This week my two-year-old cousin is staying with us.  Since it’s been over a decade since I’ve lived with a person under the age of five I haven’t had much issues with getting to watch half-decent films at home.  I mean, it’s not like I’ve had to be watching Dora the Explorer until now.  So in the last few days I’ve been considering how important it is to have child-friendly films that everyone can enjoy.

People who love film love to celebrate classics like The Godfather and Seven Samurai, but when you have a two-year-old in the room you have to put on the responsible hat and know that firstly: it may not be sensible for her to be watching something like this and secondly: she’s going to make a ruckus because she doesn’t enjoy it.  So I’ve recently reminded myself of how important it is to have good enjoyable films that will keep the infant’s attention.

The first thing that comes to mind is Pixar.  For the last fifteen years, since Toy Story (1995) was released in theatres, they’ve been giving parents and babysitters across the globe exactly what they need.  Action adventure films that didn’t have any bad words or blood and didn’t feel like they were always pandering.  These movies somehow make it fell like we’re being transported to this world without sacrificing anything massive for its target audience.  It’s even created a non-five-year-old following where even the oldest and crankiest of the critics have admitted to loving these films.  Now when adults and children can agree I think you’ve stated the rules for success right there.

However, there are films that are kid-friendly (i.e. no blood and no bad words) but at the same time they seem to have a tone that only an adult would enjoy.  One film that seems to come up in my mind is last year’s Fantastic Mr. Fox and Pixar’s 2008 film WALL E.  I’ve tried on multiple occasions an infants just don’t want to watch these movies.  They are in my opinon the best of the ‘kids’ movies to come out in the last two decades.  However, I might just to paying attention to my adult tastes rather than my inner four-year-old.

One other genre I haven’t mentioned yet is the imports.  Anime is a great source for more adult orientated animated films.  One director who stands out as very kid-friendly is Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away).  He always has an way of weaving his imagination into a great, usually eco-friendly, adventure film.  Having a drought of really good hand drawn animated films to watch coming out of America (before The Princess and the Frog came out) in the last fifteen years I’ve discovered the wonder of Miyazaki.

So I guess the question of the week is:

Which films do you end up watching with the younger members of your family that everyone enjoys?

This week I’ve been subjected to films like The Little Mermaid and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.  She seems to love The Jungle Book and Monsters Inc. most.