Animated films have always been popular with children, just think about Disney’s Snow

White & the Seven Dwarves -the first sound, and colour, animated feature film. although there are many animated films aimed towards children, Shrek & Toy Story, there is also a growing animated film genre aimed more towards adults with films such as Avatar.

The costume choices for animated films are huge and it can be used as a fancy dress them on its own. We have had to split this subject down even further as some films have so many potential costume ideas. The list below gives you a good overview of animated films, some of these have so many characters they warrant their own page, look at the list on the left for a list of some of these animated films in more detail.

Avatar A blockbuster film of 2009, the story of the Navi, their planet Pandora and their conflict with invading mining colonists from Earth proved hugely popular. The costumes took a little time coming (although it is said there will be a sequel) and the blue skinned look is not for everybody (unless youre a Smurf) but at least its distinctive.

Beauty & the Beast Belle is the heroine and wears a poor peasant dress at the start and a beautiful golden gown at the end. the beast wear a blue tailcoat and black trousers, possibly use a werewolf mask to adapt for the beast’s head.

Pinocchio – The story of a puppet that comes to life. Hire costume only for adults, packaged costume available to purchase for children

Dumbo – elephant costume. Film released in 1941

Alice in Wonderland – ful lof interesting characters, look at our Alice in Wonderland page for more costume details

Cinderella- another Disney classic. Take a look at our dedicated

Cinderella page for more costume details

Peter Pan – another Disney classic. Take a look at our dedicated Cinderella page for more costume details

The Adventures of TinTin

Jack & The Beanstalk – wear a Robin Hood style costume for Jack

Aladdin

Toy Story A franchise story about toys that come to life. The first film was released in 1995. Characters include; Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Mr & Potato Head, Bo Peep, Slinky Dog. Some licensed Toy Story costumes are available.

Jack Skellington & Sally From Tim Burtons The Nightmare Before Christmas, a popular pair of animated actors, especially around Halloween! Variations on Jacks costume include different types of mask and Sallys outfit may also be offered in different levels of complexity.

Kung Fu Panda The unlikely hero of this popular martial arts cartoon

feature is soon to be seen again with his companion Furious Four kung-fu masters in 2011.

Little Mermaid (Disney 1989 film). Based on the story by Hans Christian Anderson who wrote the original fairy tale of the same name. Ariel, the lead character is a mermaid with red long hair. Only an official girls costume is available although there are many other mermaid costumes available that could be used.

Monsters Inc. This popular film 2001 from Pixar about the lives of the monsters who live under your bed, in closets etc is set to return for a sequel in late 2012. Thus we can enjoy the further adventures of Mike, Sulley & co. First time around, costumes were only made for children perhaps itll be different next year.

Monsters v. Aliens One of the first animated features to make us of the new 3D technology, Monsters v Aliens (2010) involves a group of monsters (including Ginormica, a bride who became a giantess following a meteor accident) kept under cover by the US military until the Earth is threatened by an alien master-mind and his giant robot. (They also battled some mutant pumpkins, but thats a different story). A Ginormica costume (complete with car shoes) was available at the time the film was current.

Cars Costumes for the Small Set only here! The first Cars film was a

surprise hit, with very little costume merchandise made available but you should find that a few outfits albeit made within the limits of child safety standards should be available for the new Cars film later this year (2011).

Shrek & Fiona Once simple book characters, now major stars of four films, the ogres Shrek and Fiona have certainly made a great impression on fans of all ages. Costumes have been available in the past but following the release of Shrek 4, the licence seems to have been withdrawn, possibly in preparation for the forthcoming Puss-in-Boots spin-off. There are so many other cartoon characters that make appearances in Shrek that you should read our information page that is full of costume ideas for Shrek

The Smurfs Smurfs, small blue gnome-like creatures in white hats, were Franco-Belgian in origin and originally appeared in the late 1950s. However they gained popularity worldwide and this reached a peak in the 1980s when they had their own cartoon series, were in the pop charts and, in Britain, even helped promote petrol. Although they never really went away, with smurf-style costumes offered from several sources, their popularity may increase again with a forthcoming live-action/CBI film featuring Katy Perry as the voice of Smurfette!

Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs (Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, Dopey & Doc). Although Snow White existed as a book character beforehand, Disney has very much made Snow White their own. The Snow White costume look and the names of the dwarfs are copyright, but costumes for Snow White and masks for the dwarfs are now on the market.

Tron The futuristic film which was ahead of its time on its first outing and made full use of CGI in its recent sequel, even though some felt the official costumes arent all they could be!

Wallace & Gromit Inspired by the pioneering Morph, Wallace and Gromit an inventor and his long-suffering side-kick/dog have achieved fame and Academy Award success with their exploits and adventures. Official costumes can be found in Britain and on some international markets.