Movies for a 4 year old

[Mickey Fanatic]

Hi Everyone

I hope that someone can offer me some suggestions. my nephew is four years old and LOVES movies. The problem is that right now he is obessesed with seeign Star Wars, Narnia, Spiderman and Harry Potter. I know these could be alright for some kids but unfortunately he has a very active imagination and very vivid dreams. My sister thinks these will be too much for him. Are there any live action movies out there that are suitable for this age group, that are worth seeing? I think he is earing out his Toy Story, Bug's Life, etc. I was thinking Goonies, Parent Trap or Princess Bride. But I don't have kids and have never experienced a boy.

Thanks for your help.

 

[digskat]

My youngest is six and loved Narnia. I say watch it first and then you can see if you find it too scary. I found there were a few parts that made you jump but for the most part it was a wonderful family movie. Chicken Little is adorable, also! My son likes the Princess bride because Andre the Giant is in it (He's an avid wrestling fan). What about the Never Ending Story? Goonies he may find the monster guy a little scary. Good Luck, Kathy

 

[mommytotwo]

How about Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. And give him a Wonka bar while he is watching the movie to make it even more fun.

 

[winjos]

I think Gene Wilder's Charlie is better for kids than the Johnny Depp version(that film creeped me out). My DD5 (just turned) really likes the Oompa Loompas!! She also likes the Grommet and Wallace movie that just came out.

For me Narnia is too much for my daughter. She has watched the Star Wars movies, but my DH and I have decided that part III was too violent for her. She has also seen Pirates of the Caribbean, but was a little freaked out by the skeletons/pirates part. She didn't have any dreams about them. She has seen the Harry Potter movies except the last one (scary images). Has he seen James in the Giant Peach? That one's kind of interesting.

Hope this was helpful!

 

[LVSWL]

What about the Air Bud Movies? They start with basketball, then go on to football, volleyball,soccer baseball. The star is a golden retriever. Parent trap is a great movie. Also, we like Cheaper by the dozen. Also the Santa Clause and Santa Clause 2 with Tim Allen are great movies. I think you and your sister are right to be concerned and to wait to let him see those movies. In Narnia some of the themes are way too complex for a child that age to begin to understand, such as why the white witch would want to kill all 4 of the children, and more importantly why one brother would turn on his other siblings for the promise of riches. Also the hero of the book (the lion) by the white witch and I found it very upseting, but thank goodness by youngest son had read the book twice before we saw the movie and knew that the lion would come back to life. I only wish I had known. My son was ll. Good luck with what you are doing. They grow up fast enough.

 

[bjscheel]

Yeah, maybe the animal based ones like Homeward Bound, Babe, and so on. Do they have to be live action? Lots of good choices out there without scary themes.

 

[DBarber600]

How about Herbie? All live action and pretty exciting for a boy - most of the movies have some type of car race in them.

My 4 year old son loves Herbie! As a matter of fact, he is having a Herbie themed birthday party for when he turns 5 and we have to stay at the Herbie hotel during our upcoming trip to WDW. The original Love Bug movie and Herbie: Fully Loaded are his 2 favorites.

HTH!

Editing (sp ) to add that I agree about Star Wars. My son is only allowed to see the originals and he was pretty upset when Luke lost his arm so now he is only allowed to watch the first one.

 

[tara98]

My 4 yr DS loves animal movies. Right now into Garfiled, Ice Age, and Ice Age 2. Madagascar, he is looking forward to seeing the Wild and over the Hedge. He's seen Babe and liked that. I think Narnia is a little too Mythical for him at this age. I have not seen it myself yet, but seems like there would be too many questions if I let him see it and honestly, I dont think it would hold his attention. Good Luck!

 

[flynnmnstr]

How about the Free Willy movies; my DS 4 likes them or Shrek (was that said already?)

 

[Breakfast@Tiffany's]

My dd, also 4, loves the cartoon version of The Hobbit and Return of the King. She's actually kind of obsessed with it (thanks hubby!) and has named her kitten Bilbo. The cartoon versions are put out by Warner Brothers, I think.

I would second op's suggestion of Neverending Story I and II and The Goonies. There's also one from the 80's, I can't remember the name but maybe someone else can help, about 4 boys who make a rocket ship out of all kinds of parts and it works. They fly around their neighborhood? I think the guy who was married to Uma Thurman was in it. Anyway, I don't know the rating on it, but that might be appropriate for your nephew and still hold his attention.

 

[linda_loo]

what was the Looney Toons movie that featured the song "I Believe I Can Fly?" That was a cute movie.

 

[texasthree]

My son is 4 and loves spy kids (theres a 1, 2 and 3) and Catch That Kid. They are action adventure but for children.
We also love the leap frog videos around here. Letter Factory, Words Factory, Code Word capers and math circus. They are fun kids cartoons and sooo educational. Logan had no interest in letters and numbers until these videos and now he knows all of his letters and what sound they make plus now hes can read a few words.

 

[Mickey Fanatic]

Thank you all so much.

These are all great suggestions and a lot that I had forgotten about from when I was younger.

I am going to pass on all your suggestions to my sister. Maybe then we can get over his obesssesion(sp?) of Star Wars and Narnia. I watched Narnia again and there were parts that had me jumping.

 

[slk537]

Our 4 year old son also loves the Leap Frog Letter/Word Factory movies.

He LOVES Little Einsteins. We just bought him that DVD for Easter and he was very excited. We have about 15 of the episodes taped on the DVR and he begs to watch them when he gets home from daycare. He wants to be Leo because Leo is the leader and has "orange hair like me, Mom!"

Also? Toy Story I and II, Three Musketeers (Goofy, Mickey, Donald), Playhouse Disney holiday DVD's (Easter, Halloween, Christmas), Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Tarzan, Herbie, Curious George, Air Bud, Mulan, Alice in Wonderland, Shrek I and II, the WDW and DVC planning videos ...almost any Disney classic cartoon and anything with Mickey in it.

I am not thrilled about this, but he watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets without us knowing (DH left the tv on to the Disney Channel and DS snuck out of bed and watched it) and although he liked it, some parts were a bit wiggy for him. In the morning, he informed me that:

"Mommy!!! The Chamber of Secrets was opened! By a girl!"
"Harry Potter killed a big snake with a sword! And it was sweet!!!"
"Harry Potter and his friend drove a flying car into a tree!!"

My response? "Really? Go tell your father..."

He is dying to see Narnia, but I couldn't even handle some of it so I put my foot down on that one.

He LOVE LOVE LOVES the stupid Power Rangers (anyone go ahead and flame away) and Jetix, but we've noticed that when we finally told him he couldn't watch that anymore and brought him back to Playhouse Disney, his whole playing patterns and attitude changed. He went from being a 6-7 year old wannabe back to a 4 1/2 year old sweetheart.

I can't recommend the Little Einsteins enough. It amazes me how much geography and music he learns and it is so fun for me to hear him say, "Mom? Can I talk in the restaurant if I'm diminuendo instead of crescendo?" And he knows words like "hieroglyphics" and can tell the difference between a flute and a violin by the sound. I'm not a music person, but I love how much he enjoys learning.

They also have some wonderful Classic Disney character DVD's - All stories starring Mickey on one, Goofy on another, Chipmunks on yet another, etc. They are about $10 each at Target. There is so much out there - I know how you feel though - my then 6 year old nephew was obsessed with Star Wars and Harry Potter last year and it was driving all of us crazy. Plenty of time for that when he gets older.

 

[DisneyPhD]

Our 4 year old son also loves the Leap Frog Letter/Word Factory movies.

He LOVES Little Einsteins. We just bought him that DVD for Easter and he was very excited. We have about 15 of the episodes taped on the DVR and he begs to watch them when he gets home from daycare. He wants to be Leo because Leo is the leader and has "orange hair like me, Mom!"

Also? Toy Story I and II, Three Musketeers (Goofy, Mickey, Donald), Playhouse Disney holiday DVD's (Easter, Halloween, Christmas), Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Tarzan, Herbie, Curious George, Air Bud, Mulan, Alice in Wonderland, Shrek I and II, the WDW and DVC planning videos ...almost any Disney classic cartoon and anything with Mickey in it.

I am not thrilled about this, but he watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets without us knowing (DH left the tv on to the Disney Channel and DS snuck out of bed and watched it) and although he liked it, some parts were a bit wiggy for him. In the morning, he informed me that:

"Mommy!!! The Chamber of Secrets was opened! By a girl!"
"Harry Potter killed a big snake with a sword! And it was sweet!!!"
"Harry Potter and his friend drove a flying car into a tree!!"

My response? "Really? Go tell your father..."

He is dying to see Narnia, but I couldn't even handle some of it so I put my foot down on that one.

He LOVE LOVE LOVES the stupid Power Rangers (anyone go ahead and flame away) and Jetix, but we've noticed that when we finally told him he couldn't watch that anymore and brought him back to Playhouse Disney, his whole playing patterns and attitude changed. He went from being a 6-7 year old wannabe back to a 4 1/2 year old sweetheart.


I can't recommend the Little Einsteins enough. It amazes me how much geography and music he learns and it is so fun for me to hear him say, "Mom? Can I talk in the restaurant if I'm diminuendo instead of crescendo?" And he knows words like "hieroglyphics" and can tell the difference between a flute and a violin by the sound. I'm not a music person, but I love how much he enjoys learning.

They also have some wonderful Classic Disney character DVD's - All stories starring Mickey on one, Goofy on another, Chipmunks on yet another, etc. They are about $10 each at Target. There is so much out there - I know how you feel though - my then 6 year old nephew was obsessed with Star Wars and Harry Potter last year and it was driving all of us crazy. Plenty of time for that when he gets older.

No flaming from me and I couldn't agree more. I hate power rangers and wish Disney would not show them. My DD (5 years old) is still into the younger things and I like that. Power rangers are not temping around here, but things like bratz might be and we don't wacth them (or have anything with them on it.) Infact we don't even wacth rug rats because I don't like the way they talk to each other (at least when she was younger, I might let her now, but she doesn't want to.)

DD loves Little Enstines and the leap pad viedos too. She even likes things for younger kids (weebles and little people). Lately her new thing is the Holly Hobbie movie (rather like Strawberry shortcake, but cuter with good music.)

She wacthed the start of Harry potter (the 1st one) on Disney Channel last night, but we changed it half way through it. She used to HATE Harry Potter (her 14 year old couisn who wacthes her and spends a lot of time with us LOVES it.)

She LOVES pinky Dinky do. We wacth it on the Canandain channel near us, but it is on Nogin I think. It is very smart and creative and really educational (congetive thinking).

Personally I think the girl has good taste and would rather have her wacthing the younger things (with her little sister.) When her older cousin comes over we try to find things we all can wacth and enjoy (like sponge bob, not the best, but a good middle ground.)

 

[Mom to Jordan]

I found National Treasure a great movie for kids that want some action but with parents that do not want too much intense action.

Gordy is really good as are the homeward bound movies.

Some old clasics might be a hit, think Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, or the Nutty Professor or the Shaggy DA.
Maybe the Wizard of Oz???

They might also like some of the old clasic TV shows you can get on DVD, Little house on the pararie, Full house, Brady Bunch etc.

 

[lpbm4]

Check out the library--they usually carry a ton of videos and it's a great way for your nephew to "preview" them. My son loves Garfield.

 

[bartleby1]

My 4 year old son loves the Home Alone movies (although he now likes to "set traps for burglars" all over my house, lol!). He also likes Willy Wonka (the original), Madagascar, Chicken Little, Annie, Spongebob, Nemo, Toy Story, Peter Pan, and the disney sing-a-long tapes.

 

[tophee99]

What about "the Wizard of Oz"....it's a classic. Both my ds love Scooby Doo, The Iron Giant, Matilda, Treasure Planet, Inspector Gadget 1 & 2, and Space Jam.

 

[dzorn]

I would have to second Garfield. My kids love that one. How about the older movies. Follow that Bird and Elmo in Grouchland. The Incredables are also a hit around here.

Denise