Since you're lifting the "No Disney from the Last 40 Years" ban for BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS and THE CAT FROM OUTER SPACE, I'd like to put in a bid for THE JOURNEY OF NATTY GANN, my favorite live action Disney movie of the 80's. It features John Cusack taking a break from all those teen movies he was making back then, in a sweet platonic romance with a boyish girl (Meredith Salenger) who is riding the rails during the Great Depression in search of her father (Ray Wise, who played Laura Palmer's father on Twin Peaks) who is working in a Pacific Northwest logging camp.

According to the imdb, it won awards: The Journey of Natty Gann was the first American movie to win the gold award at the Moscow Film Festival. This film also garnered Meredith "Best Actress in a Drama" at the Youth in Film Awards for her wonderful portrayal of the tomboyish Natty Gann.

And for a Western suggestion, how about THE COWBOYS with John Wayne, Roscoe Lee Brown and Bruce Dern, plus a bunch of child actors? I loved it when I was a kid.

We are looking for films that parents and kids can enjoy together, right?

Turner Classic Movies is showing vintage family fare on Sunday evenings this summer, including a few of the films that have been discussed here. The "Essentials Jr." show has sharp, kid-friendly introductions to put the movies and changing times into perspective. On July 20, it's Buster Keaton's "Sherlock Jr." and Laurel & Hardy's short "The Music Box." My daughters (10 and 8) have no prejudices against silent or b&w movies if they are fun, and these are!

"The Incredible Mr. Limpet" was also a winner with my daughters.

My kids also liked "Song of the South," an unjustly maligned Disney film. It needs to be re-released with, say, a Whoopi Goldberg intro to explain that it was made 60 years ago, and is set 75 years before that, in post-Civil War days. Children are not stupid; they understand that many things have changed since then, and you can discuss history, race and friendship.

As the articles state, you have to tailor your viewing for different ages and tastes. My oldest loves "Harry Potter" and fantasy, and can handle grimmer fare. The 8-year-old likes spies, cats and princesses. She opted out of "Jason and the Argonauts" when a princess was killed in the first 15 minutes.

Since the kids have recently gone through a divorce, I won't show them "Time Bandits" for a while. Don't the parents get killed?

I second the kudos for "Sounder," and add a good word for "Old Yeller" and "My Dog Skip" (2000). If there's a dog-lover in your family, try these out. Warning: "Old Yeller" will bring tears to the eyes of any man over 40 - and most boys and girls. But it's a good cry. (6 and up?)

on "A Christmas Story" and "Babe."

I'm going to add "Conrack," with Jon Voight starring as author Pat Conroy, a true tale based on Conroy's book "The Water Is Wide." I'm quoting directly from an IMDb synopsis here: "A young, white teacher is assigned to an isolated island off the coast of South Carolina populated mostly by poor black families. He finds that the basically illiterate, neglected children there know so little of the world outside their island that they have virtually developed their own language ("Conrack" is their way of saying his name, Conroy) and, in fact, don't have much interest in learning about anything outside the island. He has to find a way to get through to these kids and teach them what they need to know and also to keep on the good side of the school superintendent, who doesn't want him there. Written by frankfob2@yahoo.com" (p.s. I would add that the movie shows how much the townsfolk needed to learn about these kids, too!)

One last note. I just finished two full days of caretaking for my great-niece (2 1/2) and what a refreshing break it was from "Dora the Explorer" to spend her quiet time, leading to nap time, watching the wondrous animation of "Fantasia" along with absorbing its sumptuous musical score.

C'mon bro.

Also, I'll add my voice to the A Christmas Story chorus.

I second Quatermass--we got one of these double-features from Netflix and it was great! Our son has a fascination with zombies (he's 4).

And, he loves black and white movies--maybe it's genetic--my husband prefers b & w and always has. So those who say today's kids won't tolerate such "antiquated" things are off base. Like O'Hehir argues, expose them to stuff--you might be suprised!

We loved this movie so much we named our daughter after it! The best way to see it is at the annual screening of the only english subtitled print in the world at the Minnesota Film Arts in Minneapolis, surrounded by the local Swedish community. Or you can buy a non subtitled, German or Swedish language DVD online. Or you can buy the book by the author of Pippi Longstocking alone or in tandem with the foreign language film.

But Roger Ebert's former TV colleague, the late Gene Siskel, did proclaim that the Pig in the City Sequel was the best movie of the year.

Shouldn't Babe and its sequel have been rediscovered during Salon's Pork Week? (Sorry, coundn't resist!)

While I'm at it (and before the comments section gets closed), here are a few more that I love to watch with my son.

I'll enthusiastically agree about The Iron Giant and The Yellow Submarine, of course. But on the more obscure side:

• Batman: The Movie - the original theatrical movie with Adam West and Burt Ward. Yes, there's some cartoon-like hitting (BAM! BOP!) but nothing really scary.
• H.R. Pufnstuf, the complete series - maybe you had to grow up with it (I did), but this may have been the height of psychedelic children's programming. My son loves it.
• Lidsville, the complete series - if anything, this is even stranger than Pufnstuf. Parents will drop their jaws in amazement at the sight of Charles Nelson Reilly as the evil green-faced Hoodoo the Magician, when he dresses up as a "girl bunny" to seduce Raunchy Rabbit (I am not making this up!). But kids think it's hysterical.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender - I hate most modern animation for children. But this show from Nick won me over. It's a remarkably well-done, well-written, well-acted show. We're all fans of it in my house.