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Great Parenting

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(sorry if this sounds a bit like a post on mumsnet)

It was my turn to get Little Paws up this morning, whilst Mrs. Paws had a lie in. With quality parenting to the fore, we both sat on the sofa and watched Duck Soup and it initially surprised me that Little Paws loved it. On reflection I suspect that the slapstick, surreal elements and comedy one liners should really appeal to a five year old. Hopefully I have passed a love of the Marx Brothers on for another generation.

Does the massive have any other movie suggestions that might keep us away from Disney Princesses? We’ve already got through six of the seven Star Wars films, but what could be next? All suggestions appreciated 🙂

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Comments

  1. “The Iron Giant ” is brilliant. “G Force” is really good too. “The Invincibles” and “Wall-E” had heavy rotation here, also Top Cat and Wacky Races box sets.

  2. My dad had a large collection of Hancock videos, and when my kids were little the big treat of going to stay with their grandparents was watching them. It was what they looked forward to most. Not necessarily recommending this, but like the Marx Bros it’s an interesting demonstration of how things can unexpectedly cross generations. They can still quote large chunks.

  3. I used to watch Laurel and Hardy with my daughter when she was that age and she loved it. I showed one to my 6 year old son last week and he loved it as well, so we’re planning to work our way through the big boxed set. The Princess Bride is a favourite of both of them too and you can’t go far wrong with Disney films. An underrated gem in the Disney canon is The Emperor’s New Groove. Anything to stop her from watching those awful chipmunk films that my kids keep watching has to be a good move!

  4. Pixar all the way – monsters inc we watched over and over at that age. Tom and Jerry always worked -, and the early Wallace and grommits. SpongeBob is clever enough for adults and kids to enjoy. Shaun the sheep of course.

  6. Little Paws sounds as though she has quite sophisticated tastes for a five year old.

    At about that age our són was a compulsive watcher of the What’s new Scooby Doo? cartoons. Mystery Inc updated for the mobile phone, internet era. Probably fairly cheaply available on DVD

    Mild peril, amusing dialogue and lots of exotic locations, so good for geography learning.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWAwknyTO70

    I enjoyed the two Scooby feature films they made, but they were a bit scarier.

    Scooby seems to keep getting rebooted again and again, some times more successfully than others. Anything with Scrappy Doo is to be avoided like the plague.

    • Seconded. The on-going series of hour-long animated movies are pretty good, too. Start with Zombie Island, Alien Invaders, Cyber Chase and Loch Ness Monster. Avoid the ones with Kiss. All available dirt cheap on DVD.

        • Again, What’s New Scooby Doo tried and tested in our house with similar age. Kelloggs at the time issued a few free DVDs of them so we watched the same half-a-dozen (haunted rollercoaster – what are the chances?) over and over.

          • The Monster of Mexico is a firm favourite at Kirk Towers. Gets a bit ‘Wizard of Oz’ at the end, mind. The down side is that Lord Barchester (6) has got into the habit of greeting everyone in the playground with a zombie roar, which doesn’t always go well with some of the kids in Reception. May also result in extended references to “My Uncle Flaco”.

  9. My daughter loves Studio Ghibli films although she was older than yours when she discovered them. Others here know more about this than me but you could try Ponyo or My Neighbour Totoro. Despite Ghibli’s links with Disney, they aren’t typical Disney fare. The Secret World of Arietty is Ghibli’s take on The Borrowers.

    • Totoro is one of the best children’s movies in any category. Every child should see it. Every adult too!

      So mysterious and poetic.

      This list of animated films, seen or owned and enjoyed by my son at some point might inspire you.

      http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070329554/

      Two French favourites of mine that you may not have heard of are A Cat in Paris and The Phantom Boy. The German Three Robbers is also very entertaining.

      European animated movies don’t get the publicity they deserve.

      One needs to be a little careful with aninated films. Not all are child friendly. I took him to see the wonderfukl Coraline and he still hasn’t forgiven me. Scared him shitless.

        • Thanks. Hadn’t heard of Mysterious Cities… I also though that Avatar the Last Airbender ( the TV series not the feature film which I’ve not seen but heard was awful) was splendid. Exciting plot and graphically very imaginative.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-SDIWjqLgo

          I was amused to just hear that one of the people involved had previously worked on Family Guy.

          Which reminds me that another of my son’s faves is Futurama. But a bit too adult for a 5 year old.

  11. Great parenting – not:-
    My son was nearing 5 years old when I had split from his mum. He used to stay with me every Friday night through saturday teatime. I had something of a ritual of a saturday morning bath while he watched cartoons or children tv.
    One saturday morning he noticed The Terminator in its VHS box. Can I watch the Terminator dad? I suppose so but don’t let your mum know was my reply.

    I was luxuriating in the bath as the phone rang downstairs. Alex answered it. ‘Hi mum, Dads in the bath and I am watching the Terminator’. The little shit grassed me up.

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