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PaperclipPerfector  7mo ago (text post)   3222 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for December 27, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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What are the all-time best movies / shows for kids to watch?

This Christmas, I watched the Home Alone series with my kids (6yo, 3yo, 2yo, 1yo). The movies are fantastic. They keep the kids engaged with humor, and they provide valuable lessons on family (you might think they're a pain, but they're still wonderful), independence (kids can accomplish a lot of things that adults can't and they should be encouraged to try), some seemingly bad people are good (the shovel guy/pigeon lady are scary at first but turn out to be great people in the end), and some seemingly good people are bad (the thieves dress up as cops and trick a lot of adults).

I want to find other similar movies to watch with my kids that are fun and full of great lessons. Does themotte have any recommendations?

How to Train Your Dragon 1 and 2 are both incredible. Most of Disney's Silver Age catalog are incredible but be prepared for some crying from the younger ones, doubly so if you go for the Golden Age stuff. The Don Bluth stuff can be left until they're 10 at least.

Also, at their ages, the Sonic movies are great. All 3.

The Emperor's New Groove is a cartoon, but it hits a couple of these beats. For a slightly more mature beat, try the Road to El Dorado and the Prince of Egypt.

How to Train Your Dragon hits some really nice themes/messages re: empathy, coming of age, parenting/fatherhood, and interacting with animals. More impressively, it handles each of these moments with a deftness and poignancy that I think is rare in the "kids movie" medium. The sequels are also good/fine, but the original film is a triumph.

I'd forgotten about this film. This is a really good suggestion... there's lots of fantastic themes in that movie. Thanks!

The original Land Before Time film (all the sequels are direct to vhs garbage).

Not only is it beautifully animated and extremely well crafted, the message of the movie is an extraordinarily powerful lesson in servant leadership and duty.

Littlefoot, cast into tragedy, wants to feel sorry for himself and wallow in self pity, but is forced into a reluctant leadership position where he becomes responsible for the lives of others, and must learn a lot of hard truths about being a leader

Aaahh... I remember these from when I was a kid... my 2yo is super into dinosaurs right now, so that's likely to be a winner... thanks!

Crazy. I'm pretty sure I was telling my dad what a brontosaurus brachiosaurus was at age 4. Very fond memories of dad taking me to the public library and say 'pick any book you like'.

Batman the animated series stands out above any other form of media for me, I could not have enjoyed at any other point besides my childhood but the effort taken to make it makes me appreciate watching it that young.

I also liked rugrats, the original xmen show and various nickelodeon ones but btas stands out.

Beyond Disney, Dreamworks, Pixar, and (Hayoa Miyazaki's) Studio Ghibli films...

The Sandlot, Karate Kid, The Princess Bride, School of Rock, The Iron Giant (maybe when older), Honey I Shrunk the Kids (ant ;_;), Elf, Charlie Brown movies, The Muppet movies, and Hugo.

I'd screen films you haven't seen first.

There’s also a bad message, though, that as a kid you can do things for yourself and not rely on adults, and that you can have heroic adventures doing things yourself. This is a good lesson for an 18-year-old, but probably not a child.

I never watched the sequels, but at least in the first movie he does call the police (albeit way later than he should), and his "doing things yourself" adventure ends with his enemies capturing him and gleefully discussing his torture, until he's rescued by an adult. The script is all about "heroic adventures doing things yourself", but they avoid blatantly teaching it as a bad lesson.

ben hur

charlie and the chocolate factory (potentially traumatizing)

20000 leagues under the sea (1954)

Oooh.. Ben Hur. I hadn't heard of that before, but it sounds fantastic. I'll have to watch it with my wife, and maybe with my kids when they're a bit older. Thanks!

I think the raising of the cross scene from Ben Hur is my earliest memory!

I've got a lot of memories of certain films that were overplayed on free to air TV in my youth. I am so so sick of the original Wizard of Oz, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sound of Music etc.

I later had some exposure to the actual operations of a TV Station and know that the videotapes/presentation department usually has a small locker of standby movies in case something goes wrong with normal programming (broadcast computer goes down, live sport rained out creating a 3 hour gap in programming, disruption of satellite feed from the network etc etc). These 'appropriate for all ages' films are the go-to when normal operations are interrupted for whatever reason.

And they use the same ones. Over and over again. For years on end.

Edit: Should make it clear that things are different now in the digital age, but this is how things used to be done.

The Shrek series?

Isn't it a surprising coincidence that both series have just two movies each?

Neverending Story is pretty good, but I'd recommend the kids be 6+ minimum with the younger ones having a parent next to them for a cuddle (wolf scenes).

My kids are also into Harry Potter. They've started calling Neverending Story "white harry potter" just because the dvd case is white. It's a great story!

And the scene when Artax gets stuck in quicksand, which utterly destroyed me and my brother as kids.

It's the way that the hero has to watch on powerless to save him that really decimates your childish optimism.

Great life lesson delivered in a painful way (as most are).

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