Santa's Little Helper: Movies Kids Will Love 

By Martha Brockenbrough
MSN Cinemama

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Once upon a time, it cost a small fortune to own a movie. I distinctly remember that a lost VHS tape at the video store in the mall had an $80 price tag. Adjusted for inflation, that's about $160 in today's dollars. (For real, folks. I fist-bumped my inner nerd and used an online inflation calculator.)

Now, you can own a movie for as little as $15, which means they cost less than a tenth what they did in the olden days. When everyone's feeling the pinch of the Grinch-fingers economy, it's comforting to know that movies are one of the best values around. A good DVD is something the whole family can enjoy, repeatedly, until certain sticky little fingers have rendered them useless.

With that in mind, here are the Cinemama's recommendations for movies to stick in your kids' stockings:

For All Kids

"WALL-E"

If this movie doesn't become a classic along with "Finding Nemo" and "Toy Story," I'll kiss a cockroach.

"WALL-E," brand new on DVD, tells the story of an adorable robot left behind to clean up the planet after humans have filled it with trash. With only a cockroach for company, WALL-E yearns for friendship, for the kind of connection he sees when he's watching a VHS copy of "Hello Dolly" (suggested retail price $79.99?).

A sleek and mysterious robot named EVE arrives one day on Earth to check for signs of photosynthesis. Despite her hair-trigger temper and her built-in handgun, WALL-E falls for her and follows her back to the bloated human colony that's orbiting in space.

Not everyone loved the movie quite like I did. One writer I know said she didn't get the whole silent part at the beginning. And it's true that there's a 30-some-minute stretch with minimal dialogue, but it was so loaded with humor, sound effects, music and sweet cultural touchstones that it flew by. It did require me to introduce my own kids to their first Twinkies (they wanted to know what the cockroach was eating). But that's a small and delicious price to pay for something so inventive. I love my friend, but I think she just didn't watch closely enough.

Another writer said she hated "WALL-E" because all the humans in it were fat. She thought that was cruel; I think that misreads the significance of that detail. People who sit in hovering chairs and drink their meals through straws will of course be out of shape. This wasn't their tragedy, though. This was just an obstacle. What was really wrong with the people was that they were out of touch with their bodies and with the power of touch itself.

Without giving too much of the movie away, it was a love story written to honor our connections to each other and the planet. It's fantastic, and it comes with deleted scenes, games, and a digital copy for downloading to a computer or other device.

My only complaint about the DVD is the packaging. It's paper, and theoretically recyclable, which is a nice touch. But the three discs in the collection don't slide out of the packaging quite as easily as they need to thanks to a coupon booklet that's stuffed inside. Did someone say something about overconsumption?

The MSRP on the three-disc special edition is $39.99. A single-disc edition is $29.99.

"Kung Fu Panda"

I confess I was a little nervous when I got an inflatable punching panda about a year before this movie came out, with the tagline "prepare for awesomeness." I prepared myself to be annoyed.

I love being wrong. "Kung Fu Panda" holds up to repeated viewing. It tells the story of an unlikely hero, Po, who dreams of kung fu skills but is stuck selling noodles at his dad's shop. Improbably (really, really improbably), he becomes the chosen Dragon Warrior and must find a way to deserve the title and keep his village safe from a power-hungry snow leopard.

The setup isn't particularly original, but the art is so lovely and the story so tightly crafted and woven with gags that it's a joy to watch. The two-pack edition has a DVD called "Secrets of the Furious Five," which contains the origin stories of the heroes of the movie. It also teaches the signature kung fu moves of the heroes. My kids, ages 4 and 8, have been secretly practicing them behind the couch.

The MSRP on the two-disc edition is $34.98. The movie itself retails for $29.99.

"Enchanted"

Though the movie was in theaters a year ago and the DVD has been out since March, "Enchanted" shouldn't be forgotten when it comes to picking gifts for kids.

A refreshing break from animated fare, "Enchanted" tells the story of a fairy tale princess who gets sucked into the sometimes grimy world of real-life New York. Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey and his chest hair star in this adorable romance, which has some of the funniest scenes from a kids' movie in memory, particularly the one in which Adams' Giselle tidies up an apartment with assistance from some of the native New York critters.

The movie's only weakness is its overly familiar ending, which comes straight from "Sleeping Beauty" and might scare the pants off kids younger than about 6 years old. Still, it's adorable and funny, and a complete pleasure for grown-ups to watch alongside their kids.

The MSRP is $29.99.

"Horton Hears a Who!"

Coming on the heels of some truly stinky adaptations of Dr. Seuss books ("The Grinch" and "The Cat in the Hat"), "Horton Hears a Who!" is a pleasant treatment of one of Theodor Geisel's most compelling books.

Horton, voiced with some restraint by Jim Carrey, is the only one in the jungle of Nool who can hear the cries for help coming from a speck of dust. He braves teasing, isolation, scary monkeys and even a dip in boiling oil to save his friends, who meanwhile work furiously to make their voices heard.

The story has a compelling message that ought to be part of every child's education: True heroes stand up for those who are smaller, weaker and in other ways marginalized.

The DVD comes out next week. Its MSRP is $29.99.

"Madagascar"

If your kids just caught the "Madagascar" sequel in the theater and want more, the original 2005 movie just came out with a new DVD with a bonus penguin Christmas story. (Like most of the other choices on this list, it also comes in a Blu-ray edition, a new format that can hold more information than a DVD -- space that can be used to enhance the experience.)

"Madagascar" is a comic romp about a bunch of New York zoo animals who find themselves shipped to a wildlife preserve after the zebra's short-term jaunt to Connecticut is misinterpreted as a cry for freedom. They wind up in the wilds of Madagascar with a little more freedom than they bargained for, including freedom of choice when it comes to protein. Will the lion eat his friends?

Only someone who doesn't believe in the power of sequels will be surprised by the ending. Still, it's amusing for kids (more so than for their parents).

The DVD retails for $19.99, or $29.99 for the Blu-ray version.

Next page: Stocking stuffers for little and big kids

See also: MSN Movies Gift Guide