Over the past two decades, animated movies have become more and more popular. In the past five years, animated films have dominated the box office grossing well over $1 billion. These movies are great stories, great entertainment for kids, and great entertainment for an entire family. Here are the top three animated movies for kids that you have to see.
A 2013 blockbuster based on the children’s book The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs, Epic is the tale of young Mary Katherine, whose father believes there is another world where little soldiers protect the forest. Mary Katherine is pulled into this world and discovers that her father was right. The Leaf Men protect the forest that Mary Katherine and her father live near from evil creatures known as Boggans. The film has romance, adventure, and serious action as the Leaf Men battle the evil forces to protect the forest. Watch the movie trailer once and you’ll see why Epic is a must-see film.
In the works for several years, Monsters University is a prequel to the original Monsters, Inc. set 10 years prior to the events of the original film. The main characters Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) and James P. “Sulley” Sullivan (John Goodman) go to college to major in scaring and wind up in the same fraternity. The intellectual Wazowksi clashes with the fun-loving Sullivan and the two become enemies before becoming best friends. One look at the movie trailer and Monsters University looks like an animated Animal House. The prequel will be just as good, if not better, than the original.
It’s the third installment in the Madagascar series and this time everyone’s favorite animals are trying to find their way back home to New York. The animals wind up in Europe where they are pursued by the villainous French Animal Control officer, Captain DuBois, voiced by Frances McDormand. To make it back to America, the animals become part of a traveling circus on the brink of failure. When they finally reach New York, the zoo animals realize they have reinvented the circus with their new friends and begin to reconsider where home really is. And, if you haven’t seen Marty the zebra, played by Chris Rock, singing “Afro-circus” in the movie trailer, the film is worth it just for the song. It will play over and over in your head for days.
