Help! Kids' Movie Recommendations Please

[HYHYBT]

The others I was going to suggest are already mentioned, but I can't imagine not loving The Lion King.

[Dentarthurdent]

The Iron Giant is a fantastic movie, but I'd wait until the kid's about seven, personally.

One that hasn't been mentioned yet is the animated Gulliver's Travels, from the 30s or 40s. It was by the same people that did Popeye (can't think of the names and too lazy to Google), and the copyright has run out, so you can find it for free online (I seem to remember finding it on archive.org, but never watched that copy so I can't speak for the quality).

[firecat88]

... but there's one segment in particular -- I think it's at the end -- called Night on Bald Mountain (you can find the segment on YouTube). If he's already prone to nightmares ... make darn sure you turn the video off before this plays or none of you will sleep for a month!

Oh gosh. @_@ Night on Bald Mountain. Even now, I can barely watch that one. Scary, scary stuff.

[Kheldarson]

But it's paired off with the nice "Ave Maria" ending!

Although, granted, "Night on Bald Mountain" is more visually stunning...

*wants to play Kingdom Hearts again to fight the Demon King from it*

[fireheart]

I really love the Barbie movies, believe it or not. They are actually quite good.

[/COLOR]

Is Barbie going to be suitable for a 3-year-old boy who's not into girly things?

Since you mentioned robots, I can mention another one as well: Robots. It's made by the same guys who did Ice Age and is mostly light-hearted and enjoyable. Probably the more distressing scenes involve characters about to be thrown into a furnace, but the whole time spent in the "Furnace" area is around 10-15 minutes.
It has Robin Williams in it

[AriGriffin]

Cats Don't Dance is a cute G rated animated musical about a cat named Danny that heads to Hollywood to become an actor in the 1930s. It is only about an hour and eleven minutes long. Max, the villan's bodyguard/butler, might be scary though. The musical numbers are loud and flashy.

Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run, and Quest for Camelot are good ones too, but are probably best for when he is a little older.

[fireheart]

Ooh, one thing I forgot to add with the website I recommended OP:

In terms of the ratings, G and PG are identical to in the States (General and Parental Guidance), while M is more "Mature" stuff (i.e. WAY out of Khan's age)

[crazyofficeclerk]

One of my favorite movies is Bedknobs and Broomsticks. There are also collections of oldncartoons out there. I have a collections of 70's and 80's Saturday morning cartoons as well as some Looney Tunes collections.

[Kogarashi]

Husband is a little concerned about Castle in the Sky and Howl's Moving Castle.

My kids (ages 5 and just-barely-3) love Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away (haven't seen Castle in the Sky yet).

All of the Muppet movies are ok except the Dark Crystal. Save that one for much later.

Veggie Tales are a good series, but it is overtly Christian (a plus or minus, depending).Milo and Otis is live action, but since it stars animals and only animals, he might like it (might put Mom and Dad to sleep, though).

The original Muppet Movie may or may not be suitable either. I've only seen it once and have sketchy memories of it, but I do recall not liking it near as much as others. Our Muppet movie collection includes Great Muppet Caper, Muppets Take Manhattan (one I grew up with), Muppet Treasure Island (my favorite), and Muppet Christmas Carol.

Veggie Tales are pretty good. Christian, yes, but more...hmmm, Generic Christian? They're not terribly in-your-face about it, even when they're doing actual Bible stories rather than Sherlock Holmes/CSI or Don Quixote parodies. I still think their mix of the Prodigal Son and the Wizard of Oz was very well done, and my favorite of the videos I've seen so far has to be their Lord of the Rings one.

Milo and Otis will bore parents to tears, but it fascinates my 3-year-old. But fair warning, since it completely threw me off, the movie shows a cat giving birth. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I was not expecting that.

Oh gosh. @_@ Night on Bald Mountain. Even now, I can barely watch that one. Scary, scary stuff.

Huh, I never had a problem with that one, even as a little kid. My problem with the first Fantasia is that until I reached college, I always thought that the film ended with Night on Bald Mountain because as a kid, I always fell asleep right at the start of Ave Maria. Oops. Between the two Fantasias, I prefer Fantasia 2000, but my 5-year-old really likes the Rite of Spring segment of the original (it has dinosaurs!).

My own recommendations can basically be summed up as anything Pixar, anything Disney (though some movies like Hunchback of Notre Dame might need some screening first before showing it to a 3-year-old who's prone to nightmares), and a good smattering of Don Bluth and similar. My kids adore American Tail and Land Before Time (the dinosaurs, again), and those two are bundled on the same disc as Balto, which is also a hit with them. American Tail 2 is pretty good. If you don't mind having them in your collection, the Land Before Time sequels should be good for a preschooler too, though I personally found them to be rather inane and won't buy them for my kids.

I went and checked our own collection, but there've been a lot of suggestions from it already, so I don't have much to add beyond that. You can check out some of Dreamworks' other fare for Khan too. How to Train Your Dragon is really good, and surprisingly entertaining for Hubby and myself as well. You already mentioned Kung Fu Panda, and my kids rather like Sinbad and Road to El Dorado as well. I remember Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron being good as well, but I've only seen it once (when it came out in theaters).

Oh, and picking up some kids' show collections might be good. We've got Darkwing Duck and the Saturday-morning Sonic the Hedgehog, as well as some Disney animated shorts collections (three Donald Duck collections and one Chip and Dale collection). I want to eventually get seasons of DuckTales, Animaniacs, TaleSpin, etc. And maybe at some point we'll get a chance to watch more My Little Pony FIM (only seen one episode that came with one of the girl's toy, but the kids liked what they've seen so far; we just don't have cable at the moment). Part of it is because Hubby and I don't care too much for a lot of what's on television for kids these days, so we're amassing a DVD library for our kids that we like better, rather than relying on the whims of TV programming. Plus no commercials.

[kpzra]

My daughter has been into Curious George lately but only because I hid Monsters vs Aliens from her. She found out it will loop on its own so she'd sit and watch it all day if I let her. She's 2 and has seen a lot of what has been listed already. We like How to train your Dragon (can't wait for the 2nd one) and the Incredibles. Monsters Inc made her crack up for almost the whole thing.

[SongsOfDragons]

D'oh. Everything I was going to suggest has already been suggested. XD Great minds think alike?

Although... FernGully perhaps?

[fireheart]

Milo and Otis will bore parents to tears, but it fascinates my 3-year-old. But fair warning, since it completely threw me off, the movie shows a cat giving birth. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I was not expecting that.

I actually didn't watch that part in the movie . It fascinated me up until age 7 or so.

[Kogarashi]

I actually didn't watch that part in the movie . It fascinated me up until age 7 or so.

Since the movie bores me, I usually put it on and then go do something in the other room. I happened to walk by one day while the scene was playing, and did a double-take. "Was that what I think that was! " Followed by at my own reaction.

[HYHYBT]

The original Popeye cartoons were by Fleischer Studios.

But it's paired off with the nice "Ave Maria" ending!

Although, granted, "Night on Bald Mountain" is more visually stunning...

Well, that depends. For most people, and almost certainly for a child that age, yes. But I've found the Ave Maria half far more stunning to see since reading about just how much trouble it was to create.

If it were up to me, I'd show a young child Fantasia 2000 *first.* All its segments have at least some sort of plot, whereas the opening of the original is a bit *too* abstract to hold some people's attention until they're used to the concept.

I've never seen Bedknobs and Broomsticks all the way through, but isn't it live action?

Whoever said they hadn't seen the original Muppet Movie except once long ago really should give it another chance. It's good. Though I agree with Fozzie: The Electric Mayhem don't look like Presbyterians to me, either.

My niece and nephew love the new Thundercats series. (For that matter, so do I and I'll be seriously if it doesn't get renewed.) It's just finished the current season and starting reruns this weekend.

[Kheldarson]

Bedknobs and Broomsticks is mostly live action. There is a segment where they're in a comic book.