Family movie night is one of our favorite indulgences around here. We generally don’t watch much television, so when we do, it is a big event. We pop popcorn, lay on a big blanket in the living room, open boxes of candy, and generally relish the evening.
The only hard part is finding a movie we are all excited about.
As an American with freedom of choice, a human being given free will, and a parent who has feelings and tolerancy levels for the inane, I won’t watch movies about chimpanzees in space, golden retriever puppies who play hockey, or anything with jokes about diapers or bodily functions.
Oh- and we don’t do movies that include curse words or vague sexual references that we can ignore because they are “over the kids’ heads”. In fact, we generally prefer to find G-rated movies.
I know, we are totally Amish, but there you have it.
We have had duds- like National Velvet, which made everyone go, “Meh.”, and The Wizard of Oz, which gave multiple children nightmares and made for a long night for us all. But we are always on the look-out for new favorites.
In fact, I can no longer count the number of times I have googled “best family movies” or “list of great family films”. I seem to be in constant search mode for movies we can watch and actually enjoy together as a family. Generally,these kinds of lists are hard to find, repetitive, and most people have different levels of expectations and requirements for this category.
Surely, though, we aren’t the only ones who want G-Rated movies, with great story lines, adventure, romance, and humor, that people ages 3-36 can thoroughly enjoy, right? So, I present our list of favorites, should you be of the same mind in movie selection. Here goes:
10. Heidi. This movie has everything you could want: dancing for the girls, a monkey who throws things at adults for the boys, and a sweet story of redemption for the adults. We all loved it, despite the fact that I was the only person who wanted to watch it before we pressed “Play”.
9.The Sound of Music. I wasn’t super sure that my children would love this one. I wondered if they would feel it didn’t have enough action. But they raved about it for days afterward. It is certainly a classic for a reason.
8. Up. We originally saw Up in the theaters. The dogs are pretty scary, but the adventure and incredible story make up for it. I never knew an animated film could touch my soul like this one did.
5. The Parent Trap. Morgan and I were super excited about watching this movie. The boys were less enthused. But they really loved it, and have asked to watch it again on their own. Hayley Mills is still delightful, and I think the idea of children maneuvering their parents into love and forgiveness will always appeal to children.
4. Singin’ in the Rain. The dubious faces of my children almost kept me from pressing them to watch this one. But, they completely loved it. The musical numbers keep the little ones fascinated, and the sweet story grabs the adults. Great family movie.
3. The Narnia movies. After hearing the books read aloud, my children have loved watching the stories of Narnia unfold before them. They are fantastic adventures, with beautiful life lessons and inspiring characters.
2. A Little Princess. I have to say, this one caught me by surprise. We watched it on Netflix on a whim. It is now on my list of favorite films of all time. As for the kids, they haven’t stopped talking about the unjust treatment of Sarah, her brave spirit, and her kind friendship. There is a scary part where Sarah imagines a dragon, though, so little ones may need to skip that part.
1. Mary Poppins. We have read the Mary Poppins books aloud and liked them a lot, but I am kind of partial to the movie. In the books Mary is a little darker, very vain, and a bit frightening. These characteristics also make her incredibly interesting. But in the movie she is so completely lovely and happy- and the fantasy of it all is enrapturing. Plus, you get to sing all the songs the next day, and practice spelling Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
Jessie
I'm with you. It's so hard to find good family friendly movies. I just added to my Netflix queue Heidi & the Last Princess. Most of the others I found at the library! Thanks for posting.