What to watch?

[Amanda]

I'm looking for suggestions on shows and movies for my 6 and 8 yo boys. We currently watch DVD's (from Netflix) and have a roku (Netflix) viewer. I am running out of new shows and movies to suggest.

They love Jonny Test, American Dragon, Avatar, Phineas and Ferb, as well as older shows like Get Smart, A-Team and Thunderbirds. Documentaries are sometimes a hit as well.

They like action and animals and science. They are not interested in sit-coms yet.

Any suggestions?

[Linda Hessel]

We love Netflix! Recently we've been watching a lot of Doctor Who, they love it, but there are some bits that were borderline acceptable to my sensitive child (he's 10) because of scariness or emotional issues. Probably be fine for most.

Off the top of my head: Land of the Lost (the old series), Spy Kids, Nim's Island, all the Hayao Miyazaki films -- Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Castle in the Sky etc. Pokemon 2000, The Ant Bully, The Gods Must Be Crazy, The Iron Giant, National Treasure. When they get up I'll ask them for more of their favorites.

Oh, we've been watching Myth Busters a lot too, they love that.

[Schuyler]

Simon says Pokemon. Lots of animals and action in that. I like the Pokemon movies as well as the series.

[Amanda]

Thanks Linda,
We've seen some of these, but not all. They saw Land of the Lost a few years ago at a cousins house. I bet they would love that again. Spirited Away scared them both though, My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki were big hits.

[Amanda]

We stopped getting Pokemon, we should go back to that. There are so many I doubt they could ever watch them all.

[Schuyler]

Spirited Away has weird ooziness and viscosity to the blood that is really disturbing. Linnaea and Simon both didn't like that one, although they've watched it recently and enjoyed it. Howl's Moving Castle and Castle in the Sky have been well liked here. Simon watched Princess Mononoke when he was pretty young and it has never been invited back into our home. Again I think it was the texture of the blood and the amount of it that really put him off.

[Sybelle van Erven]

How about McGyver?

[Sandra Dodd]

The Karate Kid, maybe?
The Ninja Turtle movies were good here. The first one is really good. The second one's okay. The third one has samurai costumes over Ninja Turtle costumes, on horseback. So whether you like the story or not, it's worth appreciating the strength and athleticism of the stunt men and actors who could do all those things inside TWO bulky costumes.

[Amanda]

We tried the first McGyver episode a few months ago. It seemed slow. I know the episodes got more exciting, but I'm not sure when. I do think the boys would like it, though.

[Amanda]

The Karate Kid might be too much talking right now. Although we do have it on our Roku viewer.

Ninja Turtles is a great idea. They like the cartoon, but I don't like being in the room when it is on. A movie might have more dialog than "let's get him" and cowabunga dude."

[Ren]

I second all of the movies Schuyler listed. My kids also loved "My friend Totoro" and "Kiki's delivery service" at those ages.

[Jen H.]

We don't have netflix, so I don't know if my suggestions will be all that helpful, but here goes:

My kids love Inu Yasha (we've watched seasons one through five, some of them can be scarier than others), and Ranma 1/2 (only seen season one so far). They also like SpongBob.

My eight year old has started watching retro TV with old Battlestar galactica and Buck Rogers, but my six year old isn't interested in those.

All of us (even my husband) loved the movie Bolt.

My kids also liked the Snow buddies, and the first puppy buddy movie (we never saw the original with just the dog).

They also like Kirby, and Sonic X, and we're waiting on some Magi Nation to show up from Amazon.

While my older two are girls, my three year old son also likes to watch everything I mentioned.

Jen H.

http://crazychicknlady.livejournal.com/

[Joyce Fetteroll]

If they like Avatar, they might like anime. I'd second Inuyasha and throw in:

Naruto
Full Metal Alchemist
Dragonball
Shaman King