Anyone who knows about kids’ movies knows how popular princess movies are, especially Disney princesses. My child is six and absolutely loves them too. My child also loves princes and kings, but I’m having a hard time finding anything that features a character as easily beloved as Elsa or Moana for example. Even worse, a lot of the times male characters are just antagonists or at least stand in the way of the princess. I’d love to see a movie with a young prince who isn’t evil or dumb (as a joke) that kids can relate to. I think it also be cool if there was singing or magic or anything mystical. My kid kind of likes Shrek but I was hoping to find one about a human prince. The protagonist in the movie The Lorax is a young boy on a good mission, and we like that movie too, but we’re just looking for something bigger. I’m not looking for a movie that’s primarily fighting, a little is okay, but I’d really prefer if the main focus was some honorable endeavor. Am I just missing the prince movies, or are they all about princesses instead?
How to train your dragon. The main protagonist is the son of the chief and is also generally a good person and is very likable. The supporting cast are also great. Also the subsequent movies and TV shows actually have the characters grow and age through them
Seconded. I’m a dude in my mid 30s and I love those movies
The princess bride is actually a pretty good kids movie for boys that might be up their alley
Not a prince, but with a male protagonist, and overall very awesome story: Avatar the last Airbender
Zuko’s a prince! He’s not an awesome role model, but he’s an outstanding character and there are some great lessons to be learned from watching him over the course of the whole series.
Purple Rain? That’s the only Prince movie I can think of. Not exactly kid fare though.
There’s also Under the Cherry Moon, and Graffiti Bridge.
I was going to make this exact joke, so thank you! Also, I have “Trust” from Batman 1989 in my head now.
This is far from a stupid question. I have a girl and a boy and it’s surprisingly difficult to find movies/books/ shows with positive male role models. A lot of times they are presented as evil or incompetent as well. I try to find more balanced things for them to watch together.
As far as Disney fare there are Lucca and Tangled. Lucca is meh but Tangled is really funny and the kids like it, and it arguably has two protagonists with one of them being male. Peter pan is fun but definitely not cool in different ways, especially to native Americans.
There’s a lot more than Disney though. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen might be a bit scary depending on their age but they both love it. As others mentioned The Dragon Prince is pretty great. If you haven’t yet, you should try The Sound of Music, you’d be surprised how much they get into it.
I’ll try to think of more examples but thanks for posting this, I think it’s an important conversation to have
Luca was adorable
Not a movie, rather a show, and also not complete yet, but The Dragon Prince on Netflix is pretty good. The titular prince is a dragon, but there are human princes as well, with one becoming a king actually pretty early on. And King Ezran absolutely tries to bring people together peacefully and with honorable intentions, though there is some action/fighting as well. Caveat, while it is a kids show, it might be thematically better for kids a bit older than 6, as some of the themes can be a bit dark for a kids show, but I’d just recommend you watch a couple eps yourself before showing it to the kiddo and decide for yourself if it’s appropriate.
Also, someone else mentioned Avatar: The Last Airbender in this thread, which is also excellent, and if you happen to be familiar with that show, it has a lot of similiarities and it’s some of the same writers and directors of that show.
Also isn’t Callum voiced by the guy who was Sokka?
Treasure Planet is DELIGHTFUL
How about Aladdin or The Emperor’s New Groove? In the former a beggar becomes a price, and in the latter a king learns to value humility and friendship.
Kubo and the Two Strings
The Book of Life
The Sword in the Stone, perhaps.
I mean the ones that come instantly to mind would be The Emperor’s New Groove and Aladdin
The Road to El Dorado doesn’t have princes exactly and they’re not exactly on an honorable quest at first, but I think it still fits the bill in a weird way.
Atlantis also weirdly fits
I want to rationalize this. Mulan is a Disney princess because Disney princesses is a franchise, not that all Disney princesses are princesses. Atlantis was an animated Disney movie. I’ll allow it.
Big Hero 6?
I’ll rationalize even further.
Lilo & Stich is a princess movie where Stitch is the princess.
The Prince of Egypt
The Princess Bride seems like a decent fit
But the prince is a sniveling snot weasel! Now, the Dread Pirate Roberts is a real kick-ass role model
I’ll add in a recommendation for Steven Universe, though it’s a show, not a movie. Interesting plot, great character development, no character-is-dumb tropes. Soundtrack is very cute, lots of original songs. It has a heavy focus on personal growth & relationships that is super refreshing for a kid’s show. It’s technically sci-fi, but of the flavor that feels very magic-y.
