Criterion movies feature only the most critically acclaimed classics to hit the big screen. If you want to introduce your kids or students to the great works of cinema, selecting a Criterion Collection Film is your best bet. From Tootsie (1982) to The Breakfast Club (1985), these cinematic masterpieces will encourage your teen to develop a love for classic cinema. 

1. 12 Angry Men (1957)

This crime drama occurs in a courtroom as a jury deliberates after the conclusion of a murder trial. While most jurors agree the inner city suspect must be guilty, one juror asks the others to carefully consider all the evidence in the case because the suspect will get the death penalty if he's convicted. 

2. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a stop-motion animated drama about the rivalry between three human farmers and a fox who steals from their farms. Although his wife made him promise to give up his life of crime twelve years ago, Mr. Fox changes his mind when his cousin comes to visit. But this time, the humans are more vengeful than ever before. 

3. Rushmore (1998)

When a struggling student at an elite high school falls in love with his Latin teacher, she rejects him because he is a minor and she is an adult. But the student refuses to give up, and many people in his life applaud his strong will. However, the student becomes enraged when his adult friend begins a relationship with his teacher crush. 

4. WALL-E (2008)

This post-apocalyptic Pixar film follows WALL-E, a robot left behind on Earth to clean up the industrial wasteland left behind by disgraced humanity who waits for Earth to become hospitable again and live on a massive spaceship. Despite making little progress in his immeasurable task, the little robot remains positive. But WALL-E's existence changes forever when a robot sent to check on his progress visits Earth and discovers a small plant growing in WALL-E's collection of rubbish. 

5. True Stories (1986)

True Stories is a satirical musical comedy film that places the lead singer of Talking Heads in a red convertible as he narrates the goings-on of a bustling Texas town preparing for their celebration of Texas' 150th-anniversary celebration. The film is split up into a series of vignettes that tell the stories of different townspeople, like the town gossip and the conspiracy theorist preacher. 

6. Moonstruck (1987)

When a young widow's boyfriend proposes to her, she begrudgingly accepts the proposal despite not feeling passionate love for the man. Soon, she meets his charming younger brother, and the two begin a fiery affair while her fiance is abroad. As she attempts to keep the romance under wraps, she uncovers more family secrets she must keep to herself. 

7. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

Moonrise Kingdom is a coming-of-age drama about an orphan and a girl from a wealthy family who meet at a church event and become pen pals. The two fall in love through their correspondence and hatch a plan to run away together one summer. After the boy escapes from Scout's camp and the girl leaves her family's manor, they make a home for themselves in the woods. But the Scouts and the girl's family try with all of their might to bring the kids back home. 

8. The Breakfast Club (1985)

When five students from different social circles end up in Saturday detention together, they squabble and throw insults back and forth to start. But they begin to bond over a shared hatred for the school's principal, who forced them into detention in the first place. As the minutes turn to hours, the five students become unlikely friends, though none are convinced their camaraderie will last once the bell rings on Monday morning.

9. The Elephant Man (1980)

This tragic biographical drama tells the story of Joseph Merrick, a man with a severe congenital disorder in the 19th century. When a doctor finds Merrick working in a traveling freak show, he asks the man in charge of Merrick to send him to the hospital for inspection. There, the hospital workers battle their biases and connect with this wonderful underdog. 

10. Tootsie (1982)

When a talented actor keeps getting turned down for roles because of his perfectionism and attempts to audition for a daytime soap opera, he learns the role is actually for a woman. Refusing to back down, he disguises himself as a woman and auditions for the role, landing the part soon after. But when he falls for his female co-star, he struggles to keep the fact that he's a man dressed in drag a secret. 

11. Hoop Dreams (1994)

Hoops Dreams is a riveting documentary filmed over five years as two Black high school students from Chicago attend a predominantly White, suburban school with a well-funded basketball program. The two students are talented basketball players and dream of making it big in the NBA. The film examines their family's support and the social hurdles they must overcome in their unfamiliar environment as they pursue their dreams. 

12. Police Story (1985)

This Hong Kong action film tells the story of a respectable police officer whose life turns to shambles when a vengeful crime lord frames him for the murder of a corrupt cop on the police force. Forced to go on the run to avoid prison, the cop hunts down the crime lord to prove to the other officers that he is innocent. 

13. Time Bandits (1981)

Time Bandits is a quick-witted fantasy adventure film that follows a boy with a love of history whose once average bedroom reveals itself as a portal through time when dwarves emerge from his closet with a mission to uncover buried treasure hidden through time. The dwarves and the boy go on a whirlwind journey through history as they interact with figures like Napoleon, King Agamemnon, and the victims of the sinking Titanic. 

14. The Black Stallion (1979)

After a young boy becomes captivated by a black stallion he sees on board a ship while traveling with his father, the boat capsizes during a storm. The boy manages to free the horse, and the two wash up on a remote island, where they slowly form an unbreakable bond and await rescue. Once finally brought back to the U.S., the boy prepares his horse to compete in a high-speed race.  

15. The Night of the Hunter (1955)

When a serial killer who calls himself a preacher gets put in jail after he's caught driving a stolen vehicle, he learns his bunkmate hid a massive pile of cash in a secret location that he takes to the grave. The preacher develops an obsession with the buried treasure, and upon his release, he visits his old bunkmate's hometown on the hunt for money. 

16. Rashomon (1950)

Rashomon is a Japanese psychological crime thriller that tells the story of a murder from four people's different, often varying, perspectives. As each witness shares their account of the events that unfolded on that eerie night, the audience must attempt to reconcile the different details as they construct an image of the truth. 

17. Some Like it Hot (1959)

This crime comedy follows two jazz musicians who work in a speakeasy during the prohibition era after they witness a gang-related murder. Terrified that they will be next, the two men hatch a ridiculous plan to disguise themselves as women and join an all-female jazz band on a train ride to Miami. 

18. Charade (1963)

When she returns home to Paris after a trip to the French Alps, a woman finds her apartment emptied out and learns her husband, who she planned to soon divorce, was murdered. After the funeral, a CIA agent tells her that he and his buddies from World War II stole a massive pile of money on a mission for the government, and her husband ended up scamming the others and taking all the money. But now that he's dead, the veterans and the U.S. government want to know exactly where the money is. 

19. Pierrot Le Fou (1965)

This dramatic French crime romance film follows a bored man who no longer feels affection for his wife. When the couple hires a new babysitter, the man quickly begins a passionate affair with their child's new caretaker. But in a shocking twist, his secret girlfriend reveals her criminal past, and the two steal a vehicle to run away together across Europe. 

20. The Third Man (1949)

When the close friend of a novelist running low on funds offers his old pal a job, the novelist arrives at his home only to learn his friend died when a car hit him as he crossed the road. But conflicting stories about the number of men who carried the friend's body to the side of the road make the novelist question whether his friend's death was an accident or a murder.

21. Dazed and Confused (1991)

Dazed and Confused is a classic teen comedy that takes place after the end of the last day of school when the graduating seniors begin hazing the incoming freshmen before the big end-of-school party that night. Meanwhile, the school's star athlete promises not to engage in illicit activities over the summer to preserve his chances of competing in the championships the following year. 

22. Rebecca (1940)

This psychological mystery film follows a young woman who marries a widower who struggles to let go of his late wife, Rebecca's memory. As soon as she moves into her new husband's grand estate, the housekeeper makes sure the woman knows just how perfect and irreplaceable Rebecca is. But when the police discover an abandoned boat, the woman learns that Rebecca isn't exactly who everyone thought she was. 

23. Solaris (1972)

Solaris is a Soviet sci-fi film about a cosmonaut tasked to investigate the strange circumstances occurring on a space station overlooking the planet Solaris. When he arrives, he learns of the death of his colleague, and the other cosmonauts urge him to believe that the strange visions and apparitions many crew members have witnessed are not just a figment of their imaginations. 

24. Enter The Dragon (1973)

This martial arts action film follows an expert martial artist who participates in a martial arts contest to help the British government catch a suspected crime lord red-handed. As he faces one enemy after another, each fight reaches higher stakes that put the martial artist's mission–and life–at risk. 

25. Lord of the Flies (1963)

A group of schoolboys band together to survive in the harsh landscape after their plane crash-lands near an uninhabited island. While one of the boys steps forward as a leader to establish a civilized society amongst the kids, another attempts to rally the boys to engage with their darkest urges in this lawless land.