Media Macaroni

Forgive my long break, but I’ve been off enjoying the holidays, eating cookies, and playing in the snow. During the holiday break, though, I’ve been thinking about what has stood out for me in 2009 in the world of kids’ media, and I’m ready to declare 2009 the Year of the Kid Movie. My favorite films of the year (except for Inglorious Basterds, perhaps) have been movies targeting children. Fortunately for me, this coincided with the year Olive got excited about going to movies. Movies are better when I have Olive to share them with.

While Where the Wild Things Are was certainly the most hyped, and while it was lovely, it wasn’t made for kids. Up is sure to top most critics’ lists for the year, and while I did like it my reservations about it keep it from being beloved in our house. Also, with the growling 3-D dogs, it was the only movie I took Olive to this year where we had to leave the theater.

To pick my favorite movie of the year would require a cage match between Coraline, Ponyo, and Fantastic Mr. Fox. The first two have awesome girl characters so often missing from kids’ movies. Wes Anderson is one of my favorite directors, and with Fantastic Mr. Fox he’s back at the top of his game, finding a perfect home in the medium of stop motion animation. All have excellent writing, and to say that these movies are all visually masterful would be an understatement. [Links will take you to my reviews.]

There were also some nice surprises this year. As I mentioned in my last post, Disney gave this staunch princess opponent a princess movie to like with The Princess and the Frog. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is laugh-out-loud funny, and Astro Boy delivered just the right amount of robot action for kids.

Older kids got a few treats, too, with the latest awesomeness in the Harry Potter series, and the film adaptation of Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart. Though I didn’t see it, my niece tells me that the second Night at the Museum installment is lots of fun. And I’m sad to say I have not yet seen 9, despite loving the animation in the trailer each time I see it.

Here’s hoping that 2010 keeps this momentum going. It already has promise. In 2010 we’ll see film adaptations of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Ramona and Beezus, and, of course, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Olive’s already talking about seeing How to Train Your Dragon, and I’m guessing all of us will flock to see Toy Story 3. We have Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland to look forward to, a new Shrek, and Tron: Legacy at the end of the year (though we’re sure to hear about it from fanboys and girls all year long). Oh, and mommy has Iron Man 2 to look forward to.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at 10:08 pm and is filed under Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.