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Selection of Greatest Children/Kids/Family Films:
Selections of Recommended Films from
The New York Times' Essential Library: Children's Movies - marked with asterisk below (*)
See also the BFI's (British Film Institute) 2005 list of its Top 10 Children's Films of All-Time -
a survey of the top 10 "films that all children should see by the age of 14"
and alternative top 10 lists by NY Daily News film critics,
and their complete Top 50 'Must See' Children's Films of All-Time
 | FAMILY FILMS |
 Children (Kids) and Family-Oriented Films are non-offensive, wholesome, and entertaining films (usually rated G for 'suitable for general audiences') that do not include topics or scenes with violence, foul language and other profanity, religious issues, gratuitous sexuality and so on, and are specifically designed for children 12 and under (or for family viewing). Children's and family-oriented films may actually be suitable for all age groups, and cover a wide range of genre categories (comedy, adventure, fantasy, musicals, etc.). They often include a child actor/actress (such as Shirley Temple), and/or focus on children's-related themes that teach a lesson or moral, or show that good can triumph over evil.See The New York Times' Essential Library: Children's Movies - a selection of 100 recommended films for kids aged 8-12, and also the BFI's (British Film Institute) 2005 list of its Top 10 Children's Films of All-Time - a survey of the top 10 "films that all children should see by the age of 14", and alternative top 10 lists by NY Daily News film critics, and their complete Top 50 'Must See' Children's Films of All-Time. The best-crafted children's and family films usually are those that are thoroughly enjoyable without being overly sentimental, trite and simplistic, smarmy, politically-correct, and with too much child-level humor. Classic films from Hollywood's 'Golden Era' may be very appropriate for this type of film audience. Although animated films are often the genre of choice for children and families, this section will focus on non-animated films. Children's films are very often fantasy films, with wild and imaginative themes and plots that involve a journey, helpful and friendly creatures or supernatural beings, and settings in fantastic, far-away worlds. Family adventure films, such as Disney's Swiss Family Robinson (1960) are also included in this non-genre category.Family-Oriented Features: The films of child-star Shirley Temple in the 1930s and early 1940s included a few gems, Little Miss Marker (1934) and the tear-jerking The Little Princess (1939). Another timeless fantasy enjoyed perenially was the tale of a journey to Oz in  The Wizard of Oz (1939). Besides animated features, there are many films that attracted family audiences. Three exceptional tales of the 1940s of children attached to a beloved pet or animal include: the collie-tale Lassie Come Home (1943), the exciting coming-of-age family drama and sports horse-race competition in National Velvet (1944), the classic tale of a boys' love for a fawn in The Yearling (1946), or Old Yeller (1957).The visually-stunning family classic by director Carroll Ballard (a directorial debut) - Black Stallion (1979) was adapted from Walter Farley's well-known children's story about the empathic friendship between a wild black horse and a young boy. [Two films followed: The Black Stallion Returns (1983) and the IMAX prequel The Young Black Stallion (2003).] The cinematographic Australian film The Man from Snowy River (1982) was a traditional, coming-of-age wild horse/boy story set in the remote outback of 1880's Australia. French director Jean-Jacques Annaud'sThe Bear (1988), a live-action, nearly-silent adventure film epic, told about an orphaned bear cub who was befriended by a lone, giant wounded grizzly. Annaud's Two Brothers (2004) was another animal, family-film - about twin brother tiger cubs in the exotic jungles of 1920s French Indo-China who became separated and were taken into captivity, but later were reunited.  One of Disney's numerous family fluff pictures was the comedy The Parent Trap (1961), with Hayley Mills playing the dual role of match-making twins. Steven Spielberg's entertaining fantasy/science-fiction film E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) told the enchanting tale of the relationship between a stranded outerspace alien and a fatherless boy - re-released with enhanced digital graphics in 2002. The first Home Alone (1990) was a wildly-popular and successful film about a young eight year-old boy left behind in his family's rush to the airport.Christmas-Themed Family Films:  Year-end Christmas films have often been considered primary family-viewing fare. The timeless Bing Crosby song "White Christmas" and other Irving Berlin music were featured in director Mark Sandrich's wartime musical Holiday Inn (1942)starring Crosby and Fred Astaire as rival song-and-dance performers. (It was colorfully remade in 1954 by director Michael Curtiz as White Christmas (1954), but not reprised by Fred Astaire - who was replaced by Danny Kaye.)Another Christmas comedy favorite, director Peter Godfrey's Christmas in Connecticut (1945) starred Barbara Stanwyck as Elizabeth Lane - a sophisticated magazine columnist who must fabricate a home-making Connecticut family for herself to match her publicity as "America's Best Cook" (a 40's Martha Stewart). And director George Seaton's holiday classic Miracle on 34th Street (1947) starred a precocious seven year-old Natalie Wood skeptical of Santa Claus/Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) in a New York City Macy's Department Store.  Frank Capra's beloved, feel-good American classic about the redemptive power of friendship, It's A Wonderful Life (1946) starred James Stewart as a man who was saved from suicide after a leap into a river by an angel named Clarence, and shown the true impact of his life. The magical comedy/fantasy film The Bishop's Wife (1947) told about an angel named Dudley (Cary Grant) sent to earth at Christmastime to help an Episcopalian bishop (David Niven) raise money for a new church - although he also flirts with the 'bishop's wife' (Loretta Young). [It was remade by director Penny Marshall as The Preacher's Wife (1996), with Denzel Washington as the angel who falls in love with co-star Whitney Houston.]Charles Dickens' story of Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol, is the most remade film of all time, with over 60 versions. The best and most definitive of all versions was director Brian Desmond Hurst's and screenwriter Noel Langley's 1951 British version A Christmas Carol (1951) with Alastair Sim as the mean London miser. An animated Christmas favorite continues to be A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), the first half-hourPeanuts TV special telecast in December of 1965, with the title character searching for the true meaning of Christmas, with a Christmas pageant speech about over-commercialization. Charles Dickens' tale was updated in Brian Henson's The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) with human actor Michael Caine (as Scrooge) among the puppets. Physical comic Jim Carrey played the green and mean title role in director Ron Howard's popular Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000). [The original version of Seuss' tale by legendary animator Chuck Jones, was a 1966 TV show narrated by Boris Karloff as the voice of the Grinch - a creature who attempted to destroy the holiday for the Whos in Whoville.] The heart-warming modern-day classic, director Bob Clark's A Christmas Story (1983), was based on the 1940s childhood recollections of American humorist Jean Shepherd, to obtain a Red Ryder BB-gun for Christmas, with Peter Billingsley as the round, 9 year-old boy Ralphie. The slapstick National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) starred Chevy Chase as the daffy, disaster-prone head of the tasteless Griswold family, the third entry in the exhaustive yet hilarious series. Producer/production designer Tim Burton's off-beat and imaginative stop-action animated feature A Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) told the story of how the dark residents of HalloweenTown schemed to take over Christmas as their own personal holiday. Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, obsessed with Christmas, kidnaps Santa in ChristmasTown with plans to make Christmas scarier. TV situation-comedy actor Tim Allen in his screen debut, portrayed divorced father Scott Calvin (with initials the same as Santa Claus) and Father Christmas in the 1994 family box-office hit The Santa Clause (1994) - remade later as the sequel The Santa Clause 2 (2002). |
Jim Henson: Pioneering puppeteer Jim Henson, who first helped to establish the long-running, visionary children's public-TV program Sesame Street in 1969 (for the non-profit Children's Television Workshop), earned widespread familiarity with his colorful, beloved iconic characters or muppets (a combination of the words marionettes and puppets), including Kermit the Frog (Henson's signature character), Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Grover, the Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie, Elmo - and others. The success of the show led to the British-produced weekly variety show The Muppet Show (syndicated for a few seasons from 1976-1981) with numerous guest stars (celebrities and other notables) appearing alongside the puppets (one of whom was Miss Piggy), inspiring the first of many Muppet movies. The first big-screen Muppet movie was, appropriately titled The Muppet Movie (1979), with Kermit the Frog (and others of his unique characters), followed by more Muppet films, TV shows, and other technically-brilliant fantasy derivatives and new levels of creative achievement:
Roald Dahl: The noted children's book British author, Roald Dahl, who has written screenplays for films including the fifth James Bond film You Only Live Twice (1967) andThe Night Digger (1971), is best known for the films based upon his ingenious children's books and its eccentric characters:
Animal Actors in Classic Childrens' Films: Animal 'actors' have been very prevalent in children's and family-oriented films, and there have been literally dozens of famous animals of all kinds:
- Cheeta (or Cheetah, Chetah) A world-famous chimpanzee, who first appeared in the classic jungle film Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932) as Tarzan's faithful companion. The 4 foot (1.2 meter) tall, 142 pound (53 kilogram) chimpanzee starred in 12 Tarzan movies in total, and had his last role in the musical film Doctor Doolittle (1967). - Flipper (Mitzie) The most famous non-canine animal star of all-time was Flipper (actually an animal star named Mitzie), a dolphin from the Seaquarium in Key Biscane, Florida. The first film starring Flipper was the wildly popular Flipper (1963), which immediately launched the first Flipper TV series that ran from 1964-1968. The last film by the original Flipper (who passed away in 1972) was Flipper's New Adventure (1964), aka Flipper and the Pirates. A new Flipper TV series was launched in 1995, aka The New Adventures of Flipper, lasting until 2000 (with Jessica Alba as one of the stars for its first few years), which in turn inspired a 1996 remake of the original film, Flipper (1996). - Keiko Another famous aquatic star was Keiko, who starred as the six-ton killer (or orca) whale (Kieko) named Willy in the Free Willy series, co-starring with young pal and rescuer Jesse (Jason James Richter). In some scenes, an animatronic model doubled for the real-life whale:
A short-lived TV cartoon series in 1994, titled Free Willy, was also inspired by the first film. Keiko, the killer whale used in the films, died in late 2003, at the age of 27 years. Dogs in Childrens' Films: Dogs have been the most prominent animal choice in repeated starring roles. Often, the dogs have been paired with young boys - and therefore are a 'boy's best friend.' In many cases, the actual star dog was 'reincarnated' numerous times due to the animal's short life span. Famous dog actors have included: - Strongheart Before Rin-Tin-Tin, another German shepherd, named Strongheart, was the first major canine star. He appeared in the major hit Silent Call (1921), which reportedly grossed $1 million. Crowds mobbed Strongheart at stops on a triumphal train tour after Silent Call broke attendance records at theaters. The film had a record-breaking run at Los Angeles' Miller's Theater after 792 performances, playing eight times a day to a total audience of about 250,000 people. Strongheart also appeared in Brawn of the North (1922), The Love Master (1924), White Fang (1925), North Star (1925) and The Return of Boston Blackie (1927) (the only existing Strongheart film) before his tragic, untimely death in 1929 due to an on-site film accident. - Rin Tin Tin The famous heroic and brainy German shepherd of Warners' Studios, Rinty (or Rin Tin originally), first starred in the Irving Cummings hit The Man From Hell's River (1922) as himself, and then appeared in the Robertson-Cole Pictures production of My Dad (1922). Rin-Tin-Tin's first starring role (as a wolf-dog) and first Warners' film was Where the North Begins (1923), followed by the Universal Pictures production, Shadows of the North (1923). For the remainder of the decade, Rin Tin Tin saved the Warners studio from financial ruin during the silent era. Rin Tin Tin made about two dozen pictures for Warner Brothers before his death on August 10, 1932. Many descendants of Rin Tin Tin would go on to star in their own films. Rin Tin Tin also became an ABC-TV star, featured in The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin that first aired in October 1954 and lasted for almost five years on Friday evenings. The star German shepherd's life story in the 1920s silent film era was spoofed in the 'guilty pleasure' comedy Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976), with more than 60 film stars in cameo roles. - Asta The wire-haired terrier named Asta (actually named Skippy) of The Thin Man (1934) series appeared alongside Myrna Loy and William Powell. Asta provided both humor and a lot of character alongside the sleuthing detective couple. In addition to playing Asta, Skippy also performed in two classic screwball comedies - as mischievous 'George' in Bringing Up Baby (1938), and as 'Mr. Smith' - the object of a custody battle between Cary Grant and Irene Dunne in The Awful Truth (1937). - Lassie The devoted family-dog Lassie, a golden-haired female collie based on the canine character created by Eric Knight in a 1938 short story, has been considered the quintessential dog actor over many generations. Lassie (played first by a male dog named Pal) first emerged in the 1940s, with MGM's Technicolored tearjerkerLassie Come Home (1943), starring a young Roddy McDowall. Many sequels followed in the next eight years: Son of Lassie (1945) (with June Lockhart who would later star in the TV series), Courage of Lassie (1946), Hills of Home (1948), The Sun Comes Up (1949), Challenge to Lassie (1949), and The Painted Hills (1951). Like his/her predecessor Rin Tin Tin, Lassie really became famous with the long-running 1954 TV show Lassie (aka Jeff's Collie, andTimmy and Lassie), originally starring June Lockhart as Ruth Martin (after a two-year run with Cloris Leachman) and Tommy Rettig as Jeff Miller. The popular show lasted for almost twenty years (it was revived in 1989 and 1997). All nine of the dogs used to portray Lassie were male, although Lassie was a female character. Other famous dog actors in family films have included Old Yeller (a dog named Spike) in Disney's Old Yeller (1957), Benji (acted by a veteran dog named Higgins, a mixed breed of cocker spaniel, fox terrier, poodle, and schnauzer), starring first in Benji (1974), Beethoven (a giant St. Bernard) first seen inBeethoven (1992), and a basketball-shooting Buddy (a Golden Retriever) seen first in Air Bud (1997). |
Selections of Recommended Films from
The New York Times' Essential Library: Children's Movies - marked with asterisk below (*)
See also the BFI's (British Film Institute) 2005 list of its Top 10 Children's Films of All-Time -
a survey of the top 10 "films that all children should see by the age of 14"
and alternative top 10 lists by NY Daily News film critics,
and their complete Top 50 'Must See' Children's Films of All-Time
| Classic Children/Kids/Family Films: The Kid (1921) The Gold Rush (1925) *Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) * Duck Soup (1933) * King Kong (1933) *Little Women (1933) Anne of Green Gables (1934) It Happened One Night (1934) *Little Miss Marker (1934) A Night at the Opera (1935)A Day at the Races (1937) Heidi (1937) Lost Horizon (1937) * Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) * The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) * Bringing Up Baby (1938) *The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939) The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) The Little Princess (1939) Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) * The Wizard of Oz (1939) *Pinocchio (1940) * The Thief of Bagdad (1940) Sullivan's Travels (1941) * Casablanca (1942) *Lassie Come Home (1943) Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)National Velvet (1944) * Christmas in Connecticut (1945) Great Expectations (1946) * It's a Wonderful Life (1946)The Yearling (1946) The Bishop's Wife (1947) Miracle on 34th Street (1947) Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) * The Red Pony (1949) The Secret Garden (1949) Harvey (1950) The African Queen (1951) *A Christmas Carol (1951) The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) * Hans Christian Andersen (1952) High Noon (1952) * Singin' in the Rain (1952) *The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953) Little Fugitive (1953) * Peter Pan (1953) * Shane (1953) * Rear Window (1954) *20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) * White Christmas (1954) The King and I (1956) * The Red Balloon (1956) The Ten Commandments (1956) Old Yeller (1957) Tom Thumb (1958) Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959) A Dog of Flanders (1959) North by Northwest (1959) * Some Like It Hot (1959) *The Magnificent Seven (1960) * Swiss Family Robinson (1960) * |
| More Recent Greatest Children/Kids/Family Films: 101 Dalmatians (1961) The Parent Trap (1961) West Side Story (1961) *Whistle Down the Wind (1961) Lawrence of Arabia (1962) *The Longest Day (1962) * The Miracle Worker (1962) The Music Man (1962) * To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) *The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962) Flipper (1963) The Great Escape (1963) * Jason and the Argonauts (1963) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) *A Hard Day's Night (1964) * Mary Poppins (1964) * My Fair Lady (1964) *Around the World Under the Sea (1965) Cat Ballou (1965) * The Sound of Music (1965) * Born Free (1966) Doctor Dolittle (1967) Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) Oliver! (1968) Yellow Submarine (1968) * Yours, Mine and Ours (1968) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) * Captain Nemo and the Underwater City (1969) Fiddler on the Roof (1971) * Walkabout (1971) * Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) Charlotte's Web (1973) The Three Musketeers (1974) * Escape to Witch Mountain (1975) The Four Musketeers (1975) * The Bad News Bears (1976) * Bound for Glory (1976) Rocky (1976) * Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) * Star Wars (1977) *The Buddy Holly Story (1978) * The Cat From Outer Space (1978) Superman (1978) * The Black Stallion (1979) * Breaking Away (1979) * The Muppet Movie (1979) Chariots of Fire (1981) * Clash of the Titans (1981) The Great Muppet Caper (1981) Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) * Annie (1982) The Dark Crystal (1982) E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) *Gandhi (1982) * The Man from Snowy River (1982) A Christmas Story (1983) Never Cry Wolf (1983) * Ghostbusters (1984) * The Karate Kid (1984) The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) The Never Ending Story (1984) Back to the Future (1985) * The Goonies (1985) My Life as a Dog (1985) The Adventures of Milo & Otis (1986) Labyrinth (1986) Never Cry Wolf (1987) The Princess Bride (1987) * The Bear (1988) * Beetlejuice (1988) * Big (1988) * Mac and Me (1988) Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) * Field of Dreams (1989) * Honey I Shrunk the Kids (1989) The Little Mermaid (1989) * Dick Tracy (1990) * Edward Scissorhands (1990) * Home Alone (1990) Beauty and the Beast (1991) * Curly Sue (1991) Hook (1991) Little Man Tate (1991) * Beethoven (1992) A League of Their Own (1992) * The Mighty Ducks (1992) Free Willy (1993) Groundhog Day (1993) * Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993) Jurassic Park (1993) * Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) * The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) Rookie of the Year (1993) The Sandlot (1993) The Secret Garden (1993) * Andre (1994) Angels in the Outfield (1994) Baby's Day Out (1994) Black Beauty (1994) The Borrowers (1994) The Flintstones (1994) The Lion King (1994) * Little Women (1994) * The Mask (1994) The Santa Clause (1994) The Secret of Roan Inish (1994) * Apollo 13 (1995) * Babe (1995) * The Indian in the Cupboard (1995) Jumanji (1995) A Little Princess (1995) * Toy Story (1995) * Emma (1996) * Fly Away Home (1996) * James and the Giant Peach (1996) * Matilda (1996) MicroCosmos (1996) Shiloh (1996) Space Jam (1996) Buddy (1997) Flubber (1997) Leave It to Beaver (1997) A Simple Wish (1997) Zeus and Roxanne (1997) Ever After (1998) Madeline (1998) Paulie (1998) Star Kid (1998) Inspector Gadget (1999) The Iron Giant (1999) * Muppets From Space (1999) The Olsen Twins: Passport to Paris (1999) Stuart Little (1999) Toy Story 2 (1999) * The Winslow Boy (1999) * Billy Elliot (2000) Chicken Run (2000) * My Dog Skip (2000) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) * The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) * Monsters, Inc. (2001) * The Princess Diaries (2001) Shrek (2001) * Spirited Away (2001, Jp.) * Spy Kids (2001) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) Lilo & Stitch (2002) * The Rookie (2002) * Whale Rider (2002) Finding Nemo (2003) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) |
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