Many take life inspirations from various stories happening around us. These stories are not just inspiring but entertaining as well. Such stories that bring a message are adapted into various forms in order to make it shareable to the world. The film industry has also been sharing these stories through modes out of which animation has done wonders and given excellent results. Many historical stories are converted into animated movies with the message kept intact. Also, many real-life events are transformed into animated movies as a tribute to the good work done.
Here are some of the animated movies which are based on real people or real life events:
Mulan (1998)
This story is based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, who was a legendary female warrior whose father taught her martial arts, horseback riding, archery and the use of a broadsword. For almost 12-years, she has fought alongside the bravest of men. Doing her part as a warrior, she has gained the reputation as one of the fiercest warriors of her generation. The best part of her story is that nobody realised she was a woman as she masquerades as a man. This is an epic adventure of a fearless young woman who fights Northern invaders attacking China. She is the eldest daughter of an honoured warrior. It is when the emperor issues a decree that one man per family must serve in the imperial army, she walks in place of her ailing father and becomes one of China’s greatest warriors ever. Her stories of bravery are resonated even today.
A live-action film on Mulan is set to release on 27 March 2020.
Anastasia (1997)
It is an animated musical fantasy adventure film which is a loose adaptation of the legend of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, which claims that she escaped the execution of her family. The story focuses on an 18-year-old orphan girl Anya, the changed name of Anastasia, who is amnesiac and hopes to find some trace of her family. She joins some con-men who wish to take advantage of her look-alike features to Grand Duchess. A fact to be told, she herself is Grand Duchess and the daughter of Tsar Nicolas II. Leaving her and the grandmother, the entire family was executed in 1918. More than 30 women have since claimed to be Anastasia proclaiming that the Grand Duchess had been miraculously saved from the firing squad!
In the end, the lost princess units with her grandmother and also finds the love of her life in the man who saved her life twice.
Pocahontas (1995)
It is an American animated musical epic romantic drama film which is loosely inspired by the Native American woman Pocahontas. The story focuses on her historical encounters with Englishman John Smith and the Jamestown settlers that had arrived from the Virginia Company. The name Pocahontas means ‘little wanton’ in reference to a playful child. It was the nickname that an Indian chief gave to his daughter Matoaka (which means ‘Bright Stream Between the Hills’). The story replicates the legendary true story which took place in 1607, Pocahontas saved a man called Captain John Smith, a British colonist who was about to be executed by the tribe. In 1613, she was captured by the colonists and held for ransom. Later, she went on to marry a tobacco plantation owner, John Rolfe, who converted her to Christianity. This led to her being baptized and re-named Rebecca. This union resulted in Eight years of peace between the native population and the British colonists.
Balto (1995)
It is a live-action/animated epic drama adventure film which is loosely based on a true story about the dog with the same name that is known for saving children from the diphtheria epidemic in the 1925 serum run to Nome. In real life, Balto was a Siberian husky and sled dog who led a team of dogs on the final leg of the 1925 serum run to Nome, in which diphtheria antitoxin was transported from Anchorage, Alaska, to Nenana, Alaska, by train and then to Nome by dog sled to combat an outbreak of the disease. Balto led his pack over 84 km in order to bring back medicines for the village’s children and, thanks to his bravery; the epidemic was wiped out in just 5 days!
When real Balto had died, his body was stuffed and displayed at the Cleveland Museum of National History where it still remains. A statue of this canine hero stands in the middle of Central Park in New York.
Up (2009)
It is a 3D computer-animated comedy-drama adventure film which centres on an elderly widower named Carl Fredricksen and an earnest boy named Russell. It is loosely connected to the true story behind the Seattle house—a woman named Edith Macefield who held out against developers as they built a mall around her home. In the story from 2006, thousands of balloons are tied to Fredricksen’s house and Carl helps to fulfill his dream to see the wilds of South America and complete the promise he made to his late wife. The flying house takes the old man to Paradise Falls. It’s not always about money is what is learned from his wife’s decision to turn down the offered one million dollars to move out of her home.
The Road to El Dorado (2000)
It is an American animated adventure musical fantasy comedy film that follows two con artists who escape Spain after winning the map to a lost city. Using the map, they are led to the lost city of gold called as EL Dorado where its inhabitants mistake them for gods. This story is inspired from a ruler named EI Dorado who was so rich that he allegedly covered himself in gold from head to toe each morning and washed it off in a sacred lake each evening. Though in the animated film, the story is about a place which goes by the name EI Dorado. Over the years, the story grew into the myth of a legendary city of gold instead of the true story based on the ruler. This film is said to be inappropriate for kids due to certain ‘hidden adult humour’ in some scenes.
Such animated movies with an inspiring message should be released often to make aware the world about our history as well as present real life events. It’s more like ‘kill two birds with one stone’ i.e. educating people with knowledge and entertaining them at one go. Do watch if haven’t already.