Good Christmas movies for kids? - Page 2

[SAHDS]

We rented Fred Clause and I've watched it 3 times, am actually watching it now. It's really cute. And I cry when "Silent Night" plays near the end.

[salty]

Originally Posted by Arduinna

Oh yeah the original Miracle on 34th St is great and I forgot about Home Alone.

i was waiting for someone to mention Home Alone. i'm going to have to give that a big fat thumbs down. what a horrible movie! yes, doing extreme physical violence to people doesn't do any lasting damage. and the family is cruel to the main kid to a really upsetting degree. plus, it's a movie about a family forgetting and abandoning their young child. how is this a good movie for kids?

[beanma]

My girls loved "The Life and Times of Santa Claus" (animated based on Frank L Baum book). It's pretty sweet and has lots of fairies in it. It kinda funky telling the origin of Santa (adopted by a fairy), but it's pretty good. It's longer (about 1 hr) and has some scary "aguwas" (rock creature bad guys who fight the good fairies), but we just skip those parts! If you're looking for completely non-violent I'd skip the movie or skip the scary scenes, but you don't miss much of the plot by skipping the scary parts.

We like the Grinch and Rudolph although they do get a little scared of the abominable snowman.

We like most of the classic animated TV specials, "The Year without a Santa Claus" with Heat Miser and Cold Miser, "Frosty the Snowman", etc. I told Tivo to record a bunch, but we haven't checked any of them out yet. Maybe tonight!

[mata]

Originally Posted by salty

i was waiting for someone to mention Home Alone. i'm going to have to give that a big fat thumbs down. what a horrible movie! yes, doing extreme physical violence to people doesn't do any lasting damage. and the family is cruel to the main kid to a really upsetting degree. plus, it's a movie about a family forgetting and abandoning their young child. how is this a good movie for kids?

it's really funny.


common sense would dictate it isn't appropriate for younger children, though.

[Storm Bride]

Originally Posted by salty

i was waiting for someone to mention Home Alone. i'm going to have to give that a big fat thumbs down. what a horrible movie! yes, doing extreme physical violence to people doesn't do any lasting damage. and the family is cruel to the main kid to a really upsetting degree. plus, it's a movie about a family forgetting and abandoning their young child. how is this a good movie for kids?

I see the violence in Home Alone as total slapstick. It's just never seemed violent to me at all. I also think the "forgetting" was handled reasonably well. I don't think they abandoned him at all. Unless I'm totally misremembering and mixing up the first and second movies, his mom moves heaven and earth to try to get back to him. That's not a bad message for kids, imo.

Sure - it's way out there, and I haven't rented it for my kids yet (mostly out of fear that ds2 will find it inspirational), but I don't think it's quite as bad as some think it is.

[Baby_Cakes]

Originally Posted by Thalia the Muse

The Santa Clause is pretty gentle and more enjoyable than you might expect.

I strongly recommend the Muppets' Christmas Carol.

The original Miracle on 34th Street.

I agree with all of these and need to add The Polar Express. I can't believe no one has mentioned it! SUCH a good movie! We even have a bell ornament that came out the year the movie did.

[Storm Bride]

I hear a lot of recommendations for the Polar Express, but it was a complete miss here. Nobody in the family enjoyed it.

[SAHDS]

I watched The Polar Express today for the first time. I literally watched only the last 7 minutes of it and still cried. Don't know how good the rest of it was, though.