Recommended PG rated films?

Mollyobs

Hi all

Heading into the classroom for the first time this September, and wondering which films would be suitable for 9/10 yr old kids to watch as their monthly 'Fun Friday' reward for good behaviour?
Thinking that they'll have seen most current stuff, so perhaps I should be investigating films from 80s or 90s?

Any help appreciated!

Thanks

Mollyobs

Vokes

Mollyobs wrote:

Thinking that they'll have seen most current stuff, so perhaps I should be investigating films from 80s or 90s?

You can never go wrong with The Goonies.

Karl Hungus

For the 9/10 year olds, I assume some animated films wouldn't go a miss? So I'd recommend pretty much any of the Studio Ghibli films. They're probably best known for the films Spirited Away (Which one the 2003 Best Animated Feature Oscar) and Howl's Moving Castle. They're Japanese films (but are available dubbed), so I'd imagine the kids wouldn't have seen them.

Ghostbusters.

Shryke

Deleted User wrote:

Ghostbusters.

I'm not so sure Irish kids would be receptive to asian animation (:p). The OP might get Grave of the Fireflies or something without realising!

So! There's a topic about The Iron Giant at the mo, very good cartoon movie. Another good one that came out about the same time was Titan A.E. My inner child prefers the latter. Lilo and Stitch is pretty good.
Anything with super-heroes. Spiderman, Batman, X-men.
The Harry Potters.
The Shreks, Monsters inc, and all of their ilk like Ice Age, Over the Hedge etc.
Wallace and Grommits.
Indiana Jones films.
The classic, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
The Princess Bride, although I'm not sure if kids might see it as too old and dated.

Anything with a bit of adventure and humour. There're are a good few sequels to some of those so you'd be a while with them!

Edited for a spot of bad grammer (twice). I may need sleep.

Naos

I don't think the kids will be averse to watching a film they've seen before it beats getting out of classwork...

I would go for Brother Bear and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.

Karl Hungus

Sandor wrote:

I'm not so sure Irish kids would be receptive to asian animation (:p).

Why not? They probably wouldn't know the difference with the English dubbed version. And if the likes of Speed Racer and Gigantor thought me anything as a kid, it's that even a bad dub would fool kids.

Shryke

Karl Hungus wrote:

Why not? They probably wouldn't know the difference with the English dubbed version. And if the likes of Speed Racer and Gigantor thought me anything as a kid, it's that even a bad dub would fool kids.

A film like Spirited Away, you'd notice. That's not to say they wouldn't like it, but I don't see a bunch of Irish kids sitting around to watch it. That's me. Personally I like it, (although I wouldn't say it was FotW quality ).

Karl Hungus

Sandor wrote:

A film like Spirited Away, you'd notice. That's not to say they wouldn't like it, but I don't see a bunch of Irish kids sitting around to watch it. That's me. Personally I like it, (although I wouldn't say it was FotW quality ).

Fair enough.

Still, as much as I'd like to spite you, I'd second a lot of your suggestions.

johnny_ultimate

I'd recommend the Goonies over anything, probably. Although it could be 12s or 15s (there's some surprisingly risque humour at the very start), I know that most of the material of that type (of which there is very little) completely passed over me as a kid. Best (non-Asian) kids movie ever.

I think more kids should watch Ghibli, and My Neighbour Totoro is perhaps a better bet than the more stylised and complex Spirited Away. I don't know how cynical 9-10 year olds are these days, but it is a wonderful childhood film which I am disapointed I only discovered a year ago (still one of my favourite films of all time though).

Other suggestions: Pixar Films (i.e. Toy Story 1+2, Cars, The Incredibles, Monster's Inc., Finding Nemo all are excellent), and pretty much anything mentioned above.

Naos

Sandor wrote:

I'm not so sure Irish kids would be receptive to asian animation (:p). The OP might get Grave of the Fireflies or something without realising!

I would have to disagree with you and I believe the success of Pokemon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh etc. would agree with Karl Hungus.

Shryke

Mear wrote:

I would have to disagree with you and I believe the success of Pokemon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh etc. would agree with Karl Hungus.

Ah come on now, those are very different pieces of work from what Karl mentioned which are much more artistic. All three of the shows you mentioned are about giant (usually) monsters repeatedly fighting for about twenty minutes. I haven't said that they wouldn't like them, but that they mightn't. Fair to say, I think.

Mollyobs

Thanks for all the suggestions.

The Goonies
Ghostbusters
Indiana Jones films.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
The Princess Bride
are all along the lines of what I was looking for.

Although the more current films are all excellent recommendations, your average Irish schoolkid has probably watched the Disney/Pixar recent releases umpteen times by the age of 9, and would consider them a poor reward for an entire month of being ready, respectful and responsible...

I am fascinated by the studio Ghibli discussion, and intend checking out My Neighbour Totoro on your recommendation

Thanks again

Molly

Karl Hungus

Mollyobs wrote:

I am fascinated by the studio Ghibli discussion, and intend checking out My Neighbour Totoro on your recommendation

Ah, good choice, it's an absolutely fantastic, heartwarming film.

I think many of the Studio Ghibli films are easily some of the best films there are, animated or not. There's just an incredible amount of heart, imagination and storytelling, aswell as animation and music.

iMax

Just a word of warning, you do require express written permission from the distributor of any film before showing it in the classroom (oilrigs/prisons etc)

Also as a parent (& movie lover), I think I'd appreciate my child being shown things that have more of an educational angle than the likes of Ghostbusters or animation.

BopNiblets

Ghostbusters is a documentary... no?


It teaches you how awesome Bill Murray is.

film_gonzo

iMax wrote:

Just a word of warning, you do require express written permission from the distributor of any film before showing it in the classroom (oilrigs/prisons etc)

Also as a parent (& movie lover), I think I'd appreciate my child being shown things that have more of an educational angle than the likes of Ghostbusters or animation.

Surely it fuels kids imagination- which in turn fuels their individuality. Surely this is also a vital part of a child's development. School isn't just about teaching knowledge IMO isn't also about shaping the child's person as much as home time is, I feel.

Also technically I think you do need permission but tbh unless someone rats you out to the distributor I'd say you'll be fine. (I always watched movies in school and I'm almost certain nobody asked permission).

I'd also like to add to the list three series of movies that had a massive effect on me as a kid:

Back to the Future trilogy (Is there any doubting how good this movie is)
Gremlins (possibly a bit scary for some kids but I'd give them the credit to decide)
& the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies. (I'll defend these movies till my dying days. EVEN the dodgy sequels)

Makaveli

The Goonies is rated 12s and Gremlins is 15s.

Ghostbusters and Back to the Future definitely.

Pride Fighter

Waterloo is pretty good, it is also historically based so if you are doing the Napoleonic era in history I am sure they would like it. I was going to recommend terminator 2 before you said it had to be a PG:D . Waterloo is rated U so anyone can watch it. For fun try the Rocky films, I and IV are rated PG, the others probably are too.

iMax

film_gonzo wrote:

Surely it fuels kids imagination- which in turn fuels their individuality. Surely this is also a vital part of a child's development. School isn't just about teaching knowledge IMO isn't also about shaping the child's person as much as home time is, I feel.

While I love movies (& I really do LOVE them), I think the calssroom is for education, & character building, so I'd have to lean towards films (if there really did have to be any) which performed this purpose. Certain classic films also, casablanca or colditz etc, however I doubt that these would be tolerated by kids as there's a distinct lack of autobots. I mention casablanca & colditz as the whole theme of WWII could be woven into a days education & discussion rather than just watching a film for fun.

I can remember being brought to see "The Champ" (John Voight version) which would put me at approx ten years old (1978) for a school field trip - I think we were supposed to be doing something else & it was raining so we ended up in the Carlton & I cried when little Rickey Schroder begged the champ to get up at the end (I think everyone did). The next day we discussed the subject of family & support & death in class (cheery eh?) but it was good & everyone had an opinion.

This doesn't go for the whole "Jurrassic Park *could* happen discussion, although that film is important in the development of cinema as a whole.

I think if this is something the OP wants to persue it would be wise to involve the parents - get their opinions & suggestions & build a whole study programme around it, a month's teaching on a subject peppered with a couple of movies loosly connected to the subject.

Mollyobs

I think I understand where iMax is coming from re just showing ANY old film to keep kids quiet on Fridays, as some teachers might do (as I remember from my own schooldays!)

However the idea behind my OP was to reward kids for not wasting our class time over a month, and basically 'earn' minutes of a Fun Friday afternoon - (e.g. they are given 2 minutes to get organised for Maths class, but if everyone is ready in 30 seconds, they have earned 1min30sec)
Then those minutes which would have otherwise been spent dealing with indiscipline/ missing biros/ messing in the line/ she said he said you said tale telling, can be 'spent' on a Preferred Activity, which might or might not be a film/ outing/ playing board games.

If you want to label it with an educational value, I could justify it as a module of the SPHE program - social and personal education on group dynamics, teamwork, work ethic, deferred gratification... I'll draw the line at including RSE though.