We have started a new tradition around here — Friday Movie Night. Both kids have graduated from Thomas and Raffi videos, opening up new and exciting movie selections. In the past, we would put on the TV and scram. It was a chance for us to take a shower or make dinner. Now, we’re making a date to watch something together. We order the pizza and salad from the fancy store. We pop in the movie at 6:45, so Steve only misses the features. Somewhere in the middle, we make popcorn.
There are thirty years of kids movies that we’ve missed and are catching up on. Last week, we saw Hercules. Before that Chicken Little, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, and The Lion King. We’re looking at old movies with new eyes. Bambi is slow, and Pinocchio is scary. The scene where the boys turned into donkeys was freaky. Tonight, we’re watching Shrek.
Question of the Day: What’s the best kiddie movie?
Apt. 11d 
Lady and the Tramp – the animation is amazing. We also like the Walking with Dinosaurs series (there’s also Walking with Beasts and Walking with Monsters).
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Lilo and Stitch. There are so many little amusing throw-aways that an adult can pick out, something new even after umpteen re-runs. We enjoyed it but our kids are younger than yours.
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In our household, the answer is Finding Nemo, which is requested over and over and over and over…
I’m also fond of Chicken Run, though I think the humor is to sophisticated for a two-year-old.
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We’re fans of the old Willy Wonka, The Incredibles, Monsters Inc and Wallace and Grommit. Also- I have those old Schoolhouse Rock cartoons on DVDs and kids really seem to love watching those.
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My family has researched this pretty exhaustively:
Animation:
Dumbo
Bambi
Robin Hood
Princess Mononoke
My Neighbor Totoro
Spirited Away
Porco Rosso
Howl’s Moving Castle
Castle in the Sky
The Cat Returns
Toy Story I
Toy Story II
Monsters Inc.
The Incredibles
A Bug’s Life
The Iron Giant
Wallace and Gromit (shorts)
Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
The Corpse Bride
Classic adventure:
Robin Hood (Errol Flynn)
Captain Blood (Errol Flynn)
The Prince and the Pauper (Errol Flynn, Billy and Bobby Mauch)
The Court Jester (Danny Kaye)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Anthony Quinn)
Pirates of the Caribbean (Johnny Depp)
Treasure Island
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Kirk Douglas)
Swiss Family Robinson
The Three Musketeers (Michael York)
Inspiring kids:
The Education of Little Tree
The Secret of Roan Inish
Whale Rider
Nanook of the North
October Sky (actually inspiring teenagers, but it works)
Fantasy:
The Wizard of Oz
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Gene Wilder)
Holiday:
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Scrooged
A Christmas Carol (1938)
Comedy:
Young Frankenstein
Blazing Saddles
Ghostbusters
With music:
O Brother Where Art Thou
The Magic Flute
Oliver!
Oklahoma
Singing in the Rain
Series:
Harry Potter
Star Wars
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Oh, you only wanted one?
Probably O Brother Where Art Thou.
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We got Shrek and my guys wanted to watch it EVERY SINGLE AFTERNOON AFTER COMING HOME FROM DAY CARE FOR THREE SOLID WEEKS. They still watch it once in a while. Big hit. Phenomenal.
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Toy Story, Beauty and The Beast, The Little Princess (from the early 90’s, it’s beautiful) Indian in the Cupboard, Iron Giant, The Brave Little Toaster (Scary clown though) .
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You must seize the chance to watch Miyazaki, the world’s best animator. From Tom’s list, then, I very much second:
My Neighbor Totoro (a cult classic! I love the giant multi-legged cat bus!)
And one not on his list:
Kiki’s Delivery Service
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Oh what swell and on point comments you just harvested – “japanese [deleted by blogger] …”
Is it hard to put in one of those screens which requires the commenter to repeat some letters to authenticate himself as not-a-spambot? I don’t see much of this kind of crap on blogs which have that system.
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Ack. Sorry, Dave S, I have to delete the clip to the other spammer, because the google will find it and send over the pervs.
Yeah, I’ve been getting killed the past couple of weeks. This idiot is from Uruguay. I’ve had to close comments on 100s of old posts and delete the offending comments. Last week, it meant hours of work. Typepad has some defenses set up, but I might see if they can set up more.
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Hi Laura – I can’t give you one best kids’ movie, but at various points my boys (now 9 and 11) have been entranced by
– Fantasia (the original version)
– All of the Wallace and Gromit films (the short ones, like A Grand Day Out, are especially good for younger kids)
– Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
– Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
– Wizard of Oz
– The Brave Little Toaster and its sequels
They also will watch the original trilogy of Star Wars movies over and over (for some reason, especially The Empire Strikes Back).
When they were little, we had a video called “Road Construction Ahead” that they completely wore out 🙂
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ET. No competition in my opinion.
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The bugs bunny cartoons are really funny. My kids like them alot.
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Did I misread, or did no one mention THE PRINCESS BRIDE? (It’s a good adult movie, too).
Philistines!
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How could I have forgotten Kiki and the Princess Pride, two of the most-quoted movies around my house?
Pardon me, Miss Snooty-Cat!
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Lots of good ones already mentioned. (And Tom’s the only person outside of my family I’ve ever heard mention Porco Rosso.)
My boys adored Fly Away Home. (The two-year-old walked around for days telling everyone “The baby goose fell in the toilet!”)
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Babe (the pig movie).
Runners up:
Toy Story 2 (I once watched that, no kidding, about 20 times in one week. And it never got boring.)
Beauty and the Beast
Finding Nemo
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The Wizard of Oz. Hands down.
(My seventeen-year-old son looked over my shoulder as I was typing this and said, “Are you joking? Those flying monkeys are as scary as hell. You can’t vote for a movie that scares kids.”)
My youngest son would vote for The Aristocats.
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A lot of my friends loved the Veggie Tales (this was in college–they had loved them as children and still loved them as college students.)
I’m not a movie fan, so have no first-hand opinion.
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To all the other great suggestions I would add the Black Stallion.
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a few that haven’t been mentioned yet, that i think are a cut above:
The Rats of Nimh
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084649/
The Neverending Story
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088323/
The Karate Kid
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087538/
IMHO, these are all little kid acceptable, but also entertaining for adultish types in the audeince. Rats might be a bit on the scary side, but still one of my favorite movies ever, which I think I saw for the first time around 4-5 years old (yes, I’m that young).
Cheers
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Your kids might like old silent film stars like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Laurel and Hardy. Some of the films are quite short so you can watch more than one a night.
When they get a little older, they may like Transformers the Movie (they might like it now, who knows).
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I second MayAA’s suggestions. Except the Transformers one. My 5 year old adores Laurel and Hardy, they btoh love Harold Lloyd (funnily enough)
ALSO
My Fair Lady
Dr Dolittle
Bednobs and Broomsticks is great
See if you can find the delightful Charlie the Lonesome Cougar (Disney)
The Shaggy Dog and the Shaggy DA.
Ok, I love the old Disney live-action movies, is the truth. The Love Bug.
Oh yes, I nearly forgot — Don Knotts in some but not all of his films (TEh Reluctant Astronaut and The Apple Dumpling Gang are great; avoid The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again like the plague.)
Great kids TV: The Munsters. Unbeatable. Also, try the Pink Panther shorts (the cartoons) and also The Monkees.
I’m rambling….sorry
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Charlotte’s Web
Follow That Bird (first Big Bird movie. worn out when my daughters were pre-schoolers)
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Oh, and The Little Prince (with Gene Wilder as the fox)
http://imdb.com/title/tt0071762/
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Have fun storming the castle. I haven’t seen the Princess Bride in years. What fun to have an excuse to watch it again.
O Brother is one of my favorite movies, but I don’t know if it would count as a kiddie movie. Although my husband used to sing “I’m in the Jailhouse Now” to Jonah to put him to sleep.
We watched the Aristocats and Charlottes Web on Movie Night recently. Loved ’em both.
I remember the Apple Dumpling Gang with great fondness. I’ll have to put that one in the cue, as well.
Did no one mention 101 Dalmations, the animated version? How about the Muppet Movie?
I’m drooling to get into the old Kurt Russell/Disney films, like the Strongest Man in the World. Remember when they used to have Disney movies on every Sunday night?
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I forgot the Muppets! I adore the Muppet Movie, but I really loved the Great Muppet Caper. (“We’ll catch those thieves red-handed!” “What color are their hands now?”; “Plot exposition, darling. It has to go somewhere.”)
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I did a mental double take when I saw aristocats, I thought it was aristocrats. Thanks goodness you’all are not recommending that movie for children, although if you have a strong stomach, I highly recommend it.
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Peter Pan, the 2003 version directed by P.J. Hogan. My kids loved the byplay with the teddy bear. This version is much less sugary than the Disney version, and richer.
Escape to Witch Mountain, and Return to Witch Mountain.
The Children of Noisy Village.
The Railway Children.
Jeeves & Wooster (available on video at our library).
Muppets, Muppets, Muppets. Netflix also has the old t.v. series.
Pooh’s Heffalump Movie. Preschooler loved it.
A Little Princess, 1995 version.
Spirited Away, and Princess Mononoke.
Old musicals. Sound of Music, Fiddler on the Roof, Cover girl.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian, And Now for Something Completely Different.
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Our favorite was Dunston Checks In. My youngest watched it every night for years. The Parent Trap, another favorite.
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My kids also loved My Neighbor Totoro and The Princess Bride. I also recommend Milo & Otis (a dog and cat go on adventures, narrated by Dudley Moore), and John Sayles’ movie The Secret of Roan Inish, a lovely selkie story. Into the West, with Gabriel Byrne, was another sleeper hit, as were Everlasting Piece and Billy Elliot. Shaolin Soccer is a hoot, too.
Old musicals and old Disney work ok, though my kids (both total scaredy cats–I mean, sensitive kids) found The Princess Bride, Harry Potter, and even Finding Nemo too scary at certain parts of their lives. Ditto the dinosaurs in the Rites of Spring and also the final sequence in Fantasia or the mom-death in Bambi.
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Wait wait wait, No JuliaK, no-one, but no-one, must be allowed to watch Life of Brian without first having seen Spartacus. It is the first law of childrearing. Laura, be very careful about this. Spartacus first (and even that not till they are old enough to be moved by the great “I am Spartacus” scene and the swimming scene with Jean Simmons).
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The very best kiddie movies? Totoro. That’s the best. Followed by Mulan.
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The movies that my son (he’s 7) wants to return to again and again are Wizard of Oz, Mary Poppins and the Incredibles. Since the first two are on my all-time favorites list, that suits me fine.
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Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. It’s actually an excellent film, and kind of creates a genre of comedy all its own.
This youngest generation is unlikely to think of Pee Wee as a pervert.
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Ah, I *loved* the Sunday night Disney movies. And all those cheesy live-action movies (Cat from Outer Space anyone?). I wonder how they would hold up to adult viewing, though…
They’ve just rereleased My Neighbor Totoro…it’s supposed to be a restored print, with both the Japanese and dubbed soundtrack (so we can watch it subtitled, and Lyra can watch it dubbed). We rented it (the non-restored version) a while back ago, and it is fabulous. Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service are both good for young kids, but Princess Monoke and Spirited Away are both pretty intense. I think I’ve managed to see all Miyazaki’s films on DVD now, and I can whole-heartedly recommend all of them.
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Another one I shouldn’t have forgotten: Yellow Submarine.
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Many of these strike me as movies for slightly older kids — certainly past kindergarten or first grade. I was so freaked out by Spirited Away, I can’t imagine showing it to any child under 3rd Grade. Are my kids living unusually sheltered movie-viewing lives? (Don’t answer that.)
1. Our kids simply adored “Mary Poppins,” as did Moxie’s older son — we bought it after here blog recommendation
2. “Babe” is fantastic, especially for the singing mice and the crazy duck
3. The original Winnie-the-Pooh movie is nice, especially because of the page-turning transitions (our kids recognize some of the book illustrations)
4. Although I thought it was a little slow, and that the kids were a little antsy, they asked afterward to see “Pete’s Dragon” again. It’s a little cringe-making for adults (especially ones who remember loving it as children) but not hopelessly so.
5. Speaking of childhood loves, when they get older, you’ve simply got to show them “Ghostbusters.”
6. Someone somewhere pointed out that a lot of the old Disney live-action movies are filled with violence and insults that can (not will, but can) strike us as out-of-place. We’re going through a phase where I certainly don’t need the kids to see anymore slug-fests or shouts of stupid.
7. Lady and the Tramp and Toy Story (I and II), all the way
8. The first Star Wars movie (which will I call, reluctantly, Chapter IV)
9. Our kids loved all the song-and-dance numbers from “Singin’ in the Rain” except the weird ballet/dream sequence. But if you don’t want to fast-forward through the plot, you could check out the “That’s Entertainment” movies that were really just highlight reels from all the great MGM musicals.
10. They made a lush beautiful live-action version of The Secret Garden in the early 1990s that might be too slow for the under-six set, but shouldn’t be forgotten
11. Chitty-chitty-bang-bang gave me nightmares for years. Ditto the Gene Wilder Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
12. Muppets all the way
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Daughter, when she was 4-7, adored Meet Me in Saint Louis. (We did talk about gender roles in it though.)
I never saw the attraction but she also loved, loved Children of Noisy Village.
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How can I have forgotten Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Brilliant. And, yes, terrifying.
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Adult Movies
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