Disney, Pixar and Studio Ghibli movies for kids, ranked by what they teach
24 family films, one test: what does the main character do, and would you want your kid to copy it?
By Lionel Mora · · 7 min read
Based on our Instagram reviews: Disney part 1 (36k views), Disney part 2 (21k), Pixar (44k), Studio Ghibli (25k).
The short answer
The best family movies for kids have a main character who gets better through their own effort and owns their mistakes: Mulan, Zootopia, Inside Out and Kiki's Delivery Service top the list, with Moana, Tangled, My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away close behind. Classics where magic or a prince does the work, like Snow White and Cinderella, teach the least. Kids remember characters far more than morals, so judge a movie by how its hero behaves.
Family movie night is one of the best kinds of screen time there is. Everyone on one couch, one story, and a conversation afterwards if you're lucky. But the classics don't all teach the same thing.
I ranked 24 films from Disney, Pixar and Studio Ghibli on one test. The four videos behind this list have been watched more than 125,000 times. Here's the full reasoning.
Why we judge movies by their characters
Children, especially under 10, are much worse than adults at picking out the moral of a story3. What they do take in, and copy, is how the characters behave. So the question I ask about every film is what the hero does:
- Do they solve their own problems, or does magic, a prince or a genie do it for them?
- When they get something wrong, do they own it and fix it?
- How do they treat the people around them, and does anyone ever correct bad behavior?
- Can a 6 to 12-year-old follow the story, or was it made for adults?
Disney movies, ranked
Mulan S tier
Great movie for kids. She's bad at training at first, and the film shows her getting better and better through repetition, real effort and motivation. That's exactly how kids get good at anything, and you rarely see it on screen.
Zootopia S tier
Best lesson on this list. Judy causes real damage with her own bias. She sees the consequences and has to fix it herself. Good people can get things badly wrong, and then the job is to repair it.
Tangled A tier
A mother controls her daughter with fear and guilt for 18 years. It's a very accurate picture of manipulation, with a strong hero who sees through it and gets out. Worth a conversation afterwards.
Moana A tier
She spends the whole movie learning how to sail, reading the stars and the water, and correcting her own mistakes. Great movie for kids.
Frozen B tier
Elsa hides her big feelings for years because she's scared of hurting people. But the hiding is what does the damage. That's a useful lesson for a kid, even if the songs get more attention than the story.
The Little Mermaid C tier
She trades her voice for a man she's met once. When things go wrong, magic saves her. Nothing she does herself fixes it.
Aladdin C tier
I love Aladdin. But he keeps lying for the whole movie, and the Genie fixes most of his mistakes. Not ideal, in terms of lessons.
Snow White D tier
She never solves a single problem herself, and waiting to be rescued is presented as a winning strategy. That's not likely to work in real life.
Beauty and the Beast D tier
He locks her up and shouts at her, and the story basically asks you to accept it because he's kind underneath. That's a pattern to be very careful about in real life.
Pocahontas D tier
A war ends because two people fall in love. Beautiful and poetic, but it's not what happened in the real story. It could have been a great lesson about how to resolve conflict.
Cinderella D tier
A fairy godmother, a prince and a shoe do all the work for her. No great lesson in there.
Pixar movies, ranked
Inside Out S tier
Pixar worked with real scientists who study emotions, Dacher Keltner and Paul Ekman, to make this movie1. The climax is a girl telling her parents she feels sad, and that's what resolves everything. So your kid learns that being sad is normal, and that it's good to talk about it.
Coco B tier
A movie that talks a lot about relatives who have died. Researchers at Emory found that kids who know more about their family's history tend to have higher self-esteem and cope better with hard times2. So I guess that's a good takeaway. It's also an easy way into a conversation about grandparents.
Cars B tier
He's about to win the biggest race of his life. Before the finish line, he goes back to help a rival who crashed. He loses the race and the crowd goes wild. Your kid learns that people respect how you act more than they respect a win.
Toy Story C tier
Woody gets jealous of the new toy and knocks him out of the window, and the whole movie is about getting him back. That's a perfect setup for a lesson about jealousy and how to handle it. The film never really goes there.
Soul D tier
A musician finally plays the concert of his dreams and feels nothing. Then small everyday things move him more than the concert ever did. It's a beautiful story, quite poetic, but a bit abstract for kids to take a lesson from. Better for teenagers and their parents.
Studio Ghibli movies, ranked
Kiki's Delivery Service S tier
A 13-year-old witch moves to a new town on her own and starts a delivery business. The film is about what happens when the thing you're best at suddenly stops working. Your kid learns that everybody gets stuck sometimes, that it's normal, and that it passes. Great life lesson.
My Neighbor Totoro A tier
Two sisters find out that the forest next to their new countryside house is full of magical creatures. Your kid learns there are plenty of interesting things to find if you go outside. Gentle, slow, and perfect for younger kids.
Spirited Away A tier
A 10-year-old gets stuck in a strange world where her parents get turned into pigs. To save them, she has to work really hard. You watch her go from scared to capable, one job at a time. Your kid learns that you get braver by doing the hard work. Some scenes are intense for under 7s.
Howl's Moving Castle B tier
A witch turns a shy girl into an old woman, and once she's old she stops worrying and gets more confident. Your kid learns that caring less about how you look can make you braver.
Princess Mononoke C tier
Solid lessons about revenge and hatred, and about people and nature. But it's very violent, so save it for older kids.
Grave of the Fireflies D tier
One of the greatest films Ghibli ever made. It's the story of two children trying to survive a war on their own, and it's devastatingly sad. Probably too difficult for kids. The D is about what it gives a 7-year-old. As a film, it's in a tier of its own.
The Boy and the Heron D tier
The story is complicated and doesn't explain much, so it's more for older viewers than for kids.
Castle in the Sky D tier
A fun adventure with pirates and a city floating in the sky. Kids will love it. They won't learn much from it.
Turning movie night into something more
- Ask about the hero, not the message. "What would you have done instead of Aladdin?" works better than "What did we learn?"
- Name the bad pattern out loud. Beauty and the Beast is still a lovely film. It's a better one if you add, "Locking someone up is never OK."
- Pause when it gets heavy. Ghibli films in particular are worth a quick check-in halfway.
- Connect it to real life. After Coco, ask your kid what they know about their grandparents, then fill in the gaps.
Looking for something else to watch? The Marble Index scores films, shows and books for kids out of 100.
Questions parents ask
What is the best Disney movie for kids?
Mulan and Zootopia. Mulan is bad at training at first and gets better through repetition and real effort. In Zootopia, Judy causes real harm with her own bias, sees the consequences and has to fix it herself. In both, the hero earns the ending.
What is the best Pixar movie for kids?
Inside Out. Pixar worked with emotion scientists Dacher Keltner and Paul Ekman, and the story turns on a girl telling her parents she feels sad. Sadness is normal, and it's worth talking about. Few films give a kid a more useful lesson than that.
Are Studio Ghibli movies OK for kids?
Many are wonderful for kids. My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service and Spirited Away are great from around age 6 or 7. Others aren't really children's films: Grave of the Fireflies is a heartbreaking war story, Princess Mononoke is violent, and The Boy and the Heron is complex. Save those for older kids or teens.
Is Grave of the Fireflies appropriate for children?
Not for most kids under 12. It's one of the greatest films Studio Ghibli made, but it follows two children trying to survive a war on their own, and it's very sad. Watch it yourself first.
How do I pick a good movie for my child?
Look at the main character. Research shows children, especially under 10, are much worse than adults at picking out the moral of a story, so what sticks is how the characters behave. Does the hero solve their own problems, own their mistakes and treat people well? If magic or someone else does all the work, there isn't much of a lesson.
Sources
Keep reading
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