Children and Childhood

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      in Movies

      5 Children’s Movies to Stream Now: ‘Soul,’ ‘Luca’ and More

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      This month’s picks include a space adventure from Richard Linklater and two critically acclaimed tales from Pixar.‘Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood’Watch it on Netflix.Stan (Milo Coy), a Texas fourth grader, is rounding the bases while playing kickball at recess one day when two NASA agents pull him off the playground to tell him they’re sending him to the moon. This being 1969, in a world before Apollo 11 took flight, Stan’s new mission is an extremely big deal. The agents, played by Glen Powell and Zachary Levi, tell Stan they were impressed by his science papers and by the fact that he won a Presidential Physical Fitness Award “three years running.” They need a kid to test an “accidentally smaller version” of the lunar module immediately, and so Stan is sworn to secrecy as he prepares for space. It’s tough for him to keep the training and planning from his mother (a droll Lee Eddy) and father (Bill Wise), and his gaggle of siblings, but he tries his best to act like a regular kid while covertly preparing for a lunar landing.The writer-director Richard Linklater uses similar dreamy rotoscope animation as his earlier films “Waking Life” and “A Scanner Darkly,” and this nostalgic tale is narrated by Jack Black, who tells the story from the point of view of a grown-up Stan. The wall-to-wall narration and lack of fast-paced action may not hold every young viewer rapt, but older kids with a thing for space might fall under the film’s spell.‘The Willoughbys’Watch it on Netflix.Tim (voiced by Will Forte), Jane (Alessia Cara) and comically creepy twins both named Barnaby (voiced by Seán Cullen) are magenta-haired siblings who have the worst parents. Their mother (Jane Krakowski) and father (Martin Short) are selfish, narcissistic and neglectful. The couple sees their brood as a pure nuisance. The Willoughby kids devise a scheme to send their parents away on vacation in hopes of finding new parents who actually feed them.That might sound dark, but the cast and the writer-director Kris Pearn (“Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 “) bring so much humor, wackiness and heart to the film that it never feels like a downer. The story is narrated by a paunchy blue Cat (Ricky Gervais), and Maya Rudolph voices Linda, the kind nanny who watches them when their parents leave. Terry Crews plays Commander Melanoff, a loving, lonely bloke who owns a candy factory.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 163 Shares119 Views

      in Theater

      Paper Bag Players Celebrate 65 Years of Making Magic Out of the Ordinary

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      The children’s theater company will bring its latest production, “It’s a Marvelous Paper Bag World!,” to stages in New York this spring.What fun can you have with plain brown grocery sacks and empty cardboard cartons?Preschoolers know how to derive joy from these objects (as does any curious cat). But perhaps the best way to appreciate their magical potential is to watch the Paper Bag Players, a New York City children’s theater company that thrives on turning the ordinary into the unexpected.Families can experience that transformative power on Sunday, when the nonprofit troupe presents “It’s a Marvelous Paper Bag World!” at the Kaye Playhouse in Manhattan. (They will also perform in April at the Jewish Museum and SUNY Orange in Middletown, N.Y.) The production consists of 13 musical skits tailored for audiences ages 3 to 9, and it celebrates a milestone that any performing-arts organization would envy: the company’s 65th season, making it one of the longest-operating children’s theater troupes in the nation.“At the heart of our theater is making imaginative use of materials,” John Stone, the players’ executive director, composer and music director, said during a group interview with the company’s principals.The troupe’s devotion to paper and cardboard, from which it has devised sets, props and towering characters, dates to its earliest days. In 1958, its founders, who included the dancers Judith Martin and Remy Charlip, began to experiment with simple objects. Over the years, the raw materials have expanded to include foam board, Tyvek and household tools like mop heads.Clockwise from bottom left, Brenda Cummings, Jan Maxwell, James Lally and, in the bed, Judith Martin, in “Cookies” (1984).Ken HowardThe new production, “It’s a Marvelous Paper Bag World!,” includes the 1991 skit “Lost in the Mall,” starring actors wrapped in cardboard.Martha Swope via The Paper Bag Players“We take our inspiration from them,” Stone said of children. “Then we’re making our own sorts of things with them in mind, or with their kind of play in mind. And that gives it back to the kids. And it’s an upward spiral of inspiration.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in Television

      Janice Burgess, Nickelodeon Executive and ‘Backyardigans’ Creator, Dies at 72

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      Ms. Burgess oversaw the production of “Blue’s Clues” and drew on her own childhood for “The Backyardigans,” in which five cartoon animals imagine their yard as a place of otherworldly adventure.Janice Burgess, a longtime Nickelodeon television executive who sought to promote children’s curiosity and sense of play for decades, overseeing popular shows like “Blue’s Clues” and “Little Bill” and creating her own musical children’s show, “The Backyardigans,” died on Saturday in hospice care in Manhattan. She was 72.Her death was confirmed by Brown Johnson, a longtime friend and the creator of Nick Jr., who said the cause was breast cancer.In “The Backyardigans,” five cartoon animals — Tyrone, Tasha, Pablo, Austin and Uniqua — imagine their backyard as a place of adventure, traversing deserts, oceans, jungles, rivers and outer space while dancing and singing to music.With the series, Ms. Burgess hoped to help children use their imaginations to have fun. In 2004, Ms. Burgess said in an interview with The New York Times that the idea for the show stemmed from memories of playing in her own childhood backyard in Pittsburgh.“I really remember it as a wonderful, happy, safe place,” she said. “You could have these great adventures just romping around. From there, you could go anywhere or do anything.”Ms. Burgess drew on her own experience playing in her childhood backyard in Pittsburgh to create “The Backyardigans.” “I really remember it as a wonderful, happy, safe place,” she said.Nick Jr.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in Movies

      2024 New York International Children’s Film Festival Preview

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      A range of films, many of them animated, some hilarious, some serious, bubble up at this year’s festival in New York, where kids can vote for awards.One of the cinematic highlights of the 2024 New York International Children’s Film Festival could be described, at least partly, as a wild-goose chase. Or, more precisely, a domestic-hen chase.That animated feature, “Chicken for Linda!,” follows a guilt-stricken single mother trying to buy the main ingredient of her daughter’s favorite dish. But since grocers are on strike in their French city, the desperate mother steals a live hen. The bird flees from her car’s trunk to a watermelon truck to the space behind an armoire, with adults and children, including the high-spirited young daughter, Linda, in hot pursuit.A simple farce? Not exactly. The film, by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach, also includes time shifts, a singing ghost, an exploration of memory and multiple references to death — that of Louis XVI and Linda’s beloved father, as well as the chicken’s potential demise. Done in loose, almost abstract animation, the movie, which is billed as the festival’s “centerpiece spotlight,” is about as far as an audience can get from typical commercial children’s fare.It is also exactly the kind of unusual work to expect at the festival, which begins on Saturday and continues on weekends through March 17 with a slate of 18 feature presentations and more than 70 short films. About three-quarters of those titles are animated.“I think when you see live action, you’re very enraptured with someone else’s story,” Maria-Christina Villaseñor, the festival’s programming director, said in an interview. But with animation, she added, “you’re very excited also about your own, because I think you’re paying attention to the medium, you’re paying attention to the way that artists are using different techniques and different storytelling approaches. That really forefronts the idea of creativity and possibility.”Villaseñor and Nina Guralnick, the festival’s executive director, did not set out to focus on animation this year, but found that those films were often the most interesting. Ever since the festival’s founding in 1997, it has shown its audience — cinemagoers as young as 3 and as old as 18 — work that they’re unlikely to see anywhere else, including features that have previously been shown almost exclusively at festivals for adults.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in Television

      ‘Abbott Elementary’ Teaches Reading, Writing and Roll Camera

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      Each season of the ABC sitcom employs about 150 children. Its core curriculum: schooling Hollywood in what a show with child actors can be.Willis Kwakye has attended the same school since 2021. He’s 13 now, an eighth grader, a veteran, someone who knows his way around the classrooms and the cafeteria. And sometimes, when he’s in his uniform with a math worksheet in front of him, “I can even think it’s real school for a little bit,” he said.His classmate Arianna White, also 13, knew just what he meant. “It feels a lot like school, except we’re just filming and there’s a lot of cuts,” she said.Kwakye and White were speaking, via video call, from a classroom on the set of “Abbott Elementary.” (They were in one of the real classrooms, where child actors complete their mandated three hours of instruction per work day.) The Emmy-winning ABC sitcom mockumentary has recently matriculated for a third season and already been renewed for a fourth. Set in a fictional K-8 school in Philadelphia — though actually filmed in Los Angeles — it requires the presence of about 150 school-age children each season.In any given episode, those kids can be seen raising their hands in class, scurrying past each other in the hallways, giggling at their teachers’ antics. But “Abbott Elementary” diverges from most scripted series involving children in two significant ways: The show uses its child actors sparingly, giving them a handful of lines per episode and only requiring their presence one or two days each week. And for the most part, it lets them be kids.“Having kids just be themselves actually looks really good in our world,” Quinta Brunson, the series creator and star, said in a recent phone interview.Willis Kwakye, center, in an episode of “Abbott Elementary.” Tyler James Williams, a star of the show, said, “Part of being a child actor comes with a certain amount of trauma,” and “Abbott” aims to avoid that.Gilles Mingasson/ABCWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in Television

      A Super Bowl Broadcaster With Slime and Swagger

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      Nate Burleson spent 11 seasons playing in the N.F.L. He now balances several TV assignments, and will announce the Super Bowl with SpongeBob SquarePants.Nate Burleson, far removed from the 11 seasons he spent toiling in the National Football League, pulled up his shirt to wipe sweat from his forehead during a well-deserved break.Burleson was in a buzzing laboratory with green slime-filled industrial containers, recording Nickelodeon’s “NFL Slimetime” days after explaining the challenge of overcoming turnovers on “The NFL Today,” the CBS football show that was in Baltimore for the A.F.C. Championship Game. Hours before the Nickelodeon taping, he had provided updates about the widening conflict in the Middle East on “CBS Mornings,” the network’s flagship morning newscast.After a productive but unglamorous football career, Burleson, 42, has found high-profile success in the television industry. Now he faces a daunting schedule this week in Las Vegas, where the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers will face off in the Super Bowl.Burleson is setting 1:30 a.m. alarms to anchor “CBS Mornings” from the Las Vegas Strip throughout the week. And on Sunday, he will announce Nickelodeon’s first alternate Super Bowl telecast for children, changing into a suit and racing down Allegiant Stadium’s elevator with help from security to join his “NFL Today” colleagues for halftime analysis.“I never played in a Super Bowl, so I feel like this is my Super Bowl,” Burleson said.Tony Dokoupil, left, Gayle King and Burleson on “CBS Mornings.” Burleson impressed producers with the energy he brought to segments while guest hosting.Mary Kouw/CBSNickelodeon’s alternate telecasts are an attempt to attract younger viewers by infusing N.F.L. games with augmented-reality animations on the field — yes, there will be plenty of virtual slime — and incorporating popular cartoon characters. Burleson will call the Super Bowl with the voice actors for SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star. (Jim Nantz and Tony Romo are announcing the traditional broadcast on CBS.)We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in Theater

      How a Culture Editor Covers the Kids’ Entertainment Beat

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      Laurel Graeber, who has covered kids’ entertainment at The Times for nearly three decades, shared her favorite stories and interviews from the beat.Times Insider explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.Laurel Graeber grew up loving the theater and museums. But she never thought she would write about them for The New York Times — or that she would do so for nearly three decades.“I was an editor, but I always wanted to write,” said Ms. Graeber, who helped lead the Culture desk’s copy department for more than 10 years before she retired from full-time work in 2017. “And when the freelance assignment of writing our weekend kids’ entertainment column became open, I said yes.”She has written regularly about culture for young people for nearly three decades, spotlighting the best activities that parents or caregivers can do with children each weekend in New York City. She also writes features on new television shows, movies, museum exhibitions and podcasts for kids.“What I find most enjoyable is stuff for adults that’s also good for kids, but not necessarily geared toward them,” Ms. Graeber said in a recent interview.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?  More

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      in Movies

      5 Children’s Movies to Stream Now

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      This month’s picks embrace the holiday season, including an installment of the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” franchise and a remake of “The Velveteen Rabbit.”‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever’Watch it on Disney+.The latest release in Jeff Kinney’s mega-successful “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” franchise of books, movies and merchandise (Tote bags! Board games! Stress balls!) is this animated holiday tale in which a middle schooler, Greg Heffley (voiced by Wesley Kimmel from “The Mandalorian”), gets trapped in his house with his family when a blizzard blows into town. Just before he got snowed in, Greg and his BFF, Rowley (Spencer Howell), accidentally damaged a snowplow after sending a giant snowball rolling down a hill. Greg and Rowley flee the scene, and Greg spends his time cooped up worrying that he’ll be caught by the authorities and won’t get the video game he covets for Christmas. Luke Cormican (“Teen Titans Go!”) directed this animated film, and Kinney wrote the screenplay. There’s enough humor, tension and relatable family dynamics to keep both longtime “Wimpy Kid” fans and little ones who are new to the series entertained.‘Merry Little Batman’Watch it on Amazon Prime.The director Mike Roth (“Regular Show”) brings a slight punk rock aesthetic to this animated tale of a young Damian Wayne (voiced by Yonas Kibreab), the 8-year-old son of Batman and Talia al Ghul, who longs to become a superhero like his father. In this iteration of the DC legend, Batman/Bruce Wayne (Luke Wilson) is a bearded, flannel-wearing, overprotective hipster dad who rid Gotham of all crime before his son was born. When Batman gets a mysterious call about an emergency on Christmas Eve, his trusty aide, Alfred (James Cromwell), helps him suit up, and little Damian is all alone at home (yes, there are plenty of nods to “Home Alone”). Soon it’s time for Damian to stop goofing around, so he puts on his golden utility belt and goes out to fight crime like his father taught him to. He meets villains like the Joker (David Hornsby) and Bane (Chris Sullivan), and learns that, as his dad tells him, being a superhero takes “focus, responsibility and sacrifice.” The rollicking energy and comedy make this film, produced by Warner Bros. Animation, a superhero holiday movie that kids — and their bearded hipster parents — should have fun watching.‘Dashing Through the Snow’Watch it on Disney+.This one may not go down in history as a holiday classic, but it has enough over-the-top goofiness to entertain school-age kids while you bake a pie or do some work over the winter break. Eddie Garrick (Chris Bridges, known as Ludacris) is a Scrooge of a dad. He can’t stand carolers, and he’d much rather celebrate Juneteenth or Arbor Day than Christmas, a.k.a. “the chicken wing of holidays.” Eddie is a social worker in Atlanta whose family was burgled by a mall Santa when he was a kid — hence his hatred for the holiday. He’s now reluctantly separated from his wife, Allison (Teyonah Parris, “The Marvels” and “Candyman”), so he’s spending Christmas Eve with his adorable daughter, Charlotte (Madison Skye Validum), who just loves Santa. This being a pretty silly, predictable tale, you will not be on pins and needles waiting to see if Garrick comes to embrace the holiday spirit, but Bridges is compelling enough to hold your attention. The comedian Lil Rel Howery is Nick/Santa, a character who may be another burglar or derelict but who also may be the real St. Nick. Oscar Nuñez plays a villainous politician, and Mary Lynn Rajskub, Marcus Lewis and Ravi Patel are his goons. Tim Story (“Barbershop,” “Think Like a Man”) directs this film from a script by Scott Rosenberg (“Venom”).‘The Velveteen Rabbit’Watch it on AppleTV+.This special, which combines live action and animation, brings Margery Williams’s classic 1922 story to a new generation. A shy, lonely boy named William (Phoenix Laroche) becomes even more timid when his family moves to a new town where he knows no one. William gets a stuffed Velveteen Rabbit for Christmas, and the two become fast friends. One night when William goes to sleep, the rabbit (voiced by Alex Lawther, “Andor”) comes alive and meets the other toys in the playroom, including Wise Horse, voiced by the Oscar-nominated actress Helena Bonham Carter. William’s real world is live action; the rabbit’s is stop-motion animation. When William and the rabbit interact, it’s an illustrated realm that brings their worlds together. Long before “Toy Story,” Williams’s tale depicted the deep bond between children and their most cherished toys, revealing truths about friendship and love. It’s all very sweet and a bit earnest, which means it’s perfect holiday-season viewing. Tom Bidwell (“My Mad Fat Diary”) wrote the script, and Jennifer Perrott and Rick Thiele directed.‘A Christmas Mystery’Watch it on Max.The small, fictional town of Pleasant Bay, Ore., is scandalized when Santa’s magical golden sleigh bells — the community’s prized possession — go missing. A young boy found the bells a century before, and ever since, they have been on display in the local museum. The citizens believe that the bells bring peace and luck to the town. Because George (Drew Powell) has a history of theft and is a janitor at the museum, he is accused of stealing the town treasure. He has a son, Kenny (Santino Barnard), whose best friend, Violet (Violet McGraw, “M3gan”), recruits friends to help her find the actual thief and get George home for Christmas; after all, it was her father (Eddie Cibrian), the town sheriff, who arrested George. There’s a “Goonies” vibe happening, with the kids on a quest to solve a mystery since the adults don’t have a clue. If George isn’t the culprit, maybe it’s the museum director, Mr. Martin (Oscar Nuñez from “Dashing Through the Snow”) or the shifty Mayor Donovan (Beau Bridges). The story, writing and performances are a bit hokey, but that shouldn’t stop youngsters from rooting for Violet and her friends to save the day. More