In today’s world, finding a movie that is suitable for young viewers is a challenging agenda. Many movies which a child might enjoy are edited to receive a PG or PG-13 rating to entice the entire family to come see the movie. Whereas, they could have left out certain foul language or scenes and had a happy child viewing the movie with good memories. Why is it important to find good, decent movies for children? Because most children will come away from a movie and act it out or at very least remember words or certain lines from a movie which they will proceed to repeat over and over again. If these lines are appropriate to come out of a child’s mouth, this can be cute and even somewhat educational. Many movie line, however; are not suitable to be repeated by children, or really by anyone for that matter.
There are many children’s programming such as Dora The Explore, Blue’s Clues, Cherub Wings, Veggie Tales, Sesame Street, etc. which provide educational entertainment for your child. Most of these shows last only a half an hour or less. Still, they are a nice choice for children’s eyes. But, what if you want to actually pay money and take in a show at a full-screen theatre? Now, your choices are more limited.
One movie that has recently come out that is appropriate for children and a very enjoyable story line for adults as well is the movie Bolt. It is the cartoon dog equivalent to the Truman Show. In the movie, the dog is a television star who has been raised on the Hollywood set. The dog has never been told he is simply a dog living on a Hollywood set filming movies. They never tell him because they want him to think he has super powers and perform well on camera when they film their weekly TV show about a superhero dog named Bolt. The story progresses as the dog find himself in the real world and discovers he really doesn’t have any super powers. But, he does engage upon a journey to find the true love of a dog owner and her dog. This movie had very little in it that would be objectionable to anyone. The beginning is a little difficult to follow for young minds as it clips back and forth from reality to non-reality. And, the very opening scene is a bit intense with the drama. I believe there was possibly one forbidden word muttered, but it was nothing too obscene. Overall, this movie is a great choice for the entire family.
Among other movies that would be a fun choice for children are The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything - a movie put out by Big Idea Studios, the makers of Veggie Tales. This movie came out a year or two ago, so it’s not fresh in the theatres to be viewed. You would have to rent it, check it out from the library or purchase it to view it in your own home. But, it’s worth the popcorn with its fun, lesson-teaching adventure. Veggie Tales has other full-length movies that they have produced as well. One of them is Easter Carol which tells the story of Easter in a Charles Dickens’ style.
You really can’t be too choosey in your selection of what your children’s eyes view. Whatever they watch is being absorbed and stored away inside their brain as part of their rapid learning processes going on throughout childhood. And, just like in the world of computers where there is the phenomenon of GIGO (garbage in/garbage out) - whatever you put into the computer is what comes out - what you tell it to do, or how you program it is what you will get - the same applies to children’s brains. Whatever goes into their brains is what will come out in one form or another as behavior. So, choose wisely as a parent or as the one who decides what to show the children.
