Old Movies With Kids: The Parent Trap

I'm on a mission to make sure my kids watch more old movies. I've failed miserably thus far, so I'm getting serious and starting a new series here as we watch old movies together.

I put together a list of ten movies I thought the kids might like and we conducted a very official vote that involved closing eyes and raising hands and peeking and arguing and more hand-raising. Here's what we ended up with:

As you can see, The Parent Trap and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World tied for the top spot, but since I failed to start the movie in a timely manner and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is 3 HOURS LONG, The Parent Trap won.

I've written about The Parent Trap before since it is definitely one of my favorites. Corny and silly and Maureen O'Hara and just a good time. I still enjoy this movie as much as I did as a child. Yes, the fact that they separated their twins at birth and broke all contact with them has become somewhat more disturbing as I've had my own kids and can't really imagine being OK with such a situation. But I will look past that and enjoy this incredibly optimistic take on the aftermath of such a ridiculous family arrangement.

Here's what got me on this viewing: I am now around the same age that I imagine the parents are supposed to be in the movie, but they look so old. Do I look that old? Hopefully not. Did people in the 60's just look older? Brian Keith and Maureen O'Hara were both around 40, but Brian Keith looks at least 50. Then there's Vicky. I would guess she's supposed to be around 25 and Joanna Barnes was 27 while filming the movie so not too far off, but she looks more like 35. Maybe it's just the hairstyle. But I'm assuming the reason they constantly talk about her young age is just to convince us that she's actually that young! And then Vicky's mom. She looks like she's 70 but I'm sure she's only supposed to be like 50.

Nonetheless, this made for a super fun family movie night! The characters are fun and surprisingly complex for a fairly silly family comedy. From a lame old mom's point of view, the kids in the movie are generally respectful to their parents and everyone is loving and caring, including the extended family/friend characters.  The relationship between the grandfather and the twins and Maggie is particularly sweet and a really nice addition to the story. The only time I felt the need to tell the kids to "not try this at home" was during the girls' pranks at the summer camp, which they, of course, thought was all pretty funny. And now for the kids' thoughts.

From the Kids

"Not very good." - 8 year old boy (who never likes anything and is not to be trusted)

"I liked it. Better than when I watched it before" - 10 year old girl

"I love it!! 100 good." - 5 year old girl

Kids' favorites moments:

When the cake falls on Miss Inch.

When the dad falls over the chair and in the lake.

"Let's Get Together"

The bear cubs licking Vicki's feet. (This caused a
huge fight over whether or not "honey bears" are a real thing. They're not.) 

 

What other classic films to my kids need to see? Tell me in the comments below!