GREEN HORNS
Just when world leaders were discussing emission targets at the G8 Summit in Japan, WALL-E, a robot cleaning up an abandoned Earth, took the Pixar route to great applause. But it’s not the first green animation to hit the spot.

Princess Mononoke (1997)
Hayao Miyazaki’s anime classic pits man against nature. A prince travels to a forest teeming with angry gods and friendly forest spirits to find a cure for his disease. He ends up mediating between an exploitative town with a thriving iron-works business and a brave wolf-girl, with whom he falls in love.

Happy Feet (2006)
After Mumble the penguin is blamed for the depleting stock of fish in Antarctica—his tap-dancing is thought to have brought on their god’s wrath—he sets out in search of the truth, which lies at the human end of the eco-tether.

Over the Hedge (2006)
Based on a comic strip, starring RJ the racoon, Verne the wise tortoise and his family of assorted animals, the movie has them foraging for snacks in a suburban house, where cruel traps and pest-control equipment await.

Open Season (2006)
Abandoned in the forest with a clingy one-horned mule, a pet grizzly becomes the motivated leader of one wild rampaging bunch of animals when a bevy of hunters threatens their lives.

The Ant Bully (2006)
Lucas a.k.a. Peanut is one frustrated kid. When he floods the anthill in his lawn with a water gun, it’s instant karma and poof, he becomes ant-sized. Julia Roberts, Nicholas Cage and Meryl Streep lend their voices to this adaptation of a children’s book big on life’s lessons.

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