I second the Studio Ghibli/ Miyazaki recommendation. Those films are more slowly-paced and thoughtful. They are also mostly hand-drawn.
Parts of "The Secret Life of Arrietty" scared my 4YO daughter, so as usual, not all their films are appropriate for all children.
Not to be argumentative but isn't sitting through a boring movie now and then for a couple of years when our kids are young a small price to pay for giving them a more enjoyable experience. I have plenty of time to watch things that are funny or entertaining or interesting to me. There are endless choices for me actually. I feel that children's movies should be just that ... for children.
I think the best kids' movies are the ones that are entertaining, but also lead to meaningful converstions, and that the ones that most adults find boring rarely do that, whereas the movies that are a bit more complex, and maybe even a little scary do.
eta: I third the Miyazaki reccomendation, some of his movies are just awesome!
I find children movies disney, pixar's etc have become very dark, cruel and violent over time.
Look at the Toy Story series, if anyone has seen it.
1st one...Sid is mean, but they get em! nothing dark besides that
2nd one....the whole movie is arguing and fighting, you literally see buzz get punched in the face by another toy
3rd one.....they escape a jail like daycare centre with a evil teddy bear
Then theres a movie like the Shrek series
1st one.... dragon, but she falls in love with donkey in a short time, angry king, but hes 4 foot nothing, not very scary
2nd one.....godmother is evil, father tries to kill shrek
3rd one....jealous prince tries to kill shrek and take over, negative negative
the 4th one! oh my a evil rumpelstilskin takes away everything shrek had, his wife has no idea who he is and he is trying to get back his family....what a beautiful fairy tale message
and Cars!
the first one was great, no violence
the 2nd one?? its all violence!
We screen what our little guy can see and their just so cruel and negative, i dont understand.
Now movies from the 90's I cant say are bad....young mama here who grew up in the 90's! 
lol
They werent fantastic, I mean Scar from Lion King killed Simba's father, Little foot's mother was killed in land before time, etc. etc.
I cant stand the computer generated poop they make, what happened to hand drawn illustrations? And why should children's movies include violence? Or at least make conflicts between man and nature, not man against man
This issue has had me brewing too! 
They haven't gotten violent over time...they've always BEEN dark, cruel, and violent, as were the stories they were based on. The first Disney animated film was Snow White. The wicked queen sent men out to capture Snow White and bring back HER HEART!
We screen what our little guy can see and their just so cruel and negative, i dont understand.
We have to do the same thing. It's so frustrating. Also, I don't understand why there don't seem to be levels of children's movies anymore. It's impossible to find a gentle non-violent movie to bring toddlers through early school year aged children to. I was so happy when Winnie the Pooh came out a year or two ago. It was the only movie I've been able to take my little one to in theatre so far.
I'm not for censoring but I do think there should be options for those who don't want such violence and intensity in their media for their kids.
Okay, am I a jerk or I am the only one who feels that there are options in life...options in "modern" times? Am I missing something here or are DH and I weirdos? We've built a massive collection of videos/DVDs based on our values, interests, likes and I'm not getting the "world is coming to an end" attitude about films or filmmaking. Move beyond Loews, Amazon, Blockbuster video. They cater to the contingent who will make them the most money (i.e. the lowest common denominator). Has always been like this. Will always be like this. Be creative, do your research, find stuff that comports with your values and ideals. It's a huge world. There's a lot of stuff out there. Stop looking to the status quo for your entertainment. There's a lot of good stuff out there. Holy cow, how many times do I have to say this on this thread?
I say this with love and affection. But, again, probably just talking to a wall. Something I feel a lot at MDC. 
We like all sorts of movies. My kids love the Disney and Pixar. They also love things like Mary Poppins and Pippy Longstocking. We have a lot of variety and enjoy all of it!
My kids like Totoro. It is the complete opposite of scary and intense. mykidslove action, but even though totoro is not like thqt at all it still holds their interest. they like the cat bus.
I suspect if you watch some old movies you thought were great as a child, with adult eyes, they will look a lot less pure! Old movies are fully of inuendo, violence too. Just think of the old bat man show (1960's), my kids like it, somone is always about to be cut in half with a saw or some other violent death. Wiley coyote wasn't exactly nice to the roadrunner.
I find children movies disney, pixar's etc have become very dark, cruel and violent over time.
i dont think so. children's stuff has always been dark. i mean look at all the Mother Goose poems mostly about death. And as pp pointed out Grimms Fairy tales are pretty grim.
i think the only difference between 'then' and now is technology. and that technology really messes with our emotions. esp. kids. reading about a mother crying and watching a mother crying on the screen are two very different experiences.
almost any movie has the potential to scare a child. so really the point is should we not stick to shows for our under 5 year olds because no matter what the visual medium magnifies stuff for our kids. so it would be better to stick to blues clues or dora the explorer.
as a child i hated tom and jerry cartoons i always felt it was unfair. same with tweety bird.
my stance is either just stay away from movies till you feel they are ready to handle them - say 4 or 5. do shorter shows. and theater OMG unless its a v. tame movie like curious george OR if you really know what freaks your child out. at that age i was still figuring out what freaked dd out.
i dont remember details from mary poppins but take the movie Milo and Otis. pretty tame huh? but scenes from it - i think the stream scene freaked dd out.
so there are elements that makes every movie scary. but you have to find out what freaks your child out. what might be tame for one might not be for someone else.
the old woman in my neighbor totoro freaks another child out. she looks scary.
another thing about movie theaters. sometimes its nothing to do with teh movies. its everything to do about the noise level in the theater which actually hurts a lot of kids.
Computer animation is definitely an art form and takes hours and Hours to do. And even longer to do well! If by 'crap' etc you mean that you think it's not art because it doesn't require the skills of an artist (just speculating here) then that is a false assumption :)
You can find terrible movies/shows from any era I think. Just be choosy and do what works for you family :)
While I totally agree that the merchandising is crazy, my preschooler loves Spiderman and Batman. He's watched all of them. My older two are into them too, but less into the merchandise unless it's something usable that they would have gotten anyway like a tshirt, water bottle, pencil bag, etc. Not just cheap toys or something.
I even want something with Avengers on it, is that bad? ;-)
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