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Some out of the ordinary children's movies

You should definitely check out Kiki’s Delivery Service and My Neighbor Totoro by Hayao Miyazaki. We’ve been watching them for months. The art and animation are beautiful and the stories are elegantly simple. Both feature a strong, young female protagonist and are told from the children’s perspective. Each story builds slowly and develops the characters by putting them in situations that we (and our kids, 5 and 3) can relate to but are just a touch out of the ordinary. No fighting, no car chases, no violence, no bad language — these movies are proof that you can make engaging children’s entertainment that appeals to all ages without resorting to rude noises and slapstick. Highly recommended.

Comments

  1. Casey Ontiveros on 2005-04-27 16:43:37 wrote: Don’t forget let them watch Spirited Away

  2. john on 2005-04-27 17:42:47 wrote: I really like that film but the kids didn’t take to it. It was a little too scary for them.

  3. ethan on 2005-04-27 18:37:37 wrote: Yes, I agree those are two of the best kids films out there. I particurly like My Neighbor Totoro, but I hated Disney’s transation of Kiki’s

  4. Silph on 2005-05-14 22:04:42 wrote: I just watched Spirited Away a few hours ago with friends, and I must say that that movie, though good, is quite frightening. It scared me – and I’m a 21 year old! (albeit a rather sensitive 21 year old). And it’s so scary throughout almost the entire movie! I had to keep on reminding myself of the purpose of all the scariness.. and keeping my focus on the hope in the movie, and the bravery of the girl. I can totally see children not being able to see the hope past all the frightening aspects – there’s a lot of unkindness going on in some of the characters, which though is thought-provoking, is also a little disheartening. I definitely would advise any parent to watch the movie by themselves first, before letting any child under 12 watch it. If it frightened me, I bet it would frighten a young child! It’s really not like Kiki’s Delivery Service. Even Princess Mononoke is less frightening (and Princess Mononoke is definitely not for kids!) However, I do want to make clear that it is an excellent, excellent movie. Sorry, I’m a bit longwinded! I just remembered this post you made as I was watching it, and wanted to comment.