National Velvet (G, 1944)

When young Velvet Brown (Elizabeth Taylor) meets Mi Taylor (Mickey Rooney), the two immediately connect, bonding over their love of horses. He came to town because he found Velvet's mother's name in his late father's address book, but he has no idea what their relationship was. Velvet wins an uncontrollable horse in a lottery that she names Pi; she decides that Pi must be in the Grand National race and goes against the adults' wishes by riding him herself. She wins but is disqualified because she's a girl. Still, the family returns home in triumph, knowing that they won what was important to them. Appearance and endorsement offers follow, but Velvet knows that it's time to move on. So does Mi, who says good-bye to Mr. and Mrs. Brown. When Velvet hears that he's gone, she asks if she can tell him about his father, who helped Mrs. Brown achieve an important dream. Mrs. Brown consents, and Velvet races after Mi, catching up to him just as the movie ends.

National Velvet is the story of dreams themselves, wise and foolish, big and small, realized and impossible, and about the way all of these dreams change those who are lucky enough to dream them. But it also deals with what happens after the dream comes true. It sometimes seems that half the movies that are made -- and well over half of the movies that are made for kids -- end with the hero or heroine triumphantly standing in the winner's circle, holding the trophy overhead as the music swells and the credits roll.

The film also conveys the importance of faith -- Velvet's faith in herself and in Pi and in her dream, and her family's faith in her and in Mi -- and the importance of that belief and support in making the dream come true. But most of all, National Velvet is the story of a loving family and is a wonderful starting point for a discussion of the ways that families of all kinds can teach and support each other.