Kids will watch the same movie on loop for weeks on end. It’s enough to drive even the most patient parent completely mad. We’ve been through many movie phases in our house that have reduced formerly favourite movies of mine to dvds I hide behind the toilet to avoid having to watch it even one more time, ever, lest I smash the TV with a bar stool. Ahem.
But it doesn’t have to be this way! There are many kid’s movies that are almost not completely annoying for adults. Dare I say, adult-friendly? Movies you can trust won’t assault your child’s eyes with visions of beheadings or fornication or fill their ears with cuss words that could get them expelled from school. These movies stand a better chance of survival than, say, a Wiggles DVD or Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.
The Top 10 Kid’s Movies That May Not Find Themselves Flying Through A Second Floor Window are:
#10 – Drop Dead Fred
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpIi34fCu1w&feature=related[/youtube]
Drop Dead Fred didn’t get rave reviews from critics, sure, but it’s always been one of my favourite movies. Top 3, even. Kids love poop humor and, truth be told, so do I. I call my kids Snotface, unsavory females MegaBitch, and quite often threaten to make people eat their own head, all thanks to my favourite imaginary friend, Fred. In fact, this movie made me want an imaginary friend; I was angry at my insufficiently wild imagination for not being creative enough to make me my own Fred.
#9 – Wall-E
Everyone’s new favourite robot, Wall-E, showed us what our world may possibly be like if we continue to live as if everything is disposable and edible. The earth would become uninhabitable and we would slowly lose the ability to walk for ourselves while floating around the infinite in our false, manufactured space-pod. Well, that’s what the adults see. Kids see the cute robots getting into trouble and falling in love. There’s something for everyone.
#8 - E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. is both magical and entrancing to a child. Aliens can be frightening to little ones, but E.T. was sweet and lovable. He was stranded on a foreign planet and needed help from a boy to get him back home. Children appreciate movies in which they’re more than just helpless secondary characters. In E.T., a child was the hero.
#7 – Shrek
The first. The other two were ok, but the first is a modern classic. Shrek is about tootie jokes and gross-out gags. It’s about Donkey making waffles in the morning and Fiona being beautiful AND strong. It’s also about letting your inner self shine through. You’re lovely the way you are, no matter how you look on the outside. It’s about finding friendship in the most unlikely of places, like your own backyard. Shrek has great messages for kids and sly, subtle jokes for adults.
#6 – The Princess Bride
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sbqv3MwwVd8[/youtube]
A classic prince-saves-princess tale with a twist of knee-slapping comedy. Children love the beautiful, young princess and the swashbuckling sword fights. Adults memorize the one-liners to slip into conversations. “InconCEIvable.” “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” “Why won’t my arms move?” “You’ve been mostly dead all day.” Ten bonus points for Andre The Giant.
#5 – Up
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmsLUNFk_Qg[/youtube]
If you didn’t cry at least once during this movie, you have no heart. A shy, old man loses the love of his life and sets off to fulfil her childhood dream as tribute to his love for her? Swoon. Russell makes me want to hug a chubby Asian Boy Scout and Dug is my favourite talking dog ever on film. SQUIRREL!
#4 - The Goonies
For a slightly older kid, The Goonies is a classic. Who hasn’t told their best friend “Sloth love Chunk” at least once since seeing the movie in your childhood? Pirates, booty, adventure, bumbling bad guys, and, again, kids who save the day is why the young ones will love it. They are also the reasons why the grown ups love it. “Hey, you guuuys!”
#3 – Toy Story 3
This just came out on DVD. You should buy it. In a rare instance of a third in a series surpassing it’s two predecessors, Toy Story 3 is somehow even funnier than the first two. Funnier and more emotional and with a better storyline, this is the one, of the three, that parents and children can enjoy together the most. I took my 4 and 2 year old to the theatre to see this, the younger one’s first trip to the movies, and they both did not move a muscle. For 103 full minutes, they shoved popcorn in their gourds and barely blinked.
#2 – How To Train Your Dragon
Another one that was just released and another one that captured and held the attention of children and adults alike for it’s entire duration. HTTYD has lessons of standing up for what you believe in, looking beyond appearances, showing kindness and charity, and becoming who you want to be not who you’re supposed to be. It also made me want a dragon of my very own, now that I know how to train one myself.
#1 – The Wizard of Oz
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOKK8mAkiUI[/youtube]
The Wizard of Oz has been the number one family movie for the last seven hundred years. Songs you can sing together, witches and ugly neighbours to boo, and good conquers evil. Oz can be played on repeat for an entire winter and you’ll only go a little bit crazy (trust me, this is a true story). You’ll still sing along, and you’ll still stop and cheer when the (SPOILER ALERT) wicked witch perishes in a puddle of water. You can watch this with your kids. You can watch this on your own. Your kids can watch it on their own. That’s the mark of a good family film.
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There are so many more than these, so tell me: What are your go-to family movie night films? What kid’s movies do you love just as much as your kids do? Or what movies from your childhood do you remember watching with your parents?
About Jen O.
