Movies Suitable for a 2.5 year old? (no babies getting lost!)

pencil

As a 'thing to do together' I have begun having a movie night with the little one. "On Saturday... the day daddy is not working... if your a good girl... Daddy will watch a movie with you" etc.

The first night went really well, we watched Wall-E & she really enjoyed the time that I spent with her explaining the story, she was taking about Wall-E for the week.

The second Saturday did not go to plan :rolleyes:. The storyline of the movie involved the Daddy Lion losing the Baby Lion... Daddy Lion then has an adventure while looking for the Baby Lion. This storyline was not appreciated, tears for the Baby Lion appeared within seconds. I had to fast forward to the happy reunion

So, I'm looking for movie suggestions from you good people that will be suitable for 2.5 a year old. Nice simple happy stories are the way to go - certainly no mammy/daddy losing babies etc.

Any suggestions?

noby

Finding Nemo. Five years on it still gets dusted off in our household. Although the bit at the start where the mam dies might be picked up by a sensitive 2.5y/o. After that it's good fun all the way.

pencil

Cheers Nobe,

The mummy dying would probably go over her head. But it is baby getting lost scenario will cause upset - I'm looking to avoid this at least until she is a few month older.

You'd be surprise how manu of these movies storylines involve a family member of some description getting lost!

IsThatSo?

Nemo gets lost, in Finding Nemo, and the Dad goes looking for him so it might not be suitable.

Toy Story is good, and funny for grown ups too:)

Cars is good, great music and very colourful. Also great for adults.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (DVDs are about €15), it could be a few episodes rather than a movie, but its very child friendly. Its hard enough to get these, I got mine in Z*avvi (closed now) but should be available in H*M*V.

My mind has gone blank (baby brain) so have a look here:

http://www.kids-in-mind.com/

The reviews will give you an idea of what is suitable.

From experience, I found that a child that age will get a "notion" about a movie and watch it over and over and thats all they will want to watch for quite a while. If your daughter takes a fancy to one in particular then you can just play it until she gets sick of it (This happened with my children and my nephews, maybe we are all odd lol).

We did the movie thing also, and if it was during the day we closed the curtains Popcorn was a requisite.

noby

Ok so, besides the mother dying, and the baby going missing...and the sharks...

Seriously though, Toy Story is a good one, if you think Nemo might be too much.
Wallace and Gromit maybe?

JohnDigital

The Garfield movies, my 2 and 3 year old just love them.

hefty_langer

"Horton hears a who" - has my 2.5yr old in stitches, she must have watched it hundreds of times, really cool film, based on the dr suess books...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0451079/

laurak265

Cars is brilliant...i do watch that film over and over never mind my son lol! He loves it...also just tv on dvd does be good. Have loads of everything in my house. Or just disney in general...bambi, jungle book etc.

Ickle Magoo

My wee one is just a couple of months older than yours & her favourites at the moment are:

Tinkerbell (absolute fave!)
Anything with Shrek
Madagascar
Monsters Inc
Bee Movie
Over The Hedge
Shark Tale
Ratatouille

hth

loyatemu

I'd steer clear of Finding Nemo - our 3 year old was terrified by the sharks, and like your kid is generally upset by any film where a parent is absent or goes missing (avoid the Lion King too in this regard).

She might enjoy Shrek - its got plenty in it for kids and adults...

littlebug

I'd echo the other suggestions and also say avoid bambi.... it took ages to get over that one:( The tears broke my heart.

MarkR

There's only one Mickey Mouse Clubhouse film I think (Great Clubhouse Hunt IIRC), and my soon to be two year old gets very upset at the start (I think it is because Pete is dressed up as Mickey - go figure).

Anyway, you can record them from playhouse disney. I have everyone of them I would say now at this stage stored onto my hard disc recorder.

oh well , okay

Jungle book has had my chap hooked for the last 6 months , he just loves all the songs in it .

His (other) favourite saturday night movies would be Shrek , Madagascar , Finding Nemo and Toy Story .

Sleepy

3 year old little fella in our house, he's loved Finding Nemo for well over a year...

Other favourites would be Over the Hedge, the Winnie the Pooh movies, Happy Feet (though that has some sad bits), An American Tail (though that involves a missing parent too), Cats & Dogs is very funny, Madagascar, *HUGE* Cars fan (you should see his bedroom - lightning mcqueen everywhere).

Another recommendation from this house is Tinkerbelle though it's as much his mum who loves that as him...

Peppa Pig but I'm not sure if there's a movie... Fifi and the Flowerpots is another good tv series for kids of that age...

For something educational, try get your hands on Little Einsteins... I can't get over how addicted our little fella's gotten to it!

Dfens

If let our nearly 4 year old would watch Shrek or Madagascar 'til her eyes fell out.
Very few of the films do not have some parts that very young kids might be frightened of imo
e.g. Shrek I - Dragon
Finding Nemo - lost Nemo
Monsters Inc. - scary lizard-type monster, can't rem his name
Happy feet - sealion chasing baby penguin
Ratatouille - Rat loses the rest of the rat colony

Maybe you could quickly preview the movie beforehand as you know your child best & what might be potentially upsetting, or maybe have a good explanation ready.

embee

My little girl turned three last month, and her favourite movie to watch is Happy Feet.

It's got penguins who sing, a very special penguin who tapdances, bravery, courage, adventure, funny sidekicks, action, drama, comedy and even a valuable lesson about taking care of the planet.

She loves it and gets a great kick out of it, doesn't find it sad or scary.

Orion

The classics. Cinderella, Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty etc.

TBH though you could put on anything colourful for a 2 year old and she'll be entranced. Try something like Peppa Pig or Dora. Kids that age have a short attention span. If you get a Peppa or Dora dvd it's a few 20 minute cartoons which might work out better.

pencil

Big thanks everyone - I have a good list to work from!!

She allowed 30 mins of TV a day.... she can instinctively tell when it's 4.30pm (Dora time). She's an absolute Dora addict, she knows more Spanish than her mom & Dad!

John Mason

dr. suess - the cat in the hat

no one dying or getting lost

just a house getting wrecked

marti101

Stuart Little and The Iron Giant were two of my kids favourites good films and nothing really in them.Harmless.

lostinnappies

I know she's a girl but i found Cars fantastic. Also barney video (not the episodes) as much as I hate barney my two love it 1 & 4. Bee movie, underdog, Shrek, the incredables, Scooby Do movie (might be too scary for her) are some of their fav. Teletubbies is good too.

BostonB

Laura's Star
Curious George

However if shes getting upset maybe movies are too old for her, and you might be better leaving it a while.

killwill

The Heffalump Movie is a good one, as is the Tigger movie. although Tigger is trying to find his family in that one also...
Lady and the Tramp is a classic in my house as is the second one, I believe it is "Scamps Adventures".

mmalaka

My daughter list:

Dora
Shrek 3
Bee Movie
Barney

Nothing else

memo_to_all

Toy Story....winner every time. My lad found Woodie in Smyths the other day and demanded to know where his hat was.

Other movies my 2 year old enjoys are..Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ( think its the songs) & Charlie and the chocolate factory

Waternews

Hi,

My 2.5 year old little girl loves the following:
Finding Nemo
Monsters Inc
Jungle Book
Shrek
Enchanted - 'princess movie'
Tinkerbell
Tigger movie
Beauty and the Beast

Happy Feet - but not for long, she always gets very bored with it.

Bar the Tigger Movie, I'm more than happy to watch any of them.
She needs to talk through the movie as she watches it for the first time, asking questions, or I pre-empt them with spoilers like 'Nemo's daddy will find him.. wait and see all the hugs and kisses' etc etc. When it happens she's doubly reassured that movies work out in the end.

The 'meany lady' in Enchanted was a bit of a challenge, but we pantomime that 'BOOOO! meany lady!'

I don't let her watch any movie on her own, or without monitoring her reactions during it. I think if you do that, you can watch most U movies.

PS - steer clear of Dumbo if she doesn't like parental separation!!! I can't watch that one myself

CDfm

Fireman Sam is a huge hit still. My kids loved it and I was really surprised to see a 3 year old recently go GaGa over him.

About as child friendly as you can get.