Chris Columbus

A guy whose better movies were the ones he wrote (Gremlins, Goonies, The Lost Boys, The Abyss, among others) rather than directed.

Home Alone (1990) -- A funny-enough kiddie comedy, before it got carried away and John Hughes based his screenwriting career around it. (Chris Columbus also directed the sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.)

Nine Months (1995) -- A halfway decent movie that succeeds because of the slapstick (not so over-the-top as Home Alone luckily) and actors involved. Not great, but not bad.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) -- One of the best children's movies I've seen in a while. It has some imperfections (the "sport" was the stupidest and most pointless sport ever invented, and the ending scenes screwed up various things story wise), but it was so refreshing to watch something where the kids weren't being all "whazzup!" They were acting like real kids, and I think that real kids will appreciate that and like the movie when they're adults, rather than the crappy things they like now because they don't know any better. (See below for the sequel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) -- Probably technically better than the first, in that there were fewer annoying aspects, though seemingly missing some of the charm too. As with the first one, perhaps the best and most interesting thing about this movie is that it's a semi-intelligent kids movie and it's so nicely-paced that it doesn't feel like two and a half hours (a long time for any movie, much more a kids movie). (See above for the predecessor, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. See Alfonso Cuarón for the sequel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.)