What's the least scary "real movie" you can think of?

Amy & Sarah both keep saying that they want to see a "real movie," but the few we've tried to show them, they always find too scary (some examples: Cars, Horton Hears a Who, The Adventures of Milo & Otis, Winnie the Pooh, Follow That Bird, Elmo in Grouchland). They just can't bear any suspense or any possibility that someone might get hurt, break something, fall down, get their feelings hurt, etc. (Sometimes they even find Bob the Builder too scary!)

I guess it's good that they're so sensitive -- I assume it means they are fairly empathic or kind-hearted or something -- but it makes choosing a movie a little tough! Any suggestions?

 

Yikes, I'll have to give that one some thought!

 

Can they handle suspense/upset feelings etc in a story book? If so then maybe a movie of a book they know well would work (or get the book of a movie you think they'd enjoy and read it a few times). That way they would be prepared for the "scary" part and would already know it works out ok. I don't think there are any movies without some level of suspense, I can't think of any at the moment anyway!

 

Uhmmm...The only think I thought of right off hand is Tinkerbell..but I havent actually seen it yet, so I dont know about the suspense factor. I bought it for my 4 yr old for Christmas.
There are also My Little Pony, and Strawberry Shortcake movies...

Im just thinking of girly type movies that might not have a whole lot of action.

 

Mary Poppins?
And I was going to suggest the Strawberry shortcake movies as well.

 

We usually solve that by skipping the scary parts. Although I'm trying to talk them into just watching it, because then they won't know what's going on in the story. But there are some they still can't deal with (like that Anime style sequence in Horton). They can finally watch Beauty and the Beast all the way through with no skipping, yay! They've also surprisingly never been scared of Ursula in The Little Mermaid. Cinderella also didn't have anything scary, neither does Pocahontas.

The least scary movie I can think of is Curious George. The only thing sort-of scary is when they are floating on balloons and are in danger of falling.

On another note along these lines, we've rented some of the 80's cartoons of things that have been revived, like My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, and Care Bears. The 80's ones always have these weird villains just totally freak them out. So, if we get that nonsense, it's the modern version.

ETA - I saw some people recommended Strawberry Shortcake. The only episode I would avoid is Ice Cream Island, where the pony gets kidnapped. And leave the room when it's on, OMG the songs make my ears bleed.

 

Nope. The scene at the bank is really stressful! Then the little boy runs away and hides in a dark alley.

Honestly, I think if you need to avoid all conflict, you might be better with the full-length Dora's or something like that. Just like in full-length books, story lines in movies follow typical plot structure. I honestly don't know of any that don't include tense situations. Overcoming those things are what make the story interesting and how the characters learn a lesson.

I second the idea of familiarizing the kids with the story line by reading them the story first. Then, talk to them about how the character overcame the problem and learned a lesson. Talk about how, even though things happen that we don't like at the time, we can often gain something from it. For example, in Cars, Lightening McQueen wasn't very nice and didn't have any friends because of his pride. But, when he got lost and had to work and live with other people he learned that being mean wasn't fun - it was lonely. If he had never gotten lost, he may have remained mean and friendless. So, even though getting lost seemed scary, it helped him become a good friend.

Your girls' later start to these types of stories may provide you with a great opportunity. You can teach them from the beginning to look beyond the story and action to what the story is teaching. Most kids learn that later (if at all) because they are already caught up in the story or visuals.

 

My girls are incredibly sensitive too and get scared at the most random and unscary things. The only movie we've been able to do is the Little Bear movie. It has one scary part when Cub's parents are trapped by a forest fire, but if you skip over that part, the rest is pretty tame. I've heard that finding Nemo is ok as long as you skip over the shark part in the beginning, but I haven't seen it in ages, so I'm really just repeating what a friend told me.

 

I wouldn't recommend Nemo if your kids get anxious easily over films, there are several parts that are suspenseful. I know The Very Hungary Catepillar is great, but it's not necessarily a movie, just a collection of short stories that have been made into short clips, my girls absolutely love it. Maybe Babe would be okay.

 

I've heard the Barbie DVD's are really good (catchy songs, and story lines where the women don't wait around for some man to rescue them), and in fact, I got a bunch for Nadia for Christmas. I'll let you know what I think. My own kiddo can be overly sensitive to scary parts, too -- in fact, she won't even watch Dora episodes with witches in them. (She has some strange witch fear.) She's never seen Little Mermaid all the way through, and she refuses to watch Sleeping Beauty and a lot of other Disney films.So, I think this must be a common thing -- although, I imagine they'll have to deal with *some* level of conflict at some point!

 

Thanks for all the suggestions! We actually DVR'd Tinkerbell (Amy has a Tinkerbell/Peter Pan fixation) but haven't shown it to them -- I'll have to try that. It's also a great idea to start by reading them some of the stories, since that doesn't seem to bother them.

I also recently got them the CD of the original Broadway recording of "Peter Pan," and Amy is obsessed with it. She keeps asking me, in particular, about Captain Hook -- why he's so mean, why he would want to poison all the lost boys, etc. -- and why Tinkerbell drinks the poison that was meant for Peter and nearly dies. So she seems to want to grapple with these ideas -- I think it's just seeing them onscreen that is too scary for her. I've thought about getting a DVD of Peter Pan (if I can find one that more or less matches the story I remember) and seeing if she can handle that, since she already knows the plot.

They also LOVE Caillou, and he has sad/angry/upset feelings often enough, goodness knows -- but I think they really identify with him and that's why it works. Everything that happens to him is already sort of familiar from their own lives.

I saw Finding Nemo myself (when it came out) and it was very suspenseful! There is obviously the shark part at the beginning, but he basically spends the whole movie being lost, and then gets captured, and then the big escape from the fish tank at the end is nail-biting. (OK, so I can see where my kids got their sensitivity -- I'm the one who couldn't handle "The Wizard of Oz" at the age of 10. :laughing: In fact Amy was fascinated recently when I told her that I used to hide behind the couch when scary things were on TV.)

 

Yes, Nemo has a lot of suspense and the whole premise of the movie is that poor little Nemo got kidnapped out of his own backyard (so to speak)!

Tinkerbell is a fave of my 2.5 year olds, but it does have some parts your DDs might not like. There is one scene where a huge vulture-like bird chases Tinkerbell and she hides in a tree while the other fairies throw things at the bird to make it fly away. Plus the major plot line is that Tinkerbell basically ruins spring. All the other fairies are upset with her for a bit, but she does save the day and spring happens on time.

 

I second the newer my little ponies because even the bad guys really aren't scary(don't get the 80s ones because those are scary). George is also a good one.

 

Sarah doesn't like mean at all. She likes the first "Tinkerbell" movie. The second one is too scary for her. A big hit around here is "Barbie Christmas Carol". There are some mean characters, but it's more of a being selfish thing. There are some very funny parts. It's one of the kids movies that I really like. Strawberry Shortcake is good also. The first Little Einsteins movie (the one about the butterflies) was good also.

Marissa

 

Hmm, that scene has never bothered my kids at all. I guess it just depends on the kid. They love Mary Poppins.

We have quite a few of the Barbie DVD's and while my kids love them most of them have a villain in them. I'm thinking of Magic of Pegasus, Princess and the Pauper, Rapunzel, and a few others. Some of them may be scary for a sensitive child. They don't bother my kids, but I could see where some kids might be scared of some of them. I do think they are cute movies though. :good: I really like the new Three Musketeers one. :good:

 

All I can say is, would your girls like to come over and play with Ivy? One time when I was showing her a Winnie the Pooh clip on Youtube, she had a HUGE meltdown because in one scene he had a jar of honey and in the next scene he didn't. She was wailing "Pooh bear get the jar! Pooh bear get the jar!" at the top of her lungs, and even when I rewound it and paused it at the part where he had the jar, she was still a train wreck.

 

Mine are sensitive to the "scary" parts also, but are getting better about watching movies. Mine like the Barbie movies and Tinkerbell. We love the collection of books on DVD by scholastic like this . My kids love to watch the story book on TV. They aren't real movies, but most of the videos last about 50 minutes with all the stories. You can get a full set of the DVDs at BJ Wholesale or often I find them individually at Marshalls or TJ Maxx.

 

How about Horton Hears a Who, Cats and Dogs, or Jungle Book? Mine LOVE all of them and I really can't think of any really stressful scenes in any of them.

 

I'm really struggling to think of any without some type of suspense!

But I did want to say that my oldest DS, Lennon, is also very sensitive and he used to be scared of any type of "scary" scene in a movie and he would ask us to "fastspeed" through it. He still doesn't like watching 101 Dalmations (darn, Cruella)! However, as he has gotten older he's come to enjoy the suspense and even likes movies like Spiderwick! So, hang in there!

 

We have the EXACT same same issue at our house!!!

It is hard since thier cousins/neighbors/etc ask if we want to go to the movies and I feel rude always saying- NO. But my girls cant handle a movie at home, the theater would overwhelm them and not be fun at all.

So far the 'safe' movies/shows are (new versions)Care Bears, My Little ponies, Word World, Kai-Lan, Sid the Science Kid, and Strawberry Shortcake.

I am SO TIRED of them, but we even had to stop watching Little Einstein shows due to the 'suspense' of Big Jet- they wont watch Dora since one DD is terrified of Swiper.

Tinkerbell was too much for one of my DDs (the 'bad' birds scene) and all the Disney movies are a no-go at this point. The only movies that we have watched are Cinderella 1 &2, and Ariel "beginnings" (we skip a few parts).

One DD has severe auditory sensitivies, so 'music/voices' etc that are louder or evil sounding are immediately not going to work.

Luckily, they still also will watch Sesame Street movies and shows....tame as tame can be.(new versions)


Same with books---we have a stack of 'NO!!!' books that they have for some reason rejected---it varies from a scary plot, to a picture they dont like, or even one book that the 'turtle is too big and it looks like a monster'.

 

Glad to see a vote for Sid the Science Kid -- I've never watched it, but I got Amy one for Christmas. And Sarah LOVES Kai-Lan. She watched the same Kai-Lan DVD over and over for the entire week we were at my parents' house, and for 3 hours straight on the plane home.

They generally do OK with half-hour kids' shows (Dora, Diego, etc.). Even though scary things sometimes happen (for instance, they were scared of Swiper at first), somehow they can trust that everything will come out OK. Maybe it's because the format is so familiar to them -- so even if they haven't seen a particular show before, they recognize the basic structure. (Plus, a lot of those Nick shows are pretty cookie-cutter.)

I'm reluctant to get into My Little Ponies, Care Bears, and Strawberry Shortcake because the sugariness of all of it (to say nothing of the consumerism) just makes me want to hurl. OTOH, I used to think Dora's voice would make me jump through a window, but it doesn't bother me anymore, so I guess I can get used to anything. :laughing:

I think I also need to start watching things with them, at least the first time. I try to avoid this because their TV time is my time to rest or get chores done, but I know they would have a higher tolerance for suspense if I were there. Plus it would probably be good for me to know what they're watching.

 

My kids are starting to get better with some scary scenes, but we went through the same thing.

As most said, strawberry shortcake, care bears(big wish is cute....stay away from ooopsy does it), caillou, sid the science kid, mickey mouse to name a few.

Mine will watch Cars, thumbelina (the new one), and a few others. I really wish the disney movies didn't have to have scary scenes in them.

One surprising movie that my kids absolutely love is Alvin and the Chipmunks. The movie, not the cartoon. I can't think of any scary scenes in it even though it's rated PG.

 

If they are interested in a live version of Peter Pan, the one made by A&E with Cathy Rigby in it is fabulous. The music is wonderful and the dancing and acrobatics are spectacular. It does have suspenseful parts in it, but if they are familiar with the story, maybe it will be o.k.

ETA: I just remembered that there is a part where Peter Pan translates that Tinkerbell said "You silly a$$." So maybe this is not a good recommendation afterall. Why do they do that to perfectly good family movies?

 

Thanks for the tip! That sounds great. "You silly a$$" actually doesn't really bother me. For one thing, I think that was a more common mild insult back in the day, and actually referred to a donkey rather than a posterior. Also, I'm not super-concerned with insulating my kids from language. I don't want them to use mean words or really gross words, but I care a lot more about insulating them from violence. Anyway, I will definitely look that one up! (I actually saw Cathy Rigby on stage in Peter Pan when I was a teenager -- when was the A&E version made? Hopefully she wasn't actually geriatric. :laughing: )

 

Ok, this might be a strange suggestion , and I haven't read through all the pp's so maybe someone already said it, but often the reason these movies are so scary is b/c of the dramatic music. I admit that if I don't watch scary movies, and have a lot of trouble with dramatic/suspenseful tv shows. What helps me is to block my ears or turn down the tv during the suspenseful parts. They may be old enough to block their ears when something is scary, or if you're watching with them you could turn down the sound and/or mute during the scary scenes. My oldest DD is like this about all things... if we go to a parade she has to block her ears when the fire engines go by, at fireworks she blocks her ears the entire time...not b/c it's too loud but b/c it's too scary!

No suggestions on non-scary movies. As far as I'm concerned Disney movies are some of the scariest things out there! When our oldest two were 3/4 and started watching movies we always skipped the scary scenes. They didn't seem to notice they were missing some crucial info (i.e. Simba's dad dying in Lion King).

 

Our two sound very like yours. So far we've stuck mainly with Pingu shorts and Shaun the sheep shorts - although even of these they're scared of a few. I have to sit next to them for Tom and Jerry, but mostly they're ok with it. In terms of films, I had to fast forward through all the witch scenes in the Wizard of Oz.

But Mary Poppins is a big hit, so long as I sit with them for the bank scene and talk them through it very calmly explaining what's happening. We just tried Ice Age because I'd heard it was OK for smaller kids, but we had tears even before the first scene was over so we stopped that!

 

That is a great idea -- and I do the same thing (for example, when I'm watching MI-5), I just never thought of suggesting that they do it. I think they do sort of instinctively cover their ears, but I could also show them where the mute button is (they already know "pause" and "play" :laughing: ) and then they could be in control of that. Thanks!

Also, I think Mary Poppins would be a hit. I don't think they would like the cannon, but I can probably explain that it's meant to be funny.

 

I'd second the idea about Dora movies. Not a scary hair in them!

 

The language doesn't bother me either, but I know it bothers some. I'm a music teacher and I love to show this movie to 2nd graders. I usually try to fast forward through the two uses of the a$$ word, but ocassionally I miss it and I've never had a parent complaint. The A&E version was made in 2000. I saw Cathy Rigby perform it during the 100th year anniversary of Peter Pan (maybe 2006) and yes, she is moderately geriatric, but was still AMAZING in the role. She's in her mid-50s, but still moves on stage like a 20-year-old.

 

I too, first thought of Mary Poppins... but I can see the bank scene could be a little scary, my other thought is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I don't think there's anything suspensful in those. There's both longer "movies" and they have the collections of 4 episodes on one DVD as well. Good luck- our boys are pretty good about things so it's hard to tell. I do know Bryan hides his face in the beginning of Nemo when the mom and eggs get eaten, but otherwise he handles the rest of it well. Kids are so different--- hope you find some that work for the girls! And FWIW, as an adult, I tend to "scare easily" - I'll run to the other room during suspensful parts of movies or tv shows! I can never watch any of those CSI type crime shows, or even most rated PG-13 or R movies. :blush: But as much as DH makes fun of me, I don't mind- I feel I'm keeping my head clear of too much "crap" that's on nowdays and by doing so, I'm keeping the kids safe as well!