The Top Children's Movies: The BFI (British
Film Institute) in mid-2005 released its Top 10 Children's Films
of All-Time, a survey of the top 10 "films that all children
should see by the age of 14." (They also released a Top
Fifty List of "Must-See" Children's Films - see further
below). See also this site's informational section on Children's/Kids/Family-Oriented
Filmsand the New York Times Essential Library's choices
of the 100 Recommended Children's Movies.
Facts and Commentary on the List:
It was a peculiar list for true children's films, since
some of the subject matter in some of the recommended films was a little
too complex and adult-audience oriented (i.e. The Bicycle Thief (1948,
It.), The 400 Blows (1959, Fr.), and the unrated Show Me Love
(1998, Swe.), aka F--king Amal). It seemed like they confused "children's
films" with "films about children."
The list could
have included more silent films, such as Modern Times (1936) and The General (1927), or classics, such as Miracle on 34th
Street (1947), The Miracle Worker (1962), Charlotte's
Web (1973), The Muppet Movie (1979), The Never Ending Story (1984), Babe (1995), further classic Disney animations, such as Beauty
and the Beast (1991) or Finding Nemo (2003), or delightful
family musicals such as The Music Man (1962), My Fair Lady (1964), Mary Poppins (1964), The
Sound of Music (1965), and Oliver! (1968).
Only one film in the top 10 was from Britain, Ken Loach's
Kes (1969). Four were from the US, and one each from Italy, France,
Sweden, Japan and Iran.
The New York Daily News film critics, Jami Bernard, Jack Mathews
and Elizabeth Weitzman, responded with their own lists of Top 10 Children's Films in the September
4, 2005 Sunday Edition newspaper, found in the chart below.
Top 10 Children's Movies Of All Time
by the British Film Institute and Others
British Film Institute (BFI) (alphabetical, unranked)
Gregory Peck plays the best dad in movie history - wise,
patient, fearless and furiously protective of his children - as a small-town
Southern lawyer on the right side of racial tolerance.
The Princess Bride (1987)
Fencing, fighting, revenge, giants, monsters, chases,
escapes, true love, miracles ... all in one of the smartest, funniest
fairy tales of all time.
Robert Zemeckis' glorious culture clash - between people
and Toons - pays dazzling homage to movies past while hurtling filmmaking
well into the future.
As long as they're enjoying animation, you might as well
introduce kids to great music.
The Red Balloon (1956, Fr.)
It's French, sure, but there are no subtitles to come
between a lonely 6-year-old and his best friend - a balloon that bops
along with him to school and protects him from bullies.
Little Fugitive (1953)
All New Yorkers - big and small - should experience Morris
Engel's beautiful tale of a little boy's adventures in Coney Island.
Over the rainbow is a place every child should visit,
if only to see that you don't need the latest technology to create magic.
Of course, having the young Judy Garland helps.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
An unbeatably delirious fantasia. Talk about childhood
wishes....
We love the boy magician because he loves going to school
- even though it takes blood, sweat and tears to learn the simplest magic
potion in Hogwarts' homework.
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953)
Nobody understood the surreality of childhood better than
Dr. Seuss, who wrote this mind-bending musical about a diabolical piano
teacher.
Still the best comic-book adaptation, with a perfect blend
of silliness and danger, romance and adventure - plus the late Christopher
Reeve as the Man of Steel, disguised as geeky Clark Kent.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Every kid needs a reminder to stop and look around once
in a while.
Charlie Chaplin's silent comedies are timeless, and the
classic sequence in which his Little Tramp gets stuck in the machinery
of industrial progress introduces new generations to the idea of comedy
as social commentary.
A Little Romance (1979)
The strikingly assured 14-year-old Diane Lane made her
debut in this enchanting love story, about two precocious kids who run
away to Italy.
Kids need to see this Errol Flynn classic so they'll know
what a movie star is (and in case they ever see Kevin Costner's Robin).
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
Before vid clips rot their brains, children should get
a taste of classic movie musicals. This one offers rousing singing, dancing,
athletics, Old West adventure and romance.
Bugsy Malone (1976)
Against all odds, Alan Parker's mini-mobster musical -
in which kids like Scott Baio and Jodie Foster fight cream-pie wars -
is a one-of-a-kind delight.
I include this part-melodrama, part-African wildlife adventure
because it's what hooked me on movies in my own childhood.
The Iron Giant (1999)
If your children must have one Vin Diesel movie in their
repertoire, let it be this wonderful animated movie in which Diesel supplies
the voice of a big hunka metal that drops from the sky and learns valuable
lessons from a friendly boy.
Meatballs (1979)
Wouldn't it be great if Bill Murray - beginning his big-screen
streak in Ivan Reitman's surprisingly poignant comedy - could be everybody's
camp counselor?
The Top Fifty "Must See" Children's Films
by the British Film Institute (BFI)
(alphabetical order)