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Best Based on children's book Movies

Ranked by how strongly each film carries the visual signature of based on children's book cinema — measured across 1,480 indexed frames from 17 films, against a 404,689-frame catalogue baseline. Not by box office, and not by vote.

Based on children's book films over-index on fur, children and top hat — the objects that make the genre recognisable before a line is spoken.

  1. 1

    The Lorax (2012)

    Chris RenaudIMDb 6.4TMDB 6.5See in full on FrameThrower →

    In the walled city of Thneed-Ville, where everything is artificial and even the air is a commodity, a boy named Ted hopes to win the heart of his dream girl, Audrey. When he learns of her wish to see a real tree, Ted seeks out the Once-ler, a ruined old businessman outside of town in a stark wasteland. Upon hearing of how the hermit gave into his greed for profits and devastated the land over the protests of the Lorax, Ted is inspired to undo the disaster. However, the greedy Mayor of Thneed-Ville, Aloysius O'Hare, has made his fortune exploiting the environmental collapse and is determined to stop the boy from undermining his business.

  2. 2

    Where The Wild Things Are (2009)

    Spike JonzeDP Lance AcordIMDb 6.7TMDB 6.5See in full on FrameThrower →

    A young boy named Max has an active imagination, and he will throw fits if others don't go along with what he wants. Max - following an incident with Claire (his sister) and her friends, and following a tantrum which he throws as a result of his Mother paying more attention to her boyfriend than to him - runs away from home. Wearing his wolf costume at the time, Max not only runs away physically, but runs toward a world in his imagination. This world, an ocean away, is inhabited by large wild beasts, including one named Carol who is much like Max himself in temperament. Instead of eating Max like they normally would with creatures of his type, the wild things befriend Max after he proclaims himself a king who can magically solve all their problems.

  3. 3

    The Cat In The Hat (2003)

    Bo WelchDP Emmanuel LubezkiIMDb 4.1TMDB 5.3See in full on FrameThrower →

    Conrad and Sally Walden (Spencer Breslin and Dakota Fanning) are home alone with their pet fish. It is raining outside, and there is nothing to do. Until The Cat in the Hat ('Mike Myers') walks in the front door. He introduces them to their imagination, and at first it's all fun and games, until things get out of hand, and The Cat must go, go, go, before their mother gets back, but their pompous neighbor has bigger plans for them.

  4. 4

    Peter Pan & Wendy (2023)

    David LoweryDP Bojan BazelliIMDb 4.4TMDB 5.4See in full on FrameThrower →

    Wendy Darling, a young girl afraid to leave her childhood home behind, meets Peter Pan, a boy who refuses to grow up. Alongside her brothers and a tiny fairy, Tinker Bell, she travels with Peter to the magical world of Neverland. There, she encounters an evil pirate captain, Captain Hook, and embarks on a thrilling adventure that will change her life forever.

  5. 5

    Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)

    Mel StuartDP Arthur IbbetsonIMDb 7.8TMDB 7.5See in full on FrameThrower →

    The world is astounded when Willy Wonka, for years a recluse in his factory, announces that five lucky people will be given a tour of the factory, shown all the secrets of his amazing candy, and one will win a lifetime supply of Wonka chocolate. Nobody wants the prize more than young Charlie, but as his family is so poor that buying even one bar of chocolate is a treat, buying enough bars to find one of the five golden tickets is unlikely in the extreme. But in movieland, magic can happen. Charlie, along with four somewhat odious other children, get the chance of a lifetime and a tour of the factory. Along the way, mild disasters befall each of the odious children, but can Charlie beat the odds and grab the brass ring?

  6. 6

    Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)

    Hayao MiyazakiDP Juro SugimuraIMDb 7.8TMDB 7.8See in full on FrameThrower →

    This is the story of a young witch, named Kiki who is now 13 years old. But she is still a little green and plenty headstrong, but also resourceful, imaginative, and determined. With her trusty wisp of a talking cat named Jiji by her side she's ready to take on the world, or at least the quaintly European seaside village she's chosen as her new home.

  7. 7

    James and the Giant Peach (1996)

    Henry SelickDP Pete KozachikIMDb 6.7TMDB 6.6See in full on FrameThrower →

    James' happy life at the English seaside is rudely ended when his parents are killed by a rhinoceros and he goes to live with his two horrid aunts. Daringly saving the life of a spider he comes into possession of magic boiled crocodile tongues, after which an enormous peach starts to grow in the garden. Venturing inside, he meets not only the spider but a number of new friends including a ladybug and a centipede who help him with his plan to try to get to New York.

  8. 8

    Paddington (2014)

    Paul KingDP Erik WilsonIMDb 7.3TMDB 7.1See in full on FrameThrower →

    A young Peruvian bear with a passion for all things British travels to London in search of a home. Finding himself lost and alone at Paddington Station, he begins to realize that city life is not all he had imagined - until he meets the kind Brown family, who read the label around his neck ('Please look after this bear. Thank you.') and offer him a temporary haven. It looks as though his luck has changed until this rarest of bears catches the eye of a museum taxidermist.

  9. 9

    The Wild Robot (2024)

    Chris SandersIMDb 8.2TMDB 8.3See in full on FrameThrower →

    After a shipwreck, an intelligent robot called Roz is stranded on an uninhabited island. To survive the harsh environment, Roz bonds with the island's animals and cares for an orphaned baby goose.

  10. 10

    Alice in Wonderland (2010)

    Tim BurtonDP Dariusz WolskiIMDb 6.4TMDB 6.6See in full on FrameThrower →

    Alice, an unpretentious and individual 19-year-old, is betrothed to a dunce of an English nobleman. At her engagement party, she escapes the crowd to consider whether to go through with the marriage and falls down a hole in the garden after spotting an unusual rabbit. Arriving in a strange and surreal place called "Underland," she finds herself in a world that resembles the nightmares she had as a child, filled with talking animals, villainous queens and knights, and frumious bandersnatches. Alice realizes that she is there for a reason--to conquer the horrific Jabberwocky and restore the rightful queen to her throne.

What based on children's book films are made of

How much more often each element appears in a based on children's book frame than in an average frame from the catalogue. A ratio, not a share — fur is not in most frames, it is simply far more common here than anywhere else.

  • fur10.0×
  • children10.0×
  • top hat9.4×
  • creature7.7×
  • girl7.1×
  • boy5.4×
  • child3.1×
  • hat2.9×

How based on children's book films are shot

Weaker signals than the objects above, and worth saying so: most dramatic genres skew dark and night-heavy, so these numbers separate based on children's book from the catalogue far more than they separate it from its neighbours.

  • 22%high keyvs 12% baseline
  • 29%low keyvs 39% baseline
  • 24%widevs 20% baseline

What breaks the pattern

Curious George (2006) is the least typical film here — it carries the least of what the rest of this list is made of. Which is either a failure of the genre label, or the most interesting film on the page.

Method

Every frame in the FrameThrower catalogue is tagged for shot size, lighting, time of day, camera angle, colour and the objects visible in it. This page aggregates those tags across 1,480 frames from 17 films carrying the based on children's book label, and compares each figure to the same measurement across the whole catalogue (404,689 frames). Films are ranked by how closely they match the theme’s over-indexed elements, weighted by how distinctive each element is; one film per series. Only films with at least 20 indexed frames and 500 TMDB votes are listed.

Machine-readable: /api/list/based-on-children-s-book

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