X-mas’ movies.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year

with the kids jingle belling

And everyone telling you “Be of good cheer””

it’s the most wonderful time of the year

it’s the hap-happiest season of all.

I really love Christmas, for me this holidays has always been a happy time.  A time where I always has been surrounded for people I love and people who love me.  One of the things always present in our Christmas celebration are movies, we have the habit of watch Christmas movies all day long as we eat left over. So in order to honor this holiday I decide to create a list with  my favorites.

Birthday movies

Today is the day when I celebrate the joyous occasion of my Birth. Yes, today is y birthday and since I was a kid my parents like to make a big deal about it. I’m not big at parties but they always made something special like in 16th birthday my mom and I saw a movie marathon of Alfred Hitchcock, or last year when  my other parents organize a surprise party or one of my friends took me to watch “Tangled” in a movie theater just the 2 of us. This year haven’t be any different 2 nights ago my sister took me to Feist’s concert. So I will keep the party going with a list of Birthday movies. This list was hard because there is not much movies about birthdays, the one there are out there are or horror movies or about sixteen birthday.

4. Toy Story 1, 2 & 3

DIRECTED BY JOHN  LASSETER (1 & 2) AND LEE UNKRICH

WRITTEN BY JOSS WHEDON, ANDREW STATON, JOEL COHEN & ALEC SOKOLOW (PART 1);  ANDREW STANTON, RITA HSIAO, DOUG CHAMBERLAIN & CHRISS WEBB (PART 2) & ANDREW STATON, JOHN LASSETER & LEE UNKRICH (PART 3)

STARRING: TOM HANKS, TIM ALLEN, JOAN CUSACK, NED BEATTY, MICHAEL KEATON, WALLACE SHAWN, JOHN RATZENBERGER, BLAKE CLARK, ESTELLE HARRIS, JODI BENSON, DON RICKLES, JIM VARNEY, ANNIE POTTS, JOHN MORRIS, LAURIE METCALF AND ERICK VON DETTEN 

RELEASE DATE(s): NOVEMBER 22, 1995;  NOVEMBER 24, 1999; JUNE 12, 2010

AGE RECOMMENDED: ALL

The Toy Story Franchise is one of the most resent classic in children, and it is of course the master piece of Pixar. Toy Story (1995) is the first movie made entirely using computer generated imagery. It is also a world wide acclaimed film. Toy Story franchise is one of the most seen movies ever, is smart and ingenuous; the movie is easily love for both children and adults. In fact Toy Story 3 had touch more deeply adults than children, when I saw it in the movie theater every single grown up in the the room were crying.  Toys story is the animated film with most award and nomination.

Toy Story is a timeless story that truly understand the magic and even the pains from growing up.  The franchise is a really an open letter to any trilogy how the things should do,  If you’re going to make a part three, you’ve got to aim at least this high.  Also it is a wonderful lesson for children about friendship, sharing and love.  The story of the “Toy Story” films is the story of the cycle of life, and to make a thrilling, emotional, visceral film trilogy of blockbusters that somehow doesn’t rely on the typical storytelling crutches of the modern blockbuster is a truly amazing accomplishment.   There’s no chosen one, no mention of destiny once in three movies, no “chase the doodad” plot where all the energy is spent on plot and none is spent on anything important.  BTW I truly believe that Toy Story it is the best movies for the 3D.

6. Beauty and the Beast

DIRECTED BY GARY TROUSDALE  AND KIRK WISE

WRITTEN BY LINDA WOLVERTON 

STARRING PAIGE O’HARA, ROBBY BENSON, RICHARD WHITE, JERRY ORBACH, ANGELA LANSBURY, DAVID OGDEN STIERS

RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 22, 1991

AGE RECOMMENDED: ALL AGES

Beauty and the Beast is the 30th Disney’s animated feature film. This film is based on the fairy tale La belle et la Bete by Jeanne – Marie La Prince Beaumont, and share some of the ideas of 1946 film by Jean Cocteau. This is a musical film, very inspired by Broadway musical tradition which is very notable specially in the cast written by Alan Mekefn and Howard Ashman. This is also the last work of Ashman, who died shortly after the release of the movie.

Beauty and the Beast is the first animated film to be nominated in the Academy as best Picture, also is one of  the 6 films to have 3 songs nominated for Best Song, And Finally this movie share the record with Wall-E as the animated film with 6 nomination to the Oscars. Beauty and the Beast is easily the finest and tender animated movie ever.  The only thing I can say about this movie is beside that is one of my favorite movies, a few months ago I saw it with a 6 years old boy and he love it as much as I, he sang the whole movie and even got mad with Gaston: this is really a great movie to see with kids no matter age or gender.

8. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Poooh

DIRECTED BY WOLFGANG REITHERMAN & JONH LOUNSBERY

WRITTEN BY LARRY CLEMMONS, RALPH WRIGHT, VANCE GERRY, XAVIER ATENCIO, KEN ANDERSON, JULIUS SVENDSEN, TED BERMAN, ERIC CLEWORTH & WINSTON HIBLER

STARRING: SEBASTIAN CABOT, STERLING HOLLOWAY, JOHN FIEDLER, JUNIUS MATTHEWS,  PAUL WINCHELL, HOWARD MORRIS & BRUCE REITHERMAN.

RELEASE DATE: MARCH 11, 1977

AGE RECOMMENDED: ALL

This post is very important for me, I grew up with Winnie the Pooh to the point I have a collection of Eeyore donkeys. Winnie the pooh is the a coming to age movie for the first part of our lives. The movie, this one and all of them that follow it and all the tv shows, are based in the book of A.A. Milne.

The books and the film have several differences but the films, and specially the insertion of the character of  Gopher, who does not exist appear in the books, or in the book Winnie only wear his shirt in winter. Disney decide to create first this movie as a little featurettes, releases in 1966, 1968 and 1974, so the american public became familiar with the story which was quite popular in England but quite unknown in the US. In 1977 the studio decide to re-release the original featurettes (Winnie the Pooh and the honeey tree , Winnie the Pooh and the blustery Day and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger too) as a full length movie.

11. Wall-E

DIRECTED BY ANDREW STANTON

WRITTEN BY ANDREW STANTON & JIM REARDON

STARRING BY: BEN BURTT, ELISSA KNIGHT, JEFF GARLIN, JOHN RATZENBERG, KATHY NAJIMY & SIGOURNEY WEAVER

RELEASE DATE: JUNE 23, 2008

AGE RECOMMENDED: 5 & UP 

Wall-E is one of the most complex movies form Pixar. The movie is a “futuristic” love story and with a theme kind of, dystopia . That had divided the public of the movie, I know several people who don’t like the movie because the silence and the darkness of the subject make the uncomfortable.

The first 40 movies of the movie are almost silent and in some way posses a Chaplin quality on it.  Also poses a cuteness in the way Wall-e keep certain mementos of human civilization. Wall-e is a story of love (the underdog and the supermodel) and a story of re-vindication, the human kind. The movie is perfect, and Time Magazine also thought so raking it fist as the best movie of the decade.

The movie was paired with one of the best (if not the best) Pixar’s short, Presto.  With a story of a conflict between a magician and a rabbit for a carrot.

13. UP

DIRECTED BY PETE DOCTER & BOB PETERSON

WRITTEN BY PETE DOCTER & BOB PETERSON

STARRING BY: EDWARD ASNER, CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER, JORDAN NAGAI & BOB PETERSON

 RELEASE DATE: MAY 29, 2009

AGE RECOMMENDED: ALL

Another master piece of Pixar. This one is my favorite, is the movie that make you cry and laugh. It is a beautiful exciting story with a series of amazing characters as Kevin, Dug , Carl and the adorable Russell. The movie won 2 Academy Awards: Best Animated Movie, and Best Score, also is the second animated movie to be nominated as best movie. The movie is also in two of the most popular genres of all: the odd couple and the scape of reality.  My favorite part is the first part of the movie the story of the romance between Carl and his wife Ellie, and I’m not the only one just goggle “Up Wedding” and you will find endless blog post about it. 

14. The Tale of Despereaux

DIRECTED BY ROB STEVENHAGEN & SAM FELL

WRITTEN BY GARY ROSS, WILL MCROBB, CHRIS VISCARDI & ROB STEVENHAGEN

STARRING: SIGOURNEY WEAVER, MATTHEW BRODERICK, ROBBIE COLTRANE, FRANCES CONROY, TONY HALE, CIARAN HINDS, DUSTIN HOFFMAN, RICHARD JENKINS, KEVIN KLINE, FRANK LANGELLA, CHRISTOPHER LLOYD, WILLIAM H. MACY, TRACEY ULLMAN & EMMA WATSON

RELEASE DATE: DECEMBER 19, 2008

AGE RECOMMENDED 5 & UP

 This is a really cute movie based in the book Kate DiCamillo. The movie is about accepting the odd in all of us and fighting the wrongs we made to turn them into right and eventually stand for themselves without being disrespectful. This is a really entertaining movie specially for kids, is a marvel watch the kids watching the movie because they will spend the time of the movie  trying to figure it out the outcome of the story.  

The animation of the movie is beautiful and gentle to the point it might seems too passive and even sleepiness.

15. The Rescuers

DIRECTED BY WOLFANG REITHERMAN, JONH LOUNSBERY & ART STEVENS

WRITTEN BY:  LARRY CLEMMONS, VANCE GERRY, KEN ANDERSON, FRANK THOMAS, BURNY MATTINSON, FRED LUCKY, DICK SEBAT & DAVE MICHENER

STARRING: BOB NEWHART, EVA GABOR, MICHELLE STACY, GERALDINE PAGE, JOE FLYNN, JIM JORDAN, JOHN MCINTIRE, JEANETTE NOLAN, JANNETTE NOLAN, PAT BUTTRAM & BERNARD FOX

RELEASE DATE: JUNE 22, 1977

AGE RECOMMENDED: 4 & UP

Confession time I have never seen this movie in English, ergo I can say that The Spanish translation is really good. This movie took advantage of Annie’s trend and release a movie of the little orphan Penny. The movie is a dark story based in two stories by Margery Sharp. the movies is a solid, child-friendly work which will keep little ones content, if not mesmerised.

16. The Sword in the Stone

DIRECTED BY WOLFGANG REITHERMAN

WRITTEN BY BILL PEET

STARING: RICKIE SORENSEN, KARL SWENSON, JUNUIS MATHEWS, SEBASTIAN CABOT, NORMAN ALDEN  & MARTHA WENWORTH.

RELEASE DATE: DECEMBER 25, 1963

AGE RECOMMENDED: ALL

This is funny, I was watching this movie a couple of days ago and it is a great movie. Movie may be kind of helpful now a days Wart is bully but still he manages to became King Arthur. This one of the classic Disney movies,  and belongs to Disney’s British period (like Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh and 101 Dalmatians). The movie is based in the 1938 book, The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White, later renamed The Once and Future King . The movie had one of the most memorable and funnier villains in films, Madame Minn. The movie is great and funny but it has some flaws like some weak secondary characters.