Movie suggestions for 12 yo boy sleepover party?

[Michelle T]

DS will be turning 12 in a couple weeks. He wants to have a few friends spend the night. So I will most likely have 8-10 boys, all between the ages of 10-12 at my house.

 

I want to get a couple movies for them to watch. I'd love some suggestions for suitable movies for boys this age, particularly action-packed movies. None of the boys are particularly sensitive or easily frightened.

 

Thanks!

Michelle T

[Mrs Mungo]

Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Road Warrior, Bruce Lee movies, Alien, James Bond, Bourne Identity, The Italian Job, Transporter...hmm. Ooh! The 1980 Flash Gordon would be hilarious! If you haven't seen Firefly, that is a really good series.

[Heather in the Kootenays]

How to eat fried worms. I have others but I'll need to think it through.

 

I have to say though (and I might be a minority) I wouldn't be thrilled if my 13 yo ds was shown James Bond, Bourne, or Alien. Perhaps my small community is sheltered but I add it as a note of caution.

[Unicorn.]

National Treasure, 1 and 2; Indiana Jones, Secondhand Lions; Star Wars, ds says McGyver (ok, old t.v. series, not a movie, but he loves it!) Harry Potter, The Rookie, The Great Escape, The Sandlot, Old movies w/ John Wayne, or Don Knotts.

 

ETA: dh adds, Pirates of the Caribbean, Hook, (and a really old one that you may not be able to find: Those Magnificent Men and Their Flying Machines- w/ Tony Curtis) Underdog,

[LibraryLover]

We had a Back To The Future trilogy party that was great fun.

 

Sandlot is great, too.

[Melissa in CA]

My 11 yo son suggests:

 

National Treasure 1 & 2, The Patriot, Evan Almighty, Invincible, We Are Marshall, Remember the Titans, Spiderman 1, 2, & 3, Napolean Dynamite, Jurassic Park 1, 2, & 3, First Knight, Pirates of the Carribean, and Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade. :D

[DollyM]

The Patriot has that bloody ax scene - I wouldn't want to show that to a group of 10-12 yo boys. It would excite some and traumatize others. :001_huh:

 

Of the ones already listed I concur with 2nd Hand Lions - obscure enough that many would NOT have already seen it, good enough to repeat if they have. And it's nice gentle movie.

 

When showing movies to a group I vote for the more gentler options.

[Mosaicmind]

Holes, Transformers, Sugar Creek Gang, Star Wars, Bridge to Tarabithia, Chronicles of Narnia,& Lord of the Rings.

 

Hope he has a good party.

[Mrs. Readsalot]

I really like many of the movies already suggested. A few others I thought of are

Derby Stallion (great message for boys)

Flubber

RV

Inspector Gadget

Spy Kids

The Absent Minded Professor

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

Master Commander

[Melissa in CA]

The Patriot has that bloody ax scene - I wouldn't want to show that to a group of 10-12 yo boys. It would excite some and traumatize others. :001_huh:

 

Of the ones already listed I concur with 2nd Hand Lions - obscure enough that many would NOT have already seen it, good enough to repeat if they have. And it's nice gentle movie.

 

When showing movies to a group I vote for the more gentler options.

 

Oh yeah...the bloody ax scene. Forgot about that one. I suppose some more sensitive boys might object. My boys all love that movie though...ax scene and all. I didn't let my youngest watch that particular scene until he was 10 yo, and even then it was no big deal to him. He understood the father's grief over the death of his son, and also understood that it is a movie for Pete's sake...not real life. He's a pretty mature thinker for his age though.

 

OP mentioned that none of the boys were sensitive or easily frightened which is why I felt The Patriot would be an OK recommendation. ;) It is rated R though for violence....but there is no cursing, s*x, or innuendo.

[Wendi]

He agrees with many of the other suggestions, especially episodes 1-3 of Star Wars (more battle scenes). He also recommends the PBS series "Liberty! The American Revolution", which we are currently watching for school (he's watching episode 5 right now!).

 

I think Lord of the Rings is great, so I'll always recommend it. We also really enjoyed the National Treasure movies, especially the second one. Do they like Bionicles? My son and his friends enjoyed the Bionicle DVDs.

 

If they like cartoons, my ds loves The Pink Panther, Rocky and Bullwinkle, and The Flintstones. And Spongebob.

 

Wendi

[Jenny in Florida]

OP mentioned that none of the boys were sensitive or easily frightened which is why I felt The Patriot would be an OK recommendation. ;) It is rated R though for violence....but there is no cursing, s*x, or innuendo.

 

Family values and rules vary widely, and a lot of parents I know would be uspet to learn after the fact that their 10-12-year olds had been shown several of the films recommended here.

 

For example, my 10-year-old son has not seen (and won't be seeing anytime soon) Road Warrior, any Bruce Lee flicks, Alien, any James Bond, Bourne Identity, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Patriot, any of the Spiderman films, or any of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. And it's not because he would be traumatized or frightened, but because we have learned over the years that we need to be careful with the amount of violence he watches.

 

In our family, a certain amount of sexual content and cursing are no big deal. As my husband always says, it is our hope that someday, when it is appropriate, our children will have sexual relationships. And, curse words are just words. (My kids are being taught that cursing is rude, because it may make other people uncomfortable. And that it betrays a lack of good vocabularly skills.) However, we fervently hope that neither of them will ever experience--let alone participate in--the kind of wanton violence so graphically portrayed in many contemporary films. And we absolutely do not want them sitting in a room full of other kids absorbing these images and thinking they are "cool" or even acceptable.

 

So, I would definitely recommend letting the kids' parents know what you're planning so they have the option of keeping their kids home or at least preparing them in advance.

[Melissa in CA]

Family values and rules vary widely, and a lot of parents I know would be uspet to learn after the fact that their 10-12-year olds had been shown several of the films recommended here.

 

In our family, a certain amount of sexual content and cursing are no big deal. As my husband always says, it is our hope that someday, when it is appropriate, our children will have sexual relationships. And, curse words are just words.

 

So, I would definitely recommend letting the kids' parents know what you're planning so they have the option of keeping their kids home or at least preparing them in advance.

 

I agree with Jenny...Family values and rules vary WIDELY. I have three boys. All three very laid back, very NON-violent. We have absolutely no problem with our boys watching war films. I would not allow slasher horror films, but films with fighting violence is OK in our book. It has not done anything to our boys...they have no desire to go out and kill someone violently.

 

BUT, we do NOT allow films with s*xual conduct, or immoral behavior and talk. Do we want our boys to have relations with girls someday? Yep. But not until they are married adults, so seeing anything too 'over-the-top' before 17 years old is not an option in our family (I consider the series Friends as over-the-top...everybody sleeping with everybody, immoral lifestyles and views. Super funny, yes, appropriate, no). Now, if I had boys who were prone to violence, then that would be a 'non-option' issue with us as well.

 

So basically OP, perhaps you should just buy a season of The Waltons and let the boys watch that! LOL (Actually, all my boys LOVE the Waltons!!) Or at the very least, pick some movies and get 'OK's' from the parents before allowing the kids to watch them. Besides, if I know boys well....and I do...you'll probably only get them to sit down to watch maybe one movie, and that is at bedtime. What you need are a lot of outdoor games...airsoft fights, football, basketball, or baseball game, etc.

 

Oh, and lots of snacks... ;)

[Jenny in Florida]

BUT, we do NOT allow films with s*xual conduct, or immoral behavior and talk. Do we want our boys to have relations with girls someday? Yep. But not until they are married adults, so seeing anything too 'over-the-top' before 17 years old is not an option in our family (I consider the series Friends as over-the-top...everybody sleeping with everybody, immoral lifestyles and views. Super funny, yes, appropriate, no).

 

I consider Friends inappropriate for kids this age, too. I was absolutely horrified when Jennifer Anniston won an Kids' Choice award for favorite actress during the season in which her character had the baby.

 

I probably should have phrased my original comment a bit differently: A certain amount of healthy sexuality is not a problem for us.

 

I also agree about the broad category of not allowing films with "immoral behavior." It's just that, in our family, murder and unnecessary violence fall into that category.

[Mrs Mungo]

About values varying widely-I agree, that they do. My kids have seen many (but certainly not all) of the movies listed in the thread (not even all of the ones I listed). The OP said she was interested in action movie ideas. I figured she was smart enough to decide what was appropriate for her crowd and left the value judgements out of it.

[K-FL]

Maybe this site will help you decide. At the top, you can look at all the ones they've rated by "Better than average," "average," etc. They're pretty strict, so at least you'll have some place to start. HTH! :)

 

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