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.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionThe 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 5City Lights Charles Chaplin, 1931 6Emil und die Detektive/Emil and the Detectives Gerhard Lamprecht, 1931 7The Chimp James Parrott, 1932 8King Kong Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1933 9Duck Soup Leo McCarey, 1933 10Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Walt Disney (producer), 1937 11The Adventures of Robin Hood1938USAMichael Curtiz, William Keighley, 1938 12The Wizard of Oz Victor Fleming, 1939 13Jungle Book Zoltan Korda, 1942 14La belle et la bête/Beauty and the Beast Jean Cocteau, 1946 15Singin’ in the Rain Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen, 1952 16Les 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 19Gojira/Godzilla Ishirô Honda, 1954 20Pather Panchali Satyajit Ray, 1955 21Cesta do praveku/Journey to the Beginning of Time Karel Zeman, 1955 22Le ballon rouge/The Red Balloon Albert Lamorisse, 1956 23Das singende, klingende Bäumchen/The Singing Ringing Tree Francesco Stefani, 1957 24Ohayô/Good Morning Yasujiro Ozu, 1959 25Whistle Down the Wind Bryan Forbes, 1961 26Jason and the Argonauts Don Chaffey, 1963 27Mary Poppins Robert Stevenson, 1964 28The Sound of Music1965USARobert Wise, 1965 29Paddle to the Sea1966CanadaBill Mason, 1966 30Oliver!1968UKCarol Reed, 1968 31Yellow Submarine1968UK/USAGeorge Dunning, 1968 32Chitty Chitty Bang Bang1968UKKen Hughes, 1968 33The Railway Children1970UKLionel Jeffries, 1970 34Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory1971USAMel Stuart, 1971 35Tales of Beatrix Potter1971UKReginald Mills, 1971 36The Amazing Mr. Blunden Lionel Jefferies, 1972 37Jonathan Livingston Seagull Hall Bartlett, 1973 38The Little Prince Stanley Donen, 1974 39Bugsy Malone Alan Parker, 1976 40Storm Boy Henri Safran, 1976 41Star Wars George Lucas, 1977 42The Black Stallion Carroll Ballard, 1979 43Time Bandits Terry Gilliam, 1981 44E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial Steven Spielberg, 1982 45The NeverEnding Story Wolfgang Petersen, 1984 46Back to the Future Robert Zemeckis, 1985 47Pee-wee’s Big Adventure Tim Burton, 1985 48Labyrinth Jim Henson, 1986 49Flight of the Navigator Randal Kleiser, 1986 50The Princess Bride Rob Reiner, 1987 51The Brave Little Toaster Jerry Rees, 1987 52Khane-ye doust kodjast?/Where is the Friend's House? Abbas Kiarostami, 1987 53Tonari no Totoro/My Neighbour Totoro Hayao Miyazaki, 1988 54L'ours/The Bear Jean-Jacques Annaud, 1988 55Neco z Alenky/Alice Jan Svankmajer, 1988 56Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Joe Johnston, 1989 57The Witches Nicholas Roeg, 1990 58Into the West Mike Newell, 1992 59Wallace & Gromit in The Wrong Trousers Nick Park, 1993 60The Secret Garden Agnieszka Holland, 1993 61Jurassic Park Steven Spielberg, 1993 62Cool Runnings John Turteltaub, 1993 63The Hudsucker Proxy Joel Coen, 1994 64The Lion King Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff, 1994 65The Secret of Roan Inish John Sayles, 1994 66Babe Chris Noonan, 1995 67Toy Story John Lasseter, 1995 68Matilda Danny DeVito, 1996 69La vita è bella/Life is Beautiful Roberto Benigni, 1997 70Kirikou et la sorcière/Kirikou and the Sorceress Michel Ocelot, 1998 71Stuart Little Rob Minkoff, 1999 72The Iron Giant Brad Bird, 1999 73Hjælp! Jeg er en fisk/Help! I’m a Fish Stefan Fjeldmark, Michael Hegner, Greg Manwaring, 2000 74Metoroporisu/Metropolis Rintaro, 2001 75Shrek Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson, 2001 76Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi/Spirited Away Hayao Miyazaki, 2001 77Monsters, Inc. Pete Docter, David Silverman, Lee Unkrich, 2001 78Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Peter Jackson, 2001 79Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Chris Columbus, 2001 80Ice Age Chris Wedge, Carlos Saldanha, 2002 81Rabbit-Proof Fence Phillip Noyce, 2002 82Whale Rider Niki Caro, 2002 83Die Geschichte vom weinenden Kamel/The Story of the Weeping Camel Byambasuren Davaa, Luigi Falorni, 2003 84Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events Brad Silberling, 2004 85Taare Zameen Par/Like Stars on Earth Aamir Khan, 2007 86Bee Movie Steve Hickner, Simon J. Smith, 2007 87WALL. E Andrew Stanton, 2008 88Fantastic Mr. Fox Wes Anderson, 2009 89Where the Wild Things Are Spike Jonze, 2009 90The Secret of Kells Tomm Moore, Nora Twomey, 2009 91Panique au village/A Town Called Panic Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar, 2009 92Coraline Henry Selick, 2009 93Bébé(s)/Babies Thomas Balmès, 2010 94Tomboy Céline Sciamma, 2011 95Hugo Martin Scorsese, 2011 96Wadjda Haifaa Al Mansour, 2012 97Frozen Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, 2013 98The Lego Movie Christopher Miller, Phil Lord, 2014 99Paddington Paul King, 2014 100Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, 2018 More to discoverIndex

Select Guide Rating