Being parents is not easy. Obvious, I know, but an obvious need to serve as a framework for the following statement: Being parents, having hobbies and wanting the passion for them to be perpetuated in some way in our offspring, is even more complicated. With reading -comics and novels-, board games and movies as personal affiliates that trying to share with my little girl of four years, knowing what to bring her closer to each moment is a constant test because, among the infinite decisions that as parents we have to take after one day, I want to think that many of them are based on avoiding our children experiences not appropriate to their age.
And if with the reading or the games these decisions are perfectly defined, when we talk about cinema an abyss of subjectivity begins to open in which it is extremely simple either to end up losing, or to end up buried in You ask a thousand questions about whether this or that scene of this or which movie will be 100% suitable for those angels that illuminate our days. A disquisition is that, to top it all, it has been acquiring increasingly kaleidoscopic dyes in recent decades to such an extent that we have gone from what my parents had to face thirty years ago to what we have to face today .
The cinema, Christmas and parents
In the early eighties, cinema was seen going to movie theaters. The information about a premiere was not abundant - especially if you were a weekend fan - and control over the inadequacy of a production was almost limited to having to take your son out of the projection if you saw something that seemed like Not recommended for your age. Thirty years later, unlimited access to internet information has not greatly improved things in terms of information related to misuse in generalized terms that is usually made of it, but What has changed completely is the ease with which our children can look at indiscriminate audiovisual content.
A fact that, by channeling where this entry is directed, today makes it more necessary than ever to have some control over the YouTube videos that the "tablet" generation is approaching and that we can monitor more effectively in prolonged festivities such as those in which we are now immersed, a Christmas that always seems appropriate to sit with the smallest of the house in the comfort of our sofa and see next to them films about which we can have a double certainty: that of the correction for their age range and, of course, that of quality.
AdvertisingTo this end, and focusing exclusively on what Christmas cinema refers to - my partner Juan Luis Caviaro already wrote the other day the best that children's cinema has offered during 2015 - we will review in two different entries those that we consider the best titles to be able to see, already up to six years, already from six years. Two concise and not very long lists that we hope will be useful and guide for the days that still separate us from the return of the children to the normal course of the school year.
Christmas movies for children under 6
1. Charlie Brown Christmas
With Snoopy on the billboards since last Friday - in a great film that, however, is much more recommended for adults who love animation than for "dwarfs" - we look back, in 1965, to look at this special 25-minute television originally broadcast by CBS which, at least on the other side of the pond, is an authentic institution of expenses that serve to close every year with broadcasts that have been made up to two times in recent times throughout the Christmas celebrations.
Animation very tight to the original drawings of Charles Schulz and a jazzy soundtrack, the script for 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' follows a depressed Carlitos in the vicinity of the Christmas holidays and is a vehicle for a magnificent critical reflection about the excessive commercialization of Christmas, reminding everyone through the eloquence of his message the true meaning of it.
2. Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer
We do not move from the "silly box" - although the enormous flat screens that decorate our rooms have little to do with cash - to account for another American television institution that has been broadcasting continuously every new Christmas since its first incursion into Yankee homes in 1964 and that, in the same way as 'A Charlie Brown Christmas', Time has abandoned its only annual pass to be televised on more than one occasion during this time of the year.
Responsibility of Rankin-Bass, an animation company that during the eighties would be responsible for titles such as' The Flight of Dragons' ('Flight of Dragons') or' The Last Unicorn '(' The Last Unicorn '),' Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer 'is a story full of candor and good feelings that tells the story of an incarnate nose reindeer looking for his place in a world that mocks him for the striking appendix. Filmed with the technique stop motion, these scarce fifty minutes are a must see for every child.
3. How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
We continue on television - unfortunately, the big screen has not been especially prolific in Christmas titles suitable for children in early childhood education - and we do it with another one of those specials that American infants know by heart. Perhaps many who remember when hearing the name of Grinch is the very forgettable film starring Jim Carrey in the year 2000 but the adaptation of Dr.Seuss's story that interests us is the one that was directed in 1966 by that animation institution called Chuck Jones.
Responsible for the creation of some of the most famous characters of the "Looney Tunes" - among them of my beloved Wile E. Coyote - and director of many of the best episodes that starred Bugs Bunny, Duck Lucas and company, Jones became here I charge to put in motion the nasty Grinch, a green character with a heart of "two sizes less" whose hatred for Christmas will cause him to try to ruin it to the inhabitants of the town that is near his house. Qualifying these 25 minutes of classics is probably falling short.
4. Teleñecos in Christmas stories
If so far I have talked about American Christmas television institutions, what we should talk about here is universal children's institutions, a qualification that could even become poor when referring to Gustavo, Peggy, Gonzo, Fozzie and all the puppets created in the factory of that genius called Jim Henson that make up the usual alignment of the Teleñecos. Some characters that are part of the imaginary of many generations of viewers and that, from time to time, they have dared to make the leap to the big screen with uneven results.
Among the best of what the "Muppets" have starred in the cinema is one of the many adaptations that the seventh art has made on the immortal novel of Charles Dickens, 'Christmas story'. With the Avaro Ebenezer Scrooge played by Michael Caine and the rest of the characters in the novel falling on the dolls that many of us have always loved, 'The Teleñecos in Christmas stories' ('The Muppet Christmas Carol') is probably the best way to introduce this story about human kindness and the reach of "the Christmas spirit" to the little ones.
5. Arthur Christmas: Operation gift
And we finished this small selection with what was one of the most pleasant cinematic surprises that 2014 brought us, a tape that reflects with precision, humor and love the magic of Christmas and that confirmed that, when he wants it -which is almost always-, British producer Aardman can talk about you to you, at least as far as the script is concerned, to those films that are considered the undisputed quality standards of cinema of current animation, the Pixar tapes.
Fully animated by computer but without losing the very recognizable personality that has always accompanied the films and short films of the creators of Wallace and Gromit, the story of the less graceful son of Santa Claus and his efforts to humanize the amazing machinery in which his father's work has become one of those capable of starting all kinds of reactions from the public, either from the one to whom it is "directed" and, above all, from some parents who will enjoy the beautiful with a stimulating and tremendously fun proposal.
Christmas movies for people over 6 years old
We are here to collect the titles that may be more attractive to kids who are already in primary school and who they begin to have the necessary emotional capacities to take on reflections about their surroundings that, in the case of Christmas, they do not stick to the innocence and candor that the majority of the previous selection held.
6. Elf
Believe me when I tell you that, as a recalcitrant cinephile, it would never occur to me to recommend a film starring Will ferrell that was not the fabulous 'Stranger than Fiction'. That said, I must confess that, even with his irritating presence, 'Elf' is a Christmas comedy of good feelings that is nice to see ... and review. And that, coming from someone who can't see the actor or in painting - not to mention Zooey Deschanel-, I should give you an approximate idea of this production signed by Jon Favreau before Marvel require your "talents" to set up the first installment of 'Iron Man'.
Ferrell gives life here to a boy who ended up going to the North Pole in one of the Santa Claus sacks and, raised by elves, must return to civilization being already a man to meet his father, an unscrupulous guy. The best of the movie, without a doubt, the ridiculous moments in which the education of Buddy, the character of Ferrell, clashes head-on with both modern society as with that parent played with his usual sneer, for a great James Caan and, of course, the appearance of Peter Dinklage.
7. Nightmare before Christmas
I saw her eighteen years old at the time of its premiere in 1993, and since then it has hardly been a year since I have not returned to her to continue realizing the incredible magic that this production directed by Henry Selick -what not for Tim Burton, which only served as producer ... and something else- in which through an amazing use of animation techniques by stop motion one of the worlds of American festivities, Halloween, is made known to us, a dark world, gloomy and full of nightmare creatures in which that torrent of charisma called Jack Skellington lives.
Depressed for not finding joy in the celebration of the holiday that gives way to the month of November, Jack will go with his bones to the land of Christmas, urging a wild plan to kidnap Santa Claus and replace him as the one who distributes To children their gifts. Constant genius, animated by unforgettable songs and amazing characters, 'Nightmare Before Christmas' (Nightmare Before Christmas') is one of those films that, seen with the right age, will remain forever in the cinematic memory. Wishing I am now that my daughter is six or seven years old so she can wear it and hallucinate as many and many children have done ... and not so children.
8. Home alone
Responsible for the script of three of the most important children's-youth productions of the eighties - to which we will see something below we must add the essential 'The Goonies' (' The Goonies') and 'The secret of the pyramid' (' Young Sherlock Holmes') -, in his role as director Chris Columbus too He has left us with some other title of those that, without being essential masterpieces, must be seen at least once in life at the right age. And the right age for 'Home Alone' is undoubtedly the eight-year-old Kevin McCallister played by Macaulay Culkin, a kid whose crazy family leaves behind in a huge house during Christmas.
Thus fulfilling any child's dream of being left alone in their home without the "annoying" presence of their parents and siblings, I remember perfectly the laughter that my father and I threw ourselves in the cinema together with the full plate that year of 1990. Laughter that, as the footage progressed and the "wet thieves" appeared, became uncontrollable laughter as a child possessed by the spirit of McGyver gave "for the hair" to two of the most inept cacos the cinema has ever known .
9. Polar Express
Determined to prove to everyone that motion capture animation was little less than the future the cinema was destined to, Robert Zemeckis He left aside for 12 years the real image cinema to fully focus on the three productions that he premiered during the first decade of this 21st century: with two of them destined, well for the adult audience - the visually fascinating but irregular 'Beowulf' - Well to teenagers who have entered the years - the adaptation of the 'Christmas Story' dickesiano- is 'Polar Express' the first experiment in the use of the aforementioned technique that Zemeckis sent us in 2004.
With a script that does not go beyond the anecdotal, the occasional song stuck with shoehorn and technology giving its worst face in the sometimes strange movements of human characters - many of them embodied by Tom Hanks- Where 'Polar Express' is most amazing is in the real roller coaster that the train raises to the North Pole that makes the train that gives its name to the film. A trip that justify -and it's one of the few movies that does it- the viewing of the 3D tape and that treasures moments capable of removing the hiccups to the most painted.
10. The origin of the guardians
Since its activity began in the late nineties, the animated division of Dreamworks He has tried in a bold way to stand up to the undisputed hegemony of Pixar in the world of digital animation with proposals that have resulted in all kinds of artistic and commercial results. And while in this second term 'The Origin of the Guardians' ('Rise of the Guardians') had nothing to do against 'Brave', the bet of Luxo Jr.'s 2012 study, in terms of history , this story that unites the "guardians" of the most recognizable festivities I surpassed, in my point of view, what the ribbon starring Princess Mérida offered us.
Not surprisingly, this story in which the Easter bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Sandman and Santa Claus join Jack Frost to fight an entity that seeks to end the happiness of the children of the world, has many incentives to thrill - and frighten at some times - and to leave an indelible mark on the kids who approach her because of how much she talks about the need to never lose sight of what makes childhood the most important period of our lives: imagination.
11. Gremlins
For any cinephile who was a child during the eighties, 'Gremlins' is undoubtedly one of the mainstays on which his passion for the seventh art will be based. The undersigned saw it with nine years and the memory I have of that first time in the cinema attending the deployment of constant hooligans to which the Mogwais submitted to Kingston Falls - an imaginary small town that paid tribute to the Bedford Falls of the Christmas ribbon for Antonomasia, that masterpiece called 'Living is beautiful!'- is one of those that The thirty-one years since its premiere have not been able to erase.
Backed by Steven Spielberg, with script of Chris Columbus, directed by Joe Dante and with a fantastic soundtrack composed by the teacher Jerry Goldsmith, only these four names would talk about the quality of a film that has not lost luster over time and that, constantly reviewed in the three decades that have elapsed since its premiere, still surprised by the audacity with which he departed from the concept of more traditional family cinema to offer a fun full of surprises and very unexpected turns.
