Positive Films For Today's Youth
There are many sources
of media and entertainment that influence today’s children. However, not all of
those sources of media and entertainment are positive influences. In a world
filled with negative media and entertainment influences, it can be difficult to
find positive influences for today’s youth. However, there are positive
influences out there. The following films are examples of entertainment that
carry positive and encouraging messages for today’s youth.
The Spiderwick
Chronicles: This film stars Freddie Highmore, Sarah Bolger and Mary-Louise
Parker. It tells the story of three children named Jared, Simon and Mallory
Grace who move into a mysterious new house. When Jared explores the home, he
discovers a book filled with magical secrets about the outside world.
Jared, Simon and
Mallory eventually have to protect the book from an evil ogre named Mulgarath
all while dealing with their parents divorce. This film is an encouraging film
for children because it focuses on the importance of family when Jared
eventually realizes he is wrong for blaming his mother for not being able to
live with his father. It also focuses on the message of courage as Jared, Simon
and Mallory do what they must to defend their home and family.
Beauty & The
Beast: This film stars Emma Watson, Luke Evans and Dan Stevens. The film takes
place in France and focuses on an intelligent young lady named Belle who is
misunderstood by the other people in her village, due to her passion for reading.
When Belle’s father, Maurice is imprisoned in a castle by a cursed beast, she
rushes to save him, offering to take his place as the Beast’s prisoner instead.
Eventually,
Belle discovers that the Beast isn’t as cruel as he first seems and develops a close
friendship with him. However, Belle, the Beast and the other cursed inhabitants
of the castle must fight for their lives when a vain and egotistical man
infatuated with marrying Belle, Gaston arrives with other people from Belle’s
village to kill the Beast, seeing him as a dangerous threat. This film is a
positive example for children because it conveys the message of being brave,
something that Belle shows when she sacrifices her freedom to save her father.
It also embodies the message of it being ok to be different and to not judge by
appearances or first impressions before actually getting to know someone.
Kiki’s Delivery
Service: This film stars Phil Hartman, Kirsten Dunst and Kath Soucie. The film
tells the story of a young witch in training named Kiki. When Kiki first
arrives in a new town for her training, she doesn’t make the best first
impression. However, she eventually focuses on her talent for flying and starts
up a delivery service, making a few friends along the way. Things go well for her
business at first until she suddenly loses her powers. While Kiki struggles to
find a way to recover her powers, an accident in the town occurs that leads her
to rush to save her friend, Tombo’s life.
This film shares a
positive and empowering message about finding yourself and your purpose in
life. Throughout the film, Kiki struggles to find out who she is and what she
wants to do with her life through the use of her magic. Additionally, this
movie embodies the message of being brave when Kiki hurries to rescue her
friend, Tombo from danger.
Brave: This film stars
Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly and Kelly Macdonald. It concentrates on an
adventurous princess named Merida who is being forced into marriage. When
Merida fails to make her mother understand why she doesn’t want to get married,
she asks for help from a witch who gives her a spell to change her fate.
However, when the spell changes her mother into a bear, she regrets her actions
and tries to find a way to break the spell before it becomes permanent.
As seen from the
title of the film, this story carries the positive message of being brave when
Merida does everything she can to protect her mother from being killed as a
bear. It also expresses the message of being yourself as throughout the film,
Merida continues to be the person that she is, despite her efforts from her
mother to change her. The film also embodies the importance of family as we see
how Merida and her mother rekindle their relationship and grow closer.
Angels In The
Outfield: This film stars Tony Danza, Danny Glover and Matthew McConaughey.
This film focuses on a foster child named Roger who is promised by his father
that if the California Angels win the pennant, he and his father will be a
family again. Roger then makes a prayer to God asking for help so the Angels
can win the pennant and so he can have a family again.
When Heaven’s angels
start to help the team during games, Roger thinks he and his father will
reunite until his father gives up all custody rights to him. Roger becomes depressed,
claiming to not believe in angels anymore. However, when the Angels make it to
the World Series, he continues to stand by his team and eventually realizes who
his true family is. This film is a positive example of having faith even in the
most difficult of times and the importance of believing in your dreams and
yourself.
Ratatouille: This film
stars Janeane Garofalo, Peter Sohn and Patton Oswalt. It focuses on a rat named
Remy with a passion for food. His passion inspires him to become a chef in
Paris, France. When he becomes separated from his family, Remy ends up in Paris
at his favorite chef’s restaurant. He eventually befriends a garbage boy named
Linguini who with the help of Remy becomes the head chef of the restaurant.
Remy and Linguini must
struggle to keep the restaurant prospering while dealing with Anton Ego, a
highly acclaimed food critic and the former head chef of the restaurant,
Skinner. This movie is a prime example of how no matter your size or where you
come from, you can accomplish your dreams. It is also a positive example of how
working hard will bring you success.
Lilo & Stitch:
This film stars Daveigh Chase, Tia Carrere and Chris Sanders. The story of the
film takes place mainly in Hawaii and focuses on a little girl named Lilo who
lives with her older sister, Nani. Lilo is having trouble making friends so
Nani decides to get her a dog. When Lilo goes to the animal shelter she finds a
strange creature that talks to her named Stitch and adopts him.
Lilo later finds out
Stitch is an alien that escaped from his prison cell in outer space. This
ultimately causes some trouble with their family when Stitch’s creator, Jumba and
other aliens come to Earth to try and recapture him. This film is a great
example of the importance of family and friendship.
Matilda: This film
stars Mara Wilson, Danny Devito and Rhea Perlman. The movie focuses on a young
girl named Matilda Wormwood who is the outcast of her family due to her passion
for reading and learning. Matilda eventually discovers she has special powers.
When Matilda’s parents
finally enroll her into school, she befriends her teacher, Miss Honey who has a
dark past with the principal of the school, Miss Agatha Trunchbull, whom none
of the children like due to her cruelty towards them. Matilda becomes
determined to make things right by using her powers to help stop Miss Trunchbull’s
mistreatment towards Miss Honey and the students of the school. This film
conveys the positive message of finding yourself which Matilda accomplishes
through the use of her powers.
The film also shows
the importance of helping others which Matilda does on numerous accounts for
Miss Honey and her friends at the school. It also shows an empowering message
of bravery when Miss Honey finally stands up to Miss Trunchbull, revealing her
dark secret past with the principal in the process. It also expresses the
importance of learning as well as the importance of knowing that it is ok to be
different because the right people will accept you for who you are.
Harry Potter Series:
This film series stars Rupert Grint, Daniel Radcliffe and Tom Felton. The film
series consists of eight films and focuses on the tale of a young boy named
Harry Potter, who discovers that he is a wizard and is sent off to a wizarding
school called Hogwarts. Throughout the series, Harry must thwart the wicked
actions of a dark wizard named Voldemort, who murdered Harry’s parents and attempted
to murder Harry as a baby, which caused the infamous lightning bolt scar on
Harry’s forehead.
This series conveys
many positive messages including the importance of loyalty which Harry constantly
shows for his school, his friends and the headmaster of the school, Albus
Dumbledore. The importance of bravery is also shown multiple times including
when another student at the school, Neville Longbottom stands up to Voldemort
after hearing bad news about Harry Potter. The importance of family is seen
through the character of Mrs. Weasley who does everything she can to take care
of and protect her family, even standing up to another dark wizard, Bellatrix
Lestrange when she threatens Mrs. Weasley’s daughter, Ginny. The importance of
compassion is shown when Harry feels sorry for Voldemort because the dark
wizard had never known what true love or friendship was about. The importance
of learning is shown through one of Harry’s best friends, Hermione Granger who
uses her passion for learning to help her friends in times of need.
Ice Princess: This
film stars Joan Cusack, Michelle Trachtenberg and Hayden Panettiere. The story
focuses on a girl named Casey Carlyle who takes her hobby of ice skating and
incorporates it into a physics project so she can get into a good college.
Through working on the physics project at a local ice rink, her passion for ice
skating grows and she decides to take part in a figure skating recital, which
leads her into competitive figure skating.
Casey is then faced
with the difficult decision of whether to follow her mother’s dream for her, which
is going to Harvard University or to follow her own dream of becoming a
professional ice skater. This film conveys many positive messages including
helping others which Casey does when she uses her knowledge of physics to help
other ice skaters at the local rink improve their own skating abilities. The
film also expresses the powerful message of staying positive through hard
times, not giving up and going after your dreams which Casey shows when she
continues to work on her skating routine for an upcoming competition, despite a
setback at her previous one. The film also carries the powerful message that it
is ok to participate in activities that make you feel confident, happy and
beautiful.
The Wizard Of Oz: This
film stars Judy Garland, Billie Burke and Margaret Hamilton. It tells the story
of a simple country girl from Kansas named Dorothy Gale. After her dog Toto is
threatened to be taken away, she and Toto attempt to run away. However, a fortune
teller convinces Dorothy to go back home after making her worry that her Aunt
Em is ill. Dorothy tries to make it back home in the midst of a tornado. She
succeeds in making it back home but cannot find her family. As she continues to
look for them, she gets knocked unconscious. She ends up dreaming of being in
an enchanted land called Oz where she must battle a wicked witch in order to make
it back home.
This film conveys many
positive messages including the value of friendship which Dorothy discovers
through the new friends she makes in Oz that help her on her journey to the
Emerald City. Each of her friends also conveys a positive message as each of
them have their own goals they truly end up accomplishing during their quest to
defeat the Wicked Witch Of The West. The Scarecrow embodies the value of wisdom
and knowledge which he shows when he comes up with a plan to rescue Dorothy after
the Wicked Witch Of The West captures her.
The Cowardly Lion
embodies the value of courage which he shows when he chooses to be brave in
order to save Dorothy from the witch. The Tin Man embodies the value of love
when he shows how he cares for others, particularly Dorothy when he tries to
save her from the witch. Finally, Dorothy discovers the importance of family
when she realizes that while she may dream of a more adventurous life, her
family is who her heart truly belongs to.
The Pagemaster: This
film stars Christopher Lloyd, Macaulay Culkin and Whoopi Goldberg. The story
focuses on a boy named Richard Tyler who in the middle of a storm, gets trapped
in a library. He slips on a puddle and hits his head on the ground, knocking
him unconscious. He dreams of becoming a cartoon character and having to make
his way through three different enchanted areas of the library in order to find
the exit.
Along the way, he
befriends three books, Adventure, Fantasy and Horror who help Richard make it
through each of their individual worlds, dealing with challenges on the way which
include fighting pirates, battling a dragon and escaping the very menacing
Mr.Hyde. This film focuses on the positive message of facing your fears and
having courage which Richard develops throughout his journey in the library which
ultimately leads him to conquer his biggest fear at the end of the film. It
also focuses on the value of friendship which is seen through Richard’s connections
to Fantasy, Adventure and Horror and to the promises that he makes to them.
The Big Green: This
film stars Bug Hall, Jordan Brower and Steve Guttenberg. When a new woman named Anna Montgomery moves to a small town in
Texas, she begins teaching at a school where the students in her classroom don't
have much to be happy or excited about. Determined to raise their confidence
and self-esteem, Anna forms a soccer team, hoping the sport will help her
students.
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