Nice Films for kids with no baddies please?

[dannyboyle]

7 and 5 year olds. I’m looking for nice happy films for them to watch with no baddies or bad things happening.
Have tried a few but they tend to get scared.
Any suggestions please??

Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory (original) though the tunnel bit can be a bit scary.

I don't remember a bad baddie in Early Man. He was a bit of a comic figure.

Elf
The Lorax

I understand though, my eldest saw one crash in Thomas TTE and has never watched it since (now 12)

Arthur Christmas.
No bad guys and it is my favourite film ever.

I'm taking notes - another one with a DD who has nightmares if there are 'baddies' in film/tv. She likes them at the time but o can't take the broken nights!

TV wise, Larva is v short but gentle ish (bit cartoon slapstick, but no villains).

Wallace and Gromit, A Grand Day Out
Barney's Great Adventure
Raymond Briggs Father Christmas

Mr Bean animation is good. The woman downstairs and the cat are the 'baddies' but they are too funny to be scary.

Sean the sheep movie is nice

Don't put on Nanny mcfee my dd was so upset by that! Cried several times (wanted to see the end!) and won't watch again!!

How about the care bears and my little pony films?

Agree with totoro, kikis delivery service, there's also a series called panda go panda that's lovely.

Some of the sequels to Disney films aren't as scary - Cinderella 2/3, lion king 3, Mulan 2, jungle book sequel. There's the timon and pumbaa films too which are quite funny.

Maybe grease? I used to love it as a child but my dds won't watch with Me!!

Mrs doubtfire?

Unfortunately the trailer for Paddington, where the whole bathroom is ripped apart and flooded was too scary for us!! And the Peter Rabbit trailer scene with the electric fence too. A spurce of worry for many weeks whether the hedgehog lived long after that?
Mrs Doubtfire snd the Parent Trap would be too emotionally wrenching for DD at 5. But 2 years later she can deal with it. I think taking things slowly and not forcing DD was the right thing to do, you cannot at will desensitize an oversensitive child without damage.
Also Ice Age 3 where the animals find a baby but the exhausted mother sinks into the river and most likelt dies was far too traumatic. So OP, avoid the Baby Ice Age 😉

My Little Pony actually has a baddie - Nightmare Moon, a demonic possesd Pony gone bad!!! Lots of spooky music and dramtatic lighting effects and evil intent meantbwe had to pause the MyLittlyPony for a good while 🙄

Those of you saying Wreck it Ralph, I've avoided watching that with DD4 because of the alien spider things and the soldiers - am I remembering that as more scary than it is?

Also agree with pp about Secret Life of Pets, the rabbit and the viper we're pretty scary I thought. It's a PG don't ya know haha

The new Disney Cinderella was heart wrenching too and there were many nightmares about Lady Tremaine. Quite rightly so if you think about it. A person in a position of trust making the heroines life a misery and locking her up. Somehow the animated version was less real and therefore less scary.

Mine loved The Little Rascals :)

DH complains that every film these days has to have a bad guy and the main character in peril. His example is the Paddington films which have threat and bad guys that were never in the books.

I have explained that getting marmalade on your whiskers is not really an exciting enough plot device to carry a Hollywood blockbuster but DH remains unconvinced.

I must be the only person who is reading this thead for ideas for fold their DH would like.

As pp said, it seems to be mandatory for films now to have baddies and peril in them to be successful and agree on a lot of the trailers!
It also doesn’t help that technology and cgi has made films much more realistic these days which I think makes it much harder for children to differentiate reality from a story.
Linked to this it’s also interesting that so many people are recommending older films

My Neighbour Totoro

It's a stunningly beautiful film that you will get a far deeper experience with than the kids will at 5 and 7.
Sadly the English dub is a bit squeaky voiced - but y'know kids film and all that.

My son loved Wreck it Ralph at 6yrs old. The sequel's trailer looks ace too. I wouldn't say it's scary in any way.

Cars 1 or 3? Baddies are more just rivals than actually evil.

I was terrified of Thumbelina, when she's kidnapped by the toads. And the poor Prince frozen in the ice.

Bit left field, but The Happiest Millionaire? The only bit that might be a bit dodgy is there's a bit of a bar fight at the end, but I don't think it's scary. There aren't any baddies — the 'struggle' is with how they're expected to have a big society wedding, and don't want to. Some of the storyline might go over their heads a bit, but it has nice music and the 'main' story is easy enough.

Actually, I forgot the alligators (they're pet ones). One bites his finger, and they accidentally get frozen in their ponds and have to be defrosted in front of the fire.

I love The Railway Children but if the kids are old enough to understand the whole wrongly-imprisoned storyline then that can be a bit upsetting, and the kids stopping the train in time is certainly ‘mild peril’, and the lad breaking his leg (ankle?) during the paper chase is a bit perilous too. Even the stationmaster shouting that he don’t want no charity is a bit upsetting for our lot! 😆

I love that this thread was started by Danny Boyle- don't show them any of your films!

Definitely Ponyo, it's absolutely gorgeous. Also Totoro, Kiki, The cat returns.

Moomins on the Riviera is good.
Sing is fantastic. My two liked Moana too.

They were terrified of random things for a long time (one still is, and won't watch many films, yet loves Star Wars )
Arthur Christmas is great. Cloudy with a chance of meatballs went down well too.

What about old series such as Mr Benn, Clangers, or Ivor the Engine?

DD1 can be quite easily freaked out by any remotely "dark" bits in films. Thinking of ones she's coped with...

Frozen she's only really interested in until the point Let it Go has been done with.
Minions
Tinkerbell ones (avoid Neverbeast like someone mentioned)
Shaun the Sheep (she did really enjoy that one) and Wallace and Gromit - I think the plasticine element negated any "baddies" for her
Inside Out she coped quite well with and it helped her express her feelings a bit more
Greatest Showman - but they're all obsessed with the songs from it at school
My Little Pony she coped with because unicorns outweigh anything else in DD1's mind
Wreck it Ralph she surprisingly coped quite well with as well - sometimes it's funny what freaks her out and what doesn't.

We've worked a lot on discussing story structure in terms of beginning - scary bit - happy ending which has helped a lot (it's the best way I've found to deal with DD1 is to give her the tools to rationalise it somewhat) but she's still a bit of a take it or leave it type where films are concerned anyway.

Haba, I’ve had my name since the London 2012 games when Danny Boyle did the opening ceremony!

Have done some dvd ordering inc Totoro as can’t find anywhere else.

Just to clarify that I’m not trying to force children into watching films, just trying to find something they may enjoy so the term “lets watch a film” isn’t always associated with a fear for them.

Moana is really terrifying - best friends drowning (the piglet falls into the ocean and has PTSD), carnivorous giant crustaceans trying to eat the heroine, and skeletal fire monsters from the jaws of Hell. Should definitely be a PG!

My 7yr old is very sensitive, our biggest successes are the Heffalump movie, the Giant Pear, Totoro, Sing and the Song of the Sea.