When I took my 4-year-old to see Up, we hardly made it past the previews. I know, it was a bit daring because she's only 4, but her older sisters really wanted to go and she wanted to be included. Once we'd sat about the length of a Dora episode, she was too restless to sit still.
That's not the first time I've walked out of a movie, but it's the first time I've walked out of a good movie. In fact, I was as disappointed as the older girls that we had to leave. Having recently seen G-Force, which managed to be both hyper-kinetic and intensely boring at the same time, it really made me appreciate the difference between good and bad family fare.
While the web isn't always a friend to families, it's full of resources for parents who want to find a good movie, avoid a bad one, or assess whether a film is appropriate for their kids. Several sites give specific breakdowns of potentially offensive material, so you can find out exactly where that PG-13 came from, or even which curse-words were used, how often, and in what context. CommonSenseMedia, ParentPreviews and MovieMom are a few good examples.
There's a lot of demand from consumers for this kind of detailed information. Even the Internet Movie Database (IMDB), which is one of the most trafficked entertainment sites on the web, now offers a parent's guide for most movies. Two other sites are very useful, RottenTomatoes and MetaCritic which collect dozens of reviews in one place and rank movies based on critical consensus.
Here is a short list of some of the best and worst movies for kids in recent years. Let me know if I missed something or if you completely disagree with some of the critics' consensus on what makes a good or bad movie.
Best movies for kids: The good news is that there are plenty. With family films pulling in a lot of money, we can expect to continue to see attention paid to high-quality family entertainment.
Up: Appropriate for young children/good for the whole family. Pixar has yet to strike out, which is a pretty amazing track record. There is no more consistent name in entertainment that is both high-quality and family-friendly.
Fantastic Mr. Fox: Appropriate for middle school/teens. Quirky and fun, based on a quirky book. It's for older kids and adults with or without them.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince: Appropriate for middle school/teens and adults obsessed with the Potter series. This film is darker than the previous movies, which is consistent with the tone of the books. The Harry Potter movies, like the books, have generally been a model of how quality family entertainment is also just quality entertainment.
The Princess and the Frog: Appropriate for younger children. Disney's latest -- and a return to hand-drawn animation -- has lived up to the hype.
Coraline: Appropriate for middle school/teens. Not for little kids, who may find it scary, but many older kids loved this movie and its themes.
Ponyo: Appropriate for all children/the whole family. If you aren't familiar with Hayao Miyazaki, you're missing out. Ponyo is the latest of his epic animated films to cross the Pacific. For those who don't typically watch foreign films, one of the great advantages of animation is that dubbing is seamless.
Not worth the rental: The worst movies for kids are ones which stretch their demographic. They have adult material, but play to a younger crowd in advertising to fill the seats. Here are a few movies marketed heavily toward kids which may make it into the Happy Meal, but just don't make the grade.
Transformers Revenge of the Fallen: Appropriate for middle school/teens. Yes, the effects are cool. But there's no rule that says a movie based on a cartoon or video game has to make no sense, it just seems that way.
GI Joe Rise of the Cobra: Appropriate for middle school/teens. Same thing here. It's not really a bad movie, but it's a disappointment that a movie so many kids will want to see isn't better.
G-Force: Appropriate for younger children/family. You can't just take CGI animals and funny actors and assume the movie will be good. Even with talking rodents, a script matters.
Planet 51: Appropriate for family. The problem with the success of animation in recent years is that sometimes the quality control is weak. This takes a good idea (a human shows up as the "alien" on another planet) and just can't make it work.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Appropriate for young children/family. Full disclosure: I took my kids to see it and they loved it. It's largely harmless, but it's also not a great film to get the full family involved because adults and older kids won't exactly be challenged.
Old Dogs: Appropriate for family, just not that good. Sappiness and slapstick are tough to pull off.