Every child has her or his favorite cartoon. For those of us growing up in the early ’90s, FernGully: The Last Rain Forest was that movie. The 1992 release is not only outstanding (in spite of its prehistoric animation), but it has a topical environmental spin as well.

Set in a lush rain forest brimming with magical creatures, FernGully tells the story of fairies who have never seen humans and believe they exist only in “human tales.” That is, until Christa, a curvy, sexy “bodacious babe” of a fairy woman, stumbles upon Zak, a totally bodacious bro, and accidentally shrinks him down to her size.

Though Zak is part of a logging team with a mission to cut down the rain forest, once he meets the fairy people, he vows to save it (The evil spirit of the Earth, Hexxus, comes in the form of oil and is released by the humans, using them as part of his diabolical plan to destroy the last rain forest).

FernGully has all the ingredients of a hit 1990’s cartoon — hot fairies, a hunky hero, and Robin Williams (who voiced the bat-based biology experiment gone wrong, Batty Koda). But the best thing about FernGully is that it’s packed with political and social messages, so you can justify watching a cartoon in your 20s.

— by Courtney Spears