13. A Little Princess (1995)

Frozen reimagines the classic princess story, but A Little Princess, directed by Alfonso Cuarón and based on the 1905 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, redefines the whole meaning of "princess". Sara Crewe leaves her home in India to go to boarding school in New York when her father enlists in the British Army during the First World War. After he becomes missing, presumed dead, she is effectively kept as a slave in the boarding school, and must rely on magic and self-belief to sustain her until her father is found. "I am a princess," she says in defiance. "All girls are. Even if they live in tiny old attics. Even if they dress in rags, even if they aren't pretty, or smart, or young. They're still princesses. All of us. Didn't your father ever tell you that? Didn't he?"

Image: 14 of 16

Source:Rex Features