great conservative movies for family movie nights

[greenmamato3]

i am trying to work on a conservative list of fun (but even slightly educational) movies for a new thing we're trying: friday night family movie night.

DS is 6; DD is 4.5.

 

so far, this is what is in our DVD drawer that the kids are permitted to watch when we're on long trips or such.

-mary poppins {not our kids' favorite, which makes me sad}

-sound of music (which is a favorite, for the first half! :))

-prince of egypt

-monsters inc {which is borderline acceptable IMHO, but it's produced good discussion about how GREAT and big God is so that's nice!}

-charlotte's web

-cars movie (DS is a wheel freak so there was no avoiding this, even though i truly do detest the words they've chosen. the storyline is "fine" by me, but i have really struggled with the dialogue. we keep this to a max of about 1 time every two months .... )

-bambi (they are really over this previously-fave'd movie) :(

-lady and the tramp

-aristocats (they tire of this about halfway through and i don't blame them)

-curious george the movie (they are sort of over this too)

-horton hears a who

-lion king

-polar express (*I* tire of this! and veto it unless it's december ...)

-peter pan

-little house on the prairie compilation that they've never seen yet. [i'm hoping to ,again, entice them into the books .......then watch it when we finish]

-Chronicles of Narnia. they've not seen this. i'm currently re-reading the series and hope to introduce it to them after christmas. is this advisable for this age group in movie format?

-anne of green gables (i'm hoping that i can entice them into this series of books next year and then "award" them with a special showing of the first one, to get them hooked! :) it was my childhood favorite but my mom never askd me to read the book .... and i wished she had!:( )

-planet earth -- they love the segments we've watched

 

what is out there? i'm even open to GReAT travel videos, fun documentaries, and things that are off the beaten path.

 

thanks!

 

we really don't watch much TV ( i don't want that to sound prude or prideful ... it's just something i try to keep to an average max of about 3 sesions each week, and that includes even just 20-min video. there's history there as to why we do this but it's not worth explaining! :tongue_smilie: )

[anotherclassicmom]

We really like the Five Mile Creek series. Liberty's Kids are fun and educational.

[greenmamato3]

do i just google these? i've never heard of these! thanks!!!! :)

[Caitilin]

These aren't really "family movie night" movies in our house, but the Scholastic Videos of good-quality picture books are wholesome and pleasant. They're about an hour long each, and each contains between 3-6 books. Even my 11.5 y-o dds will watch them without grumbling when we borrow them from the library.

 

As far as family movies, my kids have enjoyed the old Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton movies (available from Netflix); Errol Flynn version of Robin Hood; My Fair Lady; Fred Astaire/Gene Kelley dance musicals; Babe; the original film version of Dr. Doolittle with Rex Harrison; Prairie Pirates; old disney movies like the Apple Dumpling Gang and Swiss Family Robinson; Heidi; A Little Princess; the Secret Garden; Little Women; old episodes of the Muppet Show; the original Star Wars; the mini-series Dinotopia; hmmm. If I think of something to add, I will come back. :)

[greenmamato3]

hurray. thanks!

we did get swiss family robinson from the library earlier this spring and the younger had trouble following it. DH was basically explaining everything with commentary .... it wasn't relaxing :( LOL.

 

i thought of something our kids like: bill nye the science guy. it's just hard to find them, IMHO. our library has exactly one ... and it's a VHS. anyone else with similar experience?

i *DO NOT* like magic school bus videos .... they drive me buzark! LOL. our kids of course love them. they don't realize the library has them! LOL. by design! :) wonder how much longer i can pull that one off?!

 

what are the "good" travel video series out there? rick steves'?

:confused:

[Manamana]

Michael Palin did a couple of travel documentaries where he traveled from the North pole to the South pole and around the world in 80 days. These were really good but you might want to pre-screen them as I'm not sure if they are totally appropriate for kids. They were on PBS.

 

Rick Steve's might be boring for young kids but you could try an episode.

 

We liked:

Heidi (older Shirley Temple version or a more recent version),

Lassie (so good)

Black Beauty (get ready to cry)

Water Horse (slightly scary)

Annie

Annie Get Your Gun

Kit Kittredge & other American girl movies (great for boys and girls)

The Secret Garden

Charlotte's Web

Peter and the Wolf ballet

Nutcracker ballet

 

I'm sure I'll think of others. Friday night movie night sounds like fun.

[Stacia]

Toy Story (I think this is my favorite kids movie, lol)

The Jungle Book

 

Discovery Channel has some great shows. You might want to take a look at the Survivorman series . (My kids are older than yours & also like Mythbusters, Man vs. Wild, and Dirty Jobs from Discovery channel, but you might not find all of their situations or language appropriate.) Survivorman would be fine for your family, imo. Dirty Jobs would also most likely be fine.

 

The Food Network also has some great shows, including Unwrapped, Dinner: Impossible, Good Eats, The Secret Life Of, and Iron Chef America. (My ds loves cooking & is always very interested in Food Network shows.)

 

The Science Channel has How It's Made (which is a big hit in our house).

 

Globe Trekker is a fun, interesting travel show.

 

I would suggest that you preview any of these suggestions ahead of time to make sure they would be of interest & appropriate for your family.

[Aggie]

This may not be an issue for you, but I like our dc to read the books before they see the movie. There are a few exceptions, but usually they know they must read the book first! :)

 

I think Narnia is good for 8-9 or so. 6.5 is kind of young, imo.

 

When we go on vacation, our dc watch Animal Planet (we don't have cable at home). I wonder if they have any videos out?

 

FWIW, we tried movie night when our dds were 5 and 6, but gave it up because of the lack of movies we would let them watch. We switched to game night! LOL

[peachlady]

Gallant Bess (Oldie but goodie about a boy who looses his horse just before he ships out in WW2. Good lesson in forgiveness and bitterness. This is a public domain movie, search ebay...)

 

Love Comes Softly (there are others to this series, but I have to say, they don't follow the books well, and I took issue with the lack of truth about salvation in the 3rd one. Also, the girls are portrayed in a more manly manner than Jannette Oke, the author did, and really don't teach respect. But they are "clean" as far as cussing or anything like that....)

 

The Black Stallion

 

Anne of Green Gables

 

The Scarlet Pimpernel (love this one!)

[greenmamato3]

thanks for the tidbit on the chronicles of narnia being not age appropriate. i kind a thought so. we just already have it.

 

[incidentally tonight i have previewed what i THOUGHt was going to be a fun film ... bug's life ... WOWOWOWO. NO NO NO NO !!!!!!! i'm really glad i took the time to preview it! ]

 

and yes, game nights are actually starting to be something we can do. tonight, after the kids and i did a TINY bit more history reading (b/c we played outside all afternoon and also skipped a good portion of our morning work to go to target to buy a new toy! (LOL)), we then played UNO. and then hit the hay. even my younger was asking to do it! that was really encouraging to me. DH was out of town but he'll be glad to join in. maybe we'll alternate friday nights -- movie . game . movie . game. we have to be careful how many nights each week we keep them up past their bedtime. they really need their rest!

 

i'd forgotten about black beauty. the version we had was really too violent-looking and NOT true to the book. the kids got it from my mom and they were mimicking some of the voices they heard and words they heard. yet, we've listened to the book on tape numerous times. what version is good?

[nmoira]

My Neighbor Totoro

Kiki's Delivery Service (the main character is a witch)

Bednobs and Broomsticks (ditto)

Singing in the Rain

WALL-E

The Iron Giant

Laurel & Hardy

Abbott & Costello

Dr. Dolittle

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Wizard of Oz

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Shirley Temple

Wallace and Gromit

[Manamana]

 

i'd forgotten about black beauty. the version we had was really too violent-looking and NOT true to the book. the kids got it from my mom and they were mimicking some of the voices they heard and words they heard. yet, we've listened to the book on tape numerous times. what version is good?

 

 

We have the 1994 version of Black Beauty. I thought it was nicely done but we have not read this book so I don't know how it compares to the original story.

[IsabelC]

IMBD is a useful resource for doing a quick check on a movie. There is a parents' warning section that details whether the movie has violence, sex, coarse language or whatever. (Obviously it's still good to watch it yourself, but IMBD can help with weeding out things you can see straightaway are unsuitable or too old for your children).

[ElizabethB]

We're waiting on Narnia for a bit, and will probably read the books first.

We don't have a TV, we just watch DVDs, here are some of our favorites:

 

The Waltons

Wall-E

Jay-Jay movies

The Miracle Maker

Wallace and Grommit

Shaun the Sheep

Charlotte's Web (The movie, not the cartoon. The cartoon version, Wilber is very whiney.)

Veggie Tales

Diego animal DVDs (Dora is annoying, Diego is OK.)

Toy Story I and II

Blue Planet series

Curious George

The first Benji (NOT the second)

Growing up Animal series (Growing up Artic, Growing up Safari, etc.)

Winnie the Pooh (selected ones, I don't like the holiday ones)

Nim's Island

Parent Trap (original and new version, we have both)

Pingu (we also like the You Tube pingu's, but you have to be careful, some of them are not G!)

Stuart Little

Air Buddies (I don't like these, but the kids and Grandma's do)

March of the Penguins

 

My husband and the kids also have downloaded several shark week TV series, I read while they watch those, I can take about 1 minute of sharks before I'm done.

 

We also have many on your list!

Edited August 7, 2009 by ElizabethB

[Heidi @ Mt Hope]

Most definitely Babe. Loved the book as well (and others by Dick King-Smith). I'm in the middle of reading his memoir right now.

 

And The Railway Children. (The book is by Edith Nesbit if you want to read it first.)

[linders]

The Narnia movies are true to the books but fairly violent in the battle depictions - my boys 9 and 5 haven't seen them yet (and these guys are pretty rough and tumble).

 

A couple to add to others' ideas:

 

- Blue Planet (like Planet Earth)

- Magic School Bus videos (my boys still love them)

- Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (their fave musical)

[djsmom]

We REALLY like the American Girl movies. They are enjoyable for adults, boys, & girls.

 

Samantha - An American Girl Holiday

Felicity - An American Girl Adventure

Molly - An American On the Home Front

Kit Kittredge - An American Girl

An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong

 

You can find descriptions and reviews on Amazon.

[DawnM]

A really good family favorite is Wild Horses Can't Be Broken. It is a true story and shows life in the time of the Great Depression and one girl's determination to make it no matter what.

 

Dawn

[SquirrellyMama]

We really enjoyed Mr. Magoriums Wonder Emporium.

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457419/

 

I'm not sure how good of reviews it got but we loved it. I think what I liked so much was the amount of joy my children got from watching it.

[Jenn in Mo]

Oh, Wild Hearts Can't be Broken! I loved that one!

 

Also, Pollyanna and the 1995 version of A Little Princess.

[whitestavern]

Here is a list of movies we have enjoyed. Most of them have been for "family movie night" but a few have been used as part of school:

 

 

Yankee Doodle Dandy

Fiddler on the Roof

Babar: The Movie

Captains Courageous

Liberty's Kids

Strauss: King of Three Quarter Time

Duma

Johnny Tremain

Just the Facts-Declaration of Independence

Kiki's Delivery Service

Inspiring Heroes: George Washington

The Howards of Virginia

Keeping the Promise

The Pirate

Darby O'Gill and the Little People

Cheaper by the Dozen (older version)

Gulliver's Travels

My Neighbor Totoro

Black Beauty

Escape to Witch Mountain (older version)

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

Pippi Longstocking

National Geographic: Jamestown

The Railway Children

The Aristocats

Shakespeare: The Animated Tales

The Thief of Bagdad

The Miracle Maker: The Story of Jesus

Follow Me, Boys!

Meet Me in St. Louis

The Rescuers

That Darn Cat

A Musical Journey: Norway

Life With Father

The Black Stallion

The Shaggy Dog

Toby Tyler

The Secret of NIMH

[2_girls_mommy]

Mine have liked also:

 

Little Women

 

Little House on the Prairie (the Disney made for T.V. mini series that was out a few years ago. I taped all 6 hrs of it, but I recently saw it for sale at Borders in a little covered wagon that I want badly!)

 

The Love Comes Softly series. We bought at Mardel.

 

And then yes, unfortunately I have to sit through weeks of them choosing, which is always a Disney cartoon:001_smile:

[Ellie]

We have the 1994 version of Black Beauty. I thought it was nicely done but we have not read this book so I don't know how it compares to the original story.

None of the Black Beauty movies are faithful to the book. Neither are any of the Heidi, Secret Garden, or Little Princess movies, although some are closer than others, which may or may not bug you.

[BikeBookBread]

Most of my favorites have been mentioned except for these few:

 

 

 

• Chicken Run - Stalag 17 with chickens...so funny and heartwarming!
  
• Wallace & Grommit movies - the wererabbit one is SOOO funny. Of course, it's not really a wererabbit, but the thought that Wallace believes there's a wererabbit just makes me laugh.
  
• BBC versions of Dickens, Austen, etc. The recent "Little Dorritt" was wonderful, but maybe a bit grown up. Perhaps after the kiddoes go to bed, you could watch it. Wonderful story.
  

 

I think more-mature young kids would do fine watching the recent Lion Witch Wardrobe. If you want to see a less "realistic", less violent version, the BBC versions of Narnia from the 1980's is very good, but they're dark...literally, almost as if they filmed them through a sunglasses-tinted filter. But they are very true to the stories, and very well acted.

[Melissa in CA]

Has no one mentioned The Waltons??? :001_huh: We LOVE The Waltons!! My kids could never really 'get into' Little House on the Prarie...probably because they are boys. But we have every season available of The Waltons on DVD. Excellent family-friendly shows. My boys watch them and re-watch them over and over. Start with Season one....your children will relate better to the younger Walton children and their mishaps. ;)

 

ETA: We don't watch TV either. In fact, we haven't had TV service for about 10 years. Everything we watch is from DVD's we have either purchased or rented from Netflix.

Edited August 7, 2009 by Melissa in CA

[SquirrellyMama]

Melissa in CA;1122407]Has no one mentioned The Waltons??? :001_huh: We LOVE The Waltons!!

I was going to metion the Waltons but I was thinking movies and not TV shows. I've been checking the Waltons dvd's out from the library lately. Love them!

 

Kelly

[LizzyBee]

One of my favorite movies is Avalon (the one directed by Barry Levinson). It's about an immigrant family in Baltimore and it's a fun way to encourage patriotism.

[elizam]

Seven Alone

 

The WIlderness Family

 

Ruby Bridges

 

Selma Lord Selma

 

My Dog Skip

 

The Biscuit Eater

 

Old Yeller

 

Where the Red Fern Grows (original 70's version)

 

Rascal

[dangermom]

We love:

 

The Court Jester

 

The Secret of Roan Inish

 

The Neverending Story

[helena]

We love Cinderfella :)

[Therese]

-little house on the prairie compilation that they've never seen yet. [i'm hoping to ,again, entice them into the books .......then watch it when we finish]

...

-anne of green gables (i'm hoping that i can entice them into this series of books next year and then "award" them with a special showing of the first one, to get them hooked! :) it was my childhood favorite but my mom never askd me to read the book .... and i wished she had!:( )

 

 

Good idea of yours to read the books before watching either series! I haven't seen many of the Little House series, but we are big Anne of Green Gables fans in this house. You probably will want to wait until your children are 11 or so to read AofGG. The two Sullivan movies are good, but they do deviate from the books in ways that some Anne fans don't like. There's nothing morally objectionable in them, it's just that they do things like combining two characters into one person and in the process change some of the events that took place.

 

There is a more recent Anne movie that has a completely different story line than any written by L.M. Montgomery and from what I've read, it may even have the Anne and her husband living together before they get married. I haven't seen it yet and am not sure that I want to.

 

That's probably more than you wanted to know about the Anne movies, given the current ages of your children! :001_unsure:

 

We have very fond memories of family bed-time read aloud sessions. It used to be a nightly thing we did, but sadly as our children have grown older we stopped doing it, with the result that our youngest doesn't remember certain books.

 

I highly recommend reading books aloud as a family. Doing so builds a shared history of familiarity with characters and events that provides material for reference years later!

[mom2denj]

We bought the entire collection (can look on Amazon) my dd loves them!!

[Shelly in the Country]

i am trying to work on a conservative list of fun (but even slightly educational) movies for a new thing we're trying: friday night family movie night.

 

 

For some bizarre reason my kids really, really liked a PBS documentary we rented from Netflix called "Sandwiches You Will Like". Some guy travelled the US sampling....sandwiches. Regional sandwiches. It was educational.....US geography, culinary history, etc. Don't ask me why I rented a sandwich documentary in the first place. :lol:

 

On a more serious note, my kids love Kim Possible (Mom and Dad like it, too.)

[SquirrellyMama]

For some bizarre reason my kids really, really liked a PBS documentary we rented from Netflix called "Sandwiches You Will Like". Some guy travelled the US sampling....sandwiches. Regional sandwiches. It was educational.....US geography, culinary history, etc. Don't ask me why I rented a sandwich documentary in the first place. :lol:

 

On a more serious note, my kids love Kim Possible (Mom and Dad like it, too.)

 

We enjoyed the sandwich documentary too.

[Jennefer@SSA]

Didn't see this mentioned (but it may be in there as I only briefly skimmed other replies) but my kids LOVE Magic School Bus Videos! We have them saved from TLC.