On this day, in 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released. The 83-minute film was the first full-length celluloid animated feature in motion picture history. The GUIDE looks back at the film and others that have touched the hearts of movie-going audiences since
On this day, in 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released. The 83-minute film was the first full-length celluloid animated feature in motion picture history. The GUIDE looks back at the film and others that have touched the hearts of movie-going audiences since
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Based on the German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, this animated classic set the blueprint for the several animated films that would follow, both from the Disney stable and outside it. The film's cinematic influences range from the European silent film era to German expressionism, and even the 1931-film Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. It would take a Walt Disney for Hollywood to take animated films seriously.
Animated classics
Up (2009)
Who knew that the unlikely pairing of an eighty-plus widower named Carl Fredricksen and a dedicated young Wilderness Explorer named Russell would strike a familiar emotional chord in the heart of the moviegoer! The creators of this comedy-adventure did! Pixar's tenth feature film was also the first animated and 3-D film to open the Cannes Film Festival.
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Toy Story 3 (2010)
Unknown, even to its animators, this story would take 15 years to tell, leaving generations of moviegoers spellbound. The third installment of the Toy Story series is also the first animated film to make over $1 billion worldwide. Featuring a pull-string cowboy doll and an action figure as protagonists in a story about talking toys, Pixar knows what it takes to pull the heartstrings of its audience.
Persepolis (2007)
Based on Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel of the same name, Persepolis is the coming of age story of a young girl growing up in Iran during the late 1970s. Its refreshing narrative was liberating as well and took us through Marji's dreams and ambitions growing up in an 'oppressive regime' and her challenging of several stereotypes along the way.
My Neighbour Tortoro (1988)
The Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by one of the most talented filmmakers Hayao Miyazaki tells the story of two sisters and their friendship with dust creatures or small house spirits called 'susuwatari'. The film won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize and the Mainichi Film Award for Best Film in 1988; critics claimed that the film's appeal had a lot to do with its "warm heart".