Orion and the Darkis the newest collaboration between DreamWorks and Netflix. It follows a young boy named Orion (Jacob TremblayandColin Hanks), who is terrified of almost everything, especially the darkness of night. One night, while cursing the dark, it becomes a physical being named Dark (Paul Walter Hauser), who offers totake Orion on a whimsical nighttime journey to show that nighttime can be just as amazing as daytime, with plenty of twists and important lessons.
Orion and the Darkis a movie that doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it tells its story in a fun way with stand-out characters and gorgeous animation. It also has many universal themes, such as finding courage, looking at the world from another point of view, and how the power of storytelling can help us overcome our fears. These themes are present in a fair few other animated films, each told in their own unique and memorable way.
10’The Pagemaster'
Released in 1994
Richard Tyler (Macaulay Culkin), is a pessimistic child who refuses to take risks or push himself by citing statistics of how doing so could hurt him. One day, while performing an errand for his dad, he gets caught in a rainstorm and shelters in a library, where he is consumed by a sea of ink. Transformed into an illustration and taken to a world of living stories, he teams up with three anthropomorphic books: Adventure (SirPatrick Stewart), Fantasy (Whoopi Goldberg), and Horror (Frank Welker), to find the exit.
The Pagemasteris another story of a paranoid child travelling with characters who represent concepts but with a literary theme. Each new land Richard and his companions travel to is inhabited by famous literary characters, including Dr. Jekyll (Leonard Nimoy) and Long John Silver (Jim Cummings), and while it doesn’t dive into their characters as much as it could, the vocal performances are all strong.It’s also one of the last movies to use traditional cell-shading techniques, which sells its living storybook word.
Watch on Amazon Prime
Released in 2013
Deep within a forest lives a civilization of fairies called Leafman, who fight to protect the woods from the Boggans and their leader, Mandrake (Christoph Waltz). When the Leafman Queen, Tara (Beyoncé Knowles), goes to choose a pod for her successor, she is attacked by Mandrake and mortally wounded. A teenage girl named Mary Katherine (Amanda Seyfried) finds the dying Tara, is shrunk down by magic, and agrees to look after the pod until a new queen can be chosen.
Epicis one of the most visually impressive films to comefrom Blue Sky Studios. Though its story is occasionally sidetracked by superfluous side characters,the forest world is beautiful and makes great use of lighting and colour to showcase the magic of nature. It also boasts a very strong score made by the legendaryDanny Elfman.
Watch on Disney+
8’Rise of the Guardians'
Released in 2012
Jack Frost (Chris Pine) is an invisible spirit of winter who wanders the world, trying to fill in the gaps of his missing memory. When the Boogeyman, Pitch Black (Jude Law), prepares to plunge the world into a new dark age, he is approached by the Guardians: Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), and the Sandman. Though reluctant at first, Jack agrees to help the Guardians stop Pitch from destroying children’s belief in the guardians to kill their hope.
Rise of the Guardiansis full of creative ideas, especially in how it chooses to bring to life concepts like hope, joy, and wonder. Each of the characters is brought to life with phenomenal voice acting and a good mix of unique ideas, such as making Santa a sword-twirling Russian, or the Tooth Fairy a giant hummingbird.The dynamic between Jack and Pitch is also strong:both come off as mirrors of the other separated by wanting to be loved and feared respectfully.
Rise of the Guardians
Watch in Paramount+
7’Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin'
Released in 1997
On the last day of a golden summer, Christopher Robin (Brady Bluhm) and Winnie the Pooh (Jim Cummings) have a fun day together, with Christopher telling Pooh he will always be with him. However, he seems to have vanished the next day, with Pooh’s only clue being a honeypot with a note attached. After getting it translated by Owl (Andre Stojka), Pooh, Piglet (John Fiedler), Tigger (Paul Winchell), Rabbit (Ken Sansom), and Eeyore (Peter Cullen) are sent on a quest to rescue him from a terrible place called Skull.
Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robinis one of the best movies inDisney’sWinnie the Poohfranchise. An original story not based onA. A. Milne’swork, it goes darker than most of the other Pooh movies, with a creepy atmosphere dripping with isolation and fear of the unknown. This forces the characters to confront their insecurities,and in doing so, teach young audiences that they have the power to conquer their fears.
Released in 2017
Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) is a young boy who comes from a family of music-hating cobblers but longs to become a musician himself. When he discovers that he might be related to famous musician Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt), he defies his family and steals de la Cruz' guitar, but playing it transports him to the spirit world unless he can get a blessing from one of his family members. He joins forces with Héctor (Gael García Bernal), who is desperate to see his daughter in the land of the Living, to find de la Cruz before sunrise, or Miguel will die.
CocousesMexico’s Day of the Deadcelebrationto tell a story about death, family legacy, and the importance of memory. The story does drag in a few places but makes up for it through some of Pixar’s most impressive emotional moments. The best of these are with Hector and his family, both in interacting with his living family members and learning new things about his deceased family that change his preconceptions.
5’Monsters, Inc.'
Released in 2001
In an alternate world inhabited by monsters, the screams of children are collected by Scarersto use as a power source. The best Scaring duo are James P. Sulivan (John Goodman) and Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal), who are close to breaking the scare record at their company. One night, a human child nicknamed Boo (Mary Gibbs) sneaks into the monster world, and as Sully and Mike try to return her home, they uncover a grand conspiracy.
Monsters, Inc.oozes creativity, from the design of the monsters to the various small details in the world to accommodate their unique body shapes and powers.The idea of monsters being terrified of children also lends itself to a lot of creativity, both in the form of comedic gags and a good message about overcoming preconceptions. This is especially apparent with Sully, who becomes a father figure for Boo.
Monsters Inc.
Image via Disney+
4’ParaNorman'
In the small town of Blithe Hollow, Massachusetts, lives Norman (Kodi Smit-McPhee), an eleven-year-old boy with the power to talk to the dead. This naturally leaves him ostracized from his community and family, especially when he begins to have violent visions. As it turns out, Norman must perform a ritual to put to sleep the ghost of a witch killed by the town centuries ago, or else she’ll unleash a curse upon the land.
ParaNormancombines a realistic look at small-town communities with supernatural extravagance to create an unforgettable film. Its story is full of clever subversion, funny and relatable characters, includingsome of the best from Laika, and strong themes of empathy and understanding. There’s also a nice message concerning fear and how it’s OK to be afraid so long as it doesn’t change who you are inside.
ParaNorman
Watch on Amazon
3’Inside Out'
Released in 2015
Within the mind of Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) are five personifications of her core emotions: Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), and Anger (Lewis Black). Joy takes the lead and does everything in her power to keep Riley happy, but after moving to San Fransisco, Riley creates a new, sad core memory when she cries at her new school. Joy tries to remove it, but in the process knocks herself, Sadness, and all of Riley’s core memories out of headquarters, causing Riley to grow depressed until they return.
Inside Outis called one ofPixar’s best filmsfor a good reason. It offered a hard look at the importance of sadness and how trying to keep it bottled up can be more harmful in the long run. It also has a very hard but honest look at the inevitability of change:as we grow older, there are things that we will never be able to recapture, but new memories and experiences are always there to fill those voids.
Inside Out
2’How to Train Your Dragon'
Released in 2010
Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) is the son of Chief Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler), whose village, Burk, is under constant attack from dragons. One night, Hiccup manages to shoot down the rarest and deadliest of dragons, a Night Fury, but refuses to kill it. While observing the dragon, whom he calls Toothless (Randy Thom), he discovers that there is more to dragons than the Vikings initially thought.
How to Train Your Dragonhas become one of the largest franchises by DreamWorksthanks in large part to its strong themes of overcoming prejudice. The conflict between the dragons and Vikings is shown in detail, explaining the positions of both sides, and uses Hiccup and Toothless' friendship to show the healing power of trust and understanding. The movie also boasts some ofthe most diverse dragonsin film, with each species having a unique design and ecology to help them stand out.
How to Train Your Dragon
Watch on Netflix
1’Spirited Away'
While moving to a new home, Chihiro (Rumi Hiiragi/Daveigh Chase) and her parents accidentally stumble into the spirit world. While her parents are turned into pigs, Chihiro gets help from a boy named Haku (Miyu Irino/Jason Marsden), who helps her get a job for a witch named Yubaba (Mari Natsuki/Suzanne Pleshette), so she can try to rescue them. Yubaba takes Chihiro’s name as part of their contract and forces her to work in a bathhouse visited by all kinds of spirits.
The masterpiece of legendary filmmakerHayao Myazaki,Spirited Awaytransports audiences into one of the most atmospheric landscapes in any animated movie. While the bathhouse is full of all sorts of colorful characters,the film’s strongest moments are the quiet, sombre moments where characters reflect on the uncertainties of the world. Chihiro’s story also showcases how one person’s bravery can inspire others, as her quest betters the lives of several spirits, including Haku.
Spirited Away
NEXT:‘Orion and the Dark’ Review: Charlie Kaufman-Written Animated Family Film Shines Bright
