Posted on: 16.05.2016.
Author: Ana G
Movies are a great source of fun and entertainment for many families. If you watch them with your kids, they can also be a great source of quality time. Watching movies offers many other benefits to children as well, including learning about different cultures, developing language skills and understanding teamwork. Many families enjoy animated movies for both the educational experiences and entertainment that they have to offer.
Consider one of these great Disney animated films for your next family bonding experience.
Inside Out is a movie about an 11-year-old girl, Riley, whose family is moving across the country. She experiences overwhelming emotions as she leaves her friends, hockey team, and beloved home. The story centers around Riley's feelings and gives them each a personality. Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust are all in Riley's brain, trying to take control to help her through tough situations.
This original story teaches kids a great deal about emotions and growing up. The lessons of this movie include appreciating both joy and sadness, expressing your feelings and accepting who you are. This movie is most appropriate for older children who can understand abstract concepts of emotions and memories.
In this story, Elsa, Queen of Arendelle, accidentally uses her special powers to turn things into ice. She and her sister Anna team with a motley crew including a reindeer and snowman to try to change the weather conditions.
The overarching theme of this film is to embrace the differences between people. There are also messages such as accepting your talents, sticking with the people who you love and understanding that loving someone means showing generosity and not always thinking of yourself. The bond and unconditional love between the sisters is strongly emphasized. This film is ideal for children of any age.
This spinoff on fairy tales focuses on a bayou in New Orleans. Tiana is a hard worker and strong role model who needs no rescuing from a prince. As a heroine, she acts as an ideal role model for children who want to forge their own paths.
This movie has fun music, bright colors, and dancing that appeal to kids of all ages. The leadership and strength of character shown by Tiana make this an ideal movie because she always stands up for what she believes in. Friendship, love and independence are the themes of this film.
In this classic story of adversity, Nemo and his father Marlin get separated from each other when Nemo is caught by a scuba diver and taken to live in a small aquarium in a dentist's office in Australia. Marlin's journey takes him out of his comfort zone and allows him to meet a variety of other creatures as he tries to get his son back. He meets Dory, an absent-minded but cheerful blue tang. They look for Nemo as a team, despite all sorts of obstacles that get in their way.
Despite some scary situations, this movie puts the story together in a way that is easy to relate to, especially for young children. The themes of the movie include listening to adults and letting kids make their own mistakes, as well as a parent's unending love for a child. Other key lessons children can learn from this movie include teamwork, seeing things through to the end and helping others.
This classic Disney movie has been seen by generations of kids. This is an animated version of the fantasy story by Lewis Carroll, which takes viewers on a colorful and dazzling display of absurd images and words that make no sense.
The story begins with young Alice reading with her sister as she notices a dressed rabbit talking about being late. She follows him and she experiences changes to her body and world view as she meets the Cheshire cat, attends a wacky party and talks to a smoking caterpillar. She eventually realizes it was all a dream.
The movie is themed around perseverance. Alice's adventures make her think about who she is, who she will become and how she can be the person who she wants to be.
This movie is based on the classic story about Rapunzel but reimagined for a more modern audience. This heroine is adventurous and wants to know about the world. She has magical hair that has the power to rejuvenate and heal others. Her stepmother Mother Gothel keeps Rapunzel locked away in a tower and uses her magical hair to keep herself young. Rapunzel escapes the tower with the help of a thief named Flynn Ryder.
This movie's themes include taking power for your life and seeing yourself beyond what shows in the mirror. Kids can also be inspired to achieve their dreams, no matter how simple or complex those dreams might be.
In this movie, Judy is an extremely disciplined and ethical young rabbit who joins the police force. She finds out that the work is harder than she expected and she teams up with a cunning fox who helps her solve a crime.
This film has strong messages about tolerance, courage and teamwork. Kids can also learn more about the dangers of stereotyping others and how to develop empathy instead. There are positive story lines about following your dreams, standing up to bullies and avoiding stereotypes that bring others down.
Kids learn some science too, like the difference between predators and prey. This movie promotes cultural diversity and can help kids to see beyond the surface and take heart in the fact that every person is different.
This is one of Disney's most successful movies ever. It explores the story of the old lion Scar, who plans to unseat his brother King Mufasa from the throne as the king of the jungle. Scar finds that his untimely plans are obstructed by the young lion cub Simba. In a sad turn of events, Scar makes it look like Simba is responsible for his own father's death.
Overwhelmed with sadness and guilt, Simba runs away from home and finds a few friends to keep him company as he grows up into his own power and birthright. The grown-up Simba develops an unconditional love for the family who he never got to know, and works to take action to save the pride from extinction and care for his extended family. This film focuses on the themes of family and sacrifice while telling the narrative with music, dancing and songs.
Big Hero 6 features characters from the Marvel Comics franchise. In this movie, a fictional San Fransokyo city has grown but with a dark undertone of crime and technology that can be used for unethical means. The futuristic story centers around two brothers, Hiro and Tadashi. Tadashi is a robotics whiz who created a robot called Baymax, who has his own strong personality and unconditional love for the people whom he meets. When Hiro hears of a plot to destroy the city, he and Baymax seek out the aid of four friends to work to eliminate the threat before anyone else can be harmed.
The themes of this movie include the power of friendship, the connections between brothers and the idea of using your gifts to help others as well as society as a whole. Another considerable theme of the film is grief; as young Hiro must deal with his feelings around the mysterious death of his older brother who tragically dies when trying to save the life of a famous professor. This film is best for older kids who will more easily be able to process the themes of grief, tragedy, honoring people who have died and developing a long lasting legacy that can help the world.
In Monsters, Inc., viewers are taken to a mysterious land called Monstropolis, which is only accessible through the closet doors of a child's room. The monsters come in and scare children every night, but one little girl slips inside of Monstropolis and finds a home with two of the city's most popular monsters. These two monsters work at the power plant and one is the most successful scare collector in his crew. The little girl causes all sorts of mischief and mayhem even as she develops a close bond and friendship with Sully.
This movie offers strong themes of doing the right thing and still being successful at working toward your dreams. Children can also learn the importance of telling the truth, knowing who to trust and not believing everything that you see.
Animated films can be a source of family entertainment and are a great way to spend an evening together. Parents can make the most of this time by choosing family-friendly films that include a learning experience. Kids will be able to learn a lot about diverse topics through funny, entertaining and often realistic situations.
