I am going to be a father and am making a jellyfin setup for my child. I want to start early to make a good collection of movies and shows. So I am interested in knowing what other people experienced as positive influences in their lives.

Edit: English and Norwegian is fine, but I can always get dubbed versions of other languages. We will be speaking English and Norwegian with our child from birth. But want to introduce our child to many types of cultures, religions etc.

Edit 2: Thanks so much for so many great responses. Some of you must have spent quite some time compiling the list. Truly appreciate that ♥️

  • Stowaway@midwest.social
    20·
    5 days ago

    Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli For Younger Kids:

    • My Neighbor Totoro
    • Ponyo
    • Spirited Away
    • The Secret World of Arietty
    • Kiki’s Delivery Service
    • Pom Poko

    For maybe when they’re getting older?

    • Howl’s Moving Castle
    • The Wind Risees
    • Castle In The Sky
    • Princess Mononoke
    • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

    Some other decent ones for kids of various ages:

    Animated/Claymation

    Series:

    • Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
    • Alvin & The Chipmunks
    • Captain Planet and the Planeteers
    • Ducktales
    • Gumby
    • Inspector Gadget
    • Rugrats
    • Rescue Rangers
    • Scooby Doo
    • Yogi Bear

    Movies:

    • Alice in Wonderland
    • All Dogs go to Heaven
    • An American Tail
    • An American Tail: Fivel Goes West
    • The Black Cauldron
    • Charlotte’s Web
    • FernGully
    • James and the Giant Peach
    • The Land Before Time
    • The Nightmare Before Christmas
    • Peter Pan
    • Pinochio
    • RobinHood
    • The Rescuers
    • The Rescuers Down Under
    • The Secret of NIMH
    • The Sword in the Stone
    • Thumbelina
    • Wallace and Gromit (All of them are great)

    Live Action Series:

    • Bill Nye The Science Guy
    • Beakmans World

    Movies:

    • Beetlejuice
    • Casper
    • Ernest Goes to School (and all the other ones really)
    • Honey I Shrunk The Kids
    • Hook
    • Jumanji
    • E.T.
    • Edward Scissor Hands
    • Flubber
    • Ghost Busters
    • The Goonies
    • Labyrinth (Creepier vibe than I remember)
    • The Little Rascals
    • Mary Poppins
    • Mr. Mom
    • Mrs. Doubtfire
    • The Never Ending Story
    • Operation Dumbo Drop
    • Patch Adams
    • Sandlot
    • Short Circuit
    • Space Jam
    • Toys
    • Tron
    • We’re back a dinosaur story
    • Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Animated and Live Action)

    Edit: awful formatting… And typos

      • skavj@lemmy.zip
        1·
        5 days ago

        I’ve tried finding good episodes to show now and it’s been pretty hard. There are a few smatterings on youtube. The video quality is very low. Niche enough that there aren’t many sources.

        I was also amused to learn that when I was a kid I thought they were just talking like crazy freaks with a weird funny way of talking. As an adult, they’re just new yorkers.

        • katy ✨@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
          2·
          5 days ago

          there’s a good complete series torrent out there that i got; there’s also a good complete series upload on archive.org too! for both beakman’s world and bobby’s world

  • RamRabbit@lemmy.world
    46·
    6 days ago
    • The Lion King (original)
    • Mulan (original)
    • Jurassic Park
    • Princess Mononoke
    • Castle in the Sky
    • Spirited Away
    • Forrest Gump
    • Aladdin (original)
    • Men in Black
    • Galaxy Quest
    • Home Alone
    • The Nightmare Before Christmas
    • The Matrix
    • Toy Story
    • Top Gun
    • The Terminator
    • A Charlie Brown Christmas
    • Yu Yu Hakusho
    • Cowboy Bebop
    • Suck_on_my_Presence@lemmy.world
      18·
      6 days ago

      Princess Mononoke might be a little dark for an earlier age. There’s some really brutal scenes in it.

      Of course that didn’t stop it from being my favorite from age 8 onward, but still.

      • overload@sopuli.xyz
        7·
        5 days ago

        I’m picturing a toddler seeing a soldier get beheaded by an arrow from horseback, looks over at Dad for emotional support, and Dad looks on with an approving grin, comfortable that he’s made the right choice of early childhood films.

        Also, The Matrix/Terminator as a suggestion for a small child is a big lol.

    • AdolfSchmitler@lemmy.world
      7·
      6 days ago

      Hell yeah yu yu hakusho is so good!!! So much raw emotion with great story telling and cool fights. I know he’s the bad guy but when younger toguro turns down a ticket to heaven so he can suffer in purgatory cuz he thinks he doesn’t deserve it gets me so hard everytime.

      • cyberwitch@reddthat.com
        2·
        5 days ago

        it gets me so hard everytime.

        Phrasing! Hahaha

        Lots of episodes can get a little violent but the first episode is golden for teaching perspective and that the “bad guys/good guys” dichotomy isn’t what it seems, and to be kind to everyone, in a way that is a little easier to digest when they’re little.

    • ZeroHora@lemmy.mlEnglish
      3·
      6 days ago

      Funny that you point out the originals Disney movies, that made me think, did the remakes made any impact on the younger generation or is too soon to know that?

      • RamRabbit@lemmy.world
        5·
        6 days ago

        Man, I really hope those were just forgettable for them. The Lion King live action remake is so damn disappointing. All the emotion, all the storytelling, just gone. It’s a very poor imitation of the original.

        Remakes can be good. The new Dune movies are worlds better than the 70s movie; that is a movie that needed a proper remake. The new ones actually do the books justice.

  • its_kim_love@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    26·
    6 days ago

    Everything by Don Bluth. Literally everything his name on is childhood gold. Sometimes a little scary, but in a modern fairy tale sort of way.

    An American Tale

    All dogs go to Heaven

    The Secret of NIMH

    The Fox and the Hound

    The Land Before Time

    His movies never treated children like fools, a sentiment that’s only recently becoming the standard for children’s entertainment and he was doing it in the 80s.

    • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
      2·
      5 days ago

      Maybe not everything, there were a few less-than-greats in his catalogue. It’s been a while, but I can’t imagine The Pebble and the Penguin or A Troll in Central Park being particularly good as an adult.

    • yngmnwntr@lemmy.ml
      4·
      6 days ago

      It’s mildly flooding in my area right now so I just watched Rock A Doodle the other day, one of my faves as a kid.

      • its_kim_love@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        3·
        6 days ago

        Chanticleer! Out of all his movies that was the one I followed the least as a kid. It confused me in a way it never really went away. I came back to it as a kid and I still don’t really get it, but it has such a fairytale feeling to it.

  • Nangijala@feddit.dk
    8·
    4 days ago

    The Animals of Farthing Wood was a banger show. It’s because of that show that I began drawing as a kid. I love how epic it is and how it comments on deeper themes that are still important today. Among other things, it’s all about how the animals are forced to immigrate to another park after their forest is turned into a highway for humans. That even after the arrive after a horrible migration, their presence isn’t welcome because they disturb the old ways in the new park. How wars break out, friendships and alliances are formed and how everyone has to find a way to coexist and also keep the ever looming presence of humans at bay. It is truly a brilliant show that teaches you so much about life, death, nature and tolerance. And you know, you can also just watch the show as an entertaining epic for kids about animals without looking into all the political stuff, because it never really tries to cram all it’s themes down your throat in the annoying way that a lot of media does nowadays.

    Maybe hold off on showing the little one this show until they are at least kindergarten age. It’s a bit rough sometimes, but it is not damaging.

    Also, congratulations on becoming a dad! Glædelig jul ❤️

    EDIT: FRIENDS! I LITERALLY JUST FOUND A REMASTERED VERSION OF THE WHOLE SERIES ON YOUTUBE!

    GO WATCH IT HERE❤️

    • kossa@feddit.org
      5·
      5 days ago

      Whoaaaaaaa…this show…best environmental education a child can get from TV.

      But seriously heartbreaking, I remember crying A LOT as child (maybe still would TBH).

      • Nangijala@feddit.dk
        2·
        5 days ago

        Yeah I agree. It’s really brutal. As a kid I was especially heartbroken over Fox’s son’s storyline. The one with the wounded leg who goes to the city for awhile. His story was so friggin tragic, omg.

    • Kamsaa@lemmy.world
      2·
      4 days ago

      I was exactly looking for the name of that show in English as it is the one that instantly came to my mind when I saw the post. It’s in no small part thanks to this one, and a couple of others (the magic school bus and once upon a time… life) I decided to do a PhD in animal behaviour.

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
    8·
    5 days ago

    Sesame Street, Muppets, The Electric Company.

    Completely dated, but these older shows introduced a white kid in whitesville to a completely different world. Plus fun, educational in a way that kids don’t mind.

  • hansolo@lemmy.today
    23·
    6 days ago

    Same Robin Hood as in the thumbnail for sure.

    Also not yet listed, heavily 80s titles:

    The Princess Bride

    The Neverending Story

    Beetlejuice

    Big

    Honey, I Shrunk the Kids

    The Dark Crystal

    The Rats of Nimh

    The Last Unicorn

    An American Tale

    Batteries Not Included

    Fiddler on the Roof

    Ghostbusters

    Anything with the Muppets up to Treasure Island.

    Back to the Future (2015 no longer the future fantasy it one was)

  • Gerudo@lemmy.zip
    20·
    6 days ago

    From a purely positive influence? Anything on PBS (wasn’t allowed to have cable growing up)

    • Sesame Street
    • Mr Roger’s
    • Any documentary with David Attenborough
    • same with Jane Goodall
    • Nova

    Bill Nye would be the one non-PBS show I remember having an impact

    Modernish stuff? Bluey, Miss Rachel, Pixar especially Wall-E, Brave, Coco, Soul, Encanto, Toy Story, Inside Out (when a little older). I like Coco, but Book of Life is an underrated alternative too.

  • Good_Slate@lemmy.worldEnglish
    9·
    5 days ago

    Bluey. It’s a really positive modern show , so not really from my childhood but it beats everything else from my childhood.

  • impudentmortal@lemmy.world
    11·
    5 days ago

    Surprised PBS shows aren’t mentioned more here, especially not Mr. Rogers Neighborhood being mentioned.

    So in no particular order:

    • Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood: great show for teaching kids to how to navigate emotions and complex situations like death and discrimination but in ways they can understand

    • Sesame Street: similar to Mr. Rogers but more for younger children

    • Bill Nye the Science Guy: Made science accessible and fun for children. Good way to build a sense of curiosity and desire for experimentation

    • Zoom: similar to Bill Nye in that it made me what to try all the activities they shared. Lots of fun games, recipes, brain teasers etc to keep kids busy. The fact that it had an all kid cast made it more accessible as a kid. Highly recommended since it seems less remembered than other PBS shows

    Non-Educational:

    • The Simpsons: this may be divisive but I grew up when they were super popular and I believe it helped develop my sense of humor. The earlier episodes were also pretty wholesome

    • The Avatar (Last Airbender and Korra): well written show that is based on many East Asian cultures and touches on themes of depression, genocide, war, and hope (among many others). One of my favorite shows to this day