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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Came across this on TCM one night, and it's a strong, sweet story (with some mild conflict but no real violence except in the race at the end). Liz Taylor (as Velvet) and Mickey Rooney are great in their roles, but I think I liked the mom best.
There is a fairly strong proto-feminist theme here, if I'm not mistaken.
Anyway, I saved it for our 3.5-year-old and she loves the first half (after which she normally goes to bed). But I think older kids would like it, too.
It's a well-told story.
On the first viewing by young children, I'd suggest lowering the volume a bit when Totoro growls. It scared our 2.5 year the first time, though she got over that by the 5th or 6th viewing.
Great movie.
Any list is going to get heavy scrutiny, objections and some praises. Of course this is "Andrew's List" and not many will agree. There are tons missing from this list and many on Andrew's list I and my children haven't seen.
Some comments:
My own humble opinion of Japanese Anime - crap. But my daughter is a Pokemon fan going on 5 yrs or so, so what do I know about Anime?
I didn't think much of the Iron Giant. Again, my daughter kinda liked it. But I really don't see anything about it that stands out as unique, revolutionary or...different. Its a wonder to me why it is always mentioned amongst the better kid movies.
There are, indeed, tons of movies from days gone by that children find interesting, even if they are just scenes from movies. My daughter really liked Oklahoma!, besides Singing in the Rain, Sound of Music and a few other musicals when she was a toddler. Silents are just as great for kids as well. Newer ones as well as the oldies. Our neighbor bought The Snowman for us. We all loved it, and when we found ourselves living in London, we saw it on stage each Christmas we were there.
I have to second the JT mention a few letters before mine. I'm a child of the 60's and early 70's. I recall JT during Christmas time for a few years, then it disappeared. There were gems like JT that we probably will never see again. I also recall some other greats, such as a 1961 Nutcracker, with Robert Goulet in his late 20s, as well as Cinderella, starring an older Ginger Rogers as the queen, Walter Pidgeon as the king and introduced us to Leslie Ann Warren as Cinderella. We now own it on video tape as we do the Muppet TV special, The Frog Prince, another very good kids' movie/tape. These shows had simple sets but they came off very well.
My now 11 yr old is slipping into lousy productions on the Disney Channel, although she still enjoys better made shows and movies now and then, and my younger daughter, at 4, is enjoying many older discs and VHSs, as well as some new one.
And we're Pixar and Shrek fans.
"Frankly, by dumbing down your movie choices for kids, you end up raising dumb adults who are poor citizens."
...and ones who grow up with a suburban-cocoon-view of adult life. Parents who have to debate whether to let their kids see Hitchcock, who did any number of suspenseful-but-not violent flicks like NORTH BY NORTHWEST or THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS?! Damm, that's just sad. (And if it's the sexual content they are objecting to, they've got to be kidding--that stuff goes right over kids' heads. I didn't pick up any of the NBN-dialogue innuendos till I saw the movie again as an adult.)
1) If kids grow up seeing black-and-white or silent movies at home, those won't seem so odd. Hell, I was a kid back in the 60's, when silent movies were regarded as passe--but because our local PBS station would run them during the holidays and in the afternoon, I grew up watching them and knowing the form. (And they ran the Lon Chaney PHANTOM OF THE OPERA a lot for some odd reason--and it's arguably the scariest film version of that story. :))
2) And if the movie is a good one, the b&w/silent issue usually goes by the boards. My then-high-school-senior cousin came to visit a couple years back and we were running through the cable selections. She wanted to see THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE or SKELETON KEY--but only under a ton of conditions (more people in the room; we had to watch during the day, etc., etc. :)) While she was making up her mind, I turned on REBECCA just to pass the time. At first she groaned--"Oh, it's in black and white!" But she was hooked from the minute the camera surveyed Manderley and liked it a great deal.
>"Pee Wee's Big Adventure"!<
Oh, yeah, this flick is perfect for kids. Parents should make sure the really young ones can handle Large Marge's Terrifying Tale, however...:)
Time Bandits, Willow, ET and The Indian in the Cupboard? Both are great movies for any kid who is old enough to enjoy the Harry Potter series.
Loopy on muscle relaxers and pain pills thanks to a fall yesterday...
Missed Time Bandits on orginal (or forgot) and didn't change "both" when I added ET and Willow...
Maybe it's because we live near Canada, but my family adores a whole bunch of live action films made in the north land from about 1997-2002 called "Air Bud." There are a number of variations such as "Air Bud- Seventh Inning Fetch" and they all star a young Kevin "Air America" Zengers and a group of somewhat recognizable American and Canadian actors. Just caught Gregory Harrison in one the other night. The basic premise of each film is that the darling dog of the family shows outstanding talent in a sport and gets on the team, helping the youngsters win the big game. There is always a villian or two who want to steal the talented dog and put him in a circus or in a research lab. Really good fun. I particularly like the soccer one. The same film company also made a group of films about a talented monkey called "MVP" or "Most Valuable Primate" with similar themes. We've watched these films over and over on video and DVD. There is something weirdly satisfying about their perfect small towns, warm families and cute animals.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
