Father/Child Flicks: ShopHavenettes on Father’s Day Movies

Jun 17, 2010 by Shophaven

Last month, we went over our favourite mother-daughter movies in honour of Mother’s Day. We’re doing the same thing for Father’s Day now, with our preferences and recommendations on movies we’ve watched with Father-Child themes.

The Godfather
Natasha: I personally have never seen a single “Godfather” movie but everyone I know raves about them.
Nelly: You’re kidding right? How are we even friends?! The Godfather (One and Two) are a must for anyone over the age of 15! It’s such a classic. “Leave the gun, take the cannoli”.
In terms of Father-Son relationships, this is a complex one. There are three sons, and one adopted and clearly we all know who the favourite son is and why. It’s just interesting to see the dynamic between the sons based on their father’s preference, one over the other, strong over weak, etc. I always felt bad for the middle child but since you’ve never seen it, I’ll stop here and please let me know when you watch it so I can restore your number to my “speed dial”.
Natasha: Okay, okay I am adding it to my must-see list.  Can we still be friends?
Nelly: Okay, but our relationship just went to “it’s complicated”.
Natasha: I can take “its complicated”.

Mrs. Doubtfire
Natasha: This is a classic.  After Miranda is granted full custody of their children, Daniel makes so many scarifies as well as changing who he is just so he can see his three kids.  It is amazing story of what a dad will do for his children.
Nelly: Spot on. He does literally change, from a man to a woman. A nice homely hairy-legged woman. I’m a Robin Williams fan, so for me this made the list, father-child or no.

Elf
Natasha: I think this is a great movie that demonstrates how a bad father-son relationship can be saved. It is extremely funny.  Who doesn’t love Will Ferrell? My husband and I watch this every Christmas.
Nelly: In terms of plot, it was like “meh”. But there is no one better to play an over-sized Elf than Will Ferrell. I don’t think James Caan was appropriate for this role. But it’s funny, we just talked about The Godfather, where he played the eldest son, Santino.

Meet The Parents
Natasha: This is one of my favorite movies.  It is hilarious.  I love how it demonstrates the different types of relationships that Pam and Greg have with their fathers. Jack will do anything to make sure that his beloved “Pam cakes” is with a proper well-off guy. Father’s will do anything to make sure that their daughters are taken care of well.
Nelly: It’s also interesting to see the stark contrast between parenting styles. You have Jack, a type double A, that starts off with some hardcore parenting moves with his grand-kid. On the other side you have Greg’s (nay, Gaylord’s) parents that are more free-love-for-all hippies with a “let it be” attitude. Very interesting styles juxtaposed. Plus, Bobby DeNiro (another Godfather actor – so GO SEE IT!) and Dustin Hoffman – too funny!

Finding Nemo
Nelly: Just keep swimming..just keep swimming! I loved that movie. Even though it’s a cartoon, you can totally see the amount of love the dad (Marlin) has for Nemo. He swam the entire ocean, escaped shark jaws, deadly jellies, turtles, the EAC, and made it to Sydney. Awesome movie, great colours. In fact, I want to watch it all over again now.
Natasha: I also loved this movie. I thought it was great that Marlin had so much dedication to save Nemo, his son.

Dear Frankie
Nelly: Loved the movie, loved the story. The acting was superb, and yes I am a sucker for a good Glaswegian accent. This was Gerard Butler at his best (pre sleeping with everything under God’s sun), and his performance moved me to tears. It’s a good fit in our theme here because it shows the kinship that can develop between two strangers and lead to a father-son relationship. What an amazing performance, and a great little movie.
Natasha: This is definitely a movie I never would have considered watching until you brought it over.  I thought the story was very touching.

Sleepless in Seattle
Nelly: I watched this movie a couple of times, didn’t really bite the first time but on the second viewing I liked it more. Jonah’s relationship with Sam is great, and the chemistry between Hanks and the young actor made you believe they were truly related off set as well. I liked how Sam was protective of his son, and I love how the son’s desire for his dad to be happy lead him to the other side of the States.
Natasha: I vaguely remember this one but I thought it was really cute that Jonah tried so desperately to try and find his dad a girlfriend.
Nelly: Calling a radio show for advice… that is sooo 1990s :)

The Lion King
Nelly: Um.. Can you feel the love tonight? Yeah, it’s a Disney cartoon but the messaging is strong there. Loyalty, leadership, a great father-son relationship, and a small example of what happens to a family when jealousy rips brothers apart.
Natasha: I completely agree with you.

The Royal Tenenbaums
Nelly: A very strong fit for our category, the whole movie is based upon the dysfunctional dad’s effects on his family’s members. Basically, the long-term consquences of being a bad parent. One kid becomes eccentric to a fault, another is melodramatic beyond belief, a third is suicidal. Yeah, not a happy gathering, that.
Natasha: I haven’t seen this one.

Transamerica
Nelly: I get the movie, I get the plot, but I think it under-delievered many things. They could have done so much more with a great actress like Felicity Huffman, and the story had potential. But I think the transgendered element held the writers/director back a little, I think because they felt it was already a touchy subject. In any case, the father-son relationship is strained in the beginning, tolerable towards the end. It really could have been a great great story about that kind of relationship given the characters and their life choices, but it just fell so short. I suppose it’s a pass on this one.
Natasha: I haven’t seen this one either.
Nelly: You can skip it. Didn’t miss much there, overall.

Star Wars
Nelly: Confession: my sister asked me to include this movie in the pile, but I haven’t watched them. I know about the “Luke I’m your father” thing, mostly because of Family Guy (not going into the father-child relationship of that show). But if someone has anything to add about this, please feel free.
Natasha: Umm I fell asleep.  Enough said!
Nelly: I guess that makes us useless in the Star Wars department.

The Pursuit of Happyness
Nelly: I went into the movie theatre ready to hate it, because it’s Will Smith and his kid. I came out in love with the Fresh Prince and his very talented tot. Great story (based on a real one too), amazing amazing relationship, you just see such a strong loving relationship and sacrifice in the true meaning of the word. I cried at times, and I really disliked the mother figure. I was happy to know Chris Gardener was a phenomenal parent to his son, and a success story of a single-father in the end.
Natasha: I agree. It was a terrific story.  Will Smith did a phenomenal job.

Life is Beautiful
Nelly: We can’t leave this one out! The relationship and love Guido had for his son was so different than many things we’ve seen before. And his many attempts to shield his child from the very cruel world they found themselves in. At the end, the boy doesn’t even know exactly what awful fate awaited his father. So in a way, the father tried to maintain his kid’s childhood and sense of innocence throughout the war. Very unique and touching story.
Natasha: Didn’t see it.
Nelly: I think you should, especially since you’re a new mommy. Just a great parent/child relationship.

Liar Liar
Nelly: Jim Carrey was hilarious. Correction: is hilarious. I loved him as the sleezy then forcefully honest lawyer. It was all due to his son’s wish, and the ending while very expected was sweet. Not one of the more obvious choices for father/son relationship movies, but I suppose it’s a start with some humour.
Natasha: This was hilarious!

About a Boy
Nelly: Very much like “Dear Frankie”, this one turned into more of a friendship then father/son relationship as the story went on. I loved how aloof and at-times ridiculous Hugh Grant’s character was. I also love the awkward chemistry between Toni Collette and the main charater, Marcus (Nicholas Hoult). I didn’t think much of the movie at first, but as I watched it all the way till the end, I really began liking the transformation of all the characters and how well they start fitting into each others’ messy complex lives.
Natasha: I am not usually a Hugh Grant fan, but I loved him in this movie and it was a great story.

Billy Elliot
Nelly: Yet another UK export – what is it with the British and good father/child movies. A very touching account of a boy that’s just a little bit different at a time where tolerance and understanding are hard to come by, mostly due to education and employment issues (or so I think). His inability to open up to his dad from the beginning, is in part due to his father’s stubborn intolerant attitude but also fear on Billy’s part. I don’t think he’s confrontational at first, so he’d rather live a bit of a lie and roll with the punches than, well, get punched by his dad. I think I hear the story too much from some of my friends who had some problems with their career/lifestyle choices, so this plot is a bit closer to real life than some of the others.

Quick Mentions

What Women Want
Nelly: Yay, Nick Marshall (Mel Gibson) finally learns to stop being a chauvinist. Oh yeah, and there was the stereotypical teenaged daughter with respect issues. It’s the first time I saw goofy Gibson in a movie, so that was good. The rest gets a “whatever”. Bring on Helen-the forehead- Hunt and typical jazz tunes. Next…
Natasha: I didn’t see this movie really concentrating on a father/daughter relationship but I thought it was really funny.

Father of the Bride
Nelly: It is about the relationship between father/daughter, but it’s mostly Steve Martin doing reactive comedy. It was funny, in the 90′s, now it’s just a little like “Home Alone” for me.
Natasha: I thought it was really cute!

Guess Who
Nelly: Guess who didn’t like this somewhat offensive movie? This girl <– .
Natasha: I never heard of it.
Nelly: Lucky you.

Note: We’re very sure there are hundreds of great father/child movies out there, so feel free to add the ones we missed and haven’t watched. During winter, we’re sure to be running out and renting some – so please keep our to-see list going :)