Travicity
03-21-2011, 04:12 PM
Kids Movies We're Not Embarassed to Watch (and Love)
Kids movies aren't just for kids - the best of the lot transcend their own G rating to entertain both young and old. Here are a few of our favorite movies aimed at the wee ones that we'll happily admit we love.
11
Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey
Before the world had the Internet and wonders of YouTube, they had to rely on movies and TV for adorable pets doing adorable things. Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey was a milestone for animal antics, the story of two dogs and a kitten that set out on a cross-country adventure after seemingly being left behind by their owners. Over the course of the film, Chance, Shadow and Sassy have run-ins with bears, crossing rushing rivers and get a buttload of porcupine quills in their noses -- and we're completely incapable of not letting out an "awwwwww" after every instance.
10
The Phantom Tollbooth
Learning can be fun, especially when it involves traveling a magical world on par with OZ.
The Phantom Tollbooth turned the Kingdom of Wisdom into an animated playground of words and numbers, a imaginative ladnscape that spoke to fantasy nerds while also secretly teaching them concepts like "dodecahedron." Perhaps one day they'll make a big-bugeted, CG-ified remake, but for now, we're happy to say we watch the original with pride.
9
The Secret of NIMH
Animator Don Bluth made a wise decision back in the late '70s: to get the hell out of Disney and do his own thing. Bluth set up his own animation studio, and while at the time cartoons were still aimed at kids (okay, they still are but we're a little more generous), Bluth found a particular voice that spoke to a larger audience. Case in point: The Secret of NIMH, a scary-as-hell adaptation of Robert C. O'Brien's novel that follow Mrs. Frisby as she rebels against tyrannical mice leadership. Dark and moody, the movie may have starred talking animals, but political intrigue and dangerous fight scenes keep it fresh for us older folk.
8
Newsies
Don't try and hide it. Open the gate for your love of corny kid musicals and seize the day.
Newsies was a box office bomb when it was first released in 1992. Now, it's the film that is mostly likely to trigger a young women's hormones. If you're not comfortable with that fact, then maybe you need a reminder on how awesome Christian Bale is -- even at the age of 18. Bale sings and dances his way through this period musical that tackles the odd subject of the 1899 New York newsboy strike and, because it's Bale, it pretty much kicks ass.
Newsies sets many girls' hearts a flutter, but yours will be pumping quickly too when you see Bill Pullman whip out his own vocal stylings.
7
Peter Pan
If you surveyed the masses, Steven Spielberg's Hook is the probably the most heralded and remembered of all live-action Peter Pan stories, but P.J. Hogan's color, kiddie 2003 version is even more magical and fantastical as anything the king of blockbusters could whip up. Thanks to the wonders of CGI, Peter Pan's visuals are like a painting -- and the acting ain't that bad either. As Captain Hook, Jason Isaacs chews up scenery like its gristle, making the movie more-than watchable. Bonus: hot mermaids.
6
Enchanted
That's right. Another musical.
Well, half-musical. Enchanted is more enjoyable than any other princess movie due mostly in part to the comedic stylings of Amy Adams, James Marsden and an animated chimpmunk. The songs are just as sweet and sugary as any animated movie of the last decade, but fused with the non-fairy tale, city world that former-princess Giselle finds herself in, they're spoofs -- and hilairous ones at that. If you live in New York and found 80 squirrels in your apartment trying to help you get dressed, you wouldn't sing "tra la la." You'd run screaming like a mad man.
5
Aladdin
Of all the Disney animated films, Aladdin completes the trifecta of great kid animation: whacked out comedy, infectuous songs and a heartfelt plot. Maybe it never got the Broadway treatment like The Lion King, but I'd like to see Simba span multiple continents courtesy of a flying carpet, dabble in Arab stereotypes and utilize the great Gilbert Gottfried (JAAHFAAAAR!!). Robin Williams, contrary to popular belief, is a funny guy, even more so behind the blig, blue face of the Genie. Time to plop this DVD back in the player for another round -- and this time, you don't need to wrangle kids to make it look like you're watching it "for them."
4
The Love Bug
Before Transformers, there was Herbie the Love Bug, a Volkswagen with a mind of its own. Herbie starred in a handful of films in the last 50 years, but his first outing was in the 1968 film The Love Bug starring Dean Jones. Yes, it's a silly little kids movie featuring a car that bumps people in the ass with its hood, but for fans of racing it's still kind of the sh*t. Forget Vin Diesel's Fast and the Furious -- it's 1000 times more badass watching a compact whiz around a track then muscle cars shoot flames out their tail pipes. That only happens to Herbie when he eats too many beans.
3
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
"Treguna Mekoides Trecorum Satis Dee"
Angela Lansbury's musical witch film Bedknobs and Broomsticks gives hope to those who watch that they will someday posess the magical spell to make all their crap clean itself up. While this will never come true (sorry, guys), it does help Lansbury whip up one of the coolest scenes ever to make its way into a kids movie. With Nazis invading their English town, Lansbury's Eglantine Price (so hot) conjures up the Substitutiary Locomotion, bringing medieval armor to life. The suits and swords take to the battlefield and hold off the German troops.
Witchcraft, she wrote.
2
The Mighty Ducks
The Mighty Ducks was made to school young minds in the ways of teamwork, but where's a guy supposed to get his big screen hockey fix if not with the Ducks? Miracle? Mystery, Alaska?
The legacy of Emilio Estevez's ragtag team of hockey-playing caricatures ("I'm the grungy street kid who can check with aggression!" "I'm the Texan who can lasso real good!") spanned an entire trilogy and every entry is a feel-good, escapist 90 minutes of puck shooting and life lessons. Just when you think it's getting too syrupy, a 16-year-old gets slammed face first into the ice. Goal!
1
My Neighbor Totoro
Japan has always been a step ahead of America in its ability to deliver animated films for adults, but Studio Ghibili and Hayao Miyazaki are the ones who sidestepped the seizure-inducing, robot-filled manga adaptations and went straight for audiences hearts. My Neighbor Totoro is the sweetest thing to happen to planet Earth since the invention of sugar. Revolving around two girls who miss their sickly mother, the movie mostly abandons plot in favor of wildly imaginative scenes featuring the fluffy monster Totoro dancing on beanstalks. By the time the cat bus appears, you're either tripping on Totoro's insane visuals or embracing a nearby loved one.
Everyone wins!
UGO
Kids movies aren't just for kids - the best of the lot transcend their own G rating to entertain both young and old. Here are a few of our favorite movies aimed at the wee ones that we'll happily admit we love.
11
Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey
Before the world had the Internet and wonders of YouTube, they had to rely on movies and TV for adorable pets doing adorable things. Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey was a milestone for animal antics, the story of two dogs and a kitten that set out on a cross-country adventure after seemingly being left behind by their owners. Over the course of the film, Chance, Shadow and Sassy have run-ins with bears, crossing rushing rivers and get a buttload of porcupine quills in their noses -- and we're completely incapable of not letting out an "awwwwww" after every instance.
10
The Phantom Tollbooth
Learning can be fun, especially when it involves traveling a magical world on par with OZ.
The Phantom Tollbooth turned the Kingdom of Wisdom into an animated playground of words and numbers, a imaginative ladnscape that spoke to fantasy nerds while also secretly teaching them concepts like "dodecahedron." Perhaps one day they'll make a big-bugeted, CG-ified remake, but for now, we're happy to say we watch the original with pride.
9
The Secret of NIMH
Animator Don Bluth made a wise decision back in the late '70s: to get the hell out of Disney and do his own thing. Bluth set up his own animation studio, and while at the time cartoons were still aimed at kids (okay, they still are but we're a little more generous), Bluth found a particular voice that spoke to a larger audience. Case in point: The Secret of NIMH, a scary-as-hell adaptation of Robert C. O'Brien's novel that follow Mrs. Frisby as she rebels against tyrannical mice leadership. Dark and moody, the movie may have starred talking animals, but political intrigue and dangerous fight scenes keep it fresh for us older folk.
8
Newsies
Don't try and hide it. Open the gate for your love of corny kid musicals and seize the day.
Newsies was a box office bomb when it was first released in 1992. Now, it's the film that is mostly likely to trigger a young women's hormones. If you're not comfortable with that fact, then maybe you need a reminder on how awesome Christian Bale is -- even at the age of 18. Bale sings and dances his way through this period musical that tackles the odd subject of the 1899 New York newsboy strike and, because it's Bale, it pretty much kicks ass.
Newsies sets many girls' hearts a flutter, but yours will be pumping quickly too when you see Bill Pullman whip out his own vocal stylings.
7
Peter Pan
If you surveyed the masses, Steven Spielberg's Hook is the probably the most heralded and remembered of all live-action Peter Pan stories, but P.J. Hogan's color, kiddie 2003 version is even more magical and fantastical as anything the king of blockbusters could whip up. Thanks to the wonders of CGI, Peter Pan's visuals are like a painting -- and the acting ain't that bad either. As Captain Hook, Jason Isaacs chews up scenery like its gristle, making the movie more-than watchable. Bonus: hot mermaids.
6
Enchanted
That's right. Another musical.
Well, half-musical. Enchanted is more enjoyable than any other princess movie due mostly in part to the comedic stylings of Amy Adams, James Marsden and an animated chimpmunk. The songs are just as sweet and sugary as any animated movie of the last decade, but fused with the non-fairy tale, city world that former-princess Giselle finds herself in, they're spoofs -- and hilairous ones at that. If you live in New York and found 80 squirrels in your apartment trying to help you get dressed, you wouldn't sing "tra la la." You'd run screaming like a mad man.
5
Aladdin
Of all the Disney animated films, Aladdin completes the trifecta of great kid animation: whacked out comedy, infectuous songs and a heartfelt plot. Maybe it never got the Broadway treatment like The Lion King, but I'd like to see Simba span multiple continents courtesy of a flying carpet, dabble in Arab stereotypes and utilize the great Gilbert Gottfried (JAAHFAAAAR!!). Robin Williams, contrary to popular belief, is a funny guy, even more so behind the blig, blue face of the Genie. Time to plop this DVD back in the player for another round -- and this time, you don't need to wrangle kids to make it look like you're watching it "for them."
4
The Love Bug
Before Transformers, there was Herbie the Love Bug, a Volkswagen with a mind of its own. Herbie starred in a handful of films in the last 50 years, but his first outing was in the 1968 film The Love Bug starring Dean Jones. Yes, it's a silly little kids movie featuring a car that bumps people in the ass with its hood, but for fans of racing it's still kind of the sh*t. Forget Vin Diesel's Fast and the Furious -- it's 1000 times more badass watching a compact whiz around a track then muscle cars shoot flames out their tail pipes. That only happens to Herbie when he eats too many beans.
3
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
"Treguna Mekoides Trecorum Satis Dee"
Angela Lansbury's musical witch film Bedknobs and Broomsticks gives hope to those who watch that they will someday posess the magical spell to make all their crap clean itself up. While this will never come true (sorry, guys), it does help Lansbury whip up one of the coolest scenes ever to make its way into a kids movie. With Nazis invading their English town, Lansbury's Eglantine Price (so hot) conjures up the Substitutiary Locomotion, bringing medieval armor to life. The suits and swords take to the battlefield and hold off the German troops.
Witchcraft, she wrote.
2
The Mighty Ducks
The Mighty Ducks was made to school young minds in the ways of teamwork, but where's a guy supposed to get his big screen hockey fix if not with the Ducks? Miracle? Mystery, Alaska?
The legacy of Emilio Estevez's ragtag team of hockey-playing caricatures ("I'm the grungy street kid who can check with aggression!" "I'm the Texan who can lasso real good!") spanned an entire trilogy and every entry is a feel-good, escapist 90 minutes of puck shooting and life lessons. Just when you think it's getting too syrupy, a 16-year-old gets slammed face first into the ice. Goal!
1
My Neighbor Totoro
Japan has always been a step ahead of America in its ability to deliver animated films for adults, but Studio Ghibili and Hayao Miyazaki are the ones who sidestepped the seizure-inducing, robot-filled manga adaptations and went straight for audiences hearts. My Neighbor Totoro is the sweetest thing to happen to planet Earth since the invention of sugar. Revolving around two girls who miss their sickly mother, the movie mostly abandons plot in favor of wildly imaginative scenes featuring the fluffy monster Totoro dancing on beanstalks. By the time the cat bus appears, you're either tripping on Totoro's insane visuals or embracing a nearby loved one.
Everyone wins!
UGO