Films Kids Should See (non hypothetical)

[tubbsthespidergigolo2]

I'm a Primary School teacher whose looking to kill 15 mins a day.  The Head has extended the school day by 15 mins for dubious reasons and the poor kids now have to suffer a 3 hour block in the afternoon.

To give them (and myself) some form of a break in an afternoon I want to put on a film for 15 mins a day.

However, I do want to be slightly educational and subject them to films with credibility and not just films about hotels for dogs.  In fact it's not just credibility but cinema that they wouldn't usually choose to watch or see at home.

So any suggestions?  My class is made up of 9 to 11 year olds from a deprived area.  Foreign films would be fine but they'd have to be dubbed as reading skills are poor.  Films that inspire debate/discussion would be great and a mix of genre and age would be good too.

Linked to various topics, I've shown them Help/Yellow Submarine and Buster Keaton and they loved them.

[Sam]

Show them Tubbs the Spider Gigolo 2. Might not be a good choice if they haven't seen the first one, though.

[Chichester Cathedral]

Show them Look Around You S1 and act like it's deadly serious. Get them to take notes. A shiny 50p for the clever child who spots it's a joke.

[sirhenry]

Harold and Maude? Maybe not.
Un Chien Andalou? Maybe not
Wizard of Oz

[Jawaka]

Show them Look Around You S1 and act like it's deadly serious. Get them to take notes. A shiny 50p for the clever child who spots it's a joke.

Oh you have to do this.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Show old Warner Bros cartoons and state its educational because they don't show them on TV anymore, and any child that misses out on Road Runner and Tom & Jerry is basically culturally malnourished.

[Olarrio]

Schindlers List? Although they've probably all already seen that, so suck it up and put Dunston Checks In on.

[Default to the negative]

"Deliverance" is considered an educational film in Scotland. It serves as a cautionary tale about what happens if you venture too far north on your fishing trips, and many a young man's arse might be spared if they see it at an early age.

[sirhenry]

If they liked Help and Yellow Submarine, they might love the 60's Batman movie.

[madhair60]

Brave Little Toaster

[Mini]

ParaNorman?

[Thomas]

Chicken Run, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Eraserhead.

And Brave Little Toaster, as mentioned above. A much-loved film of my own childhood, now deeply traumatic in retrospect.

[Talulah, really!]

How about some Laurel and Hardy shorts? Introduce them to the concept that black and white doesn't equal old and boring.

Follow up with the original King Kong. Some Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and the frankly amazing Hellzapoppin.

The 1970s version of Black Beauty with Mark Lester, as a jumping off point for social history, look at all the work that poor bloody horse had to do.

Woody Allen's Radio Days, the character is about 11 yrs old at the time, "what do you think you will remember of growing up?" it's also quite episodic.

Bugsy Malone.


Oh, oh, oh, please sir, The Phantom Tollbooth, I only saw it once as a kid and it has stayed with me for years, that, definitely that.

[Johnny Townmouse]

12 Angry Men

Time Bandits

Hugo

Stand by Me

Dnepropetrovsk Maniacs

[sirhenry]

Oh, oh, oh, please sir, The Phantom Tollbooth, I only saw it once as a kid and it has stayed with me for years, that, definitely that.

Close the thread.

[SteveDave]

The Goonies

Watcher In The Woods

Compliance

[Bored of Canada]

Dad forced me to watch To Kill a Mockingbird as a kid. Became a bit of a ritual, watching that film. I think it's an incredibly important film for kids to be honest.
And it generally will encourage two or three of 'em to read the book too.

If you're looking for something more fun, Goonies is great. Had that great mix of adventure and darkness that I loved when I was a kid. The kids swear sometimes like me and my mates when we were kids, and scary and dark things happened as well as funny and swashbuckling adventure. I think that's the key to a good film for kids. Or at least adolescent boys like myself. A kids film that feels slightly adult, and treats you like you're an adult, not a fragile child.

Even if it's just a skewed idea of what an adult is and when you watch it in retrospect, is relatively harmless and definitely for kids. That modern one that Dan Harmon wrote, Ghost House? Monster House? The 3D animated one. I caught that on TV one night. Had that same mix. Adventure Time as well. 

I wish I had Adventure Time when I was a kid. Then again, luckily, I still have it right now, and it's brilliant.

[SteveDave]

Stand by Me

This would be inappropriate as you'd have a classroom of kids telling each other to go home & fuck their mother some more.

[Smeraldina Rima]

Big
Bugsy Malone
P'tang Yang Kipperbang
Pinnochio
The BFG
The Witches
Robin Hood (Disney or Errol Flynn)
Roxanne
The Red Balloon
The Elephant Man (not sure if you can show this to them)
Singin' in the Rain
Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire
A Grand Day Out
Home Alone
Fly Away Home
Rookie of the Year
Cool Runnings
Curly Sue

Ian Wright's 101 Great Goals
Nick Hancock's Sporting Nightmares
Space Jam

[Lyfjaberg]

Osmosis Jones. It's about biology.

[Chichester Cathedral]

You say they're in a deprived area. Put on Remember the Titans (only a PG) or that other one that's basically the same. You know, with that other black guy.

Or something about space. Deprived kids love astronauts. Apollo 13?

[Chichester Cathedral]

March of the motherfucking Penguins.

[Petey Pate]

Fantasia:  Its colourful, trippy and beautiful to look at.  A possible gateway into teaching about/appreciating classical music as well.

Oh, oh, oh, please sir, The Phantom Tollbooth, I only saw it once as a kid and it has stayed with me for years, that, definitely that.

I watched this fairly recently, having enjoyed it as a child.  It has numerous flaws but the artwork is undeniably pretty.  Good voice acting as well. 

Space Jam

No.

[Steven]

The Plague Dogs and Watership Down.

They need to understand death.

Spoiler alert

DEATH

[close]

[zomgmouse]

Modern Times.

The Night of the Hunter.

The 400 Blows.

The Iron Giant.

[Necrophagism]

I'll second The Plague Dogs as a suggestion.

[Omerta]

Breakfast Club

[Tairy_Green]

Coraline.

Then strategically place a tray of buttons, a needle and some thread on your desk and stare at it if they step out of line.