Movies to watch with the grandkids

Gumby

Gumby

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Last night, the young wife and I watched Secondhand Lions, starring Robert Duvall and Michael Caine, who play two elderly brothers retired in Texas after a life of adventure. I quite enjoyed it, and it struck me that it was one of those rare movies that could be enjoyed by both children and adults (albeit on different levels). That got me thinking about what other films might be good for when the grandchildren come over, but not intolerable for their grandparents. In addition to this one, I would say that The Princess Bride and Babe fit the bill. Both are wholesome on the face of it, but filled with subversive humor that the kids won't notice or understand. Anyone else have nominations?
 
Offhand, Shrek and Wall-E come to mind. The Princess Bride is an all time favorite of mine. I have watched remakes of favorite novels and enjoyed them as an adult: Little Women, Pride and Prejudice, Emma. I also liked Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken.
 
We recently watched The Wizard of Oz with our kids. It was funnier than I remembered from my childhood viewings, and I quite like Judy Garland's voice. Not what you were going for maybe, but one that fit the description for our family. Also, virtually all the Pixar films are really well done, and enjoyable for the whole family. Cars is my favorite. :)
 
To Kill A Mockingbird. Gregory Peck is awesome and what a great story. Plus, it's told from a child's point of view. Just hope kids don't find it too boring since it's in black and white and doesn't have any high tech stuff or special effects.

A few others: The Wizard of Oz, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, The Secret Garden, Heidi (great intro to Shirley Temple), and the Yearling.

Oh, I second the suggestion of Wall-e:)
 
The Rainbow Tribe is a movie I've found to be family friendly for both the young and old. It was just released on DVD on February 1 and stars David James Elliott who is best known as 'Harm' from JAG. He plays Morgan Roberts, a middle aged adult in crisis, who reunites with his best friend when he returns to the summer camp of his youth. His troubles seem to magnify when he is joined by a rag-tag group of 10 year old campers. Through their struggles they collectively overcome their personal problems and exchange them for one of the best summers of their lives. I laughed and cried. It has a sweet ending.
 
Purron said:
To Kill A Mockingbird. Gregory Peck is awesome and what a great story. Plus, it's told from a child's point of view. Just hope kids don't find it too boring since it's in black and white and doesn't have any high tech stuff or special effects.

A few others: The Wizard of Oz, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, The Secret Garden, Heidi (great intro to Shirley Temple), and the Yearling.

Oh, I second the suggestion of Wall-e:)
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I loved reading The Yearling and remember the movie version also. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings was one of my favorite authors as a teen-ager. I enjoyed her Cross Creek and her Cross Creek Cookbook. She really imparts the essence of old rural Florida as seen through the eyes of a transplant to the state in the early part of the 20th century.
 
As a child, I loved "Calamity Jane" with Doris Day...I shared it with my 9 year old niece, and we had a great time.:LOL:
 
Rich_in_Tampa said:
We all loved the movie "Up."
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+1, I was just going to add this one, but RIT beat me to it. "Up" is very cute IMO...and entirely suitable for any age.

An oldie, but still enjoyable I'd think, E.T.

And DW's favorite animated movie, Monsters Inc.
 
Secondhand Lions was one that my boss (with three kids) recommended to us and we absolutely LOVED it. I still marvel at how good (and how funny) it was and still be appropriate for kids.

I don't usually go in for kid movies, but with my border collies, of course I had to see Babe. We didn't care for the Princess Bride as much. Another one, although not probably for young kids because of the theme, was Finding Neverland. I found it to be very good.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought Secondhand Lions was excellent!
 
WhoDaresWins said:
I loved reading The Yearling and remember the movie version also.
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The Yearling makes me cry like a baby to this day. Loved the book and the movie too. So beautiful, so sad, and so amazing.
 
ProspectiveBum said:
We recently watched The Wizard of Oz with our kids. It was funnier than I remembered from my childhood viewings, and I quite like Judy Garland's voice. Not what you were going for maybe, but one that fit the description for our family.
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The flying monkeys scared the crap out of me when I was young. I also found the scene where Dorothy is locked in the castle with the hourglass running out to be quite upsetting.
 
Secondhand Lions is one of my all time favoriates!
 
My kids favorite movie when he was really little was the original Brave Little Toaster. It's still fun to watch with the under 8 crowd but avoid the sequels.

Holes was really good and had some amazingly unpleasant adults for kids to hate. Not for the under 8 crowd....
 
Showing my total ignorance of children--what changes at 8 to make them less freaked out by some movie stuff? My sister has three kids, and only one is under 8 but I can't really tell much about their anxiety level for that sort of thing.
 
"Children" is a mighty broad category. What is the intended range of ages for this subversive humor?
 
Over here in Germany, AFN had a Pixar day yesterday - wow - all great - Monster, Up, The Incredibles and Wall-E - I loved all of the Toy Story movies and I also love Second Hand Lions. Pretty much everythin Pixar has done is of quality. There are very few movies I will re-watch and all of the above are ones I have and will.

Also, good might be Wallace and Gromit movies - great animation with clay and excellent stories - the Wrong Trousers has a penguin who puts on a red glove to look like a rooster - what a hoot. Chicken Run was great, too.
 
Sarah in SC said:
Showing my total ignorance of children--what changes at 8 to make them less freaked out by some movie stuff? My sister has three kids, and only one is under 8 but I can't really tell much about their anxiety level for that sort of thing.
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Kids around 8 and under can't differentiate between fantasy and reality - so they are disturbed by some movies, shows or advertisements...my older is 8 and still dislikes anything creepy, but understands certain things are just people "using their imagination." But the scary stuff is harder for her to put away.

We watch movies w/ the kids almost every friday for family movie nite - most pixar movies are adult friendly. Sound of Music, Sand Lot is a fun movie - any musical is a hit over here. If you have girls, the Ramona and Beezus movie was well done, my older recently finished the book so I let her watch the movie - either way doesn't matter because the movie is not very close to the book. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory both versions are good.

We recently saw Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron a cartoon flick about a wild horse, narrated by Matt Damon - I thought, oh, harmless might be nice, kids like animals. My 5 yr old was so upset when they captured the horse she was crying most of the movie! You never know what will get to them. I reassured her the horse would get free and it did - but kept getting recaptured and she got upset each time! :nonono: But generally it was a good movie.
 
Hidalgo might be one everyone would like. It's much like the stories Duvall's character would tell in Secondhand Lions. Actually, I don't remember this one being funny at all though.

Young Frankenstein is one I watched as a kid and it's another of my favorites.

If they're teenagers, I'd recommend The Frighteners, with Michael J. Fox. It might be scary for younger kids, and there's a suggestive scene with a dead cowboy ghost and an ancient Egyptian mummy that you may consider inappropriate for a young child.

The Legend of Drunken Master, with Jackie Chan. A pretty good and at times funny story (and many argue his best film), and you get to see some really nifty fight scenes. Shanghai Noon and Around the World In 80 Days are others of his that are also family friendly.

Captain Ron is one I loved watching growing up.
 
How to Tame Your Dragon was wonderful! DH, SIL and I took twin 5 year olds to it and everyone agreed it was great.

Kids loved the action, adults really liked the story of the viking kid being a misfit and finding his way via a dragon that no one believes is real.
 
We spent 1984 in the US. MTV was just getting going. The kids (2, 3 1/2 and 5) used to watch music videos with me in the morning while I got ready for work. This was the golden era for music videos - more artistic than commercial. Michael Jackson, a-ha, Madonna, Herbie Hancock (rock it). We watched many more videos than movies.

By 1990 (next assignment) the music videos had evolved - as had the kids. We still watched them together, they were much more subversive, but now DW didn't think they were appropriate. (Boy George, Van Halen). We did spend more time watching movies - VHS rentals.

The movies they enjoyed and meet Alan's criteria were "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", "The Never Ending Story", "Dark Crystal", "The Secret of NIMH", "Labyrnth" and "Beauty and the Beast".

Who Framed Roger Rabbit had a particularly adult frame in the beginning Baby Huey cartoon.

Agree wholeheartedly with the opinions on Pixar. Those folks are gifted and hardworking.
 
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