- These days, Hollywood focuses more on animated children’s blockbusters than live-action films.
- While animated films can be great, I think kids are missing out. They need to see real humans.
- My solution? Getting DVDs of 90s movies from the library for my kids.
Think about your favorite holiday movies when you were a kid: “Elf,” “Santa Claus,” “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “Home Alone.” What do they all have in common? Real people! These are real, non-animated images.
In fact, when you think back to some of your most beloved movies as a kid, assuming you were a kid before the year 2000, I bet a lot of them weren’t animated either. “ET”, “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”, “The Parent Trap” (both versions!), “The Sandlot”, “The Mighty Ducks”, “The Goonies”, “Newsies”, Hocus Pocus” , “The Princess Bride”, “The Bad News Bears” and so on.
I don’t want to sound like a curmudgeon or overly nostalgic – but too many kids’ movies these days are animated. I wish Hollywood produced more live action films for children! You know, with real people!
Please don’t mistake this for denigrating the art of animation. I also believe that, on the whole, children’s films are much better than when I was a child. The average 1985 children’s film was probably pretty intolerable for an adult; whereas now I’m perfectly happy watching even the most average Pixar or Illumination movie with my kids. “Hotel Transylvania 2?” Totally enjoyable! “Boss baby?” Very good for me! “Despicable Me 4?” You know what, it’s really funny!
I love that animation can create worlds and do things that could never be done in live-action, even with special effects. “Kung Fu Panda” or “Inside Out” just wouldn’t work if they weren’t animated, and they’re delicious.
In the decades following my childhood, animated children’s films have become studio blockbusters. “Inside Out 2”, “Frozen II”, “The Lion King (2019)” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” are among the top 20 highest-grossing films of all time.
Why studios turned to animation
These landmark films are expensive to make and require years of animation work. (For better or worse, it’s possible that AI will make the process cheaper and faster.) There’s also a low end – if you’ve ever seen some of the lousy animated films that are straight up broadcast on streaming platforms… yeah.
THE the world of cinema has radically changed because of streaming, and content aimed at children has been affected in specific ways. No one buys DVDs anymore, and it used to be a major source of revenue for certain genres like comedies and family films. Now, that means a movie usually has to earn a lot in its opening weekend. Therefore, more sequels, even for animated films for children: franchises are a safer bet.
This is why for adult films, we see fewer romantic comedies, smart comedies and dramas than we did 10 years agoand more action films and franchises. This same dynamic also plays out with family films. You can imagine why a studio would rather make another “Frozen” movie than take a risk on something weird like “Mrs. Doubtfire.”
The business reasons make sense. But I think kids are missing out if they don’t see a lot of live-action movies or TV shows – they don’t see real actors showing emotions or real-world situations taking place. Seeing real children, real adults, talking, moving, even singing, is a different experience. I would say that seeing real humans on film is important for young viewers to become true movie buffs and experience the pleasures of the art of cinema.
A good movie is a transformative, magical experience – and yes, animated films can achieve that – but there’s something to be said for the magic that real, live-action gaming can bring.
I just wish more of these incredible live-action family films were made today.
How to Find Good Live-Action Movies
When I browse movie streaming services aimed at my preschool and elementary school aged children, I see that almost all of the films available are animated. The few live-action films tend to be older films from the ’90s, probably meant to appease millennial parents.
(I’d like to briefly give a shout-out to Netflix’s rare live-action original children’s film, “Yes Day,” starring Jennifer Garner. It’s delightful and will be enjoyed by the whole family.)
I can’t make the movie business work any differently, but I can suggest something to my fellow millennial parents of young children who want to find more good live-action movies to watch: try the DVD section at your local library . I’ve discovered that there are tons of good live action movies from the 90s and early 2000s that just aren’t available on streaming services.
A hidden benefit of watching real DVDs instead of streaming is that it eliminates the place where you open Netflix, and your kids see a thumbnail of a show they’ve already watched three times and start begging to watch it again.
I have a family movie night pretty regularly with my kids with my own hidden agenda: I choose the movie and I always choose live-action films. So far it’s been a hit with my kids and I’ve even enjoyed movies I haven’t seen since I was a kid, like “Free Willy.” It’s enough to hold us over until “Paddington 3” comes out.