Our 25 Favorite Family Films
Spanning seven decades of movie-making, these are the bona fide classic family movies your parents were eager to share with you, the iconic films from your earliest big-screen outings, and the newer soon-to-be-classics you and your kids can experience together for the first time.
By Chris Healy
- Happy Feet
- 2006
It's not just the old films that have awesome soundtracks. This rock/pop/hip-hop musical deftly juggles action and tenderness—and the animation is simply jaw-dropping.
- The Lady and the Tramp
- 1955
The romantic leads may be of the canine variety, but this is Disney's most effective love story—and the one with the quaintest setting. Every child needs to experience the warmth and emotion of that famous spaghetti scene.
- The Muppet Movie
- 1979
No one can flip between zany and sweet as deftly as Kermit and friends. The celebrity cameos may be dated, but the humor, heart, and punchy tunes are timeless.
- The Parent Trap
- 1961
Long-lost twins plot to reunite their divorced parents, and yet it's not schlocky or saccharine. Playing out like a kids' version of a 1930s screwball comedy, this is one of the best of the scheming-kids-outwit-the-adults genre.
- Shrek
- 2001
As soon as a child is old enough to appreciate satire, she needs to see Shrek. This is the film that turned the cartoon in-joke into an art form—drawing in older audiences in the process.
- Star Wars
- 1977
More than just a film, Star Wars is its own mythology—and the lure and power of that fantasy world have never waned in the ensuing 30 years. But nothing beats the original in terms of pure entertainment.
- Freaky Friday
- 1977
Parent and child switch places—the premise has been done countless times since, but never as well. And this film will remind viewers that before Jodie Foster was a great actress, she was a great child actress.
- Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
- 2005
The wry British humor—fortified by hearty helpings of hilarious slapstick—give this film a very different feel from that of most animated comedies. And it's impossible not to love the put-upon but ever-loyal Gromit.
- The Iron Giant
- 1999
This gem of a film never got the wide audience it deserved. It's a beautiful tale of friendship and sacrifice in the guise of a 1950s sci-fi adventure, portrayed with a strikingly original animation style.
- The Bad News Bears
- 1976
This is the movie that practically wrote the script for every underdog sports tale to follow. The kids are crude, rude, and, in the end, absolutely lovable.
- A Little Princess
- 1995
Long before he tackled the Harry Potter franchise, director Alfonso Cuarón gave us this terrific, visually stunning movie about the triumph of the imagination in a strict 1940s boarding school. It's pure inspiration.
- My Neighbor Totoro
- 1988
Few animated films have offered as realistically depicted children as this Japanese movie. Two young girls with an ailing mother seek solace from the strange creatures they discover in their backyard, with uplifting results.
