Movies for boys

[momofkhm]

My dh thinks ds is a tad too enamored of tall the girl movies we have in the house for our older girls - Ice Princess, Barbie movies, etc. He mentioned "football" movies, but I know what he means are movies with boy themes, or even neutral themes just not girl themes. We already on Facing the Giants.

DS is only 7. I'm ok with some PG movies, my big issues are s*xual things and language. (The bachelor party is why I won't let him see Fantastic 4, Rise of the Silver Surfer.)

Thanks!

[lynn]

Movies my boys liked, Holes, the sandlot, field of dreams, angels in the outfield, garfield, kid in king arthur's court, narnia

[Mrs. Readsalot]

School of Rock
Secondhand Lions
Agent Cody Banks
Flubber
Hoot
Derby Stallion (very good boy movie)
National Treasure

[Snickerdoodle]

Jason and the Argonauts

[JudoMom]

My dh thinks ds is a tad too enamored of tall the girl movies we have in the house for our older girls - Ice Princess, Barbie movies, etc. He mentioned "football" movies, but I know what he means are movies with boy themes, or even neutral themes just not girl themes. We already on Facing the Giants.

DS is only 7. I'm ok with some PG movies, my big issues are s*xual things and language. (The bachelor party is why I won't let him see Fantastic 4, Rise of the Silver Surfer.)

Thanks!

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
Spiderman 1,2, & 3
Star Wars
The Incredibles
Cars
Night at the Museum
Princess Bride
An original Batman movie: 1960-something?
Everyone's Hero
Arthur and the Invisibles

[Heidi @ Mt Hope]

I'll second: Narnia, Night at the Museum, National Treasure, and Holes.

I'll add Black Stallion movies (my son loves all 4) and October Sky.

[Brenda in FL]

I haven't seen the Bionicle movies posted yet. When ds had his lego/bionicle slumber party and the boys set down for the 3 bionicle movies (at age 7 or 8) you'd think they had died and gone to heaven - These boys were so excited to watch these movies!!

Certain of the Star Wars movies are also watched by the boys in this home.

And the boys also like to watch Looney Tunes (we have one of those DVD collections).

[Kathy in MD]

They're both older sports movies. If either have any language problems, they're very mild words.

[Blossom'sGirl]

My guys just watched "The Newsies" which is a musical but the cast is almost all boys. It is based on the true story of the newspaper boys strike in the early 1900's. We watched it for school because we are studying that period right now.

We don't watch a whole lot of new movies but they did like "Cars".

[Dana in OR]

but how about some older ones, like

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(and the others in the series)
Star Wars movies

and some of the cheesier old horror films, like

Abbot and Costello meet Frankenstein
etc, etc...

[Karen sn]

Goonies, Night at the Museum, Holes, Seconhand Lions, The Sandlot - these my noyfriend and I agree on for boys.
I say,"Princess Bride has plenty of boy stuff" - he says no.

[Colleen]

I'm quite surprised at some of the movies people here are suggesting in light of the fact that your son is only seven. Many of them are films I've enjoyed, but as far as I'm concerned, they can wait until a child is beyond this age. Then they have something in store for early adolescence. At this point, though, I'd opt for Disney oldies-but-goodies such as Swiss Family Robinson or These Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines. There are a plethora of wonderful animal movies available, too, such as Ring of Bright Water, Born Free, Duma, and Two Brothers. If you're comfortable with The Rookie (starring Dennis Quaid), that has a baseball theme. Finally, this might not go over well with all children, but my boys have watched many foreign films that don't necessarily require reading the subtitles. That is, there isn't a huge amount of dialogue, and the story can be understood simply by watching, and perhaps a bit of explanation from someone older. The Way Home (Korean) and Children of Heaven (Iranian) are two examples; these movies are so good. Chariots of Fire is another that my third son absolutely loved last year (he was seven when he watched it).

[Liz CA]

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]I'm quite surprised at some of the movies people here are suggesting in light of the fact that your son is only seven. Many of them are films I've enjoyed, but as far as I'm concerned, they can wait until a child is beyond this age. Then they have something in store for early adolescence.

My son loved the original version of *Cheaper by the Dozen*, *The Waltons* series, *The Road to Avonlea*and *Wind in the Willows*.

[Colleen]

My son loved the original version of *Cheaper by the Dozen*, *The Waltons* series, *The Road to Avonlea*and *Wind in the Willows*.

All of those are great suggestions. My guys enjoy The Waltons, and my 8 year old in particular really likes Little House on the Praire (first few seasons). I didn't mention that in my reply, though, because it sounds like the dad is looking for something else.

[Adrianne]

The boys LOVE the action with guns and such. The females are fully clothed and usually the only "love" scene is the rescue at the end.

Adrianne

[Kathy in MD]

a sequel that's not as good, but still good. (What a sentence :rolleyes:) It's Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies. However I will give you a warning. The sequel has an Italian bachelor who uses his hands to configure what he'd like his future wife to look at. (hint: she's not deficient in the *book* department :D) He also looks a lot - at well clothed women. It is rated G though.

[Snickerdoodle]

What about the series "Lost in Space"?

Or, showing my age, does anyone remember this one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG7YPtHymh0)?

[one l michele]

I have three boys, they have enjoyed:

Walt Disney's Jungle Book
The Iron Giant
The Sword In the Stone
The Indian In the Cupboard
The Wind in the Willows
Where the Red Fern Grows
Trasure Island
Lost in the Barrens
Keeping the Promise
Summer of the Monkeys
E.T.
Free Willy

[PamInMN]

I have three boys, they have enjoyed:

Walt Disney's Jungle Book
The Iron Giant
The Sword In the Stone
The Indian In the Cupboard
The Wind in the Willows
Where the Red Fern Grows
Trasure Island
Lost in the Barrens
Keeping the Promise
Summer of the Monkeys
E.T.
Free Willy

Excellent movies......... how about The Dark Crystal; Willow!!! Great movies!

[whybenormal]

I don't think I saw "Robots" listed. And a more recent one my guys like is "Meet the Robinsons."

Shorter cartoon videos that my guys love are "Rescue Heroes" and "Adventures in Odyssey."

[Lorna]

Millions
Second Hand Lions
The Bridge to Terrabithia (sorry, I am not sure of the spelling)
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
Laurel and Hardy films
Ring of Bright Water (although a very sad ending)
The old BBC series of 'Swallows and Amazons'

[Eliana]

My son is 11 now, but here are some things he has loved over the years:

Robin Hood (Errol Flynn)
Sea Hawk
Captain Blood (also Errol Flynn - innocent swashbuckling with all the fun, but none of the explicit violence - watch out though, my younger ones make play swords out of *everything* imaginable after watching a Flynn movie!)

The Thief Lord (available on Amazon, not very well publicized, but a delightful adaptation of the Funke book)

Nanny McFee
Charlotte's Web
Lassie Come Home
Swallows & Amazons (*really*, really hard to find unfortunately - Coot Club and Big Six are readily available however and also very popular around here.)

The Lavender Hill Mob (an over the top Alec Guinness film with a little twist at the end)

Bringing up Baby - a classic screwball comedy, but the leopard steals the film for kids)

The Scarlet Pimernel (the one from the '80s w/ Anthony Andrews - the more modern one is horrifically violent) - this film can swing both ways, it is very romantic, but steeped in swashbuckling and honor.

The Irish R.M. - has some very mild romance, and the Irish accents can be a little challenging for kids, and there is drinking, but overall it is very innocent and humorous.

My son might be unusual, but he **loved** Casablanca when he saw it about two years ago, enjoys Mr Smith Goes to Washington, and really wants to see the Gettysburg film his sisters saw last time we 'did' the Civil War.

You might preview some westerns - mine have seen two: Stagecoach (adults will easily recognize the background of one of the women, but kids without exposure to it, at least mine, assume that the issue is one of class or income not... 'virtue'. Also, Native Americans, obviously, don't come off well in many of these, but it wasn't as bad as I had expected.) and High Noon (very suspenseful, and another ambiguous female situation, but, again, it goes right over the heads of innocent kids, again, at least mine). At some point, they might see Fort Apache and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (both of which present native tribes less simplistically than Stagecoach).
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence is also quite good, and it shows very well the transitional stage from the 'wild west' towards statehood, but the violence is much more real and the issues more complex - we're saving this for a later time....

Depending on how you feel about violence - there are some fantasy films:

Princess Bride, Willow, Star Wars (my son saw the first of the old SW films about a year ago; we don't plan for the kids to see the other two any time soon or to ever see the newest 3, ymmv).
My brother is a major Doctor Who fan and thinks everyone should see some of the old Doctor Who episodes (we feel they are too violent for our kids, but ymmv)

I don't think it is generally available (my copy was taped from TV by someone for me), but I remember Hector's Bunyip as appealing to boys and girls.

The Blue Butterfly is very well done, but deals with some intense issues (there is brief 'language' but the DVD has a bleeped out version and a non-bleeped one - I wish more films thought to offer this!!)

Although it is often pegged as a 'girl's' book or film, my son enjoyed Anne of Green Gables and the sequel as much as his sisters did - I think he still would.

He also enjoys the literary adaptations (P&P, etc). Even more than Austen and Gaskell, he loved The Importance of Being Earnest (three spots I fast forwarded through: one of Cecily's dream sequences, Gwendolyn's tattooing (!!!???), and a flashback of how Gwendolyn's mother met her father).

HTH

Eliana

[j.griff]

Transformers- the movies (live action and cartoon) and the cartoons (you can rent them from netflix or buy sets on e-bay)
Thundercats cartoons
Gargoyles cartoons
Lord of the Rings
Narnia
Harry Potter
Jumanji
Zathura

[Kendra]

My boys get a kick out of the old Wild Wild West (http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Wild_Wild_West_Season_1/70048457?trkid=222336&lnkctr=srchrd-sr&strkid=253824801_1_0) episodes. We check them out from Netflix. Wild west meets technology-- Jim West can get out of any pinch using hidden wires in his hat, knives in his boots, etc. A boy's dream!

Skip the movie remake.

[Patty Joanna]

Look to the past.

GREAT movies for boys this age, and no se*ual stuff, like you will find even in Facing the Giants (WHY do they have to check the preggo strip, Mom?)

El Dorado (John Wayne)
Roy Rogers movies
Magnificent Seven
Robin Hood (Errol Flynn)
Zorro (Tyrone Power)
Captain Blood
War Wagon
The earlier Herbie the Lovebug movies
The Wind and the Lion will be good in a couple of years.

Caper movies, like How to Steal a Million are kind of fun, too.

There are wonderful movies that came out pre-1960 that you can rely on to be interesting to adults, because they had real writers, not quip-makers, and because they knew how to do the double-entrendre. The adults will laugh themselves silly over a line that a kid will just think is GREAT but have NO IDEA why the adults are ROTFLOL.

[Patty Joanna]

One other reason movies from the past are great is that they aren't all about how a boy FEELS about adventure--they are just rip-roaring adventures. Even LIFE is an adventure in Little House, etc.

[Colleen]

One other reason movies from the past are great is that they aren't all about how a boy FEELS about adventure--they are just rip-roaring adventures. Even LIFE is an adventure in Little House, etc.

Spot on. Thanks for expressing it so well.

[OH_Homeschooler]

i don't think anyone's mentioned this one..."How to Eat Fried Worms"