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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
I did give this as a gift to one of my friends once. He later told me that it scared his kids. Rather than feeling comfortable about being different, they became afraid that, if they appeared different in the slightest way, their peers would tease them without mercy.
So I don't know. On the one hand, "The Point" speaks the truth. But it is unrelenting in its message, so it may actually discourage kids from being themselves. At best, it allows kids who are so different that they cannot possibly hide it a place where they can wallow in self-pity.
It may be better to have a kid watch Cocteau's "Beauty and the Beast," where the different person is not the protagonist.
Other than that, this is a great list. Its incredible how many of those films my own parents showed me growing up. Another one I'd throw in on the old movie list is "Yankee Doodle Dandy."
The Last Unicorn. Ages 6 and up.
The Brave Little Toaster. Ages 8 and up.
Dot and the Kangaroo. Teaches American kids about the weird and wonderful fauna down under. 6 and up.
Anything by Nick Park....small children + claymation penguin who cross dresses as a chicken = priceless.
And finally: I must quibble with your naming the 1993 Secret Garden as the definitive version. No. Just, no. The definitive version is the Hallmark Hall of Fame's 1980s production with Derek Jacobi. That is all.
Perhaps only the pre-teens and teens will enjoy it with you, or get all the jokes, but boy howdy will they. I won't go so far as to call your mother a hamster or to say, "I spit on you," but I am quite simply, shocked at this omission.
What better way to while away rainy afternoons then howling together at the Monty Python crew? Any of them, all of them will do nicely. (You can start with the films, and then graduate them to the series, even.)
Seriously, many thanks for getting this list started!
My 4-year-old absolutely loves The Iron Giant. It holds its own against Cars and Monsters Inc. One of the letters mentioned that it has some dark themes, but it does have a happy ending, which more than makes up for a little bit of darkness.
I'm a little concerned about The Princess Bride, though. I adore that movie, and if I'm flipping around, will always stop and watch a bit of it. However, I'm positive that I've had to change the channel when my son was around because of profanity. I know it's a losing battle to avoid bad language in films, but we do make the effort. So, no Princess Bride for a while.
Oh, and a tip for anyone with little ones who are train-obsessed: avoid the Thomas the Tank Engine movie at all costs. My god, that movie is painful to watch (how on earth they managed to get Peter Fonda to appear in that movie is a mystery).
It's a great list,if you are white,upper-middle-class living in an intellectual paradise. I teach and am the school librarian for the children who are too poor and too black to ever be a photo-op for any politician...in New Orleans, Louisiana. My group of students are kindergarten through 8th grade, ages 5 to 15. Many of my students were at the Superdome and the Convention Center,so to be honest,your list will not resonate to them. I get them to laugh by showing, in the library, The Three Stooges, white men that are safe to laugh at.My children lived through a war,are still living through a war brought on by gangs, drugs, and a century and a half of corrupt politicians and grown-ups who don't care.In essence, my children live in a much too real world for most of the movies your readers suggest. They like Dumbo because his moms was willing to go to the joint to protect him. Incarceration is a fact in their lives.Would love your suggestions for poor, black, inner-city kids in New Orleans. The 5th-8th graders loved the National Geographic DVD on Hurricane Katrina; many saw themselves/realtives/neighbors in the crowd scenes.Perhaps white children should also view the Katrina DVD?
Respectfully, aka Mrs.Caspar the friendly white ghost
Our family culture ran to comedy adventure movies. Which put Last Starfighter near the top of the list. As is evident here, each family has a different bias in its viewing preferences.
Then too, as we should all recognize, kids ages 3 through 8 or so have a perspective on movies that can’t really be understood by those of us who have left that age behind. We can only coach from the sidelines.
Before I go to my list of the top 10 sure-fire fun for all movies, let me add one I’ve not seen mentioned. The animated Charlie Brown musical “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” with “ How do they expect me to write a book report, of any quality, in just three days” an introduction to opera not to be missed.
My families top 10 popcorn night films.
The Last Starfighter
Legend
Neverending Story
Flight of Dragons
The Princess Bride
Buckaroo Banzai
My Science Project
Real Genius
Gremlins 2
Tremors
Of course each of my three kids would give you a slightly different list.
If these are the sort of movies that fit your families “culture" you can find a list of these and more anytime by searching for, "50 greatest good clean family movies", where I’ve posted a permanent list on a bowtie products site just to help you out on your trip to the rental store. Your suggestions are also welcome there.
With my 4 year old grandson near by, my wife and I look forward to watching these again. They definitely all benefit by having a young one to share the popcorny stories with.
The Railway Children (1971) written and directed by Lionel Jeffries, based on the E. Nesbit novel. A great cast, Jenny Agutter, Diana Sheridan, a very funny Bernard Cribbins. It's sentimental in the best sense of the word - basically the story of a family's struggle to "carry on" after their comfortable way of life is shattered when the father is accused of being a spy, tried, convicted, and sent to prison. The mother and three children head for the Yorkshire countryside to begin a new life. Probably most appealing to 8-12 year olds. A gently told tale of how being part of a community makes life so much richer.
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"
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Salon headlines in your mailbox
