Allow me to explain why I love these movies so much:
Some of my favorite stories to watch when it comes to film are "From Zero to Hero" stories. To put it simply, these stories are takes on the hero's journey where the main character starts off from humble beginnings but, throughout the course of the story, they overcome incredible odds to become highly respected and admired by everyone around them. It's very much an underdog story that's as old as time itself. Despite this, it's a film trope that I never tire of. It's such a relatable experience and it's very easy to emphathize with these characters' struggles. A great example of this story done right is The LEGO Movie. The film stars an average everyman worker named Emmet who suddenly finds himself at the center of a prophecy where is named 'The Special', who is destined to save the world from an evil business CEO. Emmet later discovers that the prophecy is made up, but soon realizes how much that he, a supposedly average person, managed to accomplish once he believed in himself. Emmet learned that everyone has the power to be special. With his newfound wisdom, he managed to reform the CEO's evil ways after teaching him that nobody is a nobody, that everyone has the power to grow beyond their expectations. Kung Fu Panda is another example of this story done beautifully. A bumbling panda named Po is suddenly chosen as the "Dragon Warrior", a prophesied hero who will bring peace to the world. Everyone, including Po himself, is baffled by this decision. Throughout the film, Po has severe self-esteem issues, believing that he's a fat and worthless joke. Thanks to encouragement from his loved ones, Po uses his unique quirks to become a powerful warrior.
Many of the movies I listed as my favorites are also stories that feature characters who grow out of their shell to become something greater. One example is Lilo & Stitch. The film centers on a genetically engineered alien named Experiment 626 (later named Stitch) who was created to cause mayhem and destruction. After crashlanding in Hawaii, he befriends a young girl named Lilo who adopts him as a pet. At first, Stitch is merely using Lilo as a human shield from his creator Jumba and maintains his destructive programming. But Lilo's endless love and compassion for Stitch eventually gets through to him, feeling discontent that his only purpose of being created was to create chaos. Stitch becomes incredilby attached to Lilo throughout the course of the film and considers her 'ohana', the Hawaiian term for family. This culminates in Stitch growing beyond his destructive origins to protect his newfound family from the intergalactic forces that have been pursuing Stitch throughout the film. Another great example of this story done well is Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show. The film serves as the series finale to Ed, Edd n Eddy, where the three Eds are chased out of their home after a scam gone horribly wrong. Eddy, the leader of the Eds, decide that they should stay with his older brother. Throughout the series, Eddy maintains a greedy, selfish, and abrasive exterior towards everyone around him. By the climax of the film, it's revealed that Eddy only acted this way do to suffering horrific abuse from his older brother, who is a successful con artist. Eddy adopted this abrasive persona in hopes of getting people to like him, but it only pushed people further away from him. It was thanks to encouragement from his friends that Eddy doesn't need to act mean and cold-hearted to be accepted. These are stories that I find incredibly relatable, as many of us feel that we need to put on a facade for acceptance, or feel that we need to act a certain way because of where we originally came from.