We rented Chitty Chitty Bang Bang mostly because, at a run time of 144 minutes, it was the longest movie we could find. And in the midst of those tedious days, I fell in love. A few reasons why the movie's just gosh darned wonderful: Roald Dahl wrote the screenplay, Dick Van Dyke, two precious and precocious children, a sheepdog named Edison, Lionel Jeffries, songs that stick in your head for weeks, toot sweets, and a Baron Bomburst.
All this to say, recently watching this movie again has made Tom and I begin to talk about what movies we will allow our children to watch, and what movies we will NOT. I suffered through Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeaquel very much against my will; I will never place the same burden upon our future babes.
A quick, off-the-top-of my head-list of approved movies. Movies that encourage at least one of the following: beauty, imagination, tenderness, adventure, stewardship, greatness, sacrifice, and selflessness.
Iron Giant
Last Unicorn
Spirited Away
Babe
The Point
The Triplets of Belleville
Never Ending Story
Charlotte's Web
The Thief of Bagdad
Most classic Disney cartoons (esp Peter Pan, Bambi, Dumbo, Beauty and the Beast, Jungle Book, and Fantasia)
The Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings series
And in the list of verboten:
Anything live action from the Disney channel (from Tom)
Most Nickelodeon cartoons
Most current t.v. shows
I realize we've crossed over into cable/public broadcasting land, but I just wanted to add my disgust at children's tv. Even if the shows were decent, we wouldn't be watching much, but at this low caliber...most likely never.
Too harsh? Any suggestions for either category?
B
Man, you named some of my favorites!
ReplyDelete"And STOP!!!! ...the Devil... from doing bad things..."
I just wish you'd go ahead and have the suckers already!
Loooooooooooove,
Marge
Don't listen to marge. Hold out a little longer :) Remember our discussion!!!
ReplyDeleteLove the choices. Totally agree about the filth that is children's TV programming in its current state.
Never seen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Guess I'll have to now, since you recommend it.
ReplyDeleteAgreed about the garbage on TV nowadays. I've decided that my poor children are going to be major dweebs/nerds when it comes to TV because I'm going to buy old school cartoons on DVD and let them watch that instead. Like, My Little Ponies, Care Bears, Bugs Bunny, etc. Don't know too many boy cartoons...
So, at what age will you let the wee ones watch/read Harry Potter?
Hi Kati
ReplyDeleteCompletely forgot about My Little Ponies and Care Bears...while those shows might not be the best representative of moral and true Gospel living, I may still let them sneak in if only for nostalgia's sake :) For boy cartoons I am sure Tom would recommend G.I Joe, Batman and anyone from the Justice League.
Tom and I have talked a great deal about when to let our children read/see Harry Potter, LOTR, Chronicles of Narnia etc etc. We think it's best to take it on a case-by-case basis. There's not really a magical age. The capital 'T' Truth is present all around us, in all sorts of stories. From fairy tales, to medieval legends, ancient epic poetry, to 20th century fantasy--all of these can contain Truth that we desire our children to know and emulate. Our children must be mature enough to recognize this Truth and the evil that it battles and is certain to overcome. When they are, we will not only allow them to read such things; we will encourage it.