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20 Classic Films Children Should See


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I use to think I would sit around with my kids every so often and watch wonderful movies, or great tv shows.

 

But they don't like to watch tv. They will get on a kick every so often watching this or that. But it doesn't last long. Even when we sit around watching with them, and have snacks handy.

 

So I doubt my kids will even see 5% of the movies on that list.

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I dunno -- the list came across (to me) as "Here are some movies that I as an adult liked that are appropriate for kids, too" but not as "classics that every kid should see." Where was To Kill A Mockingbird? The Incredible Journey? The Apple Dumpling Gang? Big Red? My Father's Castle? I guess I'm thinking more along the lines of "Great older movies that kids love to watch that have some redeeming value to them." Maybe that's a different list. :D

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I thought it was a decent list. My kids have seen several of them. We did a unit on Film Studies a while ago and really enjoyed it. The kids especially liked Safety Last... and then the other day, they were very excited to see it in Hugo! (We had also watched Melies's films and The Great Train Robbery, which were also referenced in that movie.)

 

I suspect that a lot of the parents on this board introduce their kids to older and classic films more than in the general population, where something like "Toy Story" is probably the oldest "classic" a kid has ever seen.

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DS6 and now DS2 both have eclectic taste, running heavily to animation, superheroes, and space movies. I have to say that DS6 didn't like Metropolis (old version) much, but loves the more recent anime of the same title. :) These are beloved, off the top of my head and in no particular order:

 

Miyazaki movies (esp. Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Castle in the Sky, Nausicaa)

Dumbo (we've discussed the offensive racial stereotypes with DS6)

The Incredibles

How to Train Your Dragon

9 (we don't much like the cheesy ending, but the animation and creative aspects are superb)

2012, The Day After Tomorrow

Mars Attacks!

Indiana Jones 1 & 3

Star Wars 1-6

Fantastic Planet

2001: A Space Odyssey

Wall-E

War of the Worlds (Spielberg / Cruise version)

Batman Begins, The Dark Knight

Iron Man, Iron Man 2

Hellboy, Hellboy II

Lord of the Rings

The Hobbit (old Rankin/Bass animated version)

Darby O'Gill and the Little People

Fantasia

The City of Lost Children

Adventures of Baron Munchausen

Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace

What About Bob?

Mystery Men

The Edge

Avatar

 

I'd consider many of these important movies for being intellectually stimulating, humorous, highly visually creative, well-made with a good plot, or for some other reason. In the more mature movies we often skip certain scenes. I'd definitely second movies like "Arsenic and Old Lace", "Harvey", "The Oxbow Incident", etc. though the kids haven't watched many black-and-white movies yet.

 

My main point is that while there have definitely been some poor directions in movie-making since the days of black-and-white films, I'd never say that the better color/newer movies are inferior; in fact in many ways they're superior to older films, and not just because of advances in image quality and special effects. Plots tend to be richer, films are often much more visually creative, there's less stereotyping and racism, and there's also much more free-ranging choice of topics than in classic films.

Edited by Iucounu
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My kids saw The Red Balloon but none of the others. We are halfway through Mary Poppins now. We watched Dumbo a few weeks ago. The ones on the list seem a bit old to me (kids' age).

 

It's funny that It's a Wonderful Life is now seen as such a great movie. It's my understanding that it was not always that way!

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I dunno -- the list came across (to me) as "Here are some movies that I as an adult liked that are appropriate for kids, too" but not as "classics that every kid should see." Where was To Kill A Mockingbird? The Incredible Journey? The Apple Dumpling Gang? Big Red? My Father's Castle? I guess I'm thinking more along the lines of "Great older movies that kids love to watch that have some redeeming value to them." Maybe that's a different list. :D

 

:iagree:

 

I thought the list was a little odd and while it has many excellent movies on it, I agree with this poster.

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