Wholesome Movies for a 3.5 Year Old Girl?

Other classics:

Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang
Mary Poppins
The Barbie Princess or Fairy movies have wonderful classical music and good themes.
Dora the Explorer
Blues Clues (still around?)
Music videos by Wiggles, Raffi, Jana Alyra

SHIRLEY TEMPLE! There are soooo many films and they are all so good. The music and the dance with the little girl that stole everyone's heart. My girls loved them all. I believe you can buy them all in a bundle and save tons of money.

M.

How about Mary Poppins?

Also, it's not a movie, but they still show it on Nick Jr. weekend mornings sometimes, and you can probably get DVDs of multiple episodes, but my daughter (also 3.5) LOVES Blue's Clues.

Annie
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Heidi
Mary Poppins
Pooh
Monster's Inc
Lassie
Pollyanna
Pippy Longstocking
Benji
The Muppets
Some Japanese animated Iso Miyaki did Spirit of the Stallion that is good
Ponyo
I loved Annie when I was growing up, I watched it almost every day. Though it was the older version 1982 with Carol Burnette and Bernadette Peters. Loved it.

I'm right there with you. So far my four year old girls have seen parts of The Sound of Music (I skipped the part about the Nazis chasing the family - thought it was too scary), the Little Bear movie (100% geared towards kids, but with a good message, no commercialism, and it wasn't as stupid as many kids movies), parts of the original Dr. Doolittle (it's pretty slow moving and my kids liked it but didn't love it), parts of Hello Dolly (fantastic songs and dancing), and an older Winnie the Pooh movie.

Check out Common Sense Media, they have great movie reviews that might help you find something.

I'm right there with you re: the princess movies... I've even 'lost' the books b/c I don't like the message - they were gifts form grandma. My kids loved Chitty Chitty Bang Bang... there is one scene that is freaky but they didn't 'get it' for quite a while and by then they were old enough to talk about what is real v. not real. Finding Nemo is great, Snow Buddies is good - just a little bit of 'not being kind' w/ the dogs talking to each other that we talk thru when watching.

I have to tell you what has worked best for us though (not big into TV and CERTAINLY not at all into what is 'hot' for kids - Miley, Justin Beiber, etc. in our parenting ideas) is having a DVR and taping shows like Little Bear, Wonder Pets, Olivia, etc. They are fabulously age appropriate and I don't feel like I have to constantly be there (if I need to be finishing up dinner or something) 100 % of the time - like I do w/ the above movies. I love the fact that the kids get a little bit of commercial free entertainment that also has a great (again - age appropriate) message. We do about 1 hr. a day if that.

Pooh's Heffalump movie is fantastic!! There are no adult things slipped in like there are in Disney movies. No backtalking. Just good stuff.

Some things my girls liked at that age - a lot of these are short 30-60 minute videos but there are also some feature-length films:
VeggieTales
Clifford the Big Red Dog
The Wiggles
Dora the Explorer
and if she likes the Sound of Music, maybe she'd like some of the old Shirley Temple movies like the Little Princess?

if she likes The Sound of Music, how about Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (the original)? I would look back into the old disney movies from the 60's and 70's. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Mr. Limpet, etc.

Anything Veggie Tales.

My son absolutely loved "Little Bear" at that age.
It came on TV every day and we recorded the Little Bear-a-thon.
I'm pretty sure you can purchase the series.
They are super sweet with lessons about friendships and having fun.
He also loved Franklin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDdvMNJXYuU&feature=re...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQKYkHraW0k

I found these on youtube for you to check out.

I hope you get some great suggestions.
Have fun!

It's Disney but I love "Tangled" a lot.

So does my four year old son.

i guess these arent so old fashioned, but...
finding nemo <3
(i fast forward the beginning)
despicable me <3
monsters inc
my kids, all ages, love the planet earth series or the blue planet series (mellower)
and i dont know if you will like this, but maybe when your daughter is a little older, i love my daughter watching monsters vs aliens just because the superhero is a girl and she is good and smart and strong and kind

What about Shirley Temple movies? Yes, they are quite old, but they are amazingly clean with great story lines.

We like My Neighbor Totoro and Ponyo by Miyazaki. His films are great, and he does an amazing job of telling a sweet, simple story. Both of these films seem like modern-day fairy tales, but not in the sticky, sappy way that Disney movies are and they definitely center around very young children and not teens or adults, something that bugs me about Disney movies. He also doesn't let kids get hurt (Cinderella writers, I'm looking at you!). He takes their side and looks out for them. They are safe movies with no real "scary" parts.

I also like that his movies don't depict princesses so much. The whole princess thing just really sticks in my craw. He shows children who are believable and real. They look like kids, they act like kids, they are kids. Not miniature grown-ups. I really appreciate that. There is just too much push for kids to be older than they actually are.

My Neighbor Totoro is about a Japanese family that moves out to the Japanese country-side. The mother is sick and in the hospital, so the dad and 2 girls (ages 4 and 7ish) move to be closer to her so they can see her more often. The story itself focuses on the littlest girl who meets and befriends a giant (and adorable!) forest spirit named Totoro. I like this movie because it depicts traditional Japanese life with a little bit of folklore mixed in. That and the story is so sweet and simple, but told with such careful attention to detail that even as an adult I get caught up in it every time.

Ponyo is Miyazaki's retelling of Hans Christian Anderson's Little Mermaid. It's like if the Little Mermaid took place in Japan. It has zero resemblance to the Disney movie. It's about a little boy who finds a magic goldfish named Ponyo. Again, it's a sweet movie. The relationship between the little boy and his mom is so sweet to see. The dad, too, but the dad is mostly out on his fishing boat and away during the time the story takes place. The setting for this story is more modern than Totoro.

Both of these movies are wonderful. Can't say enough good things about them. The other thing I love about them, aside from the beautiful and masterful story-telling, is that neither one have a "bad guy"! My daughter HATES the scary bad guys in Disney movies. These movies just don't have bad guys at all. Even in Ponyo, Ponyo's dad, who you think at first might not be so nice turn out that he really is just doing his best to do the right thing for Ponyo and the little boy, even if the right thing is a little difficult.

Definitely watch these movies ahead of time to see, but my family (especially my 3 year old!) loves them.

Kiki's Delivery Service is also really, really sweet, but it might hold a 6 year old's attention more than a 3 year old. Watch this one first to see if you think your daughter would enjoy it.

ETA: Not every Miyazaki movie is really good for young children. All are phenomenal, but some should really wait until they're older. Several to specifically avoid until she's older would be, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke (MUCH older due to violence), Castle in the Sky, and Nausica and the Valley of the Wind. These are all really good movies, but not what I would choose for my 3 year old. The themes and stories are just a little more appropriate to an older audience, and Princess Mononoke is certainly not intended for children I don't think. Teens and adults would be more of a target for that one. It's a beautiful and heartbreaking movie, but the story line and theme are just not appropriate for a child.

Old musicals possibly - I would watch each before hand to make sure there aren't plot lines or musical numbers you find problematic.

For example, we've been watching individual songs from "Singing in the Rain" and our daughter loves them. The singing! The dancing! But, for example, you probably don't want to do "Guys and Dolls." Even though there aren't "explicit" numbers, you really don't want your kid singing "Luck Be a Lady Tonight."

My daughter loves The Big Comfy Couch, Thomas the Train, old school disney like Aristocats, Milo and Otis, Lady and the Tramp, The Wiggles. We have never had a problem with those movies....our daughter is really sensitive to what she watches.

Here are three films that we LOVE. My girls are 9 & 6 and we've been watching these films for YEARS. They never get old.

MILO & OTIS - It's live action about a puppy and kitten who become best friends and have all sorts of adventures on the farm where they were born & after they accidentally wander off the farm. Narrated by Dudley Moore. My girls are 9 & 6 and we still love to watch it.

SPIRIT (Stallion of the Cimarron) - fantastic animated film about a wild stallion who is captured, put to work & eventually gets free to go back to his herd. Visually stunning. Incredible music by Bryan Adams.

FINDING NEMO - so funny & cute! Kid-appropriate adventure & humor.

My girls also love all the Berenstain Bears & Oobi shows. Great messages. You can find them on PBS.

There is a lot of quality entertainment out there for kids!

My daughter (2-1/2) loves the "wee sing" series. They were made in the 1980s. It's little kids singing and dancing. The songs are classics like "I'm a little teapot". We've rented the DVDs from the library, so you might be able to do that. My daughter loves to copy the songs and dances. Her favorites are "wee sing in sillyville" and "wee sing together".

She also loves Ponyo which has been mentioned a few times.

My little boy is too old to watch films yet but I 'personally' like - the neverending story, labyrinth, batteries not included and the spiderwick chronicles (although i think the latter is a bit disney-esque)

Oh yeah and my sister used to love the boy who could fly but can't say I'm keen on this one!!

have fun! bex xxx

My daughter LOVES Shirley Temple movies!!

mary poppins?

swiss family robinson?

those are both disney

cheaper by the dozen-the old one, yours mine and ours. these have all been remade. The sound of music has nazis, right?

The miracle worker, shirley temple movies, wizard of oz.

Late post, but to all the others I'd add these fun movies we just rediscovered:
The Ugly Dachshund
Summer Magic

here are some of my daughters favorites - milo and otis, veggie tales (christian movies), elmo, cillou, nick jr movies.

Try American Family Assocaition's website, and FamilyValuesCinema.com. Also, a good resource is CommonSenseMedia.org. They rate movies for content, age appropriateness, etc. It's a really good resource!

If she likes The Sound of Music, how about Mary Poppins, Pollyanna, and other "old" musicals? With my kids, although I allowed them to watch a wider variety of movies, I always watched with them to deal with any "issues" that might crop up. I hope this is useful to you.