Happily ever after: The 20 greatest film fairytales

If you've never been swept away by the tides of Hayao Miyazaki, this is your sign to watch Ponyo. A fantasy about a sea creature who turns into a human, Ponyo is the version of Little Mermaid you should be watching, boueyed by some of the most beautiful images to ever grace the screen. Expect to see more Miyazaki on this list.

If the glove--I mean shoe!--fits, then Cinderella can spend an eternity with prince charming. It's a movie so iconic it inspired Disney's logo and about 20 terrible remakes. 

The best movie Disney's ever made? Maybe. A fairytale that casts a dazzling spell? Absolutely. The first Disney feature is one of the most daring and dazzling of them all, as Snow White ventures into the woods with her life at stake. If the stakes were any higher, her pals couldn't reach them.

Wait, isn't this a horror flick where everyone dies? Yes, but that doesn't mean Dario Argento's classic isn't a fairytale. With its bright colors, dark corridors and ballet school run by witches, this is about as sensory as fairytales get. 

Ah, yes. A children's movie about the horrors of war and the crushing conformity of fascism. Pan's Labyrinth takes the terrors of being a child during war and personifies them through some of the eeriest adventures on screen. This isn't your grandma's fairytale, that's for sure. It's a haunting stroll through a magical forest of uncertainty.

He'd rather be a pig than a fighter pilot. Porco Rosso is a strange story about a human who becomes a pig and saves people in his plane. In the hands of another director, this might have been hogwash, but Miyazaki has managed to leave a contrail of poetic images in his wake. 

There's no place like home...on the couch watching The Wizard of Oz with the lights off. With this Technicolor daydream about a girl entering another realm, we are treated to castles, creatures, slippers, yellow brick roads, lions and tigers and bears, oh my! It's one of the essential fairytales for a reason. There's nothing quite like Dorothy's adventure through Oz. 

More red slippers! Except these are a symbol for greed. The Red Shoes sees a ballet dancer spiral, twirl and topple her way from nobody to star, but at what cost? Her sanity fades into a colorful nightmare that is miraculous to look at but frightening to experience.

She's a princess in modern day, which means she's got a lot to learn about how things work. Disney brings a dose of humor to this tale of a princess searching for her prince and  Amy Adams delivers the performance of her career as the clueless klutz. Enchanting, indeed. 

Okay, so some fairytales are cheesy, like this tale of a wizard who kidnaps a boy and sends his sister after him. The effects are terrible, the wigs are laughable and the acting is, well, not good. But somehow we find ourselves lost in this labyrinth anyways.

What makes Harry Potter a great movie is the fairytale setting, a world that feels as tangible as the comforters on your couch. You can almost feel the textures of this realm, where children go to school to become wizards. 

More Miyazaki! This is his best film, one of the bestselling animated films ever made and arguably the most moving. When a family moves to the countryside to care for their mother, they stumble across a fluffy creature who helps them get through it. It's a dazzling, tear-jerking, and endlessly cute fairytale that visually soars.

This guy is weird, a loner who has scissors for fingers, a nest for hair, and an attic for a home. Somehow Tim Burton makes him a winsome protagonist.

The original Scissorhands had a screw loose as well, but a much more terrifying look. Made from scratch by a scientist, he's proof that we shouldn't try to create our own human beings in a lab. In a moving conclusion, we see how cloning humans can go up in flames. 

Hear us out. While this might not be a conventional fairytale, it may be the greatest ever made. The Night of the Hunter sees two children on the run from a murderous "priest" who wants their inheritance. There's a mystical quality to their journey that feels like a child's nightmare since everything seems larger than life. The silhouetted hills, trickling streams and almost haunting countryside are every bit as fantastical as anything in the genre.

Boy meets balloon. Balloon meets boy. Boy becomes best friends with balloon. Boy tries to keep balloon away from the other children who want him. It's a story we've seen a thousand versions of--well, actually, it isn't. It's a remarkably original story that soars with imagination and visual splendor.

Remember kids, never accept candy from strangers, except if they live in a factory with oompa loompas and chocolate rivers. This film remains a staple in family homes, probably because the factory itself is so mesmerizing.

Let's face it, this is just Carrie with a lighter tone. When a girl gets revenge on the elementary school she attends, you half expect to see pig's blood. You don't, which is why this is a fun children's movie not a dark horror movie.

It's an adventure flick, action movie, fairytale and medieval story all in one. It's one of the best epics for a reason.

There's fencing, fighting, monsters and true love. What more could you want from a fairytale? This wonderful film is perhaps the greatest example of fairytales out there. We can't think of a more enjoyable example of a fairytale in all of cinema.