My father got into serious trouble with my mom when my little brother was two because of Blazing Saddles. My mom had taken me somewhere, and my brother was in the playroom playing with blocks. Dad figured it was safe to watch Blazing Saddles, as little bro wasn’t able to see the TV, and he could see little bro.
A few days later, little bro walks up to my mother and casually called her a “tonic bitch,” and wandered off.
Needless to say Mel Brooks was banned in our house for a few years, but we all loved it when we were allowed to watch it. Spaceballs as well.
The princess bride
Depending on the age, but if they are still not truly able to follow complex storylines and conversations, you could really get away with anything that isn’t scary, sexual or violent.
My parents watched Friends all the time, I didn’t understand half of it but it was fun to watch as kid.
The Gods Must Be Crazy had me in stitches as a kid.
My son love Rocky horror picture show. We skip the big sex scene in the middle.
I hope you eventually teach him about the audience script. I wouldn’t take him to a live showing till highschool though.
they aren’t movies, but Doctor Who is a fantastic show for the whole family. maybe start at Matt Smith episodes unless they don’t mind cheesier effects and costumes.
Police Academy
The Mask of Zorro (1998, with Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones)
The Tenth Kingdom
Police Academy: sex and voyeur jokes
Mask of Zorro: suicide of brother, head in jar:
Don’t know. Depends on age of kids.
The Princess Bride. It’s got fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles…
And it seems like it could be from a ttrpg session. Very amusing!
I would recommend polterghast as a nice PG* horror movie.
*it came out before pg-13 existed.
Fuck all that. 5th-grade me didn’t sleep for two weeks behind that seeing that shit in the theater.
Grave of the Fireflies will fix that. They’ll yearn for Bluey.
It’s one of my favourite movies that i never want to see again
My kids and I watched a lot of Futurama.
All the films in the following list are PG-13, PG, or older and unrated, and I went light on sexual themes in the PG-13 part (except for Austin Powers, because… it’s Austin Powers). This is just me quickly going through my own movie collection.
PG-13:
- Arachnophobia (1990)
- Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
- Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
- Cabin Boy (1994)
- Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)
- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
- Gremlins (1984)
- Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
- Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)
- Kung Pow: Enter the Fist (2002)
- Life is Beautiful (1997)
- Little Shop of Horrors (1986) Director’s Cut, if you can
- Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003)
- The Mummy (1999)
- The Mummy Returns (2001)
- O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
- Pirates of the Carribean (2006)
- Princess Mononoke (1997)
- Raising Arizona (1987)
- Sneakers (1992)
- UHF (1989)
- Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022)
PG:
- *batteries not included (1987)
- The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
- Back to the Future trilogy (1985-1990)
- Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)
- Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991)
- The Dark Crystal (1982)
- Dreams by Akira Kurosawa (1990)
- Flow (2024)
- Ghostbusters (1984)
- Ghostbusters II (1985)
- The Goonies (1985)
- Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)
- The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
- Jewel of the Nile (1985)
- Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
- Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
- Porco Rosso (1992)
- The Princess Bride (1987)
- The Producers (1967)
- Indiana Jones original trilogy (1981-1989)
- Real Genius (1985)
- Shaolin Soccer (2001)
- Spaceballs (1987)
- Strange Brew (1983)
- Three Amigos! (1986)
- Time Bandits (1981)
- Twins (1988)
- Uncle Buck (1989)
- War Games (1983)
- The Wizard (1989)
- Wizards (1977)
- Young Frankenstein (1974)
Unrated:
- The Great Escape (1963)
- Hundreds of Beavers (2024)
- Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
- Nova Seed (2016)
- Rashomon (1950)
- Seven Samurai (1954)
- Stalker (1979)
Also, special mention to Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987) which would be otherwise PG except for the scene where Steve Martin says “fuck” 18 times, which alone earned it it’s R rating.
Proceed with caution with the Dark Crystal. Idk if I was too young to watch when I did, or what, but it scared the bejeebus outta me; I couldn’t even look at the cover until I was an older teen
Nope. I didn’t see that movie till I was 23 and my reaction at the end was, “Your parents showed you this as a kid and thought that was ok, but TMNT was ‘too violent’‽” This was said to my girlfriend at the time. That movie was DARK. I haven’t seen it since then, so about 20 years, and IIRC genocide, slavery, and the apocalypse all feature heavily in the main plot, and almost the only redeeming character in the movie was named Fizzgig. He was a mutant Pomeranian.
You might want to switch Gremlins to the PG-13 category. The PG-13 rating was invented as a response to Gremlins being PG.
https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/how-gremlins-helped-change-movie-ratings-forever-with-pg-13
FYI PG-13 seems to only be a rating in a handful of countries, such as america, Iraq, Lebanon, Singapore and Qatar (I hadn’t heard of it so did a quick search).
In Canada and Australia for example, Gremlins is rated PG
Really? I always heard/read that it was as a response to Alien getting an R rating.
And actually, Alien is not a bad answer to this question. It was my 9yo and 7yo’s first R rated movie and they absolutely loved it. Plus, it sets them up for more good sci-fi down the road. My kids just watched Interstellar at 11 and 9 and really enjoyed themselves
Done, it was showing as PG in my collection, thanks for the tip.
Depends on what countries classification system you’re using. Most countries don’t use pg-13
I came here to offer suggestions, but damn my dude, blockbuster never would have died if they had you in charge!
You’re going to mention Shaolin Soccer but not Kung-Fu Hustle? Come on.
Kung Fu Hustle is rated R, which was outside of the general range of ratings I went for. It’s been a while since I watched it and I couldn’t remember specifically what got it that rating.
Description from Common Sense Media:
Parents need to know that Kung Fu Hustle is a Hong Kong martial arts comedy starring Stephen Chow. It has lots of stylized and cartoonish violence and blood. Scenes show the aftermath of people dead from ax wounds (axes sticking out from bodies), gunned down by gunfire, and beaten up; bullying (kids beat up a boy and urinate on him); and people dying from fighting. A person is decapitated, and a cat is cut in half, but these are only shown in shadow. People are “comically” stabbed by knives, beaten up, threatened, and chased. One effeminate man is often called a “fairy” and made fun of. The movie also has fat jokes. A married man often flirts with other women, but this is part of an act. Characters range from naive romantics to hard-core hired killers, and the tone is wildly comic, often paying homage to previous martial arts films. The main character shows some positive values in his redemption story, eventually becoming compassionate and showing integrity. Adults drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes and cigars, and one man smokes opium out of a pipe. Strong language includes “f–k,” “bulls–t,” “a–hole,” “ass,” “bitch,” “fairy,” “damn,” “hell,” and “piss.”
Seems definitely a bit more mature than Shaolin Soccer was, at least in my opinion.
People are “comically” stabbed by knives
I assume they’re talking about the “who’s throwing handles?” scene, which is fucking hilarious.
Is it really? Probably all the violence. That’s a shame.
Meh, there’s plenty worse violence daytime anime. I think if a parent is ok with Shaolin Soccer then Kung Fu Hustle is fine.
Kung Pow: Enter the Fist is better.
This person movies…
…“fairy”?
Homophobic insult to an effeminate man
I watched Gremlins 2 when I was 13, and it scarred me for life. I did not find it funny at all, and it gave me nightmares for days. I have not seen it as an adult, and currently being 40+ years old, I probably never will.
Star Wars: Clone wars, Bad Batch, and Rebels.
All animated, very much not cutesy little kid stuff. War, trauma, death, PTSD for soldiers, all of it. Its also something special to watch a sith lord murder their way out of a ship using nothing but the force.
Edit: oh, movies, my bad. Hmm, thats a little trickier for me.
Any of the Studio Ghibli anime. Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke are two of my favorites. If you’re not into anime, just trust me and give them a try; the writing and drama is on par with any Grammy-winning blockbuster from the past 50 years.
Princess Mononoke and Howl’s Moving Castle are some of the best media I have ever come across. Oh, Kiki’s Delivery Service is an amazing story about having faith in yourself.
Maybe they’d like some of the kids cartoons I enjoy as an adult or when I was in high school?
Dexter’s Lab, Ed Edd and Eddy, Power Puff Girls, 2 Stupid Dogs, Home Movies, Dr. Katz., Invader Zim, Rugrats, Ren and Stimpy, Hey Arnold, Rocko’s Modern Life, Phineas and Ferb, Daria, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, Regular Show, and Adventure Time.
Ooh hey, my teenage cartoons!
*checks year of release
Okay, where’s that meme about getting run over by the old age truck?
Edit: I’m gonna add CatDog, Angry Beavers, Jimmy Neutron, and Johnny Bravo from around the same era. Also, how could we forget SpongeBob?
