Now available on Youtube. Possibly common knowledge, but its director also invented the game Risk!

The Princess Bride

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

The Railway Children

Tom Thumb (Russ Tamblyn, Peter Sellers, Terry-Thomas)

The Neverending Story

Charlotte's Web

But Nanny McPhee is mostly human. Haven't dared show them Chitty Chitty Bang Bang because I was terrified of the Child Catcher as a kid. Mind you, we have got into the habit of saying "It's the Child Catcher!" whenever we hear an ice-cream van and I'm pleased to say the kids are beginning to join in, though they don't seem to believe it.

Haven't seen Fly Away Home, but will definitely get it. My son is obsessed with waterbirds so he'll love the geese even if he doesn't care for the rest of it.

I've never seen the Princess Bride. I've felt for some time that this is an inexcusable lacuna in my film watching experience.

I've thought of another one, not a film but a TV series: the 1992 version of The Borrowers, with Ian Holm and Penelope Wilton, which I found last year in a charity shop, on VHS. Delightful stuff.

If you've never seen it, track this down immediately.

Terrified me as a child.

Or there's the bizarre but sweet Melody with Mark Lester.

And try The Parent Trap, Freaky Friday and Enchanted, which my niece and nephew were gripped by over Xmas.

One for the slightly older child. Lots of swash and/or buckle

A couple of weeks ago I showed this to my 8 year old son for the first time. He loved it and when he had a friend round last week he asked if they could both watch it. His friend loved it too. They spent the rest of the afternoon re-interpreting it in the garden.

It's maybe one of the earlier films to add a layer of humour for grown ups ( "land war in Asia" for example) to what is ostensibly a kids film but it does it without cynicism or calculation.

The great thing is, my friends and I have been quoting it at each other for years and now I have an 8 year old doing the same. I was so proud last week when Robert jumped out at me, sword in hand, and declared "Hello! My name is Roberto Montoya. You are my father, prepare to die!"

Oh yes, and as a special bonus, the USS Nimitz cap that Rob Reiner wore in "Spinal Tap" can be seen in the film. Apparently it was a requirement Mark Knopfler insisted upon when negotiating to compose the score.

is what you're after:

The Secret Garden. Agnieszka Holland's film is a wonderful adaptation. It's powerful and affecting in places but, importantly, its power is not without suitable context and exposition for a child to understand its meaning through self-realisation. Both my daughters have been visibly moved by the story but not upset.

Bridge to Terabithia is another very affecting film but may be better suited to a slightly older child (7/8+)

Not exactly human, but not exactly animated either. The first film i can remember going to the cinema to see was The Muppet Movie. And there are few better interpretations of a Christmas Carol than their version.

I'd also recommend The Dark Crystal - certainly one of my all time favourites. The evil Skeksis terrified me when I was little, but in a good way - their dinner scene is an all-time classic.

And then there's Labyrinth too...

Doubtful whether it would hold the attention of a six year-old, but this is one of very few kids' films which I've managed to sit through and enjoy. Jon Voigt and Sigourney Weaver grotesque-ing it up as overseers of a boot camp for delinquents where the inmates are required to spend all their time digging holes in the desert. The reasons why are revealed as the story unfolds. Good fun.

I loved this as a child.

The story (based on a true one - ?) of three pets, a cat and two dogs, who lose their owners when they are all on vacation, and try to find their way back.

I may be wearing child-tinted spectacles, but it pleased my younger self.

...charming and very funny; and Amy Adams is great.

These two are probably best experienced after the age of about eight, possibly ten. Both are adaptations of novels, and both do a great job:

"Whale Rider" (2002) - Very moving story of a Maori girl's difficulties with tribal traditions:

"Skellig" (2009) - Also very moving - story of a strange man found hiding in a shed (played by Tim Roth):

Nim's Island. She was going on for six too when she discovered it. She's watched it at least once a week since then, and that was over a year ago. (Her brother is less impressed, incapable as he is of coming to terms with the idea of a film with no dragons in it at all.)

A 10-year-old girl, abandoned by her mother when she was three, moves to a small town in Florida with her father, a preacher. While there, she adopts a stray dog whom she names after the local supermarket where he was found. With her goofy pooch by her side, she meets an eclectic group of townspeople and rekindles an almost lost relationship with her father.

It's just charming and never fails to make me blub like a wet and a weed.

made dozens of quality British films between the 50s and the late 70s for the 'Saturday Morning Pictures' audience.

During my childhood I don't think a week went by when I didn't see that familiar title sequence of the pigeons scattering in Trafalgar Square. Doesn't seem to be on YouTube though :-(

For The Princess Bride...

The Goonies

naughty kids, gadgets, baddies, hidden treasure and pirates.

Bliss.

...Jon Favreau directed this.

It's a great film, my 7 year old daughter loves it (as I do). There's just one (minor) swear word in it, but it's in context. I think it was marketed as 'Jumanji in space' at the time of release, though I'm not a huge fan of that film.

Great family film. It is a superb film, & all the better if you are watching it in the company of a seven year old.

- Addams Family Values (better than you might expect - very black humour)
- Shorts
- The Mask

All much enjoyed by 6yr old, 12 yr old and dad. (Dad and 12 yr old also really enjoyed Attack the Block but that does have quite a lot of rude words in it.)

The Gene Wilder Willy Wonka.
Every single time.

New Zealand film.

Brilliant

recommend Whistle down the Wind and The Railway Children, both of which made a huge impression on me when I was a kid and can still watch them now, and I still howl. Also loved Born Free, though watched it as a grown up and found Virginia Mckenna's acting totally insufferable. I also remember an Italian film called Marcellino pane e vino which I saw in the mid sixties, all about a cute orphan kid adopted by a monastic order. It's the kind of story that would have far too many unpleasant modern resonance these days but I remember it as a lovely film. Have no idea whether it was ever made available to the U.K market though and never seen it since.

I'm surprised this modern classic hasn't been mentioned yet.

One of the greatest musicals...

...with one of the greatest final scenes...

If only all riots could end like this.

Never having seen Grease, and familiar only with the hit songs, I thought nothing of letting my then primary school-age daughter and chums watch it. Bad mistake.

I think it was the mention of 'sloppy seconds' that made the tea shoot out of my nose.

No questions asked though. I like to imagine that much of it went over their heads.

ET - of course

The best kids film of all time. Conceived by Lucas as a childrens "Western in Space" - stolen by nerds and comic book guys(me included).

Anyone seen this? An unusual offering from one of my favourite directors, John Sayles. It's a very sweet telling of an Irish folk tale; contains seals and a Selkie. Trailer below.

If you feeling particularly cruel you could buy her the DVD of the Singing Ringing Tree. Bound to give her nightmares - it still does for me.