Funny Cartoon Movies For Kids

Funny cartoon movies for kids are becoming more and more prevalent these days, as studios are realizing they can make a large amount of money off these films, due to the fact that both parents and kids can attend and be entertained. Due to this, studios like Pixar, Dreamworks and Disney are producing more and more funny cartoon movies for kids to see, hoping to draw in the parents as well.

1. "Up." One of the most original films from Pixar, "Up" is both a funny cartoon movie for kids and a heartfelt story about life for viewers of all ages. A man whose wife dies attaches a ton of balloons to his house which causes it to float away, leading him on an exciting adventure. It's tough to not love a film that makes you feel just about everything.

2. "Surf's Up." A fun, funny cartoon movie for kids about penguins who also surf. In the movie, we go behind-the-scenes of the penguin surfing championships. What's not to love about that?

3. "Ice Age." An original tale about animals who are surviving the Ice Age on Earth, this funny cartoon movie for kids has been so popular that it has spawned a number of hilarious sequels, for parents and their kids alike to love. One of the best parts is the endless quest for a prehistoric squirrel trying to get a precious nut that he has buried.

4. "Shrek." An animated fantasy film that has modern comedy and the voices of stars like Mike Meyers and Eddie Murphy, "Shrek" is one of the highest grossing animated films ever made, spawning numerous sequels, many of which are unwatchable. However, the original is a very good and very funny cartoon movie for kids, even though a large green ogre and a talking donkey are its main characters.

5. "Toy Story." Unlike the "Shrek" series, every "Toy Story" movie has been incredibly well-made on all fronts. This funny cartoon movie for kids follow old toys who are trying to win the affection of their original owner back. But this is what Pixar does, striving for perfection and not a huge return at the box office, or so we are led to believe. "Toy Story" is one of the best funny cartoon movies for kids ever made and the second and third installments are almost as good.

6. "The Incredibles." Another gem from Pixar does their take on the superhero genre, adding all the elements that exist in any film to a wonderfully funny and entertaining story. The story follows a family of superheroes who have since settled down to live the middle-American family life when suddenly they must don their capes and costumes once again. What's even more entertaining is that the kids in the family, even the baby, must get involved and use their super powers to help save the day. This may be the perfect funny cartoon movie for kids.

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Goody on Film: For kids actors, how much is too much?

Is there a limit to what kids can - or, more to the point, should - do in movies? That question may pop up when "Hanna" opens on Friday, April 8. Director Joe Wright's film is tremendously entertaining, in large part because of his star, Saoirse Ronan, who is brilliant as a 16-year-old girl who, well, kills people. Lots of them, without hesitation or remorse.

Part of the conceit of the film is, of course, that she is indeed a kid who is doing this. We are meant to be shocked, and we are. But Ronan is a gifted-enough actress that we feel far more than surprise watching her break necks and fire guns.

Ronan is 16 in real life; she'll turn 17 a few days after the film opens. Certainly the violence she commits in the film makes us uncomfortable, but it's meant to. It would make us uncomfortable if a 35-year-old man was committing it. The effect is just more pronounced when it's a kid.

In this respect it takes us back to "Kick-Ass," in which 13-year-old Chloe Moretz played Hit-Girl, who sliced and diced bad guys in graphic ways while cursing like the proverbial sailor, only more so. This was, to some extent, played for laughs, which maybe makes it a little different, but the question was still asked: Should a kid this age be doing this, even in a fictional movie?

It's a question that people asked in 1976, when Jodie Foster, then 13, appeared in "Taxi Driver" playing a 12-year-old prostitute. (She got a best-supporting-actress Oscar nomination for her troubles.)

It's a tough spot. For realism, certainly, it helps not to have a 22-year-old pretending to be 10 years younger. But does it affect the young women playing the roles? I've spoken to Ronan and Moretz, and both seem like almost scarily well-adjusted kids. So if they - and their parents - are up to the task, sure. Let 'em act.

Speaking of movie violence, the folks at Complex.com have compiled a list of the 50 Most Memorable Movie Assassinations, just in time for the release of "Hanna" (while complaining that, as good as the movie is, Ronan's character kills people but doesn't technically assassinate them).

No. 1 on the list? A surprise, actually: The killing of Tony Montana in "Scarface." He goes down, of course, in a hail of bullets. From the write-up: "The lesson learned here: Don't do drugs. And always keep an M-16 grenade launcher handy."

Noted. It's kind of an odd idea for a list, but it's actually pretty cool once you dig in and start reading; there are some really powerful scenes here. Among the assassinations that make the top 10 are killings in "The Godfather," "Apocalypse Now" and "Malcolm X," among others. Without giving anything else away, I'd vote for their No. 2 as my No. 1; the scene didn't invent operatic violence, but it did perfect it. If you've been missing Arnold Schwarzenegger since he left office as governor of California, you're in luck.

If you haven't been missing him, he's going to be much harder to avoid. In addition to the already-announced "Governator" comic book and TV show he's creating with comic legend Stan Lee, Schwarzenegger is going to make an animated movie about the character, as well, that's scheduled to be released in 2013.

The character, the Governator of the title, is Schwarzenegger himself, fighting evil-doers as a superhero after leaving office. Insert your own budget-cutting jokes here. And then watch the trailer and decide whether you're excited to see Schwarzenegger back onscreen.

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Dear Hollywood, More Smart Kids Movies Please

This weekend, the animated movie Gnomeo and Juliet almost tied with the new film I Am Number Four at the box office. I Am Number Four, a teen sci-fi flick, brought in $19.5 million. Gnomeo and Juliet brought in $19.4 million, according to to Box Office Mojo estimates on Monday. (The Liam Neeson thriller Unknown topped the box office with $21.8 million.)

That’s a pretty impressive showing for Gnomeo, a retelling of the Romeo and Juliet story starring garden gnomes and set the music of Elton John. In its second weekend out, the film dropped only 23%. Compare that to Justin Bieber’s Never Say Never which dropped 54% and Adam Sandler’s Just Go With It which dropped 40%. Gnomeo and Juliet has already brought in $55 million at the box office.

Animated films that are not from DreamWorks or Pixar tend to get dismissed pretty quickly. Last year Despicable Me (from Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures) took everyone by surprise when it earned $527 million at the global box office.

But as a parent of young children I can tell you, I long for children’s movies. I scan the release schedules looking for tiny lifeboats of appealing kids flicks. It’s not that I’m so desperate to get into a theater where I don’t have to talk to my kids. It’s just that I love going to the movies and I love being able to do it with my entire family.

Like most parents, I won’t go see just anything. Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, looked way to dumb to merit me spending any money on it.

But if a film looks halfway decent, I’m there, happily shelling out the money for 3 (non 3-D) tickets, popcorn, candy and drinks.

Gnomeo and Juliet was no Toy Story 3. But it was cute enough. It featured the voices of some of my favorite English actors (including Stephen Merchant and Maggie Smith) and played cleverly with the classic tragic Shakespeare tale. Plus the music was great. So when it was raining out on Saturday and my kids begged to go see it again, I was happy to oblige (at a steep matinee discount). Yup, I saw it twice.

I’m sure I’m not alone. So Hollywood, please, more kids movies with even a tiny bit of smarts. There’s a market out there. We will go. I promise. Every animated movie doesn’t have to be a major event. Just like there are people who will see smart adult films and people who will see female-centric films, don’t underestimate those of us who aren’t teenage boys. We love movies too.

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10 Best 80's Kids Movies

It’s time for a family-friendly marathon with these 10 best 80’s kids’ movies. The 80’s had many kid hits and many of them are still popular today. Many of the characters in these movies are known by kids today even though they weren’t alive during the movie's release.

10. “The Dark Crystal” (1982). This kids’ movie was from the puppet mastermind Jim Henson. This was the tale of good and evil told from the eyes of the fantasy creatures, the Gelflings, who fight to save their world from the Skeksis by replacing a shard from the Dark Crystal.

9. “The Goonies” (1985). This is a great underdog story that kids will instantly like. It’s the story of a group of friends who follow a treasure map in the hopes of saving their homes from a housing project. This was another great film from the mind of Steven Spielberg.

8. “The Little Mermaid” (1989). Disney took on Hans Christian Andersen’s mermaid tale with this story. It is one of the Disney classics that is still popular today. It is the tale of a young mermaid who falls in love with a human.

7. “The Land Before Time” (1988). This is the story of a little dinosaur who loses his mother and must travel to safety with a group of friends. Now twenty years later, the characters are still popular with multiple other movies having been released and a TV series.

6. “The Princess Bride” (1987). This movie is set up like the story is being told by a grandfather to his grandson. It is a wonderful fairy tale that took 80s pop-culture by storm. It is the story of the Princess Buttercup and her true love, Westley.

5. “Short Circuit” (1986). This science fiction movie is great for kids and the whole family. It’s the hear-warming tale of a robot who comes to life and is able to think outside of his programming. The government agency that designed the robot doesn’t like their weapon’s new found humanity and tries to have it destroyed. The movie was so successful that a sequel was later made.

4. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (1984). This was Disney’s adaptation of the popular fairy tale. Snow White is put in a magic sleep by her wicked stepmother and is awakened by the kiss of a prince. It became an instant classic and is still a widely popular movie.

3. “A Christmas Story” (1983). This movie was very under appreciated during its release. The movie was set in the 1940s and told the story of a young boy who wanted a BB-gun for Christmas. The movie developed a cult following when TNT began airing it during 24 hour holiday marathons in 1997.

2. “The Last Unicorn” (1982). The movie was based on the book by Peter S. Beagle. This animated movie told the adventures of the last unicorn and her quest to discover what happened to the rest of her kind.

1. "E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial" (1982). Not only is this one of the best kids’ movies of the 80s, but it is also one of the most successful movies of all time. This movie helped rocket director Steven Spielberg to stardom. It was the story of a crash-landed alien and a young boy trying to help him get home.

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GLAAD-Handed: The Kids Are Alright, Glee, Scott Pilgrim, Burlesque and More

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has nominated the dramedy about a lesbian couple whose kids track down their biological father for Outstanding Film, Wide Release, for the 22nd Annual GLAAD Media Awards, which honor movies, TV and pieces of music, journalism and theater that include faithful representations of the LGBT community. Not exactly thinking outside the box with that one...but a good choice, nonetheless.

Up against The Kids Are All Right in the Wide Release category (can you imagine how limited the "limited release" films must be?) are Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Sweden's The Girl Who Played With Fire, Easy A and Burlesque.

The Jim Carrey- and Ewan McGregor-starring prison romance I Love You Phillip Morris leads off the Outstanding Film, Limited Release, category, followed by the little-seen but much talked-about Howl, starring James Franco as poet Alan Ginsberg; Sweden's Patrik, Age 1.5, about a gay couple who think they're adopting a 1 1/2-year-old but actually get a 15-year-old; La Mission, in which macho Benjamin Bratt must come to terms with his brother's homosexuality; and Peru's Undertow, about a married fisherman who has an affair with another man.

Glee and Modern Family—both of which saw gay supporting characters take home Emmys and Globes this past year—unsurprisingly head up the Outstanding Comedy Series category, along with Greek, Nurse Jackie and United States of Tara.

Brothers & Sisters, Degrassi, Grey's Anatomy, Pretty Little Liars and True Blood will duke it out for Outstanding Drama Series, while 30 Rock, Bored to Death, Law & Order, Law & Order: U.K. and Drop Dead Diva were nominated for Outstanding Individual Episodes.

Top Chef: Just Desserts and Project Runway are among the shows up for Outstanding Reality Program, and country singer Chely Wright, who inevitably made new fans and, sadly, enemies by coming out last May, is up for Outstanding Musical Artist.

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Movie review: Boston kids' breakup scenes in Guy and Madeline break out in song

Of the many movies set in or near Boston in 2010, the black-and-white one about kids who erupt spontaneously into song might be the most exciting. "Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench" isn't as well-acted as "The Fighter," as suspenseful as "The Town," as brilliantly structured as "The Social Network," or, for that matter, as confusing as "Shutter Island." It is, however, new and young. Those other movies were made by artists we know well.

"Guy and Madeline" is the work of an artist — Damien Chazelle — you want to know better. It's whimsical and winsome and a touch quaint. Not only does the movie look like it's set somewhere, it feels, cinematically, to have arrived from someplace — early John Cassavetes, the French New Wave, Eastern Europe. The characters drift around Boston environs such as Copley, the Back Bay and South End, with the camera at their backs or near their shoulders. They don't say much. But Chazelle gives his movie a mood that feels precise.

Essentially, this is a breakup movie. Guy is a trumpeter, played by the actual trumpet player Jason Palmer. He loves music. He loves women. It's simply unclear whether he'll ever love a woman. He's dating Madeline (Desiree Garcia), and our time with them lasts for a couple of scenes. Their split confirms that she needs to get her life together. But the lovesickness never leaves her face. In fact, singing about Guy near the old North Church only makes it worse.

Guy's spirit is freer. One afternoon, on the commuter train, he meets someone else. Her name is Elena (Sandha Khin), and they spend the better part of their ride staring at each other in the way that is customary for two attracted strangers. We just saw her giving her phone number to some performer in Faneuil Hall, and now, two scenes later, Guy is lying on the frameless mattress she calls a bed.

Calling this movie "Guy and Madeline" instead of "Guy and Elena" suggests that, at heart, Chazelle is old-fashioned. Madeline is a dreamy romantic. Elena is riskier, more carnal. Not that we see her carnality in action.

By "old-fashioned," I actually mean chaste. This film could have been made in 1957 without having to do much more than change the characters' races — Palmer is black, Khin is Asian, Madeline is Latina. But it doesn't feel like a throwback or even a tribute to another age. It's as though we've picked up a rock and discovered a colony of jazz nerds who attend cramped house parties where tap-danced musical numbers break out.

Guy, Madeline and Elena don't know what they're doing or where they're going. The windows of possibility that are a fact of youth appear only partially opened for them. These are young characters with heavy old souls.

Chazelle could go further into eroticism than he tries to here. The camera does glide down that trumpet as it rests in Guy's lap, pretty much wringing dry its phallic worth. He might turn into Denzel Washington in "Mo' Better Blues." For now, he's Sidney Poitier in "Paris Blues."

What's most exciting about "Guy and Madeline" is that Chazelle bothered to make it at all. Other artists his age (he's 25) and a little older make stage musicals and wind up with "Bat Boy," "Urinetown," "Avenue Q" and "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson." Chazelle made a movie musical instead. I hope he loves the art form enough to make more.

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