Three 10 Year Olds = Movie?
March 15, 2019 12:31 PM   Subscribe

I will have three ten year old boys to keep alive in about four hours. I will be responsible for them for about 5 hours. Which move (singular) should I have in my back pocket for the 10 pm - 12 am collapse? Preferably one that is unlikely any have seen as experience suggests familiarity breeds discontent.
posted by zizzle to Media & Arts (36 answers total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: The Goonies, or Labyrinth?
posted by tavegyl at 12:40 PM on March 15, 2019 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Into the Spiderverse is available to buy digitally now. If they haven't seen that, it's perfect.
posted by hought20 at 12:41 PM on March 15, 2019 [25 favorites]


Best answer: both the Addams family and Brady Bunch movies from the mid-90s were surprising hits with my 10y/o and it's unlikely they've seen either
posted by askmehow at 12:42 PM on March 15, 2019 [8 favorites]


Best answer: Disney’s Treasure Planet? Similar vibes is Titan AE. Both are great and older than the kids. ETA The Road to El Dorado also.
posted by Crystalinne at 12:44 PM on March 15, 2019 [1 favorite]


Best answer: I have a 10 year old boy and he has seen pretty much every movie on the planet at this point.
You might just offer up the remote to Netflix, Hulu, whatever you have that is age appropriate.

However, some more streaming obscure ones my kid likes include Fred, Fred II, Little Rascals from the 90s (it is pretty sexist tho), Daddy Daycare (also sexist).

Goonies is pretty racist and a lot of people I know wouldn't be happy to hear that someone else showed that to their kids.
posted by k8t at 12:46 PM on March 15, 2019 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Second Into The Spider-verse.
Any of the Lego movies (with a bias towards the Batman or Ninjago movie if they particularly like super heroes or ninjas)
posted by EndsOfInvention at 12:48 PM on March 15, 2019 [3 favorites]


Best answer: Back to the future?
posted by speakeasy at 12:48 PM on March 15, 2019 [4 favorites]


Best answer: Right now my 10 year old son's favorite movie (and the one he wanted for his sleepover party) is the original Spy Kids.

I had way more luck than I thought I would this year with Cool Runnings.

The Lego Movie and Lego Batman are both awesome but might not help them go to sleep afterwards.
posted by Mchelly at 12:49 PM on March 15, 2019 [3 favorites]


Best answer: Aliens.

Notes on watching "Aliens" for the first time again, with a bunch of kids

Your ten year olds are a year younger than the kids in that piece, but close enough.
posted by Fukiyama at 12:51 PM on March 15, 2019 [9 favorites]


Best answer: Mystery Men was a big success when I had a similar group.
posted by fimbulvetr at 12:55 PM on March 15, 2019 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Random movie suggestion that's older but apparently holds up well as it was set in the 30s, is not on Netflix so less chance of accidental discovery, is PG rated, and is rentable pretty much everywhere: Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
posted by cgg at 1:06 PM on March 15, 2019 [8 favorites]


Best answer: Not to abuse the edit window - WFRR came out when I was 10 and me and my friends remember it fondly, hence the suggestion. But I cannot guarantee it's not offensive by today's standards.
posted by cgg at 1:08 PM on March 15, 2019 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Star Trek IV
posted by parmanparman at 1:18 PM on March 15, 2019 [4 favorites]


Best answer: Fukiyama, I was blown away by your "Notes." I wish I had that kind of thinking around me when I was growing up. I wish I had been able to be that thoughtful when my kids were little.

As someone who owned an indy movie theater for years, and who has seen and talked about movies more than is probably good for one person, I think your ideas are absolutely spot on. And I'm sorry you got a lot of shitty feedback. I usually try to hold to the "everyone has a right to their opinion" position, but sometimes people are just Right, and you wrote a beautiful, funny version of your opinion. Thanks.

(I'll be wanting to share this with some friends. Let me know, here or by MeMail, if you'd rather I didn't.)
posted by kestralwing at 1:19 PM on March 15, 2019 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Oh my god. Major Payne is a 10 year old boys DREAM film. Trust me- you won’t regret it. I taught middle school and this was a BIG favorite at the end of the year.
posted by catspajammies at 1:25 PM on March 15, 2019 [4 favorites]


Best answer: Sandlot?
posted by goodbyewaffles at 1:26 PM on March 15, 2019


Best answer: Older movies that have been a success in our house with nearly 9-year-old include:

- Harry and the Hendersons
- BMX Bandits
- The Never Ending Story
- Old Episodes of The Muppet Show or the original Muppet Movie
- Original Ghostbusters
- ET
posted by brookeb at 1:27 PM on March 15, 2019 [3 favorites]


Best answer: Also School of Rock
Son of Rambow
posted by brookeb at 1:29 PM on March 15, 2019 [1 favorite]


Best answer: The Addams Family came out when I was 8, and I loved it. I showed it once to kids I was babysitting (boy and girl) who were about 9/10 ad they also loved it.
posted by radioamy at 1:39 PM on March 15, 2019 [4 favorites]


Best answer: If I was the parent of one of those 10-year-olds and you showed my kid Alien, I would murder you.

I'd go for an old movie that they might think they don't want to see, and yet get sucked into if you just put it on:
Princess Bride
Singing in the Rain
Romancing the Stone
Whale Rider
March of the Penguins
posted by BlahLaLa at 1:45 PM on March 15, 2019 [4 favorites]


Goonies is pretty racist and a lot of people I know wouldn't be happy to hear that someone else showed that to their kids.

Huh, I had no idea. I just remember being enraptured by it around that age. Apologies and I withdraw that suggestion.
posted by tavegyl at 2:13 PM on March 15, 2019 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Small Soldiers

Spy Kids
posted by JimN2TAW at 2:39 PM on March 15, 2019


Best answer: Stand by Me
Any of the Miyazaki movies
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Wallace and Grommit: Curse of the Were-rabbit
Chicken Run
Shaun the Sheep

A little more edgy if parents are ok with rated R movies:
Shaun of the Dead
What We Do in the Shadows (on Amazon) - quite possibly one of the funniest movies I've ever seen
posted by dancinglamb at 2:52 PM on March 15, 2019 [2 favorites]


If I was the parent of one of those 10-year-olds and you showed my kid Alien, I would murder you.


"He who cannot draw on three thousand years is living hand to mouth."
posted by biffa at 4:47 PM on March 15, 2019


Gremlins 2 -- magnitudes better and funnier than the original with the added bonus that it all happens in the Trump Tower (sort of).
posted by philip-random at 6:41 PM on March 15, 2019 [1 favorite]


Best answer: My boys loved the Three Stooges at that age.

Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.
posted by AugustWest at 8:35 PM on March 15, 2019


Best answer: Clue! I once showed it to a bus full of 8- to 13-year-olds and they were so engrossed they didn't want to stop for our stretch break.
posted by storpsmop at 10:52 PM on March 15, 2019 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Problem Child, Uncle Buck and Beetlejuicd have been our recent movie night choices.
posted by MadMadam at 8:02 AM on March 16, 2019


Best answer: Airplane? (I haven’t seen it in decades, so it may be problematic now, but young me watched it over and over again.)
posted by sueinnyc at 11:01 AM on March 16, 2019


Best answer: I thought of Airplane! too. I first watched it when I was five or six. But...

The Jive thing, Ted's pursuit of Elaine, the slapping of hysterical wife, other stuff as well would have a lot of people up in arms today. I'd show the movie to my kid, but not to others' kids.
posted by Fukiyama at 1:27 PM on March 16, 2019 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Monty Python and the Holy Grail?
posted by axiom at 2:16 PM on March 16, 2019 [1 favorite]


Best answer: The Iron Giant.
posted by blueberry at 2:17 PM on March 16, 2019 [1 favorite]


Best answer: The original Ghostbusters, any Ernest movie, Men in Black, The Court Jester {Danny Kaye) Hot Shots part Deux was a huge hit with my kids. Also the Pink Panther movies.
posted by Enid Lareg at 8:28 AM on March 17, 2019


Best answer: Seconding the Pink Panther movies. Safe and hilarious.
posted by lhauser at 4:57 PM on March 17, 2019


Best answer: Personally, for a trio ten-year-olds, I would avoid Back to the Future (because of the scene with Biff and Lorraine in the car), and the 1984 Ghostbusters (because of the whole stupid ghost-plowchop scene), but I would totally recommend the 2016 Ghostbusters, where the heroes are much nicer people.
posted by blueberry at 8:54 PM on March 17, 2019 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Thanks all!

They went with Diary of a Wimpy Kid on their own in full agreement (who'd have thought?)

But all these will be useful in the future!
posted by zizzle at 8:21 AM on March 18, 2019 [3 favorites]


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