Since both genders will enjoy E.T. or Toy Story, there isn’t really such a thing as a “girl film” or a “boy film,” but when you’re watching with a child, they frequently want to see someone onscreen who they can project themselves onto and probably dress up as at the next fancy dress occasion.

Young girls have fewer options than they should, unless they aspire to be princesses. The movie industry is realising that girls are just people who can accomplish everything that boys can do and don’t require a love interest in order to be fascinating. The Rock serves as the heroine’s only male companion in the upcoming Disney film Moana (released on December 2nd), which is much preferable.

Here are nine more movies with fantastic leading females that you should watch right away with your daughter. Show them Alien and Aliens as soon as they are old enough since Ripley is the biggest badass in all of cinema.

9. Inside Out

Only two Pixar films have female protagonists. The mother-daughter bond theme of Brave is good, but Inside Out is incredibly smart. Two heroines are present. Riley, an 11-year-old girl who is discovering who she is and where she belongs, is joined by “joy,” one of Riley’s five internalised emotions, who desires Riley’s host to be as content as possible.

It’s a movie about realising how complicated the heart and mind are and that it’s okay to be afraid of maturing. Showing this to a daughter or son who is approaching puberty will provide the framework for at least one difficult talk. It’s also hysterically funny. You’ll probably cry as well.

8. Hunger Games

One of the most significant movies of the past ten years, perhaps, both for the money it made and for changing how the business views movies with female leads. Although it has a romantic undertone, it is hardly Twilight, and few of the fans who helped make it a multi-billion dollar franchise were interested in finding out whether Katniss had chosen Peeta or Gale. You watch because the action is excellent and the narrative of a single girl battling a deranged regime in a post-apocalyptic world is gripping.

7. Zootopia

Although there aren’t any human women in it, the protagonist is a woman and she reigns. Judy Hopps is a rabbit that feels she can be a cop in a fantastic film-noir, against the opinion of the other animals that she should be cultivating carrots. The message of challenging gender conventions and battling stereotypes may pass your child by, but you and your partner will laugh heartily at the clever comic script, and the subtext will become clear with time.

6. Mulan

This is a small Disney that has aged beautifully. It is based on an old Chinese tale of a girl who posed as a man to serve in the army and spare her dying father from imminent death. While it gets a little sad at the end, with Mulan at least partially returning to being a “respectable” girl, the general message is about not allowing anyone tell you what your boundaries are. Eddie Murphy is almost as entertaining as Robin Williams’ Genie from Aladdin as the dragon sidekick.

5. Spirited Away

Kids love Studio Ghibli films because the magical settings and dreamlike logic of their stories make a unique type of sense to young brains that still have faith in Father Christmas and are optimistic about becoming a rocket ship in the future. In the masterpiece by Hayao Miyazaki, a young girl loses her parents and sets out to locate them in a strangely beautiful world. They’ll want to take the Catbus home, so be prepared to deliver some harsh truths.

4. Frozen

If you have a daughter, chances are you already have to watch this all the time, and you’d probably rather freeze to death than ever hear that song again, but if she like it, your daughter is probably onto something. There is just one prince in the Anna and Elsa story, and he plays a minor role and isn’t employed in the way you might think. The significance of sisterly bonds is the main point. If your daughter has a female best friend, even if she doesn’t have a sibling, she will still get the message.

3. My Neighbour Totoro

Another Ghibli features two sisters who move into a new home and come across a mythical creature who lives in the woods. You will undoubtedly recognise Totoro from a vast array of items even if you haven’t seen the movie. He resembles a hybrid between an owl and a polar bear that has been made even cuter. Any child’s imagination will be captured by this beautiful vision. Although some would contend that Spirited Away is Hayao Miyazaki’s finest, there isn’t much of a difference between the two. Each is a pure thrill.

2. Coraline

Through the stop-motion animation, which is truly a children’s horror film, she might want to hold your hand. It is occasionally genuinely frightful, as it should be as it is an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s extremely, marvellously odd writing. Dakota Fanning portrays a little girl who despises her parents but comes to love them after visiting a parallel universe and meeting her Other Mother. Each shot is stunning.

1. Lilo & Stitch

There’s a whole other conversation to be had about the lack of children of colour as the leads in any movies, animated or otherwise, but Disney has been better than most. There’ll soon be Moana, of course, and there’s Mulan, the adorable Princess and the Frog, and the very poor Pocahontas. Then there’s Lilo & Stitch, which no child could fail to enjoy. It sees a cute Hawaiian girl makes friends with an alien who has all the decorum of a toddler (if you have a toddler then welcome to their new favourite movie). It’s a minor Disney, without songs or much scale, but it’s packed with enjoyably bizarre characters and a strong, non-corny message of friendship.