If You Were A 90s Kid, These 7 Classic Cartoon Movies Are Probably Still Your Favorites
Florida Memory | Unsplash I don't know about you, but I'm a little tired of Elsa and Anna. I enjoy a good Pixar masterpiece, of course, but in my late twenties, I'm finding that I'm ready to explore the vintage works of the 1990s.
Research has found that nostalgia strengthens the parent-child bond by motivating parents to pass on traditions and memories to their kids. Popping in a VHS of something you loved at age seven isn't just a trip down memory lane. It's one of the most natural ways to build a bridge between your childhood and theirs.
These classic cartoon movies really don't get the credit they deserve. They might not have all the special effects or bells and whistles, but they have grit, heart, and a sense of humor that held up better than anyone gives them credit for. Grab a '94 vintage Yoohoo and some Gushers, and don't forget to be kind, please rewind.
If you were a 90s kid, these 7 cartoon movies are probably still your favorites:
1. The Brave Little Toaster (1987)
Before Toy Story, there were household appliances that came to life. It's equally as hard to pick your favorite. Toaster, Blanket, Vacuum, Radio, and Lamp all represented personality traits. The best part? You get to explain to your kids what a radio is.
What most people don't know is that this film is basically the reason Pixar exists. Director and writer John Lasseter was fired from Disney after pitching a computer-animated version of it, took the idea with him, and eventually ended up at what became Pixar, where he directed Toy Story a decade later.
Many of the people who went on to define the Disney Renaissance and early Pixar worked on The Brave Little Toaster first. The junkyard scene, where cars sing about being discarded and then get crushed, directly inspired the incinerator sequence in Toy Story 3. And yes, it is exactly as emotionally devastating as it sounds.
2. The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
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Tied to the famous stories of Sherlock Holmes, this one will pack the adventure punch, but supply you with just enough adult humor. Think drunken mice and a giant mobster rat. What a lot of people don't realize is that this movie practically saved Disney.
It came out right after The Black Cauldron tanked at the box office, and its success gave the animation department the confidence to keep going. It was the directorial debut of John Musker and Ron Clements, who later made The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. Roger Ebert praised it, and Gene Siskel gave it two thumbs up. The villain, Professor Ratigan, is voiced by Vincent Price, and he is having an absolute blast in every single scene.
3. Rock-A-Doodle (1991)
Chanticleerrrrr! An Elvis-like rooster and a boy who turns into a kitten and still saves the day. Outrageous, but fun! Rock-a-Doodle was actually turned down by Disney. What? Big mistake! Who wouldn't want to watch a small boy, transformed into a kitty, battle an evil owl voiced by Christopher Plummer and save an Elvis-impersonating rooster? Not me.
Roger Ebert called it "passably entertaining," which honestly undersells how deeply it lodged itself into the brain of every child who watched it. The songs are surprisingly good, and the Bach-style fugue the owl and his henchmen sing around a church organ is the kind of thing that just lives in your memory whether you want it to or not.
4. FernGully (1992)
Wait, I think this is the animated Avatar, vintage style, but better because Robin Williams voices a character. And we all know that any Robin Williams movie is pure gold. FernGully came out eight months before Aladdin, and Robin Williams' performance as Batty Koda, a bat with advertising jingles hardwired into his brain from laboratory experiments, is basically the first draft of his Genie.
The film also features Tim Curry as Hexxus, a villain made entirely of toxic pollution, which is still one of the more genuinely creepy villain concepts in any animated movie. The environmental message is not subtle at all, but the film is gorgeous to look at, and the voice cast is stacked for what was essentially a small indie animated feature out of Australia.
5. All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)
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You laugh, you cry, you sing, and even have a strange attraction to a cartoon mutt bad boy (maybe that's just me). There is murder, gambling, hellfire, and a New Orleans jazz underworld made up entirely of dogs.
Roger Ebert praised it at the time for its rich, saturated colors and called it "bright and inventive." Burt Reynolds voices the lead, a canine con man who has to decide whether to actually become a good person after coming back from the dead. It is not a gentle film, but it is a great one.
6. Casper (1995)
OK, so this movie isn't fully animated, but the animations were pretty advanced for the 90s. Tweens, be warned: Casper in human form is a major hottie. You might catch your daughter rewatching the last scene over and over. I did. Rewinding that VHS was hard work.
Most people don't know that Casper was actually the first feature film to have a fully CGI character in the lead role, sneaking in just ahead of Toy Story. The film made $290 million on a $55 million budget, which means audiences were way more on board than the critics were.
Christina Ricci is genuinely great as Kat, and the scene where Devon Sawa walks down the stairs as the human form of Casper and says, "Can I keep you?" is one of those moments that every millennial girl who owned this VHS still has stored somewhere in her memory.
7. A Troll in Central Park (1994)
A flamboyant and friendly red-headed troll who can grow flowers with the touch of his thumb? They just don't make them like this anymore. Kids who grew up with it remember it warmly in a way that has nothing to do with the pretty rough reviews.
Don Bluth himself later admitted that the production went badly, and it earned just $71,368 at the box office. None of that matters. Stanley the troll, voiced by Dom DeLuise, just wants to grow flowers in a world that keeps telling him he shouldn't.
The animation is lush and vibrant even when the story loses its footing, and Devon Sawa voiced one of the kids, meaning this and Casper gave an entire generation of 90s children their formative crush in the same year.
Alex Duvall is a writer, wife, and mother with a soft spot for 90s nostalgia and the animated classics that defined her childhood.
