Mr. Movie: Films for kids stuck at home

The novel coronavirus has a lot of us housebound. While young children and teens can still get outside, they will be stuck indoors — like their parent or parents — for huge amounts of time.

That means time stuck in front of the TV.

Most of us have access to non-pay movie channels but an equally large number of us subscribe to prime movie channels like HBO and Showtime. A lot of us have Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV and so on.

In other words, in 2020 there are a zillion options for watching movies. Not only that, but we don’t necessarily need a television to watch one. Computers, tablets and smartphones can access these sources and we can often bounce between them when we’re watching something.

And then there is that media source from antiquity — DVDs. And some of us can even go back to the stone age and catch stuff we have that is on VHS.

But what if we can’t afford the premium channels? I caught an article from the website FastCompany. It delved into ways you can keep you and your children and teens entertained by going to some of these sites and getting a free trial. Most offer at least seven days and others as many as 30.

You can grab one, go into binge watch mode or try to record some stuff.

After practically living in theaters for the last 30 years and having been a movie fan all of my life, here are some films I can recommend if you can find them. Many are hard to locate. Others are easier.

These are some of my favorites. I didn’t get close to all of the films that might be good for kids to watch during the pandemic isolation. I’m sure there are dozens more. But this is a good start.

Kids six to 12 are pretty easily entertained. Teens are a bit tougher. These are some of my favorite kid flicks:

“Wizard of Oz”: My favorite movie of all-time and the first movie I ever saw and the reason I fell in love with them. Can’t be beat as a treat for kids of any age.

Fun films for kids of all ages — and their parents, guardians and grandparents. No need for much explanation on these. We all love them.

”Toy Story” I, II and III

”Shrek” — all of them

”WALL-E”

”Finding Nemo” and ”Finding Dory”

”The Incredibles” I and II

”How to Train Your Dragon” and the sequels

The Lego movies

The more classic animated features work, too. These are my two favorites:

”The Little Mermaid” — best ever music in an animated movie — or almost any movie for that matter.

”Aladdin” — not the live action, but the Robin Williams-led classic.

Then there’s ”Snow White,” ”Peter Pan,” ”Cinderella,” ”Pinocchio,” ”101 Dalmatians,” ”Alice in Wonderland,” ”Winnie the Pooh,” ”Coco,” ”Moana,” ”Mulan,” ”Up” and a dozen others.

And my two granddaughters would never forgive me if I left out ”Frozen” and ”Frozen II.”

Disney and Pixar are easy to access. Some of the other studios are not. By the way, if you decide on ”Dumbo,” ”The Lion King” or ”Aladdin,” do the animated films and not the awful live action versions.

A lot of these are fun for teens as well as younger children. The following are best for a kids that are a little bit older.

”Inside Out” — This 2015 flick is soooo clever. Loved it. One of my favorites from the the mid-2000s.

”Beauty and the Beast” — the animated film from 1991 and the live action movie are both terrific.

”The Iron Giant” — when we first really noticed Vin Diesel.

”Ratatouille ”— Disney cooked up a good one here.

There are lots of others but these are among my favorites.

There are lots of live action films that will work for both younger kids and teens. I’d suggest another run through the Harry Potter series. You can also peruse the Marvel films from the ”Avengers” to ”Iron Man” and beyond.

DC comics had a few good films in the Batman series.

But if you really want to have fun with super hero stuff go to ”Guardians of the Galaxy.” Other than the current Spider-Man series with Tom Holland and ”Thor: Ragnarok,” the two Galaxy films are the most fun.

And we can’t leave Marvel without going to the best marvel movie of them all, ”Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” It didn’t get a best picture nomination but should have and is the 2018 movie that — in my book — was the best picture of all the films nominated for the 2019 Oscars.

You also can’t go wrong with the original Star Wars series. Episodes one through three and the current films are iffy in my book but teens might like them.

Others that might keep teens interested are the Hunger Games, Maze Runner and Divergent movies. Mature younger kids and teens might also like the Chronicles of Narnia films.

Then there are films made strictly for teenagers. Action flicks of the just-mentioned super hero variety, flicks like ”Star Wars” and ”Galaxy Quest,” and action films like the ”Fast and Furious” series and the PG-13-rated horror films will work for teen boys and some girls.

They also might enjoy films like ”Shazam!,” ”Footloose” and the 21 Jump Street movies. Everyone can get into ”Easy A.” Emma Stone was amazing and it’s wonderfully written and acted.

Boys might like some of these but girls will certainly dig last year’s ”Booksmart.” It can’t be beat and neither can ”Eighth Grade” from 2018. Girls will also find ”The Fault is in Our Stars” faultless. I know I did.

Younger girls — and older ones — will love ”Princess Diaries,” ”13 Going on 30” and the ultimate chick flick movies come in the form of the Pitch Perfect films.

And why not introduce them to films you grew up with or that your parents grew up with? Mature teens can do classics like ”Stand by Me,” ”Dead Poet’s Society,” ”Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” ”Napoleon Dynamite,” both versions of ”Footloose,” ”The Social Network,” ”The Lost Boys,” ”War Games,” ”Red Dawn” and ”Rudy.”

And who doesn’t love ”Grease”?

Well, I didn’t but I’m just not into musicals and never have been. Anyway, there’s lots to think about here and lots more if you want to do a Google search like I did. Next week we’ll take a look at my favorite pandemic and end of the world flicks. There are a bunch of good ones and they’re easy to find.

This story was originally published March 19, 2020 at 8:22 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie: Films for kids stuck at home."