We don't watch TV, but we do like a good movie now and then. We liked the movie "Cars". "Hoodwinked" was funny. We liked "Finding Nemo". I have a 4 year old boy that likes to repeat clips from movies, so I have to be careful ("Surf's Up" is not one that I want him watching again any time soon). My kids have not turned their nose up to 'old movies' either, so that's an option. We are VERY conservative with what we watch and like fun, cute, funny movies that we can all watch together. So... what's your favorite movie?
We really like the Toy Story movies. Although Cars is our son's favorite.
Hi Ginger,
I have a 9 yr. old that I consciously try to spare from alot of the "junk" available for viewing these days, and one thing I've discovered, is that even with "family" movies, it's increasingly hard to find them without any kind of adult situation of some sort or other in them.
That being said, the older Disney classics are my favorites for their lack, and I also loved Meet the Robinsons, Spirit, Brother Bear, Over the Hedge, and the Ice Age movies(Ice Age made me cry lol).
Have fun!
Kat W
What a GREAT question!!!! Wow! I totally agree with you and I have very carefully screened a LOT of movies for our kids.
Here are some wonderful movies:
THE SECRET OF HAROLD DIDDLEBOCK
THE PRINCESS BRIDE
ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD (the OLD one..not new)
Please keep me in contact. I'd LOVE to hear some of your favorites, too.
:>) Jana
Hi Ginger - If your son s okay with the classics, then I would go with those! I recently told my husband how much I was hoping that my children would get to see the same old movies that I did....Disney classics. So, off we went to garage sales and Outdoor markets, and found a whole bunch for a buck each! My son has fallen in love with Pinochio.
We love Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Wizard of Oz and the original Charlie and the Chocolate factory. I totally understand about some of the "kid" movies they make today. It's like the movie makers want to make them enjoyable for different age groups, but there are phrases you don't want your kids repeating. Some of the Veggie Tales are great movies, too. Lion King, Dumbo, some of the original Disneys are great!
My kids are into movies as well. Their favorites are The Wild, Toys Story,Monsters Inc., Ants, A Bugs Life, Bee movie, just to name a few. There is a lot of good movies both old and new. Hope this helps.
The Never Ending Story; Pete's Dragon; Mary Poppins
I'm sure most people will tell you that any of the old Disney classics like "101 Dalmations" are great family movies and I totally agree. Thus, I won't mention those. If your son likes Cars and Finding Nemo, I would recommend "Happy Feet" and "Bugs Life" as well. My son is a big Thomas the Train fan and we have all the moviews. There are two movies about Thomas that are pretty good for adults to watch over and over. One is "Calling All Engines" and the other is "The Magic Railroad." I've had kids that aren't into Thomas enjoy the Majic Railroad and I can stand to watch that one over and over. However, don't expect to be able to watch Alec Baldwin in anything else again without seeing him as "Mr. Conductor." The best thing is, you can find that movie for just $5 and it's good, clean family fun. And there are books to go with this movie (just like there are for the "Cars" movie) so that makes it a big winner for me since we read a lot. You won't think the acting is great in Magic Railroad, but the kids think it is. The Winnie the Pooh movies have all been winners in my book. Milo & Otis is a movie I picked up even though the reviews weren't good. My son loves animals so he really enjoyed this movie. This would be a good movie for your kids under 1 and your 5 year old might enjoy it too. "Garfield the Movie" is fun for kids young and old.
My son loves to watch old Disney movies...he usually gets hooked on one and we have to watch it over and over and over again...his favorites recently have been Peter Pan and Jungle Book which are both nice because they're not incredibly long...he also loves Veggie Tales and I know I never have to worry about him repeating anything he hears there!
We too don't watch T.V. we don't have cable or anything. So we are movie nuts. For the little ones we like "Curious George" "Happy Feet" my daughter loves to dance to that one so she even gets a little movement in throughout the movie. and of course really any Disney Movie. One recently "Ratatouille" Not sure how old your girls are but my daughter loves "the little princess" "the Secret Garden" movie not cartoon. I like that she likes it so she is starting to watch real people act. Anyway, I hope that gives you a few ideas
The "Toy Story" movies are really good, as are "Mary Poppins" and "The Sound of Music." We just skip past a few scary/too talky parts. My daughter knows several songs by heart.
If you want something the kids can watch by themselves, I would suggest borrowing some made for preschoolers/toddler shows from the library. You would still have control to skip commercials and easily limit time in front of the TV. Caillou is a fun one about a 4 year old boy and his little sister, but there are lots of great shows to choose from.
Iron Giant
A robot from another plnet lands on Earth and has a malfunction. He is capable of shooting lasers, but it seems he only does it in self defense; it is an automatic response. When a young boy befriends him they both do some growing up. The best part is that the boy teaches the robot that even when he is under attack, he doesn't need fight back. "You don't have to be a gun," is what the boy keeps telling him. I like the moral of being responsible for your behavior, regardless of what others are doing, even when they are doing it to you.
I don't really have anything new just agreement with others. Our favorites are Mary Poppins, Curious George, Sword & The Stone, Toy Story. My kids like old musicals, sometimes we fast forward through the real "Talky" parts but they love the songs "I Could Have Danced All Night" is a fvaorite song in our house. If your looking for cartoons you can also go wtih Dumbo, Alice & Wonderland, Land Before Time and other Disney classics.
All great suggestions. Favorites at our house are the Veggie Tales -- you simply cannot go wrong, and they make awesome music CDs that are SO MUCH FUN to sing along with your kids. Our little girl requests them all the time.
Also, here's a site that might be of interest to you: http://christiananswers.net/spotlight/ -- it offers reviews of movies to people who are also concerned about what their kids watch and provides a place where people can provide feedback.
My brother goes through this with his 3 yr old. He gets tired of all the new stuff, so he goes to Movie Madness (cause they have it all!) He rents stuff like the muppet show or the muppet movies. He actually prefers the movies we watched as kids like Pete's Dragon and The Sword and the Stone. It's fun to see him get excited over the movies that we had memorized as kids. It's nostalgic!
Hi there, my son's latest favorite is "Alvin and the chipmunks". The last one we watched was "Kung-Fu Panda", he did enjoyed it but it didn't make it to his "Top 10". We chose what we watch but he was also exposed to some movies that are not very suitable for his age and he did fine. My thought is that it is not important what you watch but how you watch it. I'm media expert and I know about the media effect on kids. Whatever he watches you need to be there for him ready with answers. They should know what is good and what is bad, they need to learn to make good choices and it is up to us to give them that sense. For example my son loves Spider man but now instead of wanting to be Spider man he wants to be an actor and play Spider man. He knows how the movies are made, he knows why there has to be a good character and a bad character, he knows the different movies are made for different reasons and everything in them is created by their authors imagination and etc. And no, all that information doesn't spoil the "movie magic" for him. I do apply the same philosophy to the advertisements and he knows why they are showing theirs adds in the middle of the interesting movie and why when you get the thing is not as fun as it looks like on the TV, or it doesn't taste as nice as it looks. But if you try to teach him something like that be careful which advertised products you will pick up. These were my two cents. Let me know if you need more ideas or answers. We need to talk and teach them good choices, so they won't go for the "forbidden fruit" later and think is taste good only because was forbidden. This is my personal opinion and I hoped that it was helpful.
I saw some of the answers and I would like to put a P.S. here:
Some innocent movies like "Cars" gave my son the words "stupid" and "idiot". Most of the fairy tails start the story after the mother is dead and that gave him the idea that the same thing could happen with mommy (the same with "Bamby" and "Lion King"). Well, now I'm very careful when I'm getting "sentimental" with what I want him to watch. The kids just think different in these days. I never thought of that part of the story when I did watch or read the story 35 years ago.
We like:
Happy Feet
Flushed Away
Ratatouille
Bee Movie
Fox and the Hound
Jungle Book
Charlotte's Web
Toy Story
Over the Hedge
Curious George
All Veggie tales movies are great
There's an organization called "Feature Films for Families" that came out with some really good movies for kids. My favorites were "The Buttercream Gang" and "Rigoletto." And these new Narnia movies aren't half bad either, though I prefer the books.
Well all kids are going to repeat something they see. Monkey see, Monkey do.. Have you had the discussion yet that they are not real and computer animated and ONLY act like this just for money and so on?
My kids favs are. Apple dumpling gang, petes dragon, oliver and company, 101 dalmations, Alvin and the chipmunks, that darn cat, wizard of oz, meet the robinsons, black couldron, sleeping beauty, American tail, a troll in central park, Extremely goofy movie, ANYTHING puppy realted like Adventures of milo and otis, Air bud, baileys billions and so on..