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?
- Hercules
- Aladdin
- Jungle book
- How to train your dragon
- Sword in the stone
- Robin hood
- Emperor’s new groove
- Lion king
- Treasure planet (not a prince but hes pretty cool!)
- Peter Pan (Also Hook - not animated but awesome)
- Tarzan
- Shrek
Princess films do dominate but the male characters can be highlighted too,
- Prince phillip in sleeping beauty is pretty cool and defeats a dragon
- Kristoph from Frozen is funny and smart, resourceful etc.
- Flynn from Tangled is decent, eventually
Titan A.E. When the kiddo gets a bit older too!!
I almost suggested this one too - I’d put it on when my kids were babies, since they seemed to like it well enough, and I loved the movie and soundtrack
Flynn has no redeeming qualities. He just confessed to a teenager.
I do like that movie though. The mother in Tangled is actually a good way to teach kids some important lessons about abusive relationships without being super dark. She demonstrates over-defensiveness, love-bombing, gaslighting, etc.
It was a way to teach my kids about how you can lie even though every word you say is true. If you listen to the mother, pretty much everything she says is technically true, but in almost every line she has, she is being deceptive.
Flynn has no redeeming qualities. He just confessed to a teenager
Haha, yeah fair enough. Maybe I was just won over by his hair… which is really saying something, given the movie.
Agreed, the mother is an excellent villain all round.
Isn’t he supposed to be like 18 himself?
Peter Pan’s pretty racist, I’d leave that one out.
Definitely don’t leave it out, use it as a teaching moment instead. Blinding kids to racism doesn’t help them become good people. Talking through those moment with them is what does.
Because of the red indian scenes right? Are there more occurences or just that part (“why does the red man say how”)?
The princess bride is actually a pretty good kids movie for boys that might be up their alley
I came here to post this. It’s a brilliantly funny and fantastical film. Definitely focuses on the prince’s journey more than the princess’.
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.
Treasure Planet is DELIGHTFUL
Very underrated film!
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.
god i love dragon prince, never talks down and handles some very big issues.
Also isn’t Callum voiced by the guy who was Sokka?
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Oh yes, my wife and I catch a bunch of those shout-outs.
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.
Would The Lion King (original animated) count? The main character is technically a prince.
Not for long though. He got promoted after an unfortunate waterbuffalo incident.
I don’t think it really counts until he has his ascension to the throne after having a cool fight in a rain storm with his uncle.
No, inheritance law is clear, they’re on a clear male-only primogeniture system with no election from the peers, Simba was king as soon as his father died, The King is Dead, Long Live the King and such.
Scar was just a pretender to the throne.
But Simba voluntarily went into exile, de facto abdicating the throne to the next heir, which was Scar.
No pretending, Scar had a legitimate claim!
A fair point, if Simba had reached maturity, but as a child King, we must assume that Simba was in regency and decisions vis a vis abdication would have to be approved by the regent in good faith.
I do not know whether Mufasa had declared a regent to supercede the typical rules that would place Scar in the position, but I think even if you take his manipulations as regent approval we can assume that Scar’s behavior at the least was not in good faith and, IIRC, his assumption of the throne was based on the lie that Simba was dead, not that he abdicated.
Isn’t Simba’s daughter, Kiara, in line to the throne?
Clearly the experience with Scar prompted some succession reform!
I feel like watching him come of age while rebelling against his lot/role, going on that adventure to find himself is really important, whether he’s technically a prince at the time or not.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Coming to America, the adult jokes flew right over my head when I was a kid but I really enjoyed the story.
Within the first 5 minutes of the film: visibly naked concubines serving the prince. concubine emerges from under the water “The royal penis is now clean”, implying she washed his royal jewels or sucked him off underwater.
Yeah, disagreeing on this one. Not suitable for kids AT ALL… I was 9 when I first saw it. None of the adult jokes or scenes flew over my head.
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 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
Absolutely! On both counts! But I feel like it does show that just because someone is a prince and perceived as “important” doesn’t mean he’s gonna do the right thing. Strive to be a good person, not just a royal.
That’s my opinion on the two of those characters, at least. 😋
The Cat Returns, and then Howl’s Moving Castle when he’s a little older
Had to scroll too far to find Ghibli recs.
I don’t know if either of those are good recs for OP’s question. Both have female protagonists. The Baron and Howl both are mysterious and have agendas; they’re not really role models. Spirited Away also falls in this category.
Ponyo and Castle in the Sky have admirable male protagonists, though they are not royalty (the girls in those stories are royalty).
Princess Mononoke has a protagonist who is a prince, but it’s not really a kid movie. The stuff with demons and head-severing might be too disturbing.
Tales from Earthsea and Ocean Waves are just straight-up bad movies.
Porco Rosso is cool but he also smokes, not the best influence. Same with the main character in The Wind Rises.
The Secret World of Arrietty, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya and My Neighbor Totoro are all predominantly female casts. There are male father figures but they’re not really role models, for one reason or another. The dad in Totoro is decent when he’s involved, but spends too much time working.
When Marnie Was There and Kiki’s Delivery Service are also predominantly female casts, no memorable male role models.
Nausicaa has some good guys but they’re more like set pieces than characters.
Whisper of the Heart and From Up On Poppy Hill are more slice-of-life, no real nobility or heroics.
Grave of the Fireflies is definitely not a kid movie.
Car returns is fantastic
watching The Cat Returns before seeing Whisper of the Heart is mind-blowing
I’ve never seen Whisper and tonight is movie night for us !!
So we watched it, and I had no idea what to expect. It was really awesome. My head cannon is that The Cat Returns is a polished version of her book. Thanks for the recommendation!!
yeah!! I’m glad you liked it!!
The Prince of Egypt
A bit too biblical for my tastes, haha.
Ahem… “Prince Ali, fabulous he Ali Ababwa Genuflect, show some respect Down on one knee Now, try your best to stay calm Brush up your Sunday salaam Then come and meet his spectacular coterie Prince Ali, mighty is he Ali Ababwa Strong as ten regular men, definitely! He faced the galloping hordes A hundred bad guys with swords Who sent those goons to their lords Why, Prince Ali”
Lol, Aladin is technically a “Prince” movie. For that matter, The Lion King is as well. I’m sure I could think of more, but I’m tired and should have been subsumed by slumber hours ago.
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.
