By Colleen Rowe

If you are ever lacking in “things to do” with your nieces and nephews, there is a typical activity that is always fun: movie time!  It’s always good to help children or teens discover movies that are not only appropriate for their age level, but that also keep them entertained. We've curated a short list of big movies that aunts and nieces and nephews will love.

G-Rated Movies

Director, George Scribner’s 1988 G-rated flick, “Oliver and Company,” is amusing and keeps a younger age group interested. According to Rottentomatoes.com, it is a retelling of Charles Dickens’ novel, Oliver Twist, giving children a historical lesson on homelessness and the life of an orphan. Through its combination of animation and literary references, it is a movie that is able to educate, while it entertains, depicting the main protagonist as an orange cat. As an aunt, you’ll find yourself thinking about the advanced social factors within this film that are made less complicated by a storyline of cats and dogs, while your nieces and nephews will enjoy watching these new furry friends!

Declared by Boston Globe staff writer, Ty Burr, as “the best American film of the year to date,” director Andrew Stanton’s 2008 G-rated movie, “Wall-E.” Burr wrote, “Because it is Pixar, bringing wit and intelligence to kiddie CGI fare that usually has none” is a feat accomplished in this film. The storyline, according to Burr, “begins on a ravaged Earth centuries in the future; humans have long since fled in cruise-line spaceships, leaving behind small robots with sad, binocular eyes to sweep up the mess.” It sends a direct message to children at a young age: We are affected by the media and technology that surrounds us, but the futuristic robot, Wall-E, is so deeply affected by objects as simple as Rubik’s Cube and a Rubber Duck. It is definitely an original flick that aunts can watch with their nieces and nephews!

PG-Rated Movies

Among childhood favorites is director, David M. Evans’ 1993 PG-rated movie, “The Sandlot.” This summertime classic is particularly entertaining for young nephews, depicting a group of pre-teen boys who play baseball every day and get themselves into the biggest “pickle” ever! According to Robert Ebert, the events in this movie are “are told in an original, quirky, off-center, deliberately exaggerated way.” This is satirical to the way children tell stories sometimes. While your nephews are becoming engulfed in the storyline, you can sit back and giggle at the exaggerations that are similar to some you’ve probably heard before. Ebert wrote that “The Sandlot” is a movie that “breaks” the tradition of winning and losing and “allows its kids to be kids.”

Another entertaining PG-rated animated movie is directors, Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson’s, “ANTZ” (1998). Declared by Ocolly.com, “The carefree, adult content is hidden in an ant colony under Central Park under the alias of animation.” Ocolly is most likely referring to the comical government that controls the ant colony as “adult content.” It is thoroughly a kid’s movie with true depictions of elitist control—a history lesson within an animated world of bugs who are just trying to get through the workday. This is one of the reasons adults are able to appreciate this movie. Aunts should educate the children in their lives about ants and complex lives they lead!

For an older crowd, Charles Shyer’s PG-rated 1987 movie, "Baby Boom" is not only appropriate, but also heart-warming. Robert Ebert wrote, “‘Baby Boom’ makes no effort to show us real life. It is a fantasy about mothers and babies and sweetness and love, with just enough wicked comedy to give it an edge.” This edge shows its appropriateness for children who are slightly older, who are aware of the world, but who can also understand its humor. The protagonist who Diane Keaton plays is a woman given guardianship of a child that is not hers, giving aunts this realization that sometimes they need to take charge in certain circumstances.

There are so many movies in the world that are made for children and teenagers to watch with their adult guardians, including aunts. These are the best family films!


Photo: Shuttershock
Published: August 20, 2014