This weekend was, for me, full of movies. Only instead of heading into Wichita to catch “Avatar” or something else new, I was kicking back with my family and enjoying some kids’ movies I hadn’t seen yet. We watched Up, which made me laugh and cry. We ooh’d and aaaah’d over the visual awesomeness of 9.

This got me to thinking of my favorite kids’ movies. You know, the ones I’d watch, even if my kids aren’t anywhere around. After some serious soul-searching, this is what I came up with:

Shrek: He’s green, he’s gross, and he’s great. Not only is this movie full of humor for every age level, it’s rounded out with a great soundtrack and unmatched (at the time) computer graphic art. What’s not to love?

The Nightmare Before Christmas: Tim Burton’s masterpiece was a favorite of mine from day one. The creative characters were refreshing, if more than a little creepy. This movie was a great preview of things to come from Burton.

The Jungle Book (1967 Disney animated version): This is the first movie I ever saw in a theater. It was showing one summer in one of those cheap “kid fest” movie matinees, and my aunt took me. It’s pretty hot in Wetumpka, OK, in August, and we didn’t have air conditioning at home. The combination of Baloo, buttery popcorn, and A/C means that I will always love this movie.

Babe: It’s an adorable orphaned pig who talks, herds sheep, antagonizes the evil cat, gets into escapades with the anorexic duck, and in the end charms the world. Come on! You can’t ruin this movie! (Unless you make a less-than-stellar sequel!)

Toy Story: I know I’ve given CGI a lot of kudos here, and maybe it’s just because I grew up in the dawn of computers – literally. Toy Story is a great visual, though, and a great story. Jealousy, friendship, revenge, atonement, all wrapped up in a group of familiar toys.

While I’m at it, I have to give a shoutout to ALL the Pixar shorts. Really, I don’t think I’ve seen one yet that didn’t just amaze me with its creativity and intense graphics. The people at Pixar demonstrate some of the best talent in kids’ movies by far.

Disney has so many classics, like Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Hercules, Finding Nemo, and Cars. Other movies aimed at older children (such as Transformers), foreign movies and anime all have their place in my life as well.

To be honest, I almost couldn’t get the list down to five movies. In the end, I went through my old box of VHS films and looked to see which ones were the most battered and beat up. These five didn’t have cases anymore. One was missing the part that covers the actual “film.” One had half the label missing. One was… sticky… yuck. (I love having five kids.) Yet, this let me know which ones we used to watch when they were younger, over and over, before we switched to DVD. One thing I know from experience is that if I didn’t love the movie as well, we wouldn’t have put that many miles on it.

I’m sure everyone could make their own list. Give us your opinion in the comments!

image credit

Related posts:

1. [watch] Great Christmas Flicks
2. [watch] Best Movies of 2009
3. [watch] Ad Men at the Movies
4. [watch] Wichita’s Top DVD Picks
5. [watch] Wichita Children’s Theatre