Dinosaur Movies for Kids

There are only three constants in the world: Death, taxes, and kids love dinosaurs. Dinosaurs have a lot going for them. They're fanged, meat devouring monsters, but they're dead so you don't have to worry about running into one in the park. They're huge, and we all know the bigger something is the more interesting it is. They're somewhat of a mystery, so our imaginations can run wild when think of them. They make kick-ass toys.

Oh, if you're a parent, they can keep your little one quietly glued to the television while you massage your forehead and wonder why you didn't just get a cat. The following, are three great dinosaur related movies for your kids, starting with the youngest age group and moving up.

Land Before Time

This G rated, animated film is great for the youngest kids, for no other reason then being animated. The story follows Littlefoot, an Apatosaurus fleeing from his drought stricken homeland to the Great Valley where his grandparents await. Along the way he meets several friends: Ducky, a Saurolophus. Spike, a Stegosaurus. Petrie, a Pterodactyl and Petra, a Triceratops.

Parents be warned: While not as heart-wrenching as Bambi, the movie does feature the on-screen death of Littlefoot's mother.

This movie spawned a ridiculous amount of sequels, which all kind of stink from a critical perspective. However, little kids could care less what Roger Ebert thinks and will enjoy all of them. The sequels are:

Land Before Time 2: The Great Valley Adventure
Land Before Time 3: The Time of The Great Giving
Land Before Time 4: Journey Through the Mists
Land Before Time 5: The Mysterious Island
Land Before Time 6: The Secret of Saurus Rock
Land Before Time 7: The Stone of Cold Fire
Land Before Time 8: The Big Freeze
Land Before Time 9: Journey to Big Water
Land Before Time 10: The Great Longneck Migration
Land Before Time 11: Invasion of the Tinysauruses

Get your check book out. Plenty of mileage can be gotten out of this series, especially since little kids like to watch things over and over and over. And over.

Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend

Baby is the story of a of Brontosaurus family, somehow still alive in Africa. A Paleontologist and her husband try and protect the Brontosaurus family from an evil scientist and hunters. The movie managed to snag a PG rating, but I wouldn't recommend it for the Land Before Time crowd. It features a lot of violence, including a scene where one of the Brontosaurus's is gunned down by the military. There is also some partial nudity in the movie, though not of an erotic nature. National Geographic type nudity.

On the plus side, it sends a great message about protecting endangered animals, and includes one heck of a cute baby Brontosaurus.

Jurassic Park

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've either already seen or own this movie, but it's definitely the ultimate in dino-related action. Jurassic Park follows the story of a couple of scientists and two kids trying to survive on an island full of dinosaurs. There are several deaths in the movie, though most are off-screen. The one on-screen death features a T-rex eating someone, so it's at least very cool death, and the kids old enough to watch this movie probably aren't going to be too disturbed by it. Most kids know that T-rex's eat people. The age group that will watch this movie is probably a little more responsive to scientific information, so be aware that the science in this movie is about 50% B.S.. Supplement the movie with a few dinosaur books.

Jurassic Park also spawned a couple of sequels: The Lost World and Jurassic Park 3. If you're an adult, The Lost World is simply awful and Jurassic Park 3 is probably the best of all of them. Of course kids will only care about the dinosaurs, so they'll enjoy them all.

Dinosaur movies are a great way to stimulate or satiate an interest in dinosaurs, which tends to lead to an overall greater interest in science and learning. Go get some dino-movies!