New York – Weeks in quarantine with children can easily exhaust a whole collection of movies.
Even with streaming services like Netflix, Amazon and Disney Plus, many homes have already had their overdoses of “Frozen”, “Onward” and other titles. But there is a wider world of tapes suitable for children.
Assuming you have already seen essential works like “Fantastic Mr. Fox”, “The Iron Giant” and “The Muppets”, Here are some options that you may not have considered, all available in streaming services, for rent or for free.
– “Fly Away Home”: The synopsis of this 1996 film with Anna Paquin and Jeff Daniels suggests a sentimental family tape, but it’s so funny that it rises above the ordinary. Also, geese are really wonderful. A 13-year-old girl (Paquin) moves into her father’s (Daniels) house in rural Canada after her mother’s death. He adopts an abandoned geese nest, raises them and teaches them to fly south for the winter. Available for streaming on the Criterion channel. Director Caroll Ballard and photographer Caleb Deschanel also created a film of pastoral beauty and sweet camaraderie between children and animals in 1979’s “The Black Stallion”, which can be seen on Amazon Prime.
– “Lupine the Third: Castle of Cagliostro” (“Cagliostro’s Castle”): To watch Studio Ghibli movies streaming, you have to wait for the launch of HBO Max in May. (Outside the United States, they are available on Netflix.) They are so wonderful that they can proceed and purchase copies of “My Neighbor Totoro”, “Spirited Away” and “Princess Mononoke”. But for now, you can watch the first feature film directed by Hayao Miyazaki, master of animation and co-founder of Ghibli. “The Castle of Cagliostro” is not considered Miyazaki’s best, but the director’s impetus and imagination are already felt in this film, an adventure that continues to exploit the gallant thief Arsène Lupine. Here, Lupine discovers that the loot from a stolen casino is fake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJudurbkv1E
– Buster Keaton: No child who grows up watching comedian Buster Keaton will be harmed, it is a fact. Most of the little ones recognize and laugh out loud with their wit. Keaton’s tapes are widely available, but many of his equally brilliant shorts are available for free. Among them “One Week” (“One week”), in which he tries to build a house; “The Goat” (“The Goat”), where he is mistaken for a murderer, and “Cops” (“Cops”), in which he infuriates the entire Los Angeles police force.
– “Stop Making Sense”: Concert movies are an underused source of entertainment for little ones. Jonathan Demme’s glorious documentary on Talking Heads, available for digital rental and free streaming on Vudu, may be a good start. And as David Byrne is slowly assembling his band – first he is alone, with an acoustic guitar and a cassette deck in “Psycho Killer” – “Stop Making Sense” gives them a good step-by-step lesson on how to build a postmodernist funk show. In addition, it gives tips on how to wear large suits and dance with floor lamps. You can also watch “A Hard Day’s Night” (“Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Paul, John, George and Ringo!”) On Criterion and “The Last Waltz” on Amazon Prime.
– “The Three Caballeros” (“The Three Knights”): There are forgotten Disney treasures, including this 1944 psychedelic gem available at Disney Plus. On his birthday, Donald Duck receives a package from his friends from Central and South America. Inside are film reels with individual stories and travel diaries in which Donald is also immersed. It is a beautiful exotic celebration of Latin America with some fabulous and surreal moments that combine animation and reality. The tape was produced in wartime as part of the “Good Neighbor” policy to unite the Americas and hold off any appeal by the Axis powers. In short, “The Three Caballeros” is not your typical Disney movie.
– “Apollo 11”: This successful 2019 documentary, on Hulu, follows the mission to the moon from its launch to its rescue, without interviews but with a large number of images never before seen on IMAX. It’s a propelling time capsule that 50 years has only made more stupendous. Apollo 11, like the archival “For All Mankind”, captures the excitement and glory of the moonlight.
– “Pirates! Band of Misfits”(“ Pirates! A Mad Adventure ”): Aardman Animations has been producing wonders for decades, from“ Wallace and Gromit ”to“ Shaun the Sheep ”. “Pirates! Band of Misfits ”(2012) went almost unnoticed in the cinema and did not unleash a franchise, but Aardman’s charm is also there on the high seas. Available on Hulu.
– “Boy”: Taika Watiti works with children better than any other filmmaker. Long before his Oscar nominee “Jojo Rabbit,” Waititi was making humorous and emotional films about childhood, including his nominated short film “Two Cars, One Night”, and this semi-autobiographical feature film inspired by that short James Rolleston acts as an 11-year-old Maori boy who is a fan of Michael Jackson and whose father, a slow ex-convict played by Waititi, returns home, available for free on the Kanopy streaming service.
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