So there’s this guy in life. I call him Funk Jr. He’s my son and today he turns 3. This is an important age – it’s at the age when kids can get their hands on the cool toys that are marked 3 years and over. If there’s one thing that makes it clear that he is my boy it’s that he has awesome taste in movies, and we will mark his birthday with a quick countdown of his favourites!
#12 – Doctor Who
It’s not often that Funk Jr will sit through an entire episode, but from an early age he always loved watching the opening credits. These days he has his own plush TARDIS and sonic screwdriver, and will gleefully tell people that the Daleks say ‘EX-TERM-IN-ATE’ when asked. Whenever he hears the TARDIS engine sound coming from the theater he’ll pop his head in to see what the Doctor is up to.
#11 – Curious George
All children love monkeys and Funk Jr is no exception. Coming to the house via youtube meant that there were only a few episodes available but Funk Jr ate them up. Quite often he’d manage to dig up a few Spanish language episodes, but that never deterred him.
#10 – The Muppet Show
The Wiggles were a flash in the pan in this house, quickly replaced with the greatest children’s entertainers ever. We’ll get into Funk Jr’s response to the Muppets further down the list, but from the original show the most popular segments were Pigs in Space and Muppet Labs. Beaker was an easy favorite.
#9 – Finding Nemo
Quite a recent favourite, and one that took a while to warm up to (that bloody thing at the beginning of the movie didn’t help) but Finding Nemo is here to stay. The aquatic wildlife on display in this exceptional film certainly creates a sense of wonder for the young viewer. Ultimately it’s mostly Dory’s happy-go-lucky attitude that really seals the deal for Funk Jr.
#8 – Mio Mao
This one…is a little odd. And just about drove everyone else in the house bananas. Especially after the little devil learned how to unlock the ipad and turn on youtube to watch more. This series of short animations about two cats encountering a range of different animals (and a personified ball of yarn for some reason) were simple and easy to follow, so they were an early hit for Funk Jr. From a film-maker perspective the episodes in the later seasons are exceptionally well animated and very imaginative…but that awful song!
#7 – Cars 2
Not long after discovering about cars and the color red Funk Jr saw this movie, and ‘Red Car’ was an automatic hit. What it lacks in a story it makes up for with cool characters like Finn McMissile and really nicely animated race sequences. It may not have had the lasting impact that later entries into this list have had but it was damn fun while it lasted.
#6 – The Looney Tunes Show
This is a new discovery but it is very popular. The most recent addition to the Looney Tunes canon has made it’s way into the house and has become a quick favorite. Every child should have Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck in their lives.
#5 – The Muppet Movie
For a while there ‘Rainbow Connection’ was the most requested song in the house. Not a person has been through here in the past few years without learning the lyrics by heart. We’ll hold of talking about the Muppets in detail here because we’ve got yet another entry to go…
#4 – WALL-E
It’s not hard to see why this is such a favorite. Everything that WALL-E does is endearing no matter what age you are. Funk Jr doesn’t just see this as being WALL-E’s movie though – when he wants to watch it he asks for ‘WALL-E and Blue Eyes’, clearly seeing the relationship between the characters as the real driving force behind the movie.
#3 – Wreck-it Ralph
It says something about the strength of this movie that even without understanding the video game references it can still be enjoyed. Ever since the blu-ray landed on the doorstep this has been a regular request, and it’s one of the first movies that provoked a strong, emotional response (poor little guy couldn’t quite deal with Ralph smashing Vanellope’s kart).
After a couple of viewings I started setting up block buildings for Funk Jr expecting that he’d want to ‘wreck’ them like Ralph, but he’s just as keen to fix them up like Felix. Unexpectedly his favorite character is Vanellope von Sweetz, as he just lights up every time she makes her entrance into the film. We know that Alan Tudyk is heading this way in a few weeks…but I don’t know Funk Jr is prepared to meet Turbo just yet!
#2 – How to Train Your Dragon
At first I didn’t expect Funk Jr to go in for this one, having a slow paced beginning and featuring creatures he’d never encountered before. But one cannot underestimate the power of great film-making. Although Funk Jr was unsettled during the set up at the beginning the moment that Toothless the dragon appeared on the screen he was mesmerised. Toothless and Hiccup quickly became some of his favorite characters and he went from asking to watch ‘Dragons’ to wanting to watch ‘Toothless’. He’d follow up watching the movie with finding a stick to draw in the sand like Toothless and amuse everyone with his own dragon roar.
#1 – The Muppets
At an age where it became suitable for the wee lad to begin watching movies we tried a few different animated options, but nothing captured his imagination like the live action Muppets. He grew instantly attached to the characters, and every time you asked him who his favorite Muppet was you’d get a different answer. Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie, Beaker, Walter, Rolf, Gonzo, Zoot, Animal – all of them got a mention. Funk Jr. would up with a small collection of Muppet plushes he’d sit on the couch with to watch the newest Muppet movie again and again, and to this day there are few things that will put a smile on his face like mah-na mah-na.
