Movies to watch before Mediterranean cruise?

[sajilunni]

Hi All!

We're getting ready to depart for the 7 day Mediterranean cruise in a couple of weeks. The cities we plan to visit are Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Cannes, Nice, Florence, Pisa, Rome, and Pompeii.

I want our kids (and ourselves) to learn a little about these towns so there's some familiarity in place when we get there. "Cars 2" I know showcases Monte Carlo. Are there any other good movies (or documentaries) you can think of that would give us a glimpse of the history or character of any of these towns?

Thanks so much!

 

[jdb in AZ]

"Three Coins in the Fountain." Very old and rather corny but you get great views of the Trevi Fountain.

 

[mmouse37]

An Affair to Remember...1957 Cary Grant/Deborah Kerr..some scenes of Villefranche. Not many scenes take place there but I love the movie....takes place on a oceanliner as well!!!



MJ

 

[disneyfaninaz]

"To Catch a Thief" with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, filmed in Monte Carlo.

 

[carpenta]

The Rick Steves videos from the PBS is a great way to learn about the areas. He also has printed books that go into the sights and history. The 3rd Madagascar movie has a scene in Monte Carlo which is pretty good in its' views of the city/country. Have a wonderful time.

 

[woody73]

Roman Holiday (1953) with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn.

Woody

 

[sajilunni]

Ooh, I should have clarified that these are movies that should be available on Netflix streaming or Amazon On Demand. And they need to be able to keep the attention of my 3 kids, so too much romance (or lack of color) might have them rolling their eyes. But these are great suggestions for me! Can't wait to get watching!

 

[mkmommy]

The Selena Gomez movie Monte Carlo will make you wish you added some nights in Paris though, but the Monte Carlo scenes will make you wish you had longer there.

The Hilary Duff -Lizzie McGuire Movie, they go to Rome, and lots of famous landmarks.

 

[sjb95u]

The Bucket List does find the men on the south of France and you'll recognize some of the areas the fly over (Eze, etc)

 

[the_bUg]

The perfect storm...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177971/

Just Kidding

 

[geffric]

James Bond is often associated with the Monte Carlo Casino.

• The architecture of glamorous Belle Époque building of the Monte Carlo Casino was used by Ian Fleming to describe a casino in "Royale-Les-Eaux", a fictional resort featured in Fleming's first Bond novel, Casino Royale (1953).
• Monte Carlo and its casino were the locations for a number of James Bond movies, including Never Say Never Again and GoldenEye, as well as for the "Casino Royale" .

Barcelona was a movie made in 1994. Also Woody Allen loved Barcelona. I cant remember the film it was featured in though. I googled it: Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a 2008 romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen

 

[kaseyC]

The Selena Gomez movie Monte Carlo will make you wish you added some nights in Paris though, but the Monte Carlo scenes will make you wish you had longer there.

The Hilary Duff -Lizzie McGuire Movie, they go to Rome, and lots of famous landmarks.

I would also add "The Cheetah Girls 2" movie. It takes place in Barcelona and they tour most of the major sites. My DDs loved watching it before our pre-cruise stay in Barcelona in 2010.

 

[gilsan]

Roman Holiday (1953) with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn.

Woody

That was going to be my suggestion.

 

[texasgirl29]

Amazon Prime has several Discovery-channel types of shows about Pompeii and Rome.

 

[texasgirl29]

The Hilary Duff -Lizzie McGuire Movie, they go to Rome, and lots of famous landmarks.

My 16 year old was very excited to find out we would see the Lizzie McGuire fountain, aka Trevi Fountain.

 

[KatyTheFairyPrincess]

They're both a bit 90's, but there was a Sabrina movie and a Mary-Kate and Ashley movie that were both set in Rome. I used to love them as a kid!

 

[lilpooh108]

My 16 year old was very excited to find out we would see the Lizzie McGuire fountain, aka Trevi Fountain.

Too cute. That was a pretty good movie

OP-- we did the same thing....prepared my very young DD by watching Disney movies. She's alot younger than your kids so we watched kiddie stuff.

I don't have any suggestions for you except to say that kids do seem much more excited to see the landmarks when they've seen it on TV/in movies before and it's easier to discuss what they are within a certain context.

 

[MMluvsWDW]

I think some of the suite life on Deck shows stop at those locations. Might be worth looking through them.

 

[DisneyBelle99]

"Three Coins in the Fountain." Very old and rather corny but you get great views of the Trevi Fountain.

One of my old time favorites......

 

[sajilunni]

Thanks for the suggestions! I put Cheetah Girls 2 on our Netflix queue, but unfortunately the Lizzie Maguire movie wasn't available.

We've been watching episodes of Samantha Brown's Europe on Amazon and the kids really liked her a lot better than Rick Steves. We're all getting excited!