My Ten Favorite Movies for Children

First, let us consider: there are children and then there are children. What I mean by that is that your fourteen-year-old is not necessarily going to like the same film your six-year-old does. As for your 34-year-old, tell him he should rent his own damn movies.

Seriously, I want to give equal time here to both younger and older children. I will not proclaim an arbitrary age where the one ends and the other begins, because, as we all know, children mature at different rates. Let me go ahead with my not-all-that-devious plan to list five for each category and let you decide which ones would best appeal to your children, here and now. Let's start with the younger set. I will be listing these films in the order they came out. Yes, yes, I know: be still your beating heart.

1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney), 1937

Out of all the well-made Disney animated classics from a while back, including Pinocchio and Cinderella, this one stands out as my favorite. The story of Snow White and the poisoned apple may be standard folklore fare, but when you throw in those seven sleepy, dopey and grumpy dwarfs, how can you go wrong?

In addition to the excellent animation, for the spooky stuff, the hi-jinx and everything else, this movie provides its young viewers with two wonderful songs, extolling the virtues of hard work: "Whistle While You Work" and Heigh-Ho. And, since this movie came out in 1937, there was plenty of time during and after World War II to fashion that first song into a tune about Il Duce and the thing that no longer works.

By the way, some of us from a certain generation got a nice surprise a bit later in life. After having seen this movie as kids, in 1987, we got treated to a funny, quirky sitcom called The Charmings. Anybody out there remember that? The premise was that Snow's evil stepmother, Lillian, had cast a spell on them that left them in suspended animation until the 1980s, which Lillian herself had somehow managed to get snagged in. As a result Prince Charming, his wife Snow, their two kids, Lillian, an unspecified dwarf and the magic mirror (played by Paul Winfield) suddenly find themselves in American suburbia. It was a clever show, but, unfortunately, it aired on ABC, the most shortsighted and cowardly of all the networks, so it didn't have a very long run..

2. Old Yeller (Disney), 1957

Warning and spoilage, all rolled into one: this one's a tear-jerker. It does not have a happy ending. On the other hand, who doesn't love a true and loyal dog? Old Yeller, in case you may not have guessed, is the name of the canine title character.

This stirring, well-acted film is the only drama on my younger children's list, but that is all right. There is nothing wrong with teaching the virtues of loyalty and kindness to animals in the process of telling a good story, is there?

3. Toy Story (PIxar), 1995

By now, we have computer animation replacing the traditional paper-and-ink type, with no falloff in quality, even if the two media are not quite the same things. The important point is that Toy Story tells a good tale, which outweighs all the artistic considerations, to my way of thinking. Some critics used to knock the animation and drawing for The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, and, to be sure, it was nowhere close to Disney standards, but people still loved the show.

Toy Story, besides being a well-told, well-drawn, well-accompanied (with music by Randy Newman) tale, also has some important lessons to teach, among them, the pitfalls of jealousy and the virtues of cooperation.

4. A Bug's Life (Pixar), 1998

Actually, your young children can hardly go wrong with any of the Pixar films. I picked out this one and the one before as my two favorites, but there is a lot of quality stuff right behind it from this studio.

Like Toy Story, which featured Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and John Ratzenberger, this film featured the vocal talents of Kevin Spacey, Dave Foley, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David Hyde-Pierce and Phyllis Diller, among others.

As any good children's movie should, it teaches the virtue of believing in yourself and your dreams.

I do have a cautionary note. I should point out there is one slightly-risqué line, in the show, when the ants are gathered at a restaurant, and a waiter, carrying a tray of...well, something, calls out, "Who ordered the poo-poo platter?" You need to have dined at a Chinese restaurant to fully get the joke.

5. The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Dreamworks), 2005

This animated (via claymation) film was the first feature-length movie starring the hilarious pair, Wallace and Gromit. Wallace, for those of you who don't know, is an Englishman, and Gromit is his dog. The former has a cheery, optimistic disposition, the latter, not so much.

Actually, any of the shorter W&G features (typically running about 30 minutes) would be entertaining, not only to small children, but to older ones and adults as well. This is, for my money, the most clever animated franchise around.

Like the shorter Wallace and Gromit features, this one is too zany to describe in a way that would do the film justice. In any case, it is a must-see for anyone, young or old, who has not yet seen it. I'm sure all the video rental services carry it, so there's no excuse for missing out on this joyful experience.

In addition to the always-amusing Peter Sallis in the role of Wallace, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit also features Helena Bonham Carter and a thoroughly dastardly Ralph Fiennes.

Now, let us move on to those films that might appeal to the older children. It is not that these next ones are in any way unfit for young people, but they are a bit more sophisticated in ways that a smaller child might not get.

6. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Disney), 1954

To be sure, submarines were nothing new in 1954, when this movie came out, but in the story's setting, back in 1866, they were almost unknown (There had been a crude experiment with a rudimentary submarine toward the end of the Civil War, but it came to little when its pilot died). Certainly a submarine with the capability and sophistication of the Nautilus, the vessel in the movie, would have been unheard-of. In fact, at the start of the story, the depredations of that sub were thought to have been caused by some sort of sea monster.

I should point out that, when I saw the film as a child, the science of cinematic special effects was nowhere close to the level it is today. Even so, the cinematography in this movie is spectacular. If your youngster has not already been fed an overdose of crash and burn technology, he or she might really enjoy the action scenes.

What is more, it is a compelling story, originally told by the nineteenth-century novelist, Jules Verne, probably the father of science fiction.

7. The Court Jester (Paramount), 1956

I rate Danny Kaye as one of the finest comedic actors in the history of the screen and this movie one of his best. It did not do well at the box office, probably because it was a musical that had not been made from an already-successful Broadway show. In truth, while the music for this movie was not awful, it was hardly memorable. Also, what music there was, Danny Kay hogged it all, not that he isn't a talented singer. Still, with people like Angela Lansbury in the cast, you have to believe they could have parceled a few tunes out to other people.

In time, though The Court Jester has attracted the following it deserves. Eventually it came to be listed in the AFI top-100 comedies. If you have not seen the movie, you may have heard about its most famous routine, when Danny Kaye's character must fight a duel to the death.

I saw this movie when I was eleven. That would be a good age for your child or grandchild to see it, but, in truth, it is a lot of fun for a wide range of people.

8. To Kill a Mockingbird (Universal), 1962

During my years of teaching in the Montgomery County, Maryland, public school system, I noted the book of the same title, by Harper Lee, was taught at the high school level. It was in the curriculum despite some harsh language, featuring the infamous N-word in reference to black people.

There is death and violence in this movie, and not in a cartoonish, special-effects kind of way, but up-close, personal and ugly. Still, the eloquent tale the film tells, as it stayed very loyal to the book, makes it an excellent movie for children to see, even before the high school level. Do not hesitate to rent this one for them, if they have not seen it already.

By the way, Robert Duvall, very much different from his sophisticated Tom Hagan character in The Godfather, got his first big break with his role in this film.

9. The Great Race (Warner Bros.), 1965 &

10. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (Touchstone), 1988

If I am lumping these last two together and seeming to give them short shrift, it is because I already covered them both extensively in my earlier article, Ten Movies to Watch on a Rainy Day. Rather than paint Lily Tomlin, I would refer you to that article for the skinny on these two very entertaining films.

Let me just say that they represent Jack Lemmon (#9) and Bob Hoskins (#10) at their very best, and that is saying something.

As I have said in a number of similar articles, picking out a top ten from such a rich and variegated field is a very inexact science indeed. This essay is not meant to enshrine the ten that I listed above all others (even if they are just that in my opinion) but to guide you to some creative ideas you might want to consider for the young people in your family. All the movies I listed are ones you could easily watch with them. I hope you and they enjoy them all.

Sources

Wikipedia

YouTube

The films themselves