One of the nice things about the Kids and Family offerings on relatively new streaming service HBO Max (aside from the fact that it's helpfully categorized by child age group) is it's got a lot of content and characters that are familiar to parents too, like "Sesame Street." They're continuing to add more to the vast library, including the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" movies and Spike Jonze's Maurice Sendak adaptation "Where the Wild Things Are" that might bridge the gap between parental and kid content (check out the "TMNT" movies for maximum nostalgia, and to teach your children about the 1990s, a wild time).
They've also been acquiring more high-brow children's content, like "Mo Willems' Storytime Shorts." This is the first time animator and children's book author Mo Willems' shorts have been available to stream. The 15 shorts are based on Willems' books and run about six to seven minutes long, the perfect bite-sized chunks for young attention spans. Featuring Willems' pigeon and Knuffle Bunny characters, the animation style is bold and colorful but not too overly busy for small eyes and brains. Accompanying the shorts is "Mo Willems and the Storytime All-Stars Present: Don't Let the Pigeon Do Storytime!" an hourlong family-friendly live special filmed at the Kennedy Center, featuring Willems and an all-star cast of actors and comedians. The sketches are also broken out into shorts for easy enjoyment. Pair with his books, of course.
Also debuting on HBO Max in October is "Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird," a 1985 feature film starring, of course, Big Bird. When the large yellow guy is sent to live with a family of dodos in the Midwest, he realizes he needs to make his way home to Sesame Street and starts that journey. A fun film that parents can enjoy introducing to their kids.
Netflix is also constantly churning new kids content, and though their stores are deep, it's always nice to know when something fresh has landed. There seems to be a new Halloween animated special or two every week, and this week, it's "StarBeam: Halloween Hero." "StarBeam," a Canadian animated series, following young superheroine Zoey, premiered on Netflix in April, released a second season in September, and now releases this 30-minute Halloween special. On Friday comes another seasonal animated special with "Super Monsters: Dia de los Monsters," in celebration of the Mexican Day of the Dead holiday on Nov. 1. Be sure to pair that with Disney's gorgeous Dia de los Muertos tearjerker "Coco," on Disney+.
For more seasonal fun, Hulu and Amazon Prime have the animated 2019 "The Addams Family," a kid-friendly depiction of the creepy, kooky, but also incredibly loving family created by Charles Addams. This adaptation hews closely to the funny, punny wordplay and design of the comics, and is a genuine treat for kids who might be a little dark sometimes (or not!). Enjoy it this spooky season and in a few years, they'll be ready for the 1990s live action films.
