I'd like to find something for DD (3 years old) where the protagonist isn't impossibly pretty, marrying a prince, etc.
We love studio Ghibli films (Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Ponyo, etc) but we've exhausted everything aimed at DD's age group.
Any suggestions? 
Is your DD closer to four or closer to three? A few months before our DD turned four, she started to show interest in non-animated films. She loves the original "Lassie" and "National Velvet" (both with Elizabeth Taylor). These types of films have good story lines as well as involved young chidren working through some sort of diversity and connecting to animals. She likes good animated films, but I was surprised that she had the capacity to sit through a feature length film, especially non-animated. At 4.5, one of her favorite films right now is "The Black Stallion." Anything that involves animal and child as the central heros is great in my book.
One animated film that we love and that DD watched over and over again was "Kiki's Delivery Service." It was a Japanese film (dubbed in English) and it was such a delightful story. Kiki was actually a witch in training (some people may not like the witch idea) but the story line was fantastic.
Edited to say: Whoops, you mentioned Kiki's Delivery Service! Anyhoo, I second the film and hopefully others will want to watch it too.
Drat, I clicked on this thread to suggest Ponyo.
My dd likes the Pixar stuff made for older kids, but they might be too scary for a kid who has developed a good imagination.
http://l.yimg.com/eb/ymv/us/img/hv/photo/movie_pix/walt_disney/monsters__inc_/waternoose.jpg if that guy doesn't freak her out, and you skip the very first scene, Monsters Inc. could be okay
Cars and Wall-E don't have anything as obviously frightening in them so I can't give you any obvious heads-ups on those.
Oooo! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panda!_Go%2C_Panda! (available in English with Russian subtitles (weird!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmIVtDbXWHo)
One thing I'm seeing recommended on "movies for kids" sites is Babe. NO. The opening part of that movie scared me when I saw it when I was 23.
Now, the book it's based off of is awesome. Which is why I tried watching the movie.
Thanks for the suggestions guys, and please keep them coming! Don't worry about the repeats - it shows that you guys get what I'm looking for. 
One thing I'm seeing recommended on "movies for kids" sites is Babe. NO. The opening part of that movie scared me when I saw it when I was 23.
Now, the book it's based off of is awesome. Which is why I tried watching the movie.
No kidding!! We downloaded it a few months back and had to turn it off just a few minutes in. Definitely not for the little ones!
We are huge Studio Ghibli fans here, too!
Both of my kiddos enjoyed the Heffalump Movie (Winnie the Pooh) pretty early on. It's sweet with an anti-prejudice message.
Oh, Aristocats -- except the Mama cat does end up with Tomcat in the end, so I don't know how you would feel about that. Also The Little Bear Movie.
-e
ooh, babe made me think of charlotte's web!
milo & otis
where the wild things are (although this is too upsetting/scary/sad for many kids, and probably boring for some three-year-olds, but my boys love it)
the fantastic mr fox
robin hood (the disney movie with the animals)
the sword in the stone
pingu (shorts we watch on youtube, they're like 5 minutes)
the nightmare before christmas
mary poppins
james and the giant peach (fairly scary in some points though, might want to pre-watch)
madeline
homeward bound
the incredibles
little bear (episodes of the tv show on dvd/vhs)
my kids also love any older vhs tapes i find at the thrift store that are animated versions of story books, which are super mellow.
oh yeah! how to train your dragon. that is my freaking favorite kids movie ever.
i'm also really excited for when my boys are old enough to be interested in whale rider, because i loved it so much, but i think it's probably more for 8-12 (my boys are 4 & 5.5).
We like:
maggie & the ferocious beast
olivia
harriet the spy (the one with rosie o'donnel - might be a little iffy age-wise, but dd loved it at 3)
chicken run
shaun the sheep shows
old pink panther cartoons
the muppet show
I agree with all of the above (Double Dutch - your list was great and can't believe I didn't remember those!). The muppet show and the muppet movies were great too!
I didn't see this mentioned above, but there is a series out of the UK called "Charlie & Lola" (they are a series of books too). You can get them on DVD. I second the Little Bear series as well as all the other wonderful kid programming that comes out of Canada (many of which you can get on DVD).
We've started getting Scholastic Books videos from the library. Dd is 4 and she loves them. They are slightly animated versions of children's books using the original illustrations and the original text. They are great.
My dd also loves a movie called "The Ballet Shoes" (I think) about three orphan girls who are adopted and attend a performance arts school. I think it's pretty good on gender roles.
Ds is 3.5, very sensitive to "drama" in media so we've had a hard time finding anything he likes. We don't watch much TV, but occasionally want to do a "family movie night." So far we haven't really found anything that works. He'll watch Totoro (see it several times now) but needs help getting through some of the spots (like when mei wakes up on totoro's stomach) even though he knows what's going to happen. Kiki is too scary (because of the flying on brooms and almost running into people/things). Ponyo was WAY too scary (the waves had eyes!). He LOVES Little Bear, books and movies/show, (although not the one where little bear "ruins" ducks puddle, that one is too sad/freaky???) He loves Pingu (but mostly the older ones not the newer ones that move a little too fast). Muppets in Space (we got through when he had pneumonia, but he had to fast forward all the parts when Jeffery Tambor is on the screen!) The Muppet Show was too manic and the humor too fast/above his head so he didn't like that. (he's never seen Sesame Street, maybe if he had seen Sesame Street he'd recognize the style a bit?) He likes Planet Earth and Life documentaries. He likes Microcosmos (which he calls "the bug movie" and has no narration at all). Dr. Seuss movies have been a big hit, the old animated ones, The Cat in the Hat (which is not like the book at all), Lorax, Green Eggs and Ham, The Sneetches, the Zax, etc.
Oh, add Pippi Longstocking to the list of movies that as ds would say, "are freaking me out!" But other little kids I know like it! Mary Poppins (too scary for ds but lots of his friends like it).
Thanks so much for all the suggestions! I've compiled a list and we're going to see what we can find. 
Hammy the Hamster: http://www.amazon.com/Hammy-Hamster-Finds-Riverbank-Boothouse/dp/B0000CD5JD
Was shown on Animal Planet and has real small critters like a hamster, mouse, guinea pig and turtle in a sweet little land called the Riverbank.
The stories teach of friendship, teamwork and adventure. My son is 7 and loves them!
Rhianna
You have got to see "fly away home" my dd's FAVORITE of all time... and as a bonus, I loved it too. It's an empowering female story with only one scary part in the very beginning that is easily skipped. My dd won't watch anything remotely stressful and is often in tears whenever there is a movie opportunity at a friends house because she has had very little exposure to that kind of stress, we made it about 8 minutes into "toy story" for example.
And "emmet otter's jug band christmas" so good, so classic... another good morality story as well with singing muppets to boot!
one more that hasn't been mentioned "caillou"- an almost revoltingly functional family :) but I like this one (the only cartoon I can stomach) because it IS so mundane and it just holds my daughter... caillou takes the recycling and she is glued. I use this in emergencies if I NEED to finish something desperately, because it is the only one she will watch by herself (she doesn't need me there to talk about it, because it is just about normal living) and I prefer to engage with the movie, but I am a single mom, and caillou is a pretty good sitter :)
That actually didn't bother me at all, probably because having all her long, gorgeous blonde hair chopped off is part of her happy ending (I've got nothing against long, blonde hair - just wish more people in the media recognized that it's not a necessity for beauty).
That actually didn't bother me at all, probably because having all her long, gorgeous blonde hair chopped off is part of her happy ending (I've got nothing against long, blonde hair - just wish more people in the media recognized that it's not a necessity for beauty).
True, but totally went over my 3 year old's head. Now she's talking sadly about how her hair (kind of a reddish dark blonde colour) has gone brown because we cut it, and how she wants it to be blonde again, and long like Rapunzel's. She'd never thought twice about hair before she saw it. I've spent the last couple of days showing her pics of Kate Middleton to show her that princesses can have brown hair.
Shame, because it's a great movie in a lot of ways.
You have got to see "fly away home" my dd's FAVORITE of all time... and as a bonus, I loved it too. It's an empowering female story with only one scary part in the very beginning that is easily skipped.
I agree that this is a pretty good one, but my dd was scared at other times as well. The park ranger guy who is trying to thwart them is scary, and she had a hard time with several scenes with him in it. It is mild enough, though, that it can be talked through or fast-forwarded if you are watching alongside your child.
True, but totally went over my 3 year old's head. Now she's talking sadly about how her hair (kind of a reddish dark blonde colour) has gone brown because we cut it, and how she wants it to be blonde again, and long like Rapunzel's. She'd never thought twice about hair before she saw it. I've spent the last couple of days showing her pics of Kate Middleton to show her that princesses can have brown hair.
Shame, because it's a great movie in a lot of ways.
It might be hard with a three year old, but you could point out that Rapunzel's life became much less complicated - and dangerous, scary, etc. - when her long, blonde hair got cut off. She didn't have to spend all that time fussing with it, and nobody was going to try to steal her away again, etc.
I really don't like the whole "blonde is beautiful" thing. DD1 (almost 8) seems to be mostly over it, but she spent a couple of years lamenting that she wasn't as pretty as her two best friends, because they're both blonde, and sh'es a brunette. It's really foreign to me, because I also have brown hair, and I also hated it - but I wanted mine to be black. Blonde never appealed to me, even as a kid. (Mind you, I don't think blonde was marketed to kids as much back then, either.)
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