Leonard Maltin's Family Film Guide

By Leonard Maltin

Book Overview

Recognized as one of the leading authorities on American film, Leonard Maltin is also a parent who is aware of the differences between a child's and critic's perspective on films. Each film listed... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451197143
• ISBN13: 9780451197146
• Release Date: May 1999
• Publisher: Signet Book
• Length: 653 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.1" x 6.7"

Customer Reviews

1000 films

Leonard Maltin and his partners again provide a good resource for movie selection for kids. This time, they get it about 85% right. I found myself reminded of several movies I had forgotten about but which my kids (daughter 7, son 4) might like: "Singin' in the Rain", "James & the Giant Peach", and "Li'l Abner." And, I learned about good movies I had not known about, such as "Korczak", for older children, and "Billy Rose's Jumbo" (with Doris Day). Maltin overlooks a recent straight-to-video Miramax movie my kids love. "The Thief & the Cobbler" features the voices of Vincent Price as the rhyming villain, Jonathan Winters as the persistent thief, Matthew Broderick as the charming cobbler and Jennifer Beals as the spunky Princess. The animation is startling, the story is great and the running ruminations of Jonathan Winters hilarious. I also notice that Maltin does not include Mary Martin's "Peter Pan" or the remake of "Mighty Joe Young."Each film has a note as to how it will play with young children and another note for older children. "Babe," for instance, is "VG" for young children and "VG" for older children. Maltin seems to measure these scores on a variety of points, including themes of sexuality, or violence, or boredom. He is especially alert to how frightening movies can be, and will comment about difficult parts. He also understands that children and adults view the same movie differently. "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure " is boring or insipid but for kids it is "VG/VG." "Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang" is understood to be a weak "Poppins" imitation, but some kids like it anyway ("VG/NG"). Most of the newer "Batman" films get a direct "no" for young children. "A Patch of Blue" gets a "no" for young children and "VG" for older children. I would want Maltin to distinguish or alert us to other, more subtle problems with certain movies and the lessons and scenes our children will take away from them. Young children, especially, live in a world in which bad behavior is punished and good behavior is rewarded, but many movies do not care about that. In "Pocahontas" ("VG/VG") there is no clear good guy/bad guy division, which was quite disturbing to my kids. For "Dumbo" ("VG/VG"), which Maltin correctly describes as sweet and sad, he notes the scene in which Mother is locked up as a Mad Elephant, but does not recognize the depth of the lesson in this to very young children, that a mother's protections are punished and that Mother can be taken away and the baby left alone. Elsewhere, Maltin has listed "Dumbo" on his "best 10 for children" list. For "Oliver!" ("VG/VG") Maltin makes a point of noting the darker side of the movie, in the physical brutality of Bill against Nancy. I would argue that the beatings overshadow the benefit of the rest of the film for children under 9. In "Grease" ("OK/VG"), the good guys can be mean to their girls, and casually smoke cigarettes. My daughter coul