Good Toddler Pirate movie reccomendations...

August 15, 2006 9:23 AM

Recommendations for good toddler and child pirate movies?

After seeing this post, it occured to me that my 3.5 yr old son has been getting into Pirates (thanks in no small part to the merchendising that Disney has put out recently).
He is generally not ascared kid when it comes to watching things, but I don't think he'd be up to seeing people getting thier heads chopped off :-)

I have come up with Peter Pan and Muppet's Treasure Island as possible choices.

Anyone have any others?

posted by niteHawk to media & arts (20 comments total)

I'm almost loathe to suggest it, but The Pirate Movie is a simplistic adaptation of The Pirates of Penzance, with enough music and cheesy swashbuckling for a kid.
posted by solid-one-love at 9:37 AM on August 15, 2006

dude! SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON. This was one of my favorite movies as a kid. Pirates, tigers, pirates getting eaten by tigers! Badass treehouses! I don't recall it being disturbing, although there's a good amount of suspense for kids.

and possibly, to some degree, Treasure Island -- although I recall not being able to follow the plot as a child.
posted by fishfucker at 9:44 AM on August 15, 2006

Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky is an awesome animated flick, well suited for young ones. The pirates sail ships that fly through the air and are led by a tough, gruff mother but they're pirates all the same.
posted by bumpkin at 9:48 AM on August 15, 2006

How about the tale of Dread Pirate Roberts and Princess Buttercup. My son is 3 and loves 'The Princess Bride'
As a bonus it should be enjoyable to you as well.
posted by JonnyRotten at 9:49 AM on August 15, 2006

I'll speak for Muppet Treasure Island. I recentely rented it for a four-year old. It was better than I expected, and the kid loved it. She needed minimal prodding/explanation here and there to help follow the actual plot, but definitely got a lot of enjoyment out of the pirate stuff in general. She talked about it/acted it out with great enthusiasm afterwards.

(She enjoyed Peter Pan too - both the disney version and the recent (2003?) people-actor version (although that version might be a bit scary for a 3.5 year old, so pre-screen it)).

She's been into pirates for two years now, and is enjoying the influx of new young pirate fans the Disney hype machine has created this summer.
posted by mikepop at 9:50 AM on August 15, 2006

Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie. Not specifically a pirate movie, per se, but it has some pirates in it! Pirates who don't do anything! Definitely a toddler movie, with some good laughs for the adults. The whale is very cute, too.
posted by leapfrog at 9:50 AM on August 15, 2006

on non-preview: oh yeah she liked the Princess Bride as well, but mostly for the ROUS.
posted by mikepop at 9:51 AM on August 15, 2006

There's Pippi In The South Seas.
posted by Clay201 at 9:52 AM on August 15, 2006

My girls (ages 3.5 and 2) really enjoy Dora's Pirate Adventure, which features Dora's cousin Diego as well.

And the older one looooooves Princess Bride. It really does have everything--fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles...
posted by padraigin at 9:53 AM on August 15, 2006

Weeeeeeeee're on our wayyyyyy to Wiggle bay.
posted by neilkod at 9:54 AM on August 15, 2006

The Crimson Pirate - amazing stuff.

This is the movie Terry Gilliam spoofs (as "The Crimson Permanent Assurance") in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life.
posted by meehawl at 10:12 AM on August 15, 2006

Baron Munchausen sort of dresses like a pirate, from this very overlooked and magnificent movie from the 80's, kids should love it
posted by qbxk at 10:24 AM on August 15, 2006

Muppet Treasure Island was just great. I know you mentioned it already, but I have to vote for it. A family favorite in our house.
posted by WinnipegDragon at 10:31 AM on August 15, 2006

We loved The Pirates of Penzance as young kids. It's really colorful, and the music is fun. Of course, we didn't get most of the humor until much later. It's still one of our favorite comedies. Plus, you get to expose them to operetta. If you can get a wide screen version, do so; the pan-and-scan is horribly obnoxious and myopic.
posted by The Mauve Frog at 10:32 AM on August 15, 2006

Goonies!
posted by jozxyqk at 10:35 AM on August 15, 2006

I second Swiss Family Robinson, I used to love that movie. And if your kids are anything like me, it will inspire them to rig up traps to subject their GI Joes to :)
posted by falconred at 10:36 AM on August 15, 2006

The Backyardigans have a pirate episode, and Lazytown does as well.
posted by IndigoRain at 10:53 AM on August 15, 2006

Wow - great ideas...
Princess Bride is one I'm going to have to try with him, as it's one of wifeHawk's favorite movies.
Castle in the Sky is one that's been on _my_ to see list, so it'll be a good excuse as any to pick it up and as a bonus see if he likes it.
And - O.M.G. I had forgotten all about the Pirate Movie - I actually liked that one as a kid.. cheese and all :-)

Thanks!
posted by niteHawk at 10:57 AM on August 15, 2006

Some movies that kind of suck (to me) but fit the bill for kids:

Treasure Planet is Disney's version of Treasure Island. But it's set in outerspace.

Titan A.E. is sort of a pirate movie maybe? Anyway, it seemed similar to Treasure Planet in my head.
posted by bDiddy at 11:54 AM on August 15, 2006

The Spongebob Squarepants movie has pirates at the opening of the movie doing the spongebob theme. (That opening montage made seeing the movie worth it to me. I am not a small child, though.)
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 12:02 PM on August 15, 2006