Ten on Tuesday: 10 Favorite Children's Movies

Ok, so I will try not to make this a big Ode to Hayao Miyazaki.

1. My Neighbor Totoro: two female protagonists, parents are revered and trusted, gentle, beautiful, my favorite.
2. Kiki's Delivery Service: more female protagonists, no real evil to be overcome or defeated, no real villain, but still a great story (Disney could learn from that) about coming of age. Plus one of the last projects Phil Hartmann did as the voice of Gigi the cat.
3. Spirited Away: Of the three Miyazaki films I've listed so far, my least favorite, but still hands down better than so many other movies for children. This one is scarier--Maeve likes it but it took Sophia a long time to warm up to it. Again, female protagonist, spirit world, good and evil are blurred (like in real life...).
4. Charlie Brown Christmas Special
5. Fantasia
6. Whispers of the Heart: this is a Studio Ghibli (Miyazaki's studio) film about a young girl (of course) growing up and trying to figure out what she wants. It's set in reasonably modern Japan and her family is more annoying than in previous films but she's older, too.
7. Babe: talking animals, a farmer's wife named Esme, Roscoe Lee Browne narrates, and watching James Cromwell dancing and you know, it's a good movie.
8. The Wizard of Oz
9. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the original cartoon with the song, you remember)
10. You know, I think I'm going to like Ponyo enough to put it here. It's Miyazaki's current film. There are some weird holes in the plot at points, but it is cute and beautiful and there's a whole scene about breastfeeding. So that's good.