Are there any G rated movies that aren't scary?

[oceanbaby]

I am having an awful time finding movies that my son likes. (He is home recuperating from having his tonsils out.) He doesn't like anything scary, and even the G rated things I've found have scary scenes.

For instance:

Lion King, too scary with the dad getting killed
Pete's Dragon - scary opening scene with a song about finding the boy and killing him
Pippi Longstocking - scary opening scene with big storm and dad getting thrown over the boat

Any ideas of truly gentle movies? I'm drawing a blank.

[LuckyMommaToo]

Your son is older than mine, so I don't know if these are too "babyish," but DS loves the classic Winnie the Pooh and the Heffalump movie. Also the Little Bear dvds -- so sweet and gentle. What about Homeward Bound -- the Incredible Journey? Or the Adventures of Milo and Otis? Or Babe? Great Mouse Detective? (Warning: I haven't seen these from a parent's perspective, so don't take my word for it!)

GL, and I'll be taking notes for the future!

-Erin

p.s. I often find that Amazon reviews are helpful in figuring out if something is age-appropriate. Also in making suggestions (the "customers also bought").

[sovereignqueen]

Do you have any Disney Sing along videos? They are annoying but very gentle. dd loves the jungle book one. She also loves Shrek 2 but I think it's PG. WHat about some short shows like Rollie Pollie Ollie...
This is a hard one...every movie I think of has some elements that could scare a sensitive child. But then I think Walt Disney believed that children should be frightened...
Maybe Winnie the Pooh? What about Fantasia? Silly Symphonies? The three Musketeers (the newish opperetta one with Donald, Mickey, and Goofy) ? Some of the older Mickey collections aren't scary, but I can't remeber their names and I'm not at home to check.
Pooh's Heffalump movie was pretty gentle excpet for one scene when Pooh and co try to catch Lumpy and I believe make Lumpy cry, but Roo protects him and Kanga stops them pointed out that its all a missunderstanding. Its not scary, but might be upsetting

[Kirsten]

I think all of the Disney/Pixar movies have some scary parts. My kids have been fine with everything they've seen except Monsters Inc (my dd1 saw with me in the movie theater when she was five - worst parenting mistake of my life....)

My library carries Dora videos I think - that would be pretty benign. Barney is annoying but not scary at all. The Little Bill videos are good. I also really like Arthur.

Have you seen the Character Counts and Choices Count videos? I really like those (we bought them). Snippits of different PBS characters with moral lessons (but NO religion!) with songs/dances in between. We love them.

Homeward Bound is a good movie for sure but does have a few "worry-able" scenes - and is not a cartoon so I always think that is harder for the kids to understand that it is not real.

Do you have any video of ds as a baby? My kids LOVE to watch videos of themselves when they were little.

[Divina]

My three-yr-old likes videos of himself as a baby, too. And he'll go dig out the toys he played with in the videos and play with them a while.

Blues Clues, Dora, and Bear in the Big Blue House are all good. They're not full-length movies, but I find them very gentle, yet still entertaining. Cinderelmo is good, as are pretty much any of the Sesame Street based stories, although I find Elmo's World sort of annoying. Thomas the Tank Engine is another good series--sometimes scary situations arise, but somehow they're not as scary when they're happening to trains ... although your DS might disagree.

[majazama]

I second "little bear" for super gentleness.

[napless]

Mary Poppins!

[Panserbjorne]

My Neighbor Totoro is a favorite of ours.

[PancakeGoddess]

"The Snowman" and "Father Christmas" are gentle favorites here.

[organicbanana]

i always look films up on kids-in-mind - they give an exhaustive overview of the elements of a film (violence, gore, nudity, profanity, etc.) without giving an opinion review-style. because ratings can be very subjective, i find it really helpful.

my kids loved my neighbor totoro as well. kiki's delivery service was another hit.

[oceanbaby]

Thanks for the recommendations - this really helps.

His favorite movies to watch are the Thomas movies. We have a lot of those! And it's funny you would mention Totoro, because my sister just brought this over for him. I had never heard of it before.

And Mary Poppins is a great idea - I would love to see that one again myself. I'll check out Homeward Bound too.

I have never seen Little Bear, so I'll try that one as well. I can never get ds interested in the Winnie the Pooh. He's never seen it, but anytime I show him the picutre he says no.

I'm off to check out the kids in mind website. Thanks!

[mamaley]

Oceanbaby, my son sounds a lot like yours...he's 5, still likes to watch the Thomas movies and does not want to watch anything remotely "scary" (except Scooby Doo, I think because he knows it's supposed to be scary...but not sad). He really doesn't like anything Disney, which is funny because I was the same way.

[judejude]

Originally Posted by organicbanana

i always look films up on kids-in-mind - they give an exhaustive overview of the elements of a film (violence, gore, nudity, profanity, etc.) without giving an opinion review-style. because ratings can be very subjective, i find it really helpful.

I love that web site. It's awesome. And it allows you put in how much you're willing to put up with :LOL and then gives you a list of titles.

My daughter is almost 10 but has an anxiety disorder. She will not watch anything that is even a little suspenseful, let along scary. She is super scared of the wizard of oz, for example, but still loves the movie if you forward past all the witch and wizard parts.

When I think up some good movies I'll post them. I'm drawing a blank right now.

[judejude]

I'm trying to remember if Shrek has any scary parts.

Has your son ever watched Eloise? It's not as girly as it seems, if your son worries about that. There's no bad guys---just a mischevious (sp?) little 6 yr old. (I think that's her age)
That movie's awesome. The first is better than the Christmas one though, although that one isn't bad either.

[kate~mom]

my dd much prefers movies with real actors and actresses rather than cartoons. i second mary poppins.

others of her favorites that aren't *very* scary, but do have some suspense or "worry-able" moments, as a pp put it, are milo and otis, good boy, zeus and roxanne, homeward bound, and the air bud movies. do we sense a theme here? :LOL most of these are animal kidnappings/are they going to make it home suspense.

[GruppieGirl]

We have the exact same problem. Most videos are too scary for my 5yo and even me sometimes!


I second Mary Poppins!


My dd likes Lizzie McGuire. Some of the themes are a bit advanced, but I love that there is no violence.

[katsam]

Maybe Milo and Otis, although the animals do get lost in the woods and fight bears.

[Bearsmama]

Ocean-We seem to follow each other around here! :LOL Do I even have to tell you that DS#1 is incredibly sensitive and doesn't like any movies that *most* kids that we know RAVE about? Or should I say the parents rave about them. For instance, we occasionally get movies for free, and DH happened to get a copy of Shrek. Well, as a treat, we put it in one Friday and within 5 minutes he asked to turn it off. I've realized that most mainstream children's "hits" have some kind of violence or *something* that is scary to my son (and usually to me, too!).

That said, we've rented a few things that DS has liked:

*Harold and the Purple Crayon (there are a few different ones)
*Little Bear
*Some of the Peanuts/Charlie Brown movies

There are also those real-life videos that go to a firehouse and check out the truck in detail, etc. DS likes those (can't think of the name right now).

[TiredX2]

Originally Posted by judejude

I'm trying to remember if Shrek has any scary parts.

The dragon chases them.


How about some Dr. Seuss videos?

[beanma]

we tivo several shows, but dd1 (very sensitive -- hates anything remotely scary) has yet to see a full length movie. she might be ready for one now, but i'm not pushing it. she likes our tivo'd Miss Spider (nick jr), Max and Ruby (Nick Jr), angelina ballerina (pbs), zooboomafoo (pbs), dora, etc. that's what we watch when recovering from illness. dh did rent "piglet's big movie" one time, but dd1 told him to turn it off.