New York Times Essential Library: Children's Movies: A Critic's Guide to the Best Films Available on Video and DVD [Paperback]

Peter M. Nichols (Author)

Book Description

Series: New York Times Essential Library

An indispensable guide for parents from a leading expert on children's film

For years Peter M. Nichols has been offering vital advice and information for parents about current movies in his regular "Taking the Children" column. But parents need the same kind of guidance when renting or buying videos and DVDs for their family. They may know that movies such as Toy Story and Chicken Run are good choices for their children, but Nichols helps parents go beyond the obvious choices to more unconventional movies like The African Queen and Some Like It Hot. From the classics of animation to a host of great comedies and dramas, Nichols provides a knowing and illuminating guide to one hundred great cinematic works.

Each brief original essay not only explains why the children will enjoy the film but also allows Nichols to offer timely bits of film history and to discuss certain films in a larger cultural context. Nichols's knowledge and understanding of films is broad and deep, and many of his choices-especially of films that we might not have thought of as "children's films"-will surprise and delight readers.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This new addition to the New York Times Essential Library series transcends its genre, in that the movies it lists are more than just children's movies. They are, for the most part, classics that every adult would enjoy seeing, classics that just so happen to also be appropriate for kids. Nichols, who writes the Times's "Taking the Children" film column, says every one of these films is appropriate for the 12-and-under set. The list, arranged alphabetically, encompasses old standbys (e.g., Casablanca; The King and I), animated films (e.g., The Little Mermaid; Shrek), standard kid fare (e.g., Mary Poppins; E.T. The Extraterrestrial) and recent hits (e.g., The Rookie; Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone). Each film gets a two-page write-up, with any reservations about specific films, such as, for Rocky, "the fight is violent and little ones could be upset," or, for Groundhog Day, "Sex is involved in a couple of places." 17 b&w illustrations.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

As in Ben Ratliff's guide to jazz in the same series [BKL N 1 02], there are some surprises among Nichols' choices of the 100 best films for children 12 and younger. Duck Soup is a great movie, but aren't the Marx Brothers too culturally and linguistically sophisticated for kids? Isn't Gandhi too long and pompous? Isn't The Buddy Holly Story just too embarrassingly miscast? He may not persuade one to say nay to those questions, but elsewhere Nichols convincingly argues that kids of the right age--and he is always explicit about what that may be--will dig, say, North by Northwest, Some Like It Hot, and Sullivan's Travels. Most of his choices are much more recent films, and, not unexpectedly, animated films, from Disney features to Japanese anime extravaganzas, bulk large in the total. Except for the original King Kong, there aren't any horror movies (well, maybe Jurassic Park), and religion, if not sentimentality, is kept at bay throughout. A job well done. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Times Books; 1st edition (November 6, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805071989
• ISBN-13: 978-0805071986
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,881,691 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good resource for parents, January 6, 2006

By 

M. Dudar (Illinois) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: New York Times Essential Library: Children's Movies: A Critic's Guide to the Best Films Available on Video and DVD (Paperback)

I picked up a copy of this at my local library this summer and have checked it out and renewed it several times. Our library has a very good movie section and I can easily find the titles included here. My children and I have enjoyed viewing many movies that never would have occurred to me to select. Each summer I plan to go farther and farther into the book, although I doubt we will ever see all 100!

The author does a good job of explaining why the movie was chosen and gives a lot of interesting background information. Sometimes the description for a particular movie might run two pages or more. My only suggestion would be to categorize the movies by genre. It is organized alphabetically, which is not the way the movies are organized in our library. There is also an appendix with an additional 100 (I think) movies to consider.