Madame Pepperwinkle subscribes to Entertainment Weekly. This week they have lists of the 100 Greatest Movies, Albums, Books, etc. As you’d expect, some of them are safe bets, some are reasonable, and then there are the occasional clunkers.
According to the mag, the greatest family film of all is… Bambi. Yes, that’s right, the highest quality a family movie can give its youthful audience is the brutal murder of a character’s mother AND the guilt that comes with being of the same species as the killer.
You may be able to tell I disagree.
I know from reading other movie discussions that the sentimental favorite here on SDMB is the Wizard of Oz. It would be my choice.
So, ASIDE from the wonderful wizard, ruby slippers and flying monkeys, what’s your favorite family film(s), and why?
So . . . [Schwarzenegger] "yah, but dey vere all bad." [/Schwarzenegger]
Still, I’m with you: the villain dies after his henchmen get killed one by one, and a bunch of folks die off-screen - with our hero hiding behind one of the corpses! - but, yes, at base I suppose it never gets worse than adorable kids thinking they’re about to die, and their dad thinking his kids have been killed.
Among those Entertainment Weekly family films are there any of those 1990’s Steve Martin things? I’m hoping not: when someone sells out they should get all the money they can but nothing else.
The Sound of Music- great story, great songs, and you can either use it to introduce WW2/Hitler with kids or just enjoy the music and scenery and puppet show. (Aside: That movie is 48 years old; its poster pictures 9 cast members and all 9 are still alive- that’s pretty amazing.)
Although it can be hard to get a pre-teen boy to watch a movie called “The Princess Bride”, even if you tell him it’s full of pirates and sword fighting and rodents of unusual size, etc.
This depends on the ages/maturity of the family more than you might think. I love most pixar movies, and many disney movies but my kids have freaked out at:
Mufasa dying (understandable)
Jasmine being trapped in an hourglass (ok, kinda scary)
the diver that captures Nemo (really?)
Aladdin finding out the King of Thieves was his father (spurring a conversation I thought I could avoid until The Empire Strikes Back)
The glowing urchin-like things in Monsters U (I don’t know what that means, I didn’t go. Mom took her.)
The evil bear in Brave
baby Rapunzel being kidnapped in Tangled
Lotso
Zurg
Outside of Disney, there was the Ice Age: continental drift debacle (a two-fer: the daddy mammoth drifts out to sea, and scrat sinks his people’s utopia into the ocean)
So they ain’t ready for the plane crash in the Incredibles, or the flying Monkeys in Oz (though the love the Muppet, Fresh beat, Phineas and Ferb and Strawberry Shortcake versions…), and there’s no way in hell we’re watching Bambi anytime soon. (seriously, I remember nothing from that movie EXCEPT that the mom gets killed. Is there any more to it?)
Kids movies seem to mostly be: fun, fun, fun, TRAUMA, fun, fun, NIGHTMARE FUEL, fun, fun…
So for now, I’ll say Toy Story, though maybe some of these will work when they are older.
All I remember of Bambi besides the trauma is a scene where Thumper laughs at Bambi on ice; the humor of Bambi naming a skunk Flower; and the end where he meets a doe and becomes a man. Oh, and one song “Drip, Drip, Drop, Little April Showers”. I missed EW’s criteria (if they gave any) for selection. Does anybody think this is the best Disney cartoon of all time?
[ul]
[li]School of Rock[/li][li]The Polar Express[/li][li]Chitty Chitty Bang Bang[/li][li]The Incredibles (as mentioned)[/li][li]Mathilda[/li][li]Pippi Longstocking (the old Swedish versions)[/li][li]Home Alone (the first)[/li][/ul]
We have Family Movie Night every Saturday, and it’s hard coming up with something we all will enjoy, so I’m looking forward to getting tips.
