Great Performances by Kids

[Wiendish Fitch]

Since there's a thread for irritating kids in movies (and there have been lots of irritating kids), I thought it would be just as fun to acknowledge that there have been good, even great, performances by child actors. Let's give the under-18 set their due here!*

Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz: Even if you're sick of it or hate it, there's no denying 16-year-old Garland owned this movie.

Natalie Wood in Miracle on 34th Street: Wood's Susan is definitely precocious, but never in the molar-grinding way most kids are made to act. I also have to give it up for the scene where Kris Kringle has Susan pull on his beard to see if it's real. When she sees that it is, Wood's reaction is the sophisticated brand of subtle acting that some adults can't pull off. You see every thought in her face, questioning everything she thought she knew, and it's a beautiful moment.

Hayley Mills in Pollyanna: "Pollyanna" has become a derisive term for a relentlessly positive person. Mills had the daunting, unenviable task of bringing the "Glad Girl" to life, and brought a vibrancy, intelligence, and authenticity to the potentially cloying protagonist. Not once does Mills's Pollyanna ever feel saccharine, phony, or self-righteous... and she rightly won a special Academy Award for her performance.

Jodie Foster in... damn, practically anything she was in. People still rave about her in Taxi Driver, but I actually prefer her more lighthearted roles, such as the scene-stealing Tallulah in Bugsy Malone, and Casey, the scrappy con artist who sees the light in Candleshoe.

 

*Yes, I count teenagers as kids.

 

[Blergh]

How about Hailee Stanfield in True Grit (2010)? She truly embodied the idea of this young girl determined to reap justice for her late father and keeping her logical  'law and order' logic  in a time and setting where there was no real law and even less order. Despite the cost she paid,  her character truly prevailed and stayed true to her ideals- even more than Alice did in Wonderland!

[xls]

Kamryn Ragsdale who plays Vince Neil's daughter in 'The Dirt' with just a few minutes of screen time, but 😢

[Spartan Girl]

Capital idea, @Wiendish Fitch!

I’ll second Natalie Wood’s Susan in Miracle on 34th Street**, Dorothy, and Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit, and here are my others:

Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore in E.T., because damn they really set the bar high for child actors from the 80s onward. And speaking of Drew Barrymore, I’ll add Casey in Irreconcilable Differences. Man, that poor kid really went through it with her stupid selfish parents. She didn’t just need an emancipation, she needed a restraining order!

Miles and Maizie in Uncle Buck, who were sweet and hilarious, unlike their bitchy older sister.

Daniel Radcliffe’s Harry Potter, who was just like I always imagined in the books. Both the character and the actor grew up beautifully on screen. 

Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Maybe it’s my soft spot for Ke Huy Quan, but I never found that character annoying, or if he was, he was cute enough for me to overlook it.

Annie/Hallie in The Parent Trap remake. Lindsay Lohan was great then, and even though she seems to be in a good place now, it makes me sad seeing all the potential for greater things if she hadn’t gone done the path she had ( or if her parents didn’t suck).

And I’ve got a soft spot for the kids in The Little Rascals…but I beg you, don’t google what Bug Hall is like now, unless you want your heart ripped out of your chest.

**Confession, I didn’t think Mara was that bad in the remake, even if she wasn’t Natalie. 

Edited May 12 by Spartan Girl

[xls]

7 minutes ago, xls said:

Kamryn Ragsdale who plays Vince Neil's daughter in 'The Dirt' with just a few minutes of screen time, but 😢

Would like to add Leonardo DiCaprio so amazing in Gilbert Grape about 18 I know but still a 'kid' to me!

[Wiendish Fitch]

12 minutes ago, xls said:

Would like to add Leonardo DiCaprio so amazing in Gilbert Grape about 18 I know but still a 'kid' to me!

Nothing wrong with that. I was also going to include 18-ish Sarah Polley in The Sweet Hereafter. She is hauntingly good as Nicole, a local girl with a horrifying secret.

35 minutes ago, Blergh said:

How about Hailee Stanfield in True Grit (2010)? She truly embodied the idea of this young girl determined to reap justice for her late father and keeping her logical  'law and order' logic  in a time and setting where there was no real law and even less order. Despite the cost she paid,  her character truly prevailed and stayed true to her ideals- even more than Alice did in Wonderland!

Loved Steinfeld in True Grit! She made Jeff Bridges's Cogburn look like a wuss! 

Edited May 12 by Wiendish Fitch

[xls]

Patty Duke in The Miracle Worker & Patty McCormack in The Bad Seed!

Omgosh-so many!

[Annber03]

2 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Hayley Mills in Pollyanna: "Pollyanna" has become a derisive term for a relentlessly positive person. Mills had the daunting, unenviable task of bringing the "Glad Girl" to life, and brought a vibrancy, intelligence, and authenticity to the potentially cloying protagonist. Not once does Mills's Pollyanna ever feel saccharine, phony, or self-righteous... and she rightly won a special Academy Award for her performance.

I'll always have a spot in my heart for that movie, 'cause I remember going with my mom to visit my grandma on weekends when I was a kid, and we'd all sit and watch this movie together :). I liked her here, too. Same with The Parent Trap, another one Imy mom, grandma and I would watch together (haven't seen the Lohan remake, so can't comment on that one). I should watch Pollyanna again sometime, it's been ages since I've seen it. 

I also agree with your mention of Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz. 

[supposebly]

Kirsten Dunst as Claudia in the 1994 movie Interview with the Vampire. Truly an old soul in a child's body. A fierce performance all the way through.

She might not have known all the time what she was doing, but every time 'favorite performances' come up in conversation, she is on the top of my list.

[DearEvette]

Tatum O'neill was really good in Paper Moon.

Also Jurnee Smollett was fantastic in Eve's Bayou.  Too many people sleep on that film, it was a gem.

[Sweet Tee]

Linda Blair in The Exorcist.  Really impressive what she was able to pull off at such a young age.

[JustHereForFood]

Dafne Keen in Logan.

[Shannon L.]

Tom Holland was really good in The Impossible.

[Spartan Girl]

45 minutes ago, JustHereForFood said:

Dafne Keen in Logan.

OMG YES! I loved Lara. She really shot it out of the part, despite not having any lines in the first 2/3 of the movie. You could definitely tell she was Logan’s (genetic) daughter.

[Wiendish Fitch]

5 hours ago, supposebly said:

Kirsten Dunst as Claudia in the 1994 movie Interview with the Vampire. Truly an old soul in a child's body. A fierce performance all the way through.

She might not have known all the time what she was doing, but every time 'favorite performances' come up in conversation, she is on the top of my list.

God, yes. Claudia is a terrifyingly complex, tragic character, and Dunst nailed her portrayal. 

I have to say, though, I hate how interviewers have been asking her-for the last 30 damn years!!- what it was like to kiss Brad Pitt, and she been giving the same answer for just as long: "It was like kissing my brother."

STOP ASKING HER! SHE WAS 11 OR 12! 

Sorry, this has been bugging me for way too long.

Edited May 12 by Wiendish Fitch

[xls]

20 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Since there's a thread for irritating kids in movies (and there have been lots of irritating kids), I thought it would be just as fun to acknowledge that there have been good, even great, performances by child actors. Let's give the under-18 set their due here!*

Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz: Even if you're sick of it or hate it, there's no denying 16-year-old Garland owned this movie.

Natalie Wood in Miracle on 34th Street: Wood's Susan is definitely precocious, but never in the molar-grinding way most kids are made to act. I also have to give it up for the scene where Kris Kringle has Susan pull on his beard to see if it's real. When she sees that it is, Wood's reaction is the sophisticated brand of subtle acting that some adults can't pull off. You see every thought in her face, questioning everything she thought she knew, and it's a beautiful moment.

Hayley Mills in Pollyanna: "Pollyanna" has become a derisive term for a relentlessly positive person. Mills had the daunting, unenviable task of bringing the "Glad Girl" to life, and brought a vibrancy, intelligence, and authenticity to the potentially cloying protagonist. Not once does Mills's Pollyanna ever feel saccharine, phony, or self-righteous... and she rightly won a special Academy Award for her performance.

Jodie Foster in... damn, practically anything she was in. People still rave about her in Taxi Driver, but I actually prefer her more lighthearted roles, such as the scene-stealing Tallulah in Bugsy Malone, and Casey, the scrappy con artist who sees the light in Candleshoe.

 

*Yes, I count teenagers as kids.

 

So many brilliant performances by kids-thanks for creating this topic! 

[andromeda331]

On 5/11/2024 at 8:15 PM, Annber03 said:

I'll always have a spot in my heart for that movie, 'cause I remember going with my mom to visit my grandma on weekends when I was a kid, and we'd all sit and watch this movie together :). I liked her here, too. Same with The Parent Trap, another one Imy mom, grandma and I would watch together (haven't seen the Lohan remake, so can't comment on that one). I should watch Pollyanna again sometime, it's been ages since I've seen it. 

I also agree with your mention of Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz. 

I was a huge Hayley Mills growing up. I loved Pollyanna but the Parent Trap was my favorite. I must have watched it a million times. She was such a great actress. 

[tv echo]

Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense. He was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for that performance at age 12, but did not win (Michael Caine won).

[Shannon L.]

Jaeden Martell in St. Vincent was wonderful.  He did a great job against veteran Bill Murray.

[MissAlmond]

Roddy McDowall in How Green Was My Valley.  IIRC, McDowall's performance was so strong, using another actor as the older "Huw" was scrapped and McDowall was signed to a contract. 

[Cobalt Stargazer]

On 5/12/2024 at 12:21 PM, Spartan Girl said:

OMG YES! I loved Lara. She really shot it out of the part, despite not having any lines in the first 2/3 of the movie. You could definitely tell she was Logan’s (genetic) daughter.

On a similar note, Millicent Simmonds as Regan Abbott in the first two A Quiet Place movies.

[Spartan Girl]

Another favorite one of mine is Amiah Miller as Nova in War for the Planet of the Apes. More proof that a child doesn’t need to have lines to stand out in a movie.

[Badger]

Philip Hepburn  as J.T. in "Bright Road" which starred Dorothy Dandridge in her first leading role as an idealistic young schoolteacher attempting to reach a young boy who is failing in school and has been dismissed as backward by his other teachers.  Harry Belafonte  made his movie debut as the school's principal.

[Spartan Girl]

All the Pevensie kids in Chronicles of Narnia were good, but Georgie Henley’s Lucy was my favorite. I always love how the filmmakers didn’t let her see Narnia until actually shooting the big scene so her stunned reaction coming out of the wardrobe and into the forest would be genuine. It worked. 

Edited May 26 by Spartan Girl

[BlueSkies]

Michael Oliver as Junior in the Problem Child movies.  

 

He was funny AF 

[Spartan Girl]

Alison Porter in Curly Sue is another one I’ve got a soft spot for. I don’t get why people diss that movie like it somehow was the nail in the coffin for John Hughes. Maybe it lacked the edgy cynicism Hughes was known for, but that’s not always a bad thing.

[Wiendish Fitch]

 

Much has been made of Bonita Granville as evil little hell-spawn Mary in 1936's These Three, but I also want to give props to Marcia Mae Jones as Mary's very unwilling accomplice Rosalie. Rosalie is a sweet kid who made one dumb mistake (stealing a classmate's bracelet), and pays for it horribly when Mary uses this to blackmail her. When Rosalie is pressured to bear false witness against her favorite teacher Martha Dobie (Miriam Hopkins), her breakdown is utterly devastating and heart-wrenching. You genuinely feel her anxiety, guilt, and fear.

Jones is also truly touching at the end,

Spoiler

after Martha enlists Rosalie's help to bring Mary down. Martha has forgiven Rosalie (though I don't think she was ever truly angry with her), but judging from the way she says goodbye to Martha, you sadly wonder if Rosalie will ever forgive herself. 

[Wiendish Fitch]

Surly adolescents/teens usually make me want run for the hills (they can't all be Daria), but I actually liked Ariana Greenblatt as Sasha in Barbie. She's more than a bit of a brat, but she's also smart and has some social awareness (the movie isn't afraid of addressing Barbie's somewhat controversial legacy). I like how how the wacky adventures that follow meeting Barbie not only make Sasha a little more patient and open-minded, but make her appreciate what a great mom she has.

Yay, a movie that isn't 100% on the kid's side for a change!

[Spartan Girl]

1 hour ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Surly adolescents/teens usually make me want run for the hills (they can't all be Daria), but I actually liked Ariana Greenblatt as Sasha in Barbie. She's more than a bit of a brat, but she's also smart and has some social awareness (the movie isn't afraid of addressing Barbie's somewhat controversial legacy). I like how how the wacky adventures that follow meeting Barbie not only make Sasha a little more patient and open-minded, but make her appreciate what a great mom she has.

Yay, a movie that isn't 100% on the kid's side for a change!

I liked that too. And I also loved that the movie, while calling out Barbie’s controversies, also called out Sasha’s narrowed minded ideas of feminism and the fact that you can’t just throw the word “fascist” out at anything or anyone you don’t like.

[Shannon L.]

I want to give a shout out to the writers who wrote the dialog for Cassie in the first two Ant-man movies and for Morgan in Endgame and to the acting in each.  The writing was really good for the ages of each kid and both young actresses played them pretty well.  I love all of their scenes (especially Morgan-she's adorable). 

[Schweedie]

One of my absolute favourites is Su-An Kim's performance as Su-An in Train to Busan. That little girl absolutely killed me.

And I cannot skip past Jamie Bell in Billy Elliot. 

[Wiendish Fitch]

I did mention Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz, but I certainly don't think her other juvenile roles should be chopped liver. No, they weren't all classics, but Garland was always the best thing about her pre-stardom films. One standout is the number "In Between" from 1938's Love Finds Andy Hardy. It's actually pretty gutsy to have a song about the pitfalls of adolescence, because it's true: adolescence sucks, and you rarely hear people recall it fondly.

Apologies for the awkward silence in the last two minutes.

 

[Fool to cry]

Had the TV on in the background and this Shirley Temple fantasy movie The Blue Bird (1940) and this part at 9:30 comes in and holy crap the boy and girl here just break your heart!

 

 

😥

[Spartan Girl]

I can’t believe nobody mentioned Macaulay Culkin’s Kevin in Home Alone yet. In honor of the holidays, I’ll be the first.

Fine, Kevin was a little brat at times, but considering what he had to deal with, I think it can be forgiven. Also, the bandits deserved everything they got.

Edited December 3 by Spartan Girl

[tearknee]

Shirley Temple was never as great as an O'Brien or Wood -- she didn't really deserve to be the most famous child actor in pop culture or "history" -- take away the Great Depression and well ...?

Remember that MGM were going to have her dubbed if they got her for Dorothy Gale.

 

[Wiendish Fitch]

Shirley Temple is certainly not everyone's cup of tea. I admit a lot of her performances are horribly dated and saccharine (though it feels unfair to place all the blame on her). I think I just mostly respect her for ending up so well-adjusted as an adult, because that level of fame when you're in the single digits would all but crush anyone else.

But to give the late Ms. Temple her due, if I had to pick one performance that I think really displays her chops, it would be as Sara Crewe in 1939's The Little Princess. Yes, they change the ending from the book (to be fair, so did the excellent 1995 version), but I like that Temple genuinely goes through the emotional wringer. It turns out it is incredibly hard to stay brave and positive when you've lost everything and the world seems determined to break you.

I also love the scene where Sara stands up to Miss Minchin. The "try it, bitch" look Temple gives Mary Nash when she threatens to slap her is perfection.

[Spartan Girl]

@Wiendish Fitch Let’s not forget Lisel Matthews’ performance as Sara in the 1995. She too nailed the emotional journey of trying to stay brave when going through the trauma conga line.

Edited December 4 by Spartan Girl

[Wiendish Fitch]

A Little Princess is just a great story, easily Frances Hodgson Burnett's best, IMO.