, dir. David Hand)

11.  Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993, dir. Duwayne Durham)

12.  Fly Away Home (1996, dir. Carroll Ballard)

13.  The Life of Pi (2012, dir. Ang Lee)14.  Frankenweenie (2012, dir. Tim Burton)

15.  The Princess and the Frog (2009, dir. Rob Clements, John Musker)

16.  Black Beauty (1994, dir. Caroline Thompson)

17.  Charlotte’s Web (1973, dir. Charles A. Nichols, Iwao Takamoto)

18.  The Land Before Time (1988, dir. Don Bluth)

19.  An American Tail (1986, dir. Don Bluth)

20.  The Fox and the Hound (1981, dir. Ted Berman, Richard Rich, Art Stevens)    

A quick dishonorable mention to a movie that we all thought was great as kids, but we could never watch again once we learned of the horrifying and inhumane production stories: The Adventures of Milo and Otis (1986, dir. Masanori Hata). Sorry if you didn’t know about this (looked up the production notes and animal rights allegations), but  I probably just ruined your childhood, but they ruined mine first...

What are your favorite animal movies? Could there be a more atrocious animal movie to come out in the past year, other than Cats (2019)? Oh, and on an unrelated note, make sure to catch up on all things “Dolittle” for our Film Club reviews next week!

Copyright © 2020 Bailey Lizotte