Need Good Movies for the Whole Family.

Updated on July 01, 2013
J.C. asks from Blacksburg, VA
17 answers

Hi! It was a hot miserable day so we decided to have family movie day. It took us forever to come up with a movie! If I ever watch a movie with my girls, it's generally a disney one. My husband didn't want those. He wanted more of a "real" movie. I am very picky about what my little ones watch, so I didn't like his ideas. We've already done Swiss Family Robinson and Heidi. Does anyone have ideas for movies our whole family can agree on? I need a list for next time so we don't spend more time picking a movie than actually watching one!

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Featured Answers

S.G.

answers from Grand Forks on

War Horse, ET, Mr. Poppers Penguins, We Bought a Zoo, Nanny McPhee, Holes, Tuck Everlasting, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Karate Kid, The Waterhorse, Charlie and the Choccolate Factory, Willy Wonka, Second Hand Lions, Spy Kids and Harry Potter. I do not like kids movies, and especially not Disney or cartoons, but these are all movies I enjoyed (or at least tolerated) with the kids.

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B..

answers from Dallas on

Second hand Lions
Narnia
Ever After

Search Mamapedia for more family friendly movies, we just had this question a few days back. If you plug it in the search, it will give a ton of suggestions.

1 mom found this helpful

More Answers

T.S.

answers from San Francisco on

How old are your kids? That makes a difference.
As a FAMILY, we have especially loved all the Pixar movies, Toy Story and Up being our absolute favorites.
Any Roald Dahl movies, Willy Wonka, Matilda, The Witches, Fantastic Mr. Fox, James and the Giant Peach.
Classics like Babe, Labyrinth, Shrek, Superman, The Never Ending Story, Peter Pan (not the Disney one, the newer one) Charlotte's Web, E.T.
Musicals like Annie, The Sound of Music (great history lesson) and The Wizard of Oz.
Oh, and the Tim Burton films, Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Freaky Friday and The Parent Trap are good too, especially if you have girls.

4 moms found this helpful

P.L.

answers from Washington DC on

Hotel for Dogs
Chronicles of Narnia
Beverly Hills Chihuahua
Beethoven
The documentary Babies
March of the Penguins
Ice Age
Shrek
Matilda
Willy Wonka(original)
Anne of Green Gables
Spy Kids
Dont think Goonies yet, lots if cussing
We Bought a Zoo: has two cusswords
The Sandlot
Stuart Little
The Addams Family
Angels in the Outfield
Tangled( hubby will sit throught it for the make lead)
Hoodwinked
Brother Bear
The Secret of Roan Inish
101 Dalmations, live version with Glenn Close
Dinosaur
Have a Christmas in July theme watch Miracle on 34th Street(original)
Santa Claus with Tim Allen
Pete's Dragon
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Pixar flicks
Wizard of Oz
Wizards of Waverly Place Movie
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
How to Train Your Dragon
Batteries Not Included(PG)
might be a lil young for The Princess Bride
Curly Sue(PG)
Horton Hears a Who!
The Lorax
Madagascar
Kung Fu Panda
The Retrievers
Homeward Bound
Recess The Movie
An American Tale
Babe
Charlottes Web

4 moms found this helpful

D.P.

answers from Detroit on

Annie
Sound of Music
Mary Poppins
Never Ending Story
Willy Wonka
American Tale
Matilda, Babe & MIlo & Otis are also favorites in our home.

3 moms found this helpful
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S.B.

answers from Kansas City on

How old are your kids? My dd is 6 and we like the Princess Bride, Lord of the Rings/Hobbit, that sort of thing. Currently we're all watching Veggie Tales.

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S.R.

answers from Los Angeles on

We just watched Little Rascals the movie (from the 90's) today, I thought that was a good kid/parent pleaser. Depends how old your youngest daughter is... My 3 y/o still can't really sit through a whole movie (but she can watch 6 episodes in a row of one of those Disney Jr shows if we let her).

I bet some of the other kid faves from the 90's would work well-
The Sandlot
Mighty Ducks
Little Giants
Leave it to Beaver (the movie)
Babe
Milo and Otis

My daughter who is 6 was just starting to show enough interest to enjoy some of the more current family movies like Ramona & Beezus and the Wimpy Kid movies. I loved both of those personally.

I second all those old ones from when we were kids, but I haven't tried most of them yet because I feel like they are more interesting maybe for age 8-9 and up-
Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder version)
Parent Trap (Hayley Mills)
Freaky Friday (Jodie Foster)
Annie
Grease 1 & 2

Iwas partial to musicals as a kid if your hubby can handle those Sound of Music, Music Man, Oklahoma are also somewhat appealing to kids.

If your kids are OK with Tim Burton I think a lot of his movies are good adult/kid pleasers.
Nightmare Before Christmas
Frankenweenie
Willy Wonka (Johnnie Depp)

Enjoy :)

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M.R.

answers from Washington DC on

In addition to those below, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. :)

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J.T.

answers from Victoria on

We recently got Net flix I really like it. The "Just for Kids" Section makes movie watching for our 5 yr old really easy on me because he can pick himself. So far I have not seen anything inappropriate on that channel. They have categories "family movies" which select movies for the entire family. They are currently offering a free month. I want to say my small experience with RedBox has a catagory where you could pick movies from family watching. Cheaper by the Dozen, Honey I shrunk the Kids, The Dirt Bike Kid, Flight of the Navigator, The Neverending Story, Goonies, Dr Doolittle ( i like the origional better than the one with Eddy Murphree ) Origional Little Rascals or Our Gang. I agree with We Bought a Zoo its a good one.

Ask him what were his favorites as a child. My husband hates kid movies. He really isnt a movie watcher at all. Ask him to suck it up for one hour a week. If that is the case.

2 moms found this helpful

X.O.

answers from Chicago on

What are the age ranges?

Things that we watched, or I have watched with my kids:

Old Yeller
Toby Tyler
Polyanna
The Parent Trap (Haley Mills version)
Meet me in St. Louis
The Music Man
The King and I

Nanny McPhee
Matilda

ETA: Due to adult themes, I wouldn't do Grease for young kids, or even Oklahoma (which I watched for the first time last weekend and was surprised at the constant innuendo and the frightening scene of the farmhand pursuing Shirley McClain's character).

My kids love the Veggie Tales movies, as do I. Their newer one "The League of Incredible Vegetables" is a crowd pleaser. We also love "Jonah" and "The Pirates Who Don't do Anything."

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S.D.

answers from Phoenix on

we just watched in the last two weeks.
Honey I shrunk kids, Honey I shrunk ourselves, and Honey I blew up the kid. Very cute.

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S.S.

answers from Chicago on

Bed Knobs and Broomsticks
mary poppins
mr poppers penguins
chitty chitty bang bang
the incredible mr limpet
the apple dumpling gang
herby the love bug
the black stallion
freaky friday (the original not the new one)
the parent trap original with haley mills
that darn cat original with haley mills
the shaggy dog original with fred mcmurry
the absent minded professer with fred mcmurry
escape to witch mountain the original
it takes two w/olson twins
matilda
the incredible journey

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L.R.

answers from Washington DC on

Go to the web sites that cater to parents seeking information about movies. One is commonsensemedia.org, I think. You can Google "kids movie reviews" as well. Hard to answer, otherwise, without knowing your kids' ages, but I am assuming they're fairly young if Disney is your fallback. If they are not very small, try "Nim's Island" (especially good as a girls-can-save-the-day theme but it does mention a mom being swallowed by a whale and shows a dad in danger on the sea). My daughter loves "National Treasure" but it might be too old for your kids if they're still Heidi age.

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C.D.

answers from Washington DC on

The Diary of a Wimpy kid movies we all like.

D.S.

answers from Norfolk on

Hi, Mama:

Had you thought about the family going to a movie store and bring the movies together and then decide.

We have not only a country but clubs that people are telling each other what to do and say. Come together as a family and make a decision.

Good luck.
D.

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J.S.

answers from Los Angeles on

We just watched the Robin Hood with Errol Flynn as a family and loved it.

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M.P.

answers from Chicago on

Ponyo - more for the kids though, sorry lol

Adventures in Babysitting - old favorite of mine

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