Animation has come a long way, from the hand-painted drawings of The Walt Disney Company’s 1937 feature film “Snow White” to today’s dazzling computer-generated imagery.
Animated films seem to stick with viewers, and for good reasons: they present children with complex emotional topics and build understanding about everything from what people should want out of life to how romantic relationships are supposed to end happily ever after. And while some animated films are just for fun and laughs, plenty of others show the darker realities of living in a very human world.
Host Frank Stasio talks with Marsha Gordon, film professor at North Carolina State University, and Laura Boyes, film curator at the North Carolina Museum of Art about their favorite animated movies, and ones submitted by listeners.
Here are some of our favorite animated movies:
Fantasia (1940)
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Sita Sings the Blues (2008)
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017)
