Look at this list! I’m going to put in bold the films we’ve already seen ("we" meaning my kids, really, since I’ve seen many more titles on the list than they have).
Heidi (Sarah wants to know which version?)
Charlotte’s Web
Homeward Bound
Beatrix Potter Collection
Peter Pan, Cathy Rigby version (look on eBay)
Little House on the Prairie, Disney version
Frontier House
One Night with the King
Bridge to Terebithia
Secret of Roan Inish
Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Avonlea (1975 BBC version)
IMAX movies like the one on beavers (This one is going at the top of my queue!)
Night at the Museum
Bringing Up Baby
Cars
Finding Nemo
A Bug’s Life
Darby O’Gill and the Little People
You Can’t Take it With You
Building Big with David Macaulay (a few scary scenes for more sensitive types)
The Pacifier
Cheaper by the Dozen (1950s version)
Akeelah and the Bee (slight language issues)
I Remember Mama
Pride of the Yankees
Spirit of Saint Louis
Emma, both the Kate Beckinsale & Gwyneth Paltrow versions were recommended (I’m partial to the Kate one, myself)
Pride & Prejudice, BBC version (but of course!!)
Sense & Sensibility
Nanny McPhee
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
National Velvet (old one with E. Taylor)
Fairy Tale: A True Story
Born Free
Iron Will
The Black Stallion
The Iron Giant
Boy’s Town
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Captains Courageous
Miss Potter
A Little Princess (not Shirley Temple version)
BBC Planet Earth series
Yours, Mine, & Ours (Lucille Ball/Henry Fonda version)
Pollyanna
Lassie (2005 version)
Natl Geographic Inside the Vatican
Life with Father
Martha Stewart dvds
Mr Blanding…
Railway Children
Connections w/ James Burke (This is available online, too, did you know? I saw a link at Sandra Dodd’s site.)
Hayley Mills movies (we’ve seen Pollyanna, Summer Magic, The Parent Trap)
The Sound of Music
Matilda
Mary Poppins
1776
and this list by Colleen, with this caveat: "…some
have language and/or mild sexual content that others might be
uncomfortable with. Some would definitely be more appropriate for
older, mature children. We tend to worry much more about violence at
our house…"
The Snow Walker
Mad Hot Ballroom
The Ron Clark Story (unique chance for my homeschooled kids to get a look at inner city New York schooling)
Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont
Rabbit Proof Fence
Follow Me, Boys!
The Apple Dumpling Gang
Eight Below
Song Catcher
Children of Heaven
Series wise, we’ve enjoyed The Waltons, All Creatures Great and Small,
and the early years of Monarch of the Glen. My kids also liked As Time
Goes By, although mainly this was a treat for their parents!!
Thanks, and keep ’em coming!
My daughter also loved the musical 1776.
We also loved IMAX Amazing Caves!
Another Hayley Mills movie I loved as a kid is The Trouble with Angels.
Since you said to keep ’em coming — “The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill but Came Down a Mountain” is lovely. Especially nice family film for pre-teen/teen mix.
Another we loved was the BBC version (2005, I think) of “My Family and Other Animals,” Gerald Durell’s book about his childhood.
Someone suggested “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dreamhouse.” My dad was a builder, and he would giggle all the way through this every time he saw it. Since he wasn’t much of a giggler, we always loved watching him watch it.
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea – the 1980s versions starring Megan Follows
North by Northwest
My Favorite Wife
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – the British live-action full-length musical version from 1972 starring Fiona Fullerton
Bringing Up Baby
Happy Accidents
“The Castle”–a really funny and sweet Australian movie about a family man who will not sell his family home to some corporate types. There might be some mild language but the accent tends to mute the effect!
Ransom of Red Chief with Don Knotts. I remember all the laughter when it was on tv in the pre-cable age. It was a pleasant surprise to find it is also a short story, though I can’t remember enough of the movie to say how accurate Disney version maybe.
Thank you for correcting my Hayley Mills typo, Lissa; especially mortifying considering I wanted to be her at one time lol.
I almost forgot I wrote this, where you can get more ideas,
http://farmschoolathome.blogspot.com/2007/03/childrens-entertainment-that-isnt.html
My girls love old musicals like Meet Me in Saint Louis, Singing in the Rain, and of course Seven Brides.
Some of the little-known old Disney musicals are enormously fun.
The One and Only Genuine Original Family Band
The Happiest Millionaire
Summer Magic
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Condorman
Milo and Otis
Movies my very-nearly-10-year-old loves:
The Princess Bride
The Dark Crystal
The Incredibles
Monsters, Inc
Labyrinth (probably too scary for smaller people, though)
Singing in the Rain
Fairy Tale (1997, based on a true story about two girls who photographed fairies in their garden)
She’s another vote for the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice series, as well 🙂
I have three that have been recommended, but that I’ve not yet seen:
Kiki’s delivery service
Allegria (cirque du soleil performance)
Stomp Out Loud (Stomp performance)
Avonlea/Road to Avonlea — original series (old Disney/Family Channel/Kevin Sullivan/Canadian PBS)
Sergent York
Old Nancy Drew Movies from the ’30’s, and the funky series w/Hardy Boys from late ’70’s
The new Nancy Drew movie when it comes out on DVD
Girl of the Limberlost, 1990 or so
there are older ones, but haven’t seen those
Andy Griffith Series, first 5 seasons black-white are best
1940’s House BBC
Belles on Their Toes- sequel to Cheaper by the Dozen
Treasure of the Snow (from St John book)
The Secret Garden, 1985? version… a young Colin Firth is in the very end!
My family really enjoyed Disney’s Five Mile Creek series when I was growing up. It’s set in the Australian Outback in the 1800’s. I can’t say enough about the strong bonds between the characters. It’s touching, exciting, funny and they have faith. Wonderful series.
We’ve really enjoyed the following
Duma
Kiki’s delivery service (as well as others by this director — spirited away, nausicaa, howl’s moving castle, princess mononoke, etc)
Princess Bride
Five Children and It
osmosis jones
Babe
WAllace and Grommit (3 shorter, 1 feature length)
Creature Comforts
Kirikou and the Sorceress (a favorite that has charmed all we’ve shared it with)
The Secret of Roan Inish
Who framed roger rabbit
Alice in wonderland (tv version with martin short, hilarious)
horatio hornblower (some violence, awesome tho)
neverending story
the indian in the cupbroad
willow
my dog skip
triplets of belleville
Holes
a little princess
osmosis jones
james and the giant peach
witches
the wiz
because of winn dixie
lots of science stuff:
planet earth (amazing, worth finding if you haven’t seen it)
the blue planet series
walking with dinosaurs
aliens of the deep
amazing caves
imax — africa, the serengetti
amazing journeys
microcosmos (so cool!)
genesis
volcano
A couple more to add:
Mongolian Ping Pong
The Life of Birds
We’ve rented both from Netflix!