Ultimately, you would have to be the judge of that, Anna. For those types of movies, however, 11 sounds right to me. It depends on the child, too.

To me it also makes a difference whether you're seeing it on TV or at the theater on big screen. Big screen is far more intense - the pictures larger than life, close up, sound extremely loud - TV is a lot calmer plus you can turn it off or take a break to talk about things. I let my younger ones see Star Wars and LOTR on DVD but not in the theater. Just my 2 cents!

I have to admit my boundaries were different with the oldest than for the others. But, I think that's just part of parenting. For instance, Evan was 13 before he was allowed to see PG-13 movies for the most part. I went to see FOTR first then took him after discussing it with him and showing him pictures of the Orcs and such online - and only because we are huge LOTR fans was it even considered! (he was 11, I believe? 10 maybe? Can't remember the release date)

But when we went to Spiderman II I took my then, I think, 6 year old to see it. First I read the review on Plugged in - yeah, I know they are extremely nitpicky but where the kids are concerned the nitpickier the better! After reading the review, chose to take him with us. He also saw the first Pirates of the Carribean with us - I think the same year. I didn't pre-screen that one and was shocked at the details of the undead pirates. I thought he might freak out and have nightmares! But with older brothers in the house...well, it's just a fact that younger brothers will see more, faster, than first children. He can handle a lot more at his age than his older brothers could - or was that just me?

So I would say research any film before going to see it. Go see it yourself first if you prefer. Great date night!
Read the nitpicky reviews, and judge in terms of how sensitive your child has been in the past. Always be willing to walk out of a theater. When in doubt, wait for the DVD.

October Sky was very good, might not be interesting for the 6-year-old. Others--Homeward Bound, Eight Below, Duma, Free Willy, Princess Bride, The Black Stallion, Never Cry Wolf, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Quick plug for a good but criminally under-marketed animated film, The Iron Giant.

The New York Times' list of best films for children

Alphabetical, not by recommendation but a fun start. A few I should have thought of-- Apollo 13, Big, my son watched Butch Cassidy in one of his 7th grade classes, ET, My Fair Lady, Shane, To Kill a Mockingbird. My daughter was just in a play version of Wizard of Oz--she was the Wicked Witch.

http://www.filmsite.org/100kidsfilms.html

1. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
2. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
3. The African Queen (1951)
4. Apollo 13 (1995)
5. Babe (1995)
6. Back to the Future (1985)
7. The Bad News Bears (1976)
8. The Bear (1988)
9. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
10. Beetlejuice (1988)
11. Big (1988)
12. The Black Stallion (1979)
13. Bound for Glory (1976)
14. Breaking Away (1979)
15. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
16. The Buddy Holly Story (1978)
17. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
18. Casablanca (1942)
19. Cat Ballou (1965)
20. Chariots of Fire (1981)
21. Chicken Run (2000)
22. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
23. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
24. Dick Tracy (1990)
25. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
26. Duck Soup (1933)
27. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
28. Emma (1996)
29. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
30. Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
31. Field of Dreams (1989)
32. Fly Away Home (1996)
33. Gandhi (1982)
34. Ghostbusters (1984)
35. The Gold Rush (1925)
36. The Great Escape (1963)
37. Great Expectations (1946)
38. Groundhog Day (1993)
39. A Hard Day's Night (1964)
40. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
41. High Noon (1952)
42. The Iron Giant (1999)
43. It Happened One Night (1934)
44. James and the Giant Peach (1996)
45. Jurassic Park (1993)
46. The King and I (1956)
47. King Kong (1933)
48. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
49. A League of Their Own (1992)
50. Lilo & Stitch (2002)
51. The Lion King (1994)
52. Little Fugitive (1953)
53. Little Man Tate (1991)
54. The Little Mermaid (1989)
55. A Little Princess (1995)
56. Little Women (1994)
57. The Longest Day (1962)
58. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
59. Lost Horizon (1937)
60. The Magnificent Seven (1960)
61. Mary Poppins (1964)
62. Monsters, Inc. (2001)
63. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
64. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
65. The Music Man (1962)
66. My Fair Lady (1964)
67. National Velvet (1944)
68. Never Cry Wolf (1983)
69. North by Northwest (1959)
70. Peter Pan (1953)
71. Pinocchio (1940)
72. The Princess Bride (1987)
73. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
74. Rear Window (1954)
75. Rocky (1976)
76. The Rookie (2002)
77. The Secret Garden (1993)
78. The Secret of Roan Inish (1994)
79. Shane (1953)
80. Shrek (2001)
81. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
82. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
83. Some Like It Hot (1959)
84. The Sound of Music (1965)
85. Spirited Away (2001)
86. Star Wars (1977)
87. Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)
88. Sullivan's Travels (1941)
89. Superman (1978)
90. Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
91. The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers (1974 and 1975)
92. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
93. Toy Story and Toy Story 2 (1995 and 1999)
94. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
95. Walkabout (1971)
96. West Side Story (1961)
97. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)
98. The Winslow Boy (1999)
99. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
100. Yellow Submarine (1968)

Besides obvious ones like:

Finding Nemo
Toy Story I and II
Shrek
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Pirates of the Caribbean
Bug's Life
Wizard of Oz
etc.

My boys' (ages 7 and almost 9) favorite movies are:

Princess Bride (of course!)
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Triplets of Belleville (wonderful movie! PG-13 only because of one brief shot of topless cartoon dancing woman)
Spirited Away
Jumanji
Howl's Moving Castle
Wallace and Grommit
Chicken Run
Young Frankestein
Ghostbusters I and II
Haunted Mansion
Time Bandits
The Pacifier
Daddy Day Care

PLUS:

All Lord of the Rings movies
All Harry Potter Movies
All Star Wars movies

My son (7) loves Raiders.

We just saw Barnyard this afternoon. It was very entertaining. I highly recommend it. Saw Monster House last week. While it's not really that scary, it had an overall creepiness that would be too much for most little ones. I think most people can tell how much their kids can handle. When in doubt....DON'T.

STAR WARS....fantastic....

I'm speechless. Get it.

Now. EVEN IF YOU HATE SCI-FI.

I know we are talking about movie night at home but we just took the kids (4 year old twins) to see "Horton Hears a Who". It will be on dvd soon enough. I may have enjoyed it more than the kids did. wonderful movie!

Great thread, I got some great ideas from it.

thanks.

You know - my 11 year old and I went to see Horton Hears a Who. It was a lot of fun.
I also adored Enchanted when we saw it at the theater. Now, it is on DVD. We just got Raiders of the Lost Ark to see at home so I can judge whether we'll go to the new one in the theater.

Although, I don't know why I bother worrying sometimes. She was at a sleepover a couple weeks ago and the mom rented them Disturbia - geesh.

We went to a Drive In. And for $10 total for all of us we watched Horton Hears A Who and Mim's Island. Though Horton was funny, I really loved Mim's Island. The plot (and lesson) of that story seemed to speak to me.

Owooo! I forgot we saw Nim's Island over the weekend (nim, not mim). It was different than I thought it would be - thought it would be more of a Swiss Family Robinson. Jody Foster was REALLY different in this flick.

Nim...Mim....po tay toe... poe tah toe..... my bad

I remember "the Goonies", and the original "The Sandlot" being great movies. We have been doing one night a week family movie time too and the boys love it. Especially when I make homemade popcorn.