Anitha Bennett

Looking for family weekend ideas that you and your children will enjoy? Children may not share your enthusiasm for Scrabble, but they will definitely enjoy a good movie.

Create a ʻmovie timeʼ weekend once a month, distinctly different from watching the telly daily. This can be a starting point for conversations about the issues highlighted in the movie. It can also help you talk about how to choose the right movie, and why some are best avoided.

Darken the room, microwave some popcorn, get refreshments and sit down for a family movie experience. Pause every half hour for water and to talk about the movie. Choose a movie that adults and children can enjoy together. Try one of these:

Shrek Forever After
This Shrek sequel has all the ogre-related fun and more. And what children learn is, when the going gets tough, donʼt make hasty decisions!

Shrek is in the midst of a mid-life crisis. But oddly the film is suitable for all age groups since it’s more about how we are tempted to escape our responsibilities. Shrek misses his care-free days of gross mud baths and eye-ball cocktails. Married to Fiona with a brood of tiny ogres, he is changing diapers and has no time or place for ordinary ogre activities. In a moment of weakness and frustration, he ends up signing away his family to Rumpelstiltskin. Immediately, Shrek is spun into a world where his friends donʼt know him and his romance with Fiona never happened!

Unfortunately, Shrek didnʼt read the fine print of the document when striking the deal with sly Rumpelstiltskin, who had inspired the mid-life crisis to grab control of the Kingdom of Far Far Away!

Those who have watched previous Shrek movies will truly enjoy Puss with her weight issues and the evergreen Donkey with his singing talent! The story has a predictable happy ending. But watching Shrek and friends winning his family back from evil Rumpelstiltskin is funny and entertaining.

Toy Story 3
Andy grows up and is about to go to college and has to decide what to do with his things — what to throw away and what to keep.

Apart from Woody and Buzz Lightyear, all the toys begin to panic, thinking they will be end up in the city dump. After a mishap, the toys find themselves in a box on their way to a nursery. At first, the other toys in the nursery seem friendly and nice, but Andyʼs toys soon find that the place they thought was paradise is actually a prison. Thereʼs action-packed adventure as the toys first escape from the nursery, then the city dump and find their way back home.

Alvin and the Chipmunks — the Squeakuel
The chipmunks are back — and there are more of them! Dave, the manager and human father of the chipmunks, decides to send them to school. Alvin, Simon and Theodore try to fit in. Although they have to put aside their stardom they are still bullied by bigger kids.

The movie introduces three more singing chipmunks — Brittany, Eleanor and Jeanette — who call themselves the Chipettes. Sparks fly as the chipmunks and chipettes become friends. Full of laughs, songs and squeaks, this movie is a good ‘squeakuel’ to the popular first movie! Fun to view with the family, even if you havenʼt watched the original.