My favourite children’s movies of the year

My favourite children’s movies of the year are two wildly different stories: one animated and one based upon a best-selling children’s author from the time I was little. These ones are out just in time to buy for Christmas and if I had to choose two to give as gifts these would be the ones. Toy Story 3 was fine as far as movies go, but I found there to be some scary parts for my children and some toys were much too mean-spirited for me. Also a children’s movie with humour that is more aimed at adults than children is really not a children’s movie, in my opinion. Ramona and Beezus was charming and frankly I liked it for its creativity and that cute little Ramona – who reminded me a lot of daughter number two. Ramona has a boundless imagination and energy to spare. She colours outside the lines and her sister played by Selena Gomez shows a true vulnerability here that actually indicates much more acting talent than I might have thought based on her character normally played in Wizards of Waverley Place. Hiccup is the main character in How Tor Train Your Dragon. He is a scrawny son of a magnificent warrior. He has no interest in battling dragons and is instead an inventor, challenging the rules and roles of his band of people, so to speak. The animation was remarkable in this movie and while it was arguablly a children’s war movie, it was at heart the story of a boy who doesn’t fit in and yet shows bravery and compassion.  And How To Train Your Dragon had one of the sweetest messages and really adorable characters. Both of these movies, on Blue Ray or regular old DVD are five stars for me and five dollar signs for thriftymommastips. (You can buy them here now from Amazon. see side widget or below.) Also leave me a comment. Which children’s movie did your family like best this year?