# Live action movies for pre-schoolers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 6, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-action-movies-for-pre-schoolers/598814 "2011-10-06T19:08:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-action-movies-for-pre-schoolers/598814/1 "2011-10-06T19:08:09Z")
My daughter just turned 5, and has started to express an interest in live action movies. We watched Tarsem’s “The Fall” a few weeks ago, which is wholly inappropriate for kids, so consider my judgement flawed. She had a hard time following the plot. I’m thinking about stuff like the new dolphin movie coming out, or Fly Away Home from the mid-90s. But there’s got to be stuff that’s less cheesy that she could also enjoy. Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-action-movies-for-pre-schoolers/598814/2 "2011-10-06T19:13:46Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > My daughter just turned 5, and has started to express an interest in live action movies. We watched Tarsem’s “The Fall” a few weeks ago, which is wholly inappropriate for kids, so consider my judgement flawed. She had a hard time following the plot. Why not ease her into it with WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-action-movies-for-pre-schoolers/598814/3 "2011-10-06T19:17:34Z")
or Mary Poppins ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-action-movies-for-pre-schoolers/598814/4 "2011-10-06T19:27:17Z")
or Wizard of Oz. ---
**Author:** ![RachelChristine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RachelChristine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RachelChristine)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-action-movies-for-pre-schoolers/598814/5 "2011-10-06T19:49:57Z")
My daughter is 6. She loves Wizard of Oz, Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Jack and the Beanstalk (this was a live action movie that is only a few years old), Ella Enchanted, Enchanted, Neverending Story, Pippi Longstocking, Secret Garden, Little Princess, Little Hosue on the Prairie and probably tons more that I’m not thinking of. She’s also a big fan of the Harry Potter series, Chronicles of Narnia, and Star Wars (original trilogy). She’s seen the first Lord of the Rings and loved it, but hasn’t asked to watch the others yet. She started watching many of the above movies at age 3 or 4, so it’s not just been recent! ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-action-movies-for-pre-schoolers/598814/6 "2011-10-07T16:19:58Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > My daughter just turned 5, and has started to express an interest in live action movies. If you’re not _insisting_ on live-action, Miyazaki’s a good bet for enjoyable, family-friendly animated movies that don’t suck: [ul][li]_ **My Neighbor Totoro** _[/li][li]_ **Kiki’s Delivery Service** _[/li][li]_ **Ponyo** _[/li][li]_ **Spirited Away** _[/li][li]_ **Castle In The Sky** _ (if she can make it through the whole thing - it’s pretty long!)[/ul][/li]She’s probably too young for _ **Howl’s Moving Castle** _ or _ **Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind** _, but maybe in 3-4 years… > [@](#): > > But there’s got to be stuff that’s less cheesy that she could also enjoy. Thoughts? Don’t you remember any of the movies we saw as kids? [ul][li]_ **The Neverending Story** _ (avoid the sequels, though!)[/li][li]_ **E.T.** _[/li][li]_ **The Dark Crystal** _[/li][li]_ **The Princess Bride** _[/li][li]_ **Flight of the Navigator** _[/li][li]_ **Labyrinth** _[/ul][/li]… and if you’re not trying to avoid the cheese _too_ much: [ul][li]_ **Inspector Gadget** _ (Matthew Broderick) and, if you must, _ **Inspector Gadget 2** _ (French Stewart)[/li][li]Any of the _ **Herbie** _ or _ **Witch Mountain** _ movies[/li][li]Disney’s _ **Apple Dumpling Gang** _[/li][li]_ **A Spaceman in King Arthur’s Court** _ (AKA _ **The Unidentified Flying Oddball** _)[/li][li]_ **Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang** _[/ul][/li]There are some more recent films not yet mentioned above that might fit the bill as well: [ul][li]_ **Nanny McPhee** _ (and its the sequel)[/li][li]_ **Arthur and the Invisibles** _[/li][li]_ **Night At The Museum** _ (and its sequel)[/li][li]_ **Mystery Men** _ (two Ben Stiller movies in a row?)[/li][\*]_ **Jumanji** _ and _ **Zathura** _, which are basically the same story (both written by Chris Van Allsburg, the _ **Polar Express** _ guy)[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-action-movies-for-pre-schoolers/598814/7 "2011-10-07T16:35:03Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Why not ease her into it with WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? You mean the movie where a cute little toon gets tortured to death with a vat of solvents? [quote=“psiekier, post:6, topic:598814”] [ul][li]_ **Mystery Men** _ (two Ben Stiller movies in a row?)[/ul][/li][/QUOTE] Doesn’t Captain Amazing get turned inside-out in that movie? _Labyrinth_ seems like a good suggestion, though. ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-action-movies-for-pre-schoolers/598814/8 "2011-10-08T12:45:27Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > Doesn’t Captain Amazing get turned inside-out in that movie? My son, who was six at the time, is probably the only person in the world to have ever declared _Mystery Men_ the best movie ever. Still, he’s a _boy_ - little girls probably wouldn’t think Paul Reubens’s super power is quite as funny. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-action-movies-for-pre-schoolers/598814/9 "2011-10-08T12:53:34Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > You mean the movie where a cute little toon gets tortured to death with a vat of solvents? My four-year-old daughter loved it. ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-action-movies-for-pre-schoolers/598814/10 "2011-10-25T18:24:43Z")
Here’s another one I just thought of: _ **The Last Flight of Noah’s Ark** _, starring a young(-ish) Elliott Gould and a (very) young Ricky Schroeder. I remember seeing this as a kid and thinking it was pretty neat, and read that Gould considered it one of the finer movies he’d been in… less crass than _M.A.S.H._, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-action-movies-for-pre-schoolers/598814/11 "2011-10-25T18:41:53Z")
> [@psiekier](#): > > If you’re not _insisting_ on live-action, Miyazaki’s a good bet for enjoyable, family-friendly animated movies that don’t suck: > > [ul][li]_ **My Neighbor Totoro** _[/li][li]_ **Kiki’s Delivery Service** _[/li][li]_ **Ponyo** _[/li][li]_ **Spirited Away** _[/li][li]_ **Castle In The Sky** _ (if she can make it through the whole thing - it’s pretty long!)[/ul][/li]She’s probably too young for _ **Howl’s Moving Castle** _ or _ **Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind** _, but maybe in 3-4 years… I loved, loved, loved _Spirited Away_, but I question whether it is a good movie for a five-year-old. I think it may be a touch on the scary side - if I showed that to my son, he’d have nightmares for a week. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cap\_n\_Obvious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@Cap\_n\_Obvious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cap_n_Obvious)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-action-movies-for-pre-schoolers/598814/12 "2011-10-25T20:14:27Z")
Old Yeller Where the Red Fern Grows Any of the Herbie movies. (Not the remake with Lohan, the originals.) Cat in the Hat Possibly Ghostbusters. Any of the Beethoven movies. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-action-movies-for-pre-schoolers/598814/13 "2011-10-25T20:41:39Z")
Not sure how it might rate on the cheesiness scale, but _Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey_ might be suitable. ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-action-movies-for-pre-schoolers/598814/14 "2011-10-28T21:15:54Z")
> [@Cap\_n\_Obvious](#): > > Possibly Ghostbusters. I’d _like_ to show _ **Ghostbusters** _ to my kids - they’ve enjoyed the animated _ **The Real Ghostbusters** _ - but there’s some language in there that isn’t really appropriate for a 5- and 7-year-old. I was twelve when it came out, so I figure my oldest has about five years before he’ll be ready to see it. I don’t know how well they’d hold up over the years, but I also thought about _ **The Gnome-mobile** _ and _ **Darby O’Gill and the Little People** _. My memories of those movies are vague to say the least. They may rate too high on the cheese-meter. I can’t believe I forgot _ **Pete’s Dragon** _, either. I had the LP that went along with the storybook. What about all the girly horse movies, like _ **Black Beauty** _ or _ **Flicka** _? How does the OP’s daughter feel about horses? Where _is_ the OP in all this, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-action-movies-for-pre-schoolers/598814/15 "2011-10-28T21:47:36Z")
Still here 🙂 I’ll check out the horse movies. My wife watched _Mary Poppins_ with the oldest, who apparently was bored out of her mind. I also dusted off my _Star Wars_ set, based on **RachelChristine** ’s suggestion, but we haven’t gotten around to that yet. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-action-movies-for-pre-schoolers/598814/16 "2011-10-28T23:50:53Z")
When I was a kid there were a whole bunch of movies aimed at me. _Herbie_, _Benji_, _Lassie_, and other one-word names ending in the “e” sound. _The Incredible Journey_, _Escape to Witch Mountain_, _The Cat From Outer Space_, _Pete’s Dragon_… Thepopular theme seemed to be anthropomorphised animals and objects. Well, that’s an idea that hasn’t changed much in the intervening years. ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2011, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-action-movies-for-pre-schoolers/598814/17 "2011-10-29T13:55:28Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > When I was a kid there were a whole bunch of movies aimed at me. _Herbie_, _Benji_, _Lassie_, and other one-word names ending in the “e” sound. It doesn’t end with an ‘e’ sound, but it _does_ end with an ‘e’ (and is only one word, to boot) - how about the live-action _ **Popeye** _ starring Robin Williams as the eponymous sailor and Shelly Duvall as Olive Oyl? My brain seems to register faint feelings of happiness at having seen that movie as a child. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2011, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-action-movies-for-pre-schoolers/598814/18 "2011-10-29T14:25:33Z")
> [@psiekier](#): > > Here’s another one I just thought of: _ **The Last Flight of Noah’s Ark** _, starring a young(-ish) Elliott Gould and a (very) young Ricky Schroeder. And a very attractive Genevieve Bujold. Who, a couple years earlier, had been in _[Swashbuckler](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075294/)_, an underappreciated pirate movie that’s good for kids. Teach them there were pirates in the movies before Captain Jack Sparrow. Other recommendations: _[7 Faces of Dr. Lao](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057812/)_ and _[Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067992/)_. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-action-movies-for-pre-schoolers/598814/19 "2011-10-29T14:35:31Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > When I was a kid there were a whole bunch of movies aimed at me. _Herbie_, _Benji_, _Lassie_, and other one-word names ending in the “e” sound. _The Incredible Journey_, _Escape to Witch Mountain_, _The Cat From Outer Space_, _Pete’s Dragon_… > > Thepopular theme seemed to be anthropomorphised animals and objects. Well, that’s an idea that hasn’t changed much in the intervening years. I forgot about all those Disney live action features: _The Boatniks_, _The Apple Dumpling Gang_, _The Cat from Outer Space_, _No Deposit, No Return_, _The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit_, _The Ugly Dachshund_, _Snowball Express_, _The Barefoot Executive_, _The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes_, _Now You See Him, Now You Don’t_, _Hot Lead and Cold Feet_, _Charley and the Angel_, _Blackbeard’s Ghost_, _The Love Bug_, _That Darn Cat!_, _Monkeys, Go Home!_, _The Million Dollar Duck_. ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-action-movies-for-pre-schoolers/598814/20 "2011-11-04T16:01:11Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I forgot about all those Disney live action features: _The Boatniks_… "That’s no torpedo! It’s a _salami!"_ That movie actually came out before I was born, but I do remember seeing it. Maybe we could also add _ **Annie** _ (1982), although that might not fly if _ **Mary Poppins** _ was such a flop. Oh, and it’s motion-capture CGI rather than live-action (pretty close? We all loved _ **Avatar** _, didn’t we?), but Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg are releasing [a new Tintin movie](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0983193/) around Christmas time this year. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-action-movies-for-pre-schoolers/598814.md?page=2)