Animated movies without villians

[tiger_spot]

We are looking for movies to watch with Morgan (and Tori, but Tori is both brave and not particularly picky). Most of our childhood favorites get rejected on grounds that they sound "too scary", but "scary" is very particularly tied to villains -- monsters don't bother her, inanimate peril (e.g. falling from a height) seems fine, but intelligent villains freak her out.

We just watched Onward, the new Pixar flick, and she liked that. She's enjoyed Ponyo and My Neighbor Totoro. Frozen and Moana are both kind of intense for her; she has seen both movies but refused to see Frozen 2 in the theater because she expected it to be too scary. She saw How to Train Your Dragon somewhere or other and liked it quite a lot.

So what movies are there, preferably animated ones, that don't have villains but do have plots? Things aimed at preschoolers are okay so long as they don't make parents want to defenestrate themselves.

We have already thought of Kiki's Delivery Service and Homeward Bound, but we need more ideas. New movies, old movies, any movies: journey-through-the-wilderness type films would probably go over well if you know good documentaries or historical films about adventurous things (or animated/fictional ones where all the peril is Man vs. Nature). Maybe sports movies? I'm not sure how villainous the traditional opposing team would come off as. Morgan is 7, so she's not into romance as a plot element, but stories about family love (Frozen, Onward) seem to go over very well.

Comments

[anne]

Singin' in the Rain, maybe?

[tiger_spot]

I shall add that to list. I've only ever seen clips from it.

[anne]

Lina is terrible but not scary! And there are lots of pratfalls. I saw it the first time when I was 9 and I can still recite large chunks by heart.

[batwrangler]

My Neighbor Totoro? Ponyo? The Little Prince? Wallace and Grommet? Wind in the Willows? Secret of Kells? Song of the Sea? Snoopy? Marx brothers movies? Pirates of Penzance? Finding Nemo? Finding Dory? Up (has villian but is small part)? Wall-E? Monsters University (sort of opposing teams)?

[tiger_spot]

Oh, lots of good ideas!

I accidentally showed Morgan Song of the Sea when I was 100 million years pregnant with Tori and the disappearing pregnant mama made me cry. (Didn't bother Morgan, though.) So Tori definitely hasn't seen that one!

[anne]

The Little Prince was too sad for me, but I liked Bob Fosse being the Snake.

...oh, Fred Astaire movies! Or the Marx Brothers! Not animated, but fun and not scary. And I don't know how your kids feel about dresses, but yeah, fabulous dresses in Depression-era musicals

[tiger_spot]

The kids are pro-dresses; are there specific musicals you'd recommend?

[anne]

Pretty much anything with Fred Astaire if it's in b&w, plus Daddy Long Legs and The Bandwagon (I haaaate the Louisiana Hayride number in that one! what a waste of film stock in an otherwise good musical. Idk if they're old enough for the Slaughter on Tenth Avenue part...). I don't know if the That's Entertainment! specials are available anymore...they were PBS pledge drive staples in the 80s, collections of the most famous song and dance routines from Hollywood musicals. I loved them because they skip the boring talking parts!

I don't remember any Racism Fairy moments, but that doesn't mean there aren't any. I know there's nothing like that in Singin' in the Rain.

[firecat]

The Secret of Kells has some scary Viking attack sequences that might tweak fear of intelligent villains?

I must say, fear of intelligent villains seems like a pretty rational fear right now. :-(

[hobbitbabe]

The animated movie about Day of the Dead ... Coco. It's a Disney movie on Netflix.

As a tender-hearted grownup I found it sad and scary but worth it. It's possible that the subtleties would go over a kid's head, and it's not so much intentional-villain, really. Also, there's enough plot-twisting that it's not super clear who to trust.

[tiger_spot]

I love Coco. Morgan didn't seem too freaked out by it the first time she saw it, but she has declined the opportunity to rewatch it.

[cjsmith]

Cars?

[whispercricket]

After consultation (some helpful, some less so) with the kids, we add the following list. Please let us know which work and which don’t! There are a number of possibles for which I recommend reading recaps maybe?

Yes:
Frozen2 - highly recommended, less scary than Frozen, no direct villain but some historical (they had just finished watching again and were highly encouraging)


Winnie the Pooh
the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The Tigger Movie
The Heffalump Movie

Sing! - should be okay; does have a llama trying to keep them from performing?

Hats off to Dr Seuss collection

Brave - monster but not intelligent (However, this is not a favorite movie for some reason - my kids may be less monster tolerant?)

Documentaries / Nature:
Babies
The Living Sea
Beavers
Benji the Hunted (kids have not seen yet)
Winged Migration (kids have not seen yet)


Not sure:
Happy Feet - social conflict (I haven’t seen so can’t confirm)

Inside Out - no villain but scary / sad

Boss Baby - cannot confirm but kids don’t think it has a villain, unless it’s the Boss Baby

Sound of Music - I was going to say no because Nazis, but weirdly more like monsters? Tangential villains until the conclusion

Sword in the Stone - social conflict

Whisper of the Heart - another Ghibli, don’t remember but worth checking. Not sure if the kids have seen yet

Flight of the Navigator - I seem to remember this is mostly trying to get home? (Kids have not seen yet)

Ralph Wrecks the Internet - monster but no villain

Honey I shrunk the kids - haven’t watched in a long time, but I think it was mostly trying to get home? Light romance. (Kids have not seen yet)

Mary Poppins - bank people? Otherwise ok


Wall-E is very borderline/probably no - I’m thinking that the ship AI is too intelligent.


Bonus TV:
Fraggle Rock
Muppet Show
Sarah and Duck
Forky Asks a Question
(They love Dora)

[tiger_spot]

Oh, some good ideas here, thank you! M was very fond of Sarah and Duck for a while.

[whispercricket]

You’re welcome. :)

One more - A is exceedingly fond of _The Good Dinosaur_ right now. I think it’s more “dinosaur and cave boy against the environment” than villains (there is at least one scene where there are sentient dinosaur opponents though, but it’s limited?). I have not seen the whole thing personally.