Kids today don’t have to go far to learn quality lessons about life. In fact, all they have to do is press play.
Many animated movies feature themes highlighting values that promote honesty to oneself, loyalty and love, to name a few.
Animators transport children to fantastical worlds that bend the rules of reality to teach them how to be contributing members of society as they enter the realms of adolescence and adulthood.
Here's a look at some of the values that animated films from the past 20 years continue to instill in children today.
In Disney/Pixar’s 1995 blockbuster “Toy Story,” kids are introduced to the Tom Hanks-voiced cowboy Woody, the clear favorite of toy-owner Andy.
After a fateful birthday party, Woody must come to grips that Andy’s new favorite is a shiny new Buzz Lightyear toy. Woody’s identity crisis is not unrelatable. Most adolescents struggle with a phase of egocentricity, thinking they are the most important, and therefore entitled to the love and praise of the world.
Undeniably, most teens will have an awakening as they learn through a variety of situations that though important, they are still part of a larger whole. Throughout the movie children and adolescents can identify with Woody’s journey to learn that it’s OK not to be the center of attention all the time.
For the majority of adults, at least one childhood memory includes making a new friend on the playground. But sometimes, kids find that meeting new people stretches them past their comfort level.
Cue Blue Sky’s 2002 release “Ice Age” and three unlikely acquaintances: a sloth named Sid, a mammoth named Manny and a saber-tooth tiger named Diego. Together, the three outcasts make the frozen trek to return a lost child to his mother. They eventually form a long-lasting friendship, proving that even the most unlikely of candidates can be friends — all you have to do is try.
“Just keep swimming.”
So goes the sound advice from a delightfully forgetful fish named Dory who embarks with a soon-to-be-friend, a clown fish named Marlin who is scouring the entire ocean for his son in Disney/Pixar’s 2003 hit, “Finding Nemo.”
And it's wisdom that can be applied through the ages. Dory teaches audience members an important lesson: You can’t give up, even in spite of disability or challenges.
Audience members who have dared to dream against insurmountable odds may relate with a lovable, tubby panda who worked in a noodle restaurant until he became a kung fu master.
The main character, Po, voiced by Jack Black, finds himself among five of the greatest kung fu masters in the world. He is expected to be the only one able to defeat Tai Lung, a vicious tiger determined to take revenge on Po's humble city.
Here's the hitch: No one — not even Po himself, for a while — thinks he can pull it off.
Dreamworks' 2008 summer hit, "Kung Fu Panda," is all about believing in yourself — especially when no one else does.
Perhaps one of the most touching and memorable montages in movie history is the opening love story between Carl and Ellie Fredricksen in Disney/Pixar’s “Up.”
Comprising their married life together, the five-minute montage over a carousel-esqe score introduces the idea of death and grief to some of the younger audiences. But what’s more, it teaches the theme of moving on after a loved one is gone.
Carl tries to escape by fulfilling the dream shared by he and his late wife of traveling to South America. Eventually, Carl realizes that loving his wife was a great adventure.
Parents and kids alike had a chance to channel their inner Vikings in Dreamworks’ 2010 blockbuster “How to Train Your Dragon,” as the movie’s hero Hiccup finds and trains what his village considers to be the most deadly dragon in the world — the Night Fury.
Hiccup, the scrawny but inventive son of the village leader, wants to prove himself as a fierce dragon slayer. But to do so would go against everything Hiccup believes.
The unlikely hero must decide how to be true to himself, though it goes against the expectations of the masses.
While most of the world will never have to learn to train a formidable dragon, the movie’s hero teaches audiences the importance of looking beyond what society tells you is the norm.
"I guess destiny isn't the path chosen for us, but the path we choose for ourselves."
These wise words from the blue, big-headed, super-genious Megamind in Dreamworks' "Megamind" give young audiences hope for a future regardless of their past.
The 2011 hit tells the classic tale of good vs. evil. But in this case, evil, embodied by Megamind himself, must decide his own fate.
After defeating the city's hero, Megamind creates a new face of justice to fight. But when his creation backfires, Megamind must chose between defending the city he loves and watching it burn at the hands of another villian.
Though Megamind comes from a past of "evil," he realizes he doesn't have to let it define his future.
In Blue Sky’s upcoming film “Epic,” set for a May 24 release, audiences of children and adults alike learn the importance of connectivity. All life is linked together; the film refers to this idea as “many leaves, same tree.”
The film's protagonist, Mary Katherine, or MK, is magically transformed into a minuscule size, and finds herself among a society of people who are in a classic fight against good and evil as they battle to keep their forest alive. It’s up to MK, a self-proclaimed loner, to find her place in the vastness of humanity and maybe even save the day.
Young audiences can create an emotional connection to the movie's hero, MK, as she understands that because of that connectivity, she must do her part to lend a helping hand to those around her, especially when they are in need.