100 Films to Watch Before You Grow Up

Ben Howarth is a former teacher, who also spent six years as a Compliance Officer at the British Board of Film Classification, where his job was to watch films and decide what age rating they should be. He has previously worked for Into Film, an organisation that works with primary and secondary schools to help encourage young people to discover the wonders of cinema. Ben continues to work in media classification, and enjoys watching movies with his sons Luke and Joel.

Acknowledgments
Introduction
The 100 Films:

1.
Le voyage dans la Lune/ A Trip to the Moon


Georges Méliès, 1902


2.
Safety Last!


Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor, 1923


3.
Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed/The Adventures of Prince Achmed


Lotte Reiniger, 1926


4.
Steamboat Bill Jr.


Charles Reisner, 1928


5
City Lights


Charles Chaplin, 1931


6
Emil und die Detektive/Emil and the Detectives


Gerhard Lamprecht, 1931


7
The Chimp


James Parrott, 1932


8
King Kong


Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1933


9
Duck Soup


Leo McCarey, 1933


10
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs


Walt Disney (producer), 1937


11
The Adventures of Robin Hood
1938
USA
Michael Curtiz, William Keighley, 1938


12
The Wizard of Oz


Victor Fleming, 1939


13
Jungle Book


Zoltan Korda, 1942


14
La belle et la bête/Beauty and the Beast


Jean Cocteau, 1946


15
Singin’ in the Rain


Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen, 1952


16
Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot/Mr Hulot’s Holiday


Jacques Tati, 1953


17.
The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T.


Roy Rowland, 1953


18.
Little Fugitive


Ray Ashley, Morris Engel, Ruth Orkin, 1953


19
Gojira/Godzilla


Ishirô Honda, 1954


20
Pather Panchali


Satyajit Ray, 1955


21
Cesta do praveku/Journey to the Beginning of Time


Karel Zeman, 1955


22
Le ballon rouge/The Red Balloon


Albert Lamorisse, 1956


23
Das singende, klingende Bäumchen/The Singing Ringing Tree


Francesco Stefani, 1957


24
Ohayô/Good Morning


Yasujiro Ozu, 1959


25
Whistle Down the Wind


Bryan Forbes, 1961


26
Jason and the Argonauts


Don Chaffey, 1963


27
Mary Poppins


Robert Stevenson, 1964


28
The Sound of Music
1965
USA
Robert Wise, 1965


29
Paddle to the Sea
1966
Canada
Bill Mason, 1966


30
Oliver!
1968
UK
Carol Reed, 1968


31
Yellow Submarine
1968
UK/USA
George Dunning, 1968


32
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
1968
UK
Ken Hughes, 1968


33
The Railway Children
1970
UK
Lionel Jeffries, 1970


34
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
1971
USA
Mel Stuart, 1971


35
Tales of Beatrix Potter
1971
UK
Reginald Mills, 1971


36
The Amazing Mr. Blunden


Lionel Jefferies, 1972


37
Jonathan Livingston Seagull


Hall Bartlett, 1973


38
The Little Prince


Stanley Donen, 1974


39
Bugsy Malone


Alan Parker, 1976


40
Storm Boy


Henri Safran, 1976


41
Star Wars


George Lucas, 1977


42
The Black Stallion


Carroll Ballard, 1979


43
Time Bandits


Terry Gilliam, 1981


44
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial


Steven Spielberg, 1982


45
The NeverEnding Story


Wolfgang Petersen, 1984


46
Back to the Future


Robert Zemeckis, 1985


47
Pee-wee’s Big Adventure


Tim Burton, 1985


48
Labyrinth


Jim Henson, 1986


49
Flight of the Navigator


Randal Kleiser, 1986


50
The Princess Bride


Rob Reiner, 1987


51
The Brave Little Toaster


Jerry Rees, 1987


52
Khane-ye doust kodjast?/Where is the Friend's House?


Abbas Kiarostami, 1987


53
Tonari no Totoro/My Neighbour Totoro


Hayao Miyazaki, 1988


54
L'ours/The Bear


Jean-Jacques Annaud, 1988


55
Neco z Alenky/Alice


Jan Svankmajer, 1988


56
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids


Joe Johnston, 1989


57
The Witches


Nicholas Roeg, 1990


58
Into the West


Mike Newell, 1992


59
Wallace & Gromit in The Wrong Trousers


Nick Park, 1993


60
The Secret Garden


Agnieszka Holland, 1993


61
Jurassic Park


Steven Spielberg, 1993


62
Cool Runnings


John Turteltaub, 1993


63
The Hudsucker Proxy


Joel Coen, 1994


64
The Lion King


Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff, 1994


65
The Secret of Roan Inish


John Sayles, 1994


66
Babe


Chris Noonan, 1995


67
Toy Story


John Lasseter, 1995


68
Matilda


Danny DeVito, 1996


69
La vita è bella/Life is Beautiful


Roberto Benigni, 1997


70
Kirikou et la sorcière/Kirikou and the Sorceress


Michel Ocelot, 1998


71
Stuart Little


Rob Minkoff, 1999


72
The Iron Giant


Brad Bird, 1999


73
Hjælp! Jeg er en fisk/Help! I’m a Fish


Stefan Fjeldmark, Michael Hegner, Greg Manwaring, 2000


74
Metoroporisu/Metropolis


Rintaro, 2001


75
Shrek


Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson, 2001


76
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi/Spirited Away


Hayao Miyazaki, 2001


77
Monsters, Inc.


Pete Docter, David Silverman, Lee Unkrich, 2001


78
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring


Peter Jackson, 2001


79
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone


Chris Columbus, 2001


80
Ice Age


Chris Wedge, Carlos Saldanha, 2002


81
Rabbit-Proof Fence


Phillip Noyce, 2002


82
Whale Rider


Niki Caro, 2002


83
Die Geschichte vom weinenden Kamel/The Story of the Weeping Camel


Byambasuren Davaa, Luigi Falorni, 2003


84
Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events


Brad Silberling, 2004


85
Taare Zameen Par/Like Stars on Earth


Aamir Khan, 2007


86
Bee Movie


Steve Hickner, Simon J. Smith, 2007


87
WALL. E


Andrew Stanton, 2008


88
Fantastic Mr. Fox


Wes Anderson, 2009


89
Where the Wild Things Are


Spike Jonze, 2009


90
The Secret of Kells


Tomm Moore, Nora Twomey, 2009


91
Panique au village/A Town Called Panic


Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar, 2009


92
Coraline


Henry Selick, 2009


93
Bébé(s)/Babies


Thomas Balmès, 2010


94
Tomboy


Céline Sciamma, 2011


95
Hugo


Martin Scorsese, 2011


96
Wadjda


Haifaa Al Mansour, 2012


97
Frozen


Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, 2013


98
The Lego Movie


Christopher Miller, Phil Lord, 2014


99
Paddington


Paul King, 2014


100
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, 2018


More to discover
Index