For my 5 year old sons birthday, his cousins (and aunt, who occasionally writes reviews for this site) sent him this book:
Which is awesome. It’s been really fun to look through it with him, to explain how star ratings work, and to take notes on some of our favorite movies (we definitely disagree about “Toy Story” – I give it four and a half stars, he only gives it two, because the neighbor boy is too scary.)
But of course, because I’m me, I have to question some of the things on this list (Pearl Harbor? Seriously?) and some of the things left off (not nearly enough Studio Ghibli.) So, here’s my edited list, with some explanatory notes, and a secondary list afterwards of flicks that would make “151 movies to watch before you grow up.
(One more note: the book organizes movies by topic, which means you’ve got super kid-friendly movies like “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” next to more questionable ones like “Edward Scissorhands.” I’m going to organize my list differently – by what’s age-appropriate. Of course this is always rough, because kids are different, so what’s appropriate for one 13 year old maybe totally traumatic for another. So I’m not going to put specific ages on it – they’re just in order, ie, a kid will likely enjoy “Ponyo” before he’ll enjoy “The Muppet Movie,” before he’ll enjoy “the Matrix.” Hope that makes sense.
Anyway, here’s the list.
1.The Princess and the Frog
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Nothing wrong with The Princess and the Frog, and the first Winnie the Pooh movie, made in 1977 by Disney, is a classic, and its episodic nature makes it a great place to start toddler on movies.
2. My Neighbor Totoro
The first movie I showed my daughter, when she was four. I love the sense of ordinary wonder, the story of two little girls exploring the world of their new house and backyard.
3.
Ice Age
Ponyo
4. Finding Nemo
Ponyo is actually a retelling of “The Little Mermaid,” with the romance replaced by friendship. These two movies are visually similar, and I think my kids enjoyed the whirling, swirling seascapes in them when they were still too young to really follow the plots.
5. Despicable Me
6. The Incredibles
7.
Happy Feet
Inside Out
8. The LEGO Movie
9. Toy Story (all 3 of them)
10. A Bug’s Life
11. Wreck-It Ralph
12.Aladdin
13. Brave
14. Babe
It’s taken a long time for my kids to consider a live action film not “for grownups,” but they’re finally coming around.
15. Up
16. Miracle on 34th Street
17. Mary Poppins
18. The Little Mermaid
19.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Replacing the Jim Carrey movie with the TV special.
20. Monsters, Inc.
The premise here is fairly complicated for a kids’ movie – when I first showed it to my kids, they were unable to grasp why the monsters were scaring the little kids.
21. Shrek
First introduction to the ideas of meta-narrative and parody. Kids need to be pretty familiar with the way a fairy tale is supposed to go, or all the jokes fall pretty flat. Another one I introduced to my kids too young, and had to shelf for a while.
22. James and the Giant Peach
23. Beauty & the Beast
24.
The Lion King
Song of the Sea
I never much liked the Lion King, with its story about winners who belong in the Prideland and losers who will ruin it for everybody if you let them in. Felt a little too much like middle school. I much prefer the morals of Song of the Sea, about learning how to express your emotions in healthy ways before you turn to stone.
25. Frozen
26.
Ratatouille
Big Hero 6
I enjoy Ratatouille, but feel like its better qualities go right over the heads of kids.
27.
School of Rock
The Jungle Book
Probably the Disney musical (pre-1990) with the best music. Also some of the scariest bad guys. That’s a major consideration when you’re picking movies for kids under 6 or so.
28. The Wizard of Oz
29.
Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey
Swiss Family Robinson
Another perfectly adequate movie, replaced by a better one.
30. Home Alone
31.How to Train Your Dragon
32. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
A kids’ first crack at subversive cinema – the idea that you can do things in movies that would not be allowed in real life. (Just to be clear, we’re talking about the Gene Wilder version, not the horrible Johnny Depp version.)
33. Star Wars (all 3 of them, but not the prequels)
34. The Parent Trap
How old are kids when they start thinking about divorce, and the idea that their parents may not stay together forever?
35. E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial
Because the absence of Elliott’s father really haunts this film, giving it its melancholy undertone.
36.The Sandlot
37. The Secret Garden
First introduction to period drama.
38.
Iron Man
Superman
39. Harry Potter (all of them – spaced apart about every year or so)
The early ones are appropriate for younger kids, but they get pretty dark from “Goblet of Fire” on.
40 .
Mrs. Doubtfire
Spirited Away
One of the book’s choices that made me really scratch my head. Replaced by one of my favorite Studio Ghibli flicks
41. The Iron Giant
42. Pirates of the Caribbean
43. The Muppet Movie
How old do kids need to be to understand that the jokes are bad on purpose, and that’s what makes them funny?
44. Spider-Man
45.
Cool Runnings
The Love Bug
46. A Christmas Story
47. The Sound of Music
48.
Hugo
The Adventures of Tintin
49.
Seabiscuit
Bad News Bears
50.
A League of Their Own
Singin’ in the Rain
51. Wall-E
52. Whale Rider
53. The Red Balloon
54. Children of Heaven
55.
Where the Wild Things Are
City Lights
I love the Maurice Sendak book, but the movie was just a bunch of whining life-size puppets.
These last six are all going to challenge kids in different ways, hopefully broadening their horizons and making them think, on some level, about what movies can do. Some grownups never embrace subtitles or silent films.
56. The Lord of the Rings
57.
Avatar
Princess Mononoke
58.
The Hobbit
City of Lost Children
Why would I invite my kids to watch a bloated entry from a world already wonderfully realized when I can introduce them to another weird, wild world instead?
59.
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Dark Crystal
I liked Mr. Fox, but its charms are awfully grown up. And here’s another chance to spark my kids’ imagination with a movie that scared the bejeezus out of me when I was little.
60. The Goonies
61. The Karate Kid
62.
Fly Away Home
Freaky Friday
Both versions, are good, actually.
63. Raiders of the Lost Ark
64. Ghostbusters
These last two are movies to save until after you’ve had “the talk” with your kids.
65. Jurassic Park
66. Back to the Future
67. The Princess Bride
Kind of a more sophisticated “Shrek,” in that kids need to be able to see that it’s a send-up of fairy tale stories in order to really understand it.
68.
Bend It Like Beckham
Stand By Me
69. Field of Dreams
70.
Chariots of Fire
42
71.
Remember the Titans
Cool Hand Luke
72.
Titanic
Big
73. Miracle
74. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
75. It’s a Wonderful Life
76. Forrest Gump
77. The Nightmare Before Christmas
78. Spellbound
79. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
80. Edward Scissorhands
81.
Batman
The Dark Knight
There’s a lot of Tim Burton on the back end of this list, and moody teenagers are probably Burton’s ideal audience. Still, I can’t imagine a teen watching Burton’s Batman and not finding it terribly cheesy.
82. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
83.
Pretty in Pink
The Breakfast Club
If I have to pick one John Hughes movie to show to teenagers, it’d be The Breakfast Club.
84. To Kill A Mockingbird
85.
Lincoln
Amistad
Lincoln is a good movie, but is mostly about backroom politics and horse-trading. Amistad isn’t as good a movie, but introduces slavery in America in a way that will be more palatable for young teens.
86.
Pride & Prejudice
Romeo + Juliet
I can’t really imagine ever getting a teenage boy to sit through Pride & Prejudice. Romeo & Juliet, though, has guns and violence. And I’d rather introduce teens to Shakespeare than Jane Austen.
87. Dead Poets Society
88. Harold and Maude
89. Super Size Me
90. Apollo 13
91. Gremlins
92.
Pearl Harbor
Les Miserables
I don’t get this. I’ve never encountered anybody that considered Pearl Harbor a good movie. Is it on the list because it’s historical? Why not “Saving Private Ryan” or “Schindler’s List” or any number of other, better war movies?
93. Life is Beautiful
I thought about taking this off the list, as it’s hardly appropriate for kids. But instead, I’m leaving it here at the end. Because I think one of the most important think you learn as a young adult is that sometimes you can’t heroically stop the bad guys, all you can do is make the best of a really bad situation.
The rest of these are movies I haven’t seen, replaced by ones I would put on the list.
94.
The Brave Little Toaster
The Emperor’s New Groove
95.
Drumline
The Prince of Egypt
96.
Chicken Run
Shaun the Sheep Movie
97.
Holes
Kung Fu Panda
98.
Space Jam
Robin Hood
I have a really hard time believing a movie starring animated characters and basketball players from 20 years ago is going to age well. The 1973 Robin Hood, though, has aged very well.
99.
Rudy
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
100.
Mean Girls
The Perks of Being A Wallflower
101.
March of the Penguins
101 Dalmatians
See what I did there?
Other great movies for kids of all ages:
Puss in Boots
Wallace & Gromitt: Curse of the Were-Rabbit
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Star Trek
Life of Pi
War Horse
Rabbit-Proof Fence
The Matrix
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Say Anything
Grease
Frankenstein
Bride of Frankenstein
King Kong
Duck Soup
Our Hospitality
The Sword in the Stone
Lady and the Tramp
The Absent-Minded Professor
Flight of the Navigator
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