Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Little Mermaid, And....

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is the animated movie that launched a dynasty. Snow White served as the first full-length animated feature. While it certainly wowed audiences at the time who were still accustomed to short, simplistic cartoons, Snow White retains its appeal even among the glitzier, flashier animated films of the 21st Century.

All movies, be they live-action or animated, are meant to appeal to the viewer's emotions. Snow White is one of Disney's most heartfelt and engaging efforts, transforming the classic Brothers Grimm tale into a rousing, family-friendly adventure. Here, all a princess needed to find her true love was a helpful band of dwarfs, a few catchy tunes, and quality animation that still holds up today.

---

This is where it all began. The Pixar - and by association computer-animated - revolution truly kicked in with the success of the studio's Toy Story in 1995.

Belying its soulless origins in the zeroes and ones of a machine, the film is as human as they come with its universally recognizable tale of a little boy and his toys. Or rather, toys and their little boy, as the film is of course more about Woody and Buzz than it is their owner/center-or-their-universe, Andy -- they're like a faithful dog whose devotion to its master never sways. This is an essentially tragic slant, when one thinks about it (we all know what happened to our childhood toys eventually, don't we?), and it's personified by Buzz himself as he grapples with the notion that he is, in fact, just a toy. Perhaps this is part of what makes the movie so accessible.

On the more basic surface level, the film is just a delight -- the voice acting of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen and the rest, the amazing animation, the songs by Randy Newman -- Toy Story is quite simply the best kind of Hollywood movie.

---

The 1970s and '80s were lean years for Walt Disney Feature Animation. After basically inventing the genre and perfecting it to an art form, the studio's reputation suffered from a string of forgettable films like The Black Cauldron and The Great Mouse Detective. That all changed in 1989 with the release of The Little Mermaid, a return to the glorious musical fantasies of Disney's past.

Based around a Mermaid named Ariel who dreams of becoming a human and falls in love with a prince, the film had all the qualities of an extravagant Broadway musical and beautiful animation to match. Its catchy numbers from the brilliant team of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman – like "Part of Your World" and "Under the Sea" – became instant classics worthy of the Disney legacy. Its success would usher in a renaissance for Disney animation that dominated the decade to come.

---

Look, this movie proves its power within the first ten minutes! With just a few lines of dialogue, an opening montage introduces us to the main character, Carl, and shows us the story of his life and love with Ellie – from their meeting as children, to their marriage, to their inability to have children and to her death. Those last two elements tell you all you need to know about a film where Pixar once again proved they didn't talk down to their audience or shy away from truly emotional, powerful material.

The adventure that follows for Carl and the young boy, Russell, who inadvertently tags along is certainly fanciful - Carl gets an entire house to fly using balloons! - yet infused with an incredible amount of pathos and meaning, as we watch Carl oh so literally carry his burden on his back, as he physically drags that floating house through the jungle, determined to bring it to the place he and Ellie dreamed about.

Funny, exciting and touching, Up is a beautiful film and became the second animated movie to ever receive a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars.

---

The South Park movie does what the TV-to-film genre rarely achieves: It not only validates its existence as a standalone feature, but it also expands on and stretches the boundaries of its format in a legitimately worthwhile way.

When the South Park kids sneak into a R-rated movie, only to return home with a newly obscenity-laden vocabulary, their parents and teachers decide to "Blame Canada," soon leading to a war with our northern cousins and, even worse, an air attack on the Baldwin brothers! Meanwhile, the eternally doomed Kenny winds up in hell, where he learns that Satan and his lover Saddam Hussein are planning an attack of their own.

It's all ridiculous, not surprisingly, but also hilarious (also not surprisingly). But like it or not, all you PTA moms reading, the film is also a cutting satire of how silly and misguided the culture wars can be. Plus, it's chock-full of genuinely fun and funny musical numbers. Also, fart jokes.