If you are an animal lover and want to experience films which tell stories about special bonds created when animals cross our paths, here are eight films which should be on your watch list. 

The Aristocats (1970) Rated G

Duchess (Eva Gabor) and three kittens are well looked after when their devoted owner leaves her inheritance to care for them. The story takes an evil turn when the woman’s butler drugs the cats and abandons them far from home, so he can benefit from the fortune himself. While lost in unfamiliar territory, Duchess and the kittens meet Thomas O’Malley (Phil Harris), an alley cat who helps them return to their home in Paris. Along the way, they befriend a number of characters, including two English geese and an alley cat jazz band. 

My Dog Skip (1994) Rated PG

Based on a Pulitzer Prize winning true story, this film is a simple pleasure about a boy, Willie (Frankie Muniz), and his beloved dog, Skip, growing up in 1940s Mississippi. Willie is a nine-year-old and doesn’t get along with his distant and overprotective father, Jack (Kevin Bacon), but Skip helps bridge the gap, and father and son, along with his mom, Ellen (Diane Lane), learn valuable lessons about love, loyalty and the importance of family. 

Babe (1995) Rated G

Babe (Christine Cavanaugh) is a charismatic piglet who thinks he’s a sheepdog. Won at the county fair by kind farmer Arthur Hoggett (James Cromwell), Babe barely escapes his intended fate as Christmas dinner when the farmer decides to show him at the next fair. Meanwhile, Babe befriends a border collie named Fly (Miriam Margolyes) and discovers that he’s also a good sheep herder. 

Air Bud (1997) Rated PG

Hands down, the best movie out there about a dog who plays basketball! In the aftermath of his father’s death, teenager Josh (Kevin Zegers) is having a hard time adjusting to his new school. Things get better when he signs on to be the school basketball team’s manager and finds out his dog, Bud, happens to be great at the sport as well. Bud joins the team, and life for Josh looks up considerably until an unexpected twist threatens to spoil everything. 

Because of Winn-Dixie (2005) Rated PG

Opal (AnnaSophia Robb) is a 10-year-old girl who has just moved to a small town in Florida with her preacher father (Jeff Daniels), and now must start all over again. Life has been tough and lonely for Opal since her mother abandoned them when she was three. When Opal’s father asks her to pick up a few things for dinner at the Winn-Dixie supermarket, her life is about to change in a big way. It’s here that she finds a big, shaggy mutt running loose in the store with clerks chasing after him. The store manager wants to call the pound, but Opal says the dog is hers, and his name is Winn-Dixie. Opal takes the dog home and, with him by her side, she learns how to meet friends and reconnect with her equally lonesome father. 

Eight Below (2006) Rated PG

Based on a true story, this film takes place in 1993 and focuses on three members of a scientific expedition, Jerry Shepard (Paul Walker), his friend Cooper (Jason Biggs) and an American geologist (Bruce Greenwood), who must leave their beloved sled dogs behind after a devastating accident and increasingly perilous weather conditions. On their own, the dogs struggle to survive the harsh Antarctic winter. This heartwarming tale about the bonds of friendship and loyalty may have you shedding a few tears. 

Big Miracle (2012) Rated PG

Adam Carlson (John Krasinski), a reporter based in a small town in northern Alaska, can’t wait to find a job in a bigger market. Then, the story of a lifetime practically lands in his lap when a family of gray whales is discovered near the Arctic Circle, trapped by rapidly forming ice. He enlists the help of his Greenpeace-volunteer ex-girlfriend Rachel Kramer (Drew Barrymore) and, together with a hoard of media, they work to rally international support to save the whales before it’s too late. Based on actual events, all the characters were based on the people that were involved in the whale rescue, and the stories told in the movie were all accurate. (Video clips and pictures following up on all the characters are shown at the end.)

Bears (2014) Rated G

Filmmakers Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey record a year in the lives of an Alaskan brown bear named Sky and her cubs, Scout and Amber. Their story begins as the bears emerge from hibernation at the end of winter and, as the weeks and months pass, the bear family must work together to find food and stay safe from other predators, especially other bears. An up close and personal look at these magnificent creatures living life as a family.