stories/events in which children need to overcome government or developer
interests to save wildlife, nature, homes, &c.
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A.I. - Artificial Intelligence (film, 2001)
The company that manufactured robot David (Haley Joel Osment) wants him back.
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Arthur and the Invisibles (film, 2006)
Arthur (Freddie Highmore) is a ten-year-old whose grandfather's house and
surrounding gardens will be destroyed by developers building a condo complex
unless he finds a hidden treasure (once his grandfather's) in the land of the
Minimoys, a tiny people (animated) living in harmony with nature.
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Bless the Beasts and Children (film, 1971)
Campers decide to free a herd of buffalo and risk legal consequences.
A classic anti-corporation film of the 1970s.
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D.A.R.Y.L. (film, 1985)
tagline from IMDb: Becoming human was not part of the plan. Now they want to terminate him.
[D.A.R.Y.L. (Barret Oliver), or Data Analyzing Robot Youth Lifeform].
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E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (film, 1982)
The experimenters want to take E.T. apart, to find out what makes him tick.
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Ernest Goes to Camp (film, 1987)
Ernest P. Worrell (Jim Varney) is a maintenance man at Camp Kikakee,
though he hopes to become a counselor. He gets a chance when he's
assigned to a group of juvenile delinquents. An evil mining company
tricks the camp's owner into signing away the deed, and Ernest and
the boys have to fight to stop the camp's destruction.
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Free Willy (film, 1993)
Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home (film, 1994)
Free Willy 3: The Rescue (film, 1997)
Willy always seems to need his freedom restored, with the help of Jesse (Jason James Richter)
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Hoot (film, 2006)
"The film is about a group of children trying to save a burrowing owl
habitat from destruction. The habitat is located on the intended
construction site of a pancake house. The greedy and corrupt developer
of the project intends to proceed regardless of the environmental damage
it would cause."
[quote from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoot_%28film%29]
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Labou (film, 2008)
Kids must foil the plans of big company to ruin the bayou.
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Lil' River Rats and the Adventure of the Lost Treasure (film, 2003)
[aka Lil' Treasure Hunters]
Molly Brown (Molly Hall) lives with her unemployed father near a river where
her late mother said a treasure was buried. To make matters worse, her
grandfather is seriously ill in a hospital, and a large paper-manufacturing
company wants to buy the land where their family home stands. In order
to save the house, help her grandfather, and restore the family's financial
security, Molly gets her friends together (the typical group: a girl leader,
a nerd, a black kid, a runaway orphan, hounded by a series of bullies) to
search for the treasure and foil the plans of the land-grabbing paper
company. (No spoiler alert needed: I won't divulge whether or not they find
the treasure. What do you think? This, believe me, is a third-rate
film that uses nearly every available cliché, situation and predictable
joke available to script writers. Unfortunately, this is a typical
"family-friendly" offering all-too-common in the last couple of decades.)
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My Secret Identity (CTV [Canada]. 1988-1991)
"Seems Like Only Yesterday", 4 June 1990)
Andrew Clements (Jerry O'Connell) and Kirk Stevens (Christopher Bolton), along
with many of their friends at the Rocket Skating Rink, learn that it will be torn
down so that a developer can build condominiums. The pals remember that this was
the place they first met (and fought, and raced on roller skates), so they and
a number of their adult friends and family mount a campaign to save it from the
wrecking ball. (Andrew quite literally blocks the wrecking ball with his
super-powers, which Dr J, who generally doesn't approve, agrees was a good move.)
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No More Baths (film, 1998)
from the preview on a DVD from the same distributor (Feature Films for
Families): "When a greedy developer tries to take an elderly man's
home, a group of caring kids grabs their community leaders by their
noses with a smelly protest. [They refuse to take baths until the
developer gives in.] It's a great movie to initiate a family discussion
on what each of us can do to help others in need."
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Ocean Girl (YTV [syndication], 1994-1997)
"Property Developers", 3 October 1994
Property developers want to turn Neri's island into a holiday resort.
"Danger in the Reef", 3 August 1996
The Bates family returns to Orca to help with a battle over the destruction
of fish breeding grounds.
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Oddballs (film, 1984)
Canadian sex comedy about saving a summer camp from becoming a shopping mall.
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Round the Twist (Australian Children's Television Foundation, 1989-2001)
Harold Gribble (Frankie J. Holden [1989], Mark Mitchell [1993-2001) is cast in
most episodes as a greedy entrepreneur who is always trying to exploit the
environment for his own profit. Many times, the Twist kids and others foil his
plans.
"Know All", 13 June 1989
Gribble brings round an American developer (Peter Green) as a potential buyer
for the lighthouse property, "A tourist mecca in the making".
The Twists, however, having dressed themselves and a scarecrow in the clothes
they found in an old trunk washed up on the beach, frighten off the developer,
as the clothes have given them -- and the scarecrow -- magical, scary powers.
"Lighthouse Blues" 4 July 1989
The definitive episode for kids' victory over corporate interests.
Gribble wants to take over the lighthouse to make an amusement park,
but even he doesn't know the developer wants to demolish the lighthouse.
The kids have to summon the lighthouse ghosts to help them win.
"Little Squirt", 18 April 1993
The river's water spirit (Teresa Blake) isn't so keen on Gribble's (Mark
Mitchell) latest scheme to build an aquatic resort, but when she sees Bronson
Twist (Jeffrey Walker) throwing stones into the river, she thinks he's
responsible.
"Smelly Feat", 15 May 1993
When Bronson Twist (Jeffrey Walker) discovers that Gribble (Mark Mitchell)
and his friends are planning to catch an ancient turtle, he uses the
smell of his feet to stop them.
"Yuckles", 5 June 1993
[from IMDb]: Senator Gribble (Mark Mitchell) intends to cut down the
forest and the only thing standing in his way is Nell's (Bunney Brooke)
claim that the forest is home to a rare breed of mushroom.
"The Princess and the Pete", Season 4 Episode 8, 2001
Gribble (Mark Mitchell) is pumping water from a local pond to support his
new bottled water business. The problem is that he's pumping out far too much
water, endangering the frogs. One of the frogs temporarily takes on human form
as Jade Green (Jane Harvey), a beautiful teen girl who sweeps Pete Twist (Rian
McLean) off his feet, even though she is gradually turning green. Pete organises
the townsfolk to confront Gribble and re-water the pond, the frogs, and Pete's
"princess".