I have two children, two boys, ages 7.75 and 4.5.
Saturday night is our traditional movie night. The boys, I and my wife all watch a movie together. We use Netflix to pick our next movie.
We have gone through almost all the available Disney and Pixar animated canon (I think there are still a couple of very late Disney that we’ve skipped, like Chicken Little). We have seen a couple of live-action movies (think Swiss Family Robinson, 1960) and a fair amount of non-Disney animation (Shrek, Ice Age, Madagascar). Oh, and we’ve also seen the Wallace and Gromit shorts and the movie, Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
The older son is becoming a movie snob. Last week-end we saw Curious George and he was complaining before the movie started (Curious George is too “baby” for him). During the movie he was laughing like a loon, but after it was over, I said “You liked that, didn’t you” and he said “Boo! Boo!” Of course his younger brother imitates the older one and also started saying “Boo! Boo!” I can’t even bring up Thomas the Tank Engine or Elmo videos any more without both of them saying “Boo! Boo!” Even though the younger loves Thomas and Elmo.
Here’s where I need my fellow posters. Help me arrange the next few month’s schedule for movie night!
My ground rules:
[ul]
[li]Rated G (we are constrained by the age of the youngest)[/li][li]Not so awful that the parents will need a full bottle of wine to be able to see it[/li][li]Doesn’t have to be animation. Some older live action movies for kids would be good (similar to The Swiss Family Robinson or Treasure Island-the 1950 version.)[/li][li]Rated PG may be OK if it’s not too scary. The oldest, when he was almost 6, asked us to turn off Disney’s Cinderella because it was “too scary”. I’m sure the oldest would be fine with it now, but I know the 4-year-old really doesn’t like scenes filmed at night with loud storms (thunder and lightning) - after he climbs in my lap he’s OK though. Movies like Cannibal Holocaust are right out.[/li][/ul]
For this week we have old Charlie Brown specials. Those are only 30 minutes each, so we’ll probably watch more than one.
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Babe
The Bear
The Black Stallion
James and the Giant Peach
Jason and the Argonauts
Mad Monster Party
The Thief of Bagdad (1940)
Any of the Muppet movies
The Mr. Bean TV show
I wonder if they’d like Jim Henson’s The Storyteller. Some of it’s on YouTube so you could check it out, see if you think it’s too dark. My kids loved the series but they were a bit older when they saw it.
If Storyteller is too mature for them, maybe some other Henson stuff, The Muppet Movie, etc. Or Sesame Street or other kids’ TV, like Big Blue Marble, Schoolhouse Rock.
My kids (aged 8, 6, and 3) all loved the Herbie the Love Bug movies.
Also check out some of the Miyazaki animated films, perhaps. My Neighbor Totoro was popular when we showed it here. Ditto Kiki’s Delivery Service.
I’ll second a recommendation for the Muppets. You can’t go wrong with the Muppets. We also frequently rent library DVDs of Animaniacs (a HUGE favorite in our house) and Fraggle Rock.
The Adventures of Mark Twain (Will Vinton’s Claymation Masterpiece)
The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (Ray Harryhausen animation masterpiece. )
Forbidden Planet – they won’t completely understand it, but it’s colorful and has a robot and nifty special effects. And it’s one of the best SF movies ever made.
20,000 Leagues Under the Dea (the 1954 Disney version)
Star Wars and its sequels. The prequels, too, if you’ve a mind to.
The Last Starfighter Mysterious Island, Three Worlds of Gulliver, First Men in the Moon and other Harryhausen flicks.
Peter Pan – the recent live action-with-CGI version
Forget the movies and break out a puzzle. Seriously. We did this last night when I couldn’t find anything new and interesting on Netflix. We are 5, 31 and 40. It’s the most fun we’ve had in a while. We just got a 100 piece puzzle but with Bella “helping” it took hours, but when it was finished she was so proud.
But back to movies, my daughter’s favorite non-animated movie is Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey. It’s on Netflix, but not instant view. Cute animals on an adventure where nobody gets killed. She also likes Beethoven although I find it annoying. My favorite that we all watch is Milo and Otis. Dudley Moore narrates and it has lots of beautiful scenery and adventure without much violence. None really.
Her favorite animated movie right now is Despereaux.
Along these lines, most any of the classic adventure movies would probably work.
The Tyrone Power version of The Mark of Zorro, The Sea Hawk, etc. Maybe even some stuff that seems campy now. The Gene Kelly Three Musketeers, or Danny Kaye’s Inspector General, or An American Yankee in Kind Arthur’s Court. Maybe even some early Westerns. High Noon being perfectly G rated, or maybe an early John Wayne. Red River or Rio Bravo?
These should all be “grown up” enough for your older son, but fun and light enough for your younger (I think).
Also, if your kids are ok with black and white, then almost any of the Frank Capra movies are good choices. It’s a Wonderful Life, Mr. Blanding’s Builds His Dream House, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Also other classics like * To Kill a Mockingbird*, *Bringing up Baby[/] or Singin’ in the Rain are usually fun.
I also loved The Marx Brothers and Screwball Comedies (Arsenic and Old Lace, The Philadelphia Story, etc) when I was 7 or 8, but I don’t know how well either of those translate to a four year old. Actually I am not sure how well any of the above translated to a four year old’s attention and interest. But the older son should approve of all of the above.
I still remember seeing that guy get a torture laser to the head, as well as seeing android Alex’s head on the table and Centauri’s real face. 4.5 y.o. beware.
Jeez, when my kids were that age we could just watch the same movie every night and it wouldn’t bother them. I have the complete soundtrack to “The Sound of Music” forever etched in memory.
Jeez. I think I was five when I first saw it. the monster isn’t scary at all. Wimp.
Have 'em turn away during that scene. Android head? Alien head? You remind me of my sister who told me to turn away during the “snake woman” scene in Seventh Voyage. One of the best parts of the picture.
May I suggest Monster movies from Universal’s great horror age.
Boys like monsters, and these are not too scary as to frighten them.
Specifically I’ll point to Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein as well as 1941s the Wolfman
(Skip Dracula… that still moves at a snails pace and is deadly dull the kids will be bored by the endless dialogue scenes)
My boys got into these movies around age 6.
They also like the Marx Brothers… fist it was the physical comedy then as they grew older they came to appreciate Groucho’s rapid fire wit.
Abbott and Costello’s monster movie phase was also a winner with them.
I second these and then add some super cheesy additions:
Gus (field goal kicking mule)
The World’s Greatest Athlete
Snowball Express
Pete’s Dragon
The Shaggy Dog
The Apple Dumpling Gang
The Million Dollar Duck
Pollyanna
Parent Trap
There are just tons of really fun and harmless movies with Don Knotts and Dean Jones-like characters in them that are really great physical comedy. For instance, Gus has a 15 minute scene in a grocery store where they are trying to catch the mule- it isn’t the greatest physical comedy ever, but as a kid and my kids just belly laugh at it.
A couple more movies:
Flight of the Navigator
batteries not included*
Short Circuit
Harry and the Hendersons
I think I found a good method- go to amazon, put in a movie taht you like and start seeing if it shows up on any lists or in the “Other people also purchased:”