Motherhood
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What Are Your Favorite Family Movies?

By: Jen Shoop

We’ve watched movies together as a family for many years now, but typically, we’ve made the experience matinees, or sometimes dinner-and-a-movie specials. (Our children typically go to bed between 7:30-8.) Over the Christmas holiday, however, we let our kids stay up late two different nights to watch a movie after dinner with us. It felt like a rite of passage, one of those invisible parenthood thresholds: we have now officially entered the phase of true family movie nights, where the movie is the activity, and it’s dark out, and we’re snuggled on one couch under multiple blankets, and we’re all watching something we independently find enjoyable. We watched “The BFG” one night (my daughter is obsessed with Roald Dahl) and “Wild Robot” the other. I’d strongly recommend both, but especially “Wild Robot.” I teared up several times, as it tugged on multiple heartstrings while broaching the themes of watching your children grow up and fly the coop, identity as mother, outsidership versus community, and kindness in the face of austerity and even cruelty. There is a moment in which one of the characters tells a gosling learning to fly: “You’re not meant to fly like others; you’re meant to fly like yourself.” (!)

I’m wondering if you can share a few of your favorite family movies so I have a good lead list as we tuck into this new stage of family life? We’ve done a lot of the Disney animated classics already, so mainly looking for wholesome, feel-good live action films at this point. “Matilda” (old 90s one) is next on our list — my daughter and I are almost done reading the book together and I know she’ll love this!

A few movies we’ve watched and enjoyed together in the past year or so — please add to this list!

“The Sandlot”

“The Mitchells vs. The Machines”

“Robot Dreams”

“Homeward Bound”

“The Velveteen Rabbit”

“SpiderMan: Across the SpiderVerse”

“Babe the Pig”

Movies I remember loving but not sure if they’ll still hold up? — please weigh in!: “The Little Giants,” “Baby’s Day Out,” “The Apple Dumpling Gang,” “Grease,” “The Secret Garden,” “Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken,” “Goonies,” “Richie Rich,” “Back to the Future,” “Parent Trap,” “Willow,” “Sound of Music,” “Rookie of the Year,” “Mighty Ducks,” and “The Little Rascals.” Please share thoughts!

Post-Scripts.

+Maintaining wonder as a parent.

+My day is full of small things.

+On doing small things with great love.

Shopping Break.

The following content may contain affiliate linksIf you make a purchase through the links below, I may receive compensation.

+Tuckernuck’s sample sale starts today, with items up to 80% off! I haven’t had advanced access to which products will be included (sometimes brands give me an early glimpse so I can share) but will try to update this post later today with any can’t miss items.

+So obsessed with this new capsule from Posse! It’s everything I want to wear this spring/summer — elegant, slightly preppy but made modern, easy. I love this top, these pants, this boatneck, this matching skirt, this vest…! There are also gorgeous pieces in butter yellow…I want it all.

+Good price for a great scalloped outdoor rug.

+Lake just restocked a bunch of its Valentine’s Day patterns in case they sold through in your child’s size (or your size) last time you checked. I got these in the blue hearts for my children. A good look for less heart pajama set for your little one: these!

+I’m in the market for a proper desk for my daughter. She’s been using an all-purpose table with a small chair for awhile now — and she’s outgrown it. My top picks right now are this, this (the hutch is appealing — extra storage), and this. One thing I keep asking myself is whether she the styles will feel babyish when she’s getting into her teen years. I’d like to buy her something that could potentially go with her to college if need be! Crazy to imagine thinking like that…!

+While we’re at Pottery Barn, loving their new collection with Kravet, including these gorgeous mugs, this lamp (!!!), and these curtains!

+If you’re shopping for your little one for warmer weather getaway, my favorite shorts for boys are these (my son slightly prefers the version in the performance material) and these.

+And for you for a warm weather getaway: fun new statement raffia Mary Janes from Prada, these shorts, and this perfect Alemais dress. And of course if you missed out on the Follow Suit Flora at Tuckernuck (now sold out — soo many of us bought these), you can still find them in a bunch of colors here.

+Scalloped bathmat for under $30 — great way to zhush your little one’s bathroom! Another great buy for a little one’s room: this $20 scalloped shelf, or this similar rattan trim book nook. Sweet ways to display frames/books/etc. Also love these bookends from the collection.

+Adorable $29 raincoat for a girl. Have also bought my kids these $31 raincoats for multiple years in a row. Best colors and have a nice, soft cotton lining.

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38 thoughts on “What Are Your Favorite Family Movies?

  1. So many good movies listed! To add to the list is Nanny McPhee! Updated Mary Poppins vibe with Emma Thompson.
    Have they seen Ice Age? I will always remember my son’s, now 25, belly laugh as he watched it. The most recent Cinderella remake is also good.

  2. So many of our favorites are already listed but wanted to add The Peanuts Movie, great for littles, and the two Paddington movies which have amazing casts and are great for kids and adults. My husband and I enjoy Paddington even without the kids! and the third one is due out in a month. We have also began movie nights more recently as the activity now that the kids are older and the nights are longer. (ages 9, 8, 6, and 2). When the older kids were little they often couldn’t sit through a whole movie, or if they could, it seemed my husband and I only caught the second half of the movie as we would often use the first half a respite for a quick tidy or catch up. It’s so enjoyable to be able to share a movie as a whole family. And wild robot was AMAZING!

    1. I love this – and thanks for the additional titles. I agree on Paddington! I remember watching that before I had kids (or maybe Emory was just really little) and loving it. Thanks for the reminder! xx

  3. Please do watch Roger’s & Hammerstein’s Cinderella!!! Such a great musical. My son was riveted. Stardust is my favorite, The Princess Bride, Eddie’s Million Dollar Cookoff (one of my favorite Disney Channel originals, baseball movie), Newsies, of course both Parent Trap movies, as a kid after watching The Parent Trap I became a real Dennis Quaid fan and loved The Rookie. I generally defer to commoner sense media (they cap you at 3 movies monthly without a subscription but you can see their summaries through Apple TV search). Those with older middle schoolers, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure!

    Your kids are probably too old for it but the Blues Clues movie set in NYC is fantastic, we adored it.but we watch mostly animated fare these days. The Paw Patrol movie was surprisingly decent. My little kids love all the beautifully animated Julia Donaldson short movies, especially The Snail and The Whale, Zog, and Tabby McTat. We have Hoopla from our library and they enjoyed The Most Magnificent Thing (a little engineer girl building something for her dog), the classic The Snowman, and Shaun the Sheep. Disney movies we all actually enjoy are Luca and Coco. My kids are little so they aren’t as into Up as I am, but they LOVE “Dug Days” which is a short series about just Dug and Carl. Animated specials based on books are right in our wheelhouse right now, The Tiger Who Came To Tea was great, and so was The Boy, the Mole, The Horse and the Fox.My dad is a huge Carly Simon fan and she’s done the music for the more recent Winnie The Pooh movies, we like Pooh’s Heffalump Movie the best and I always cry when the mama shows up. We’ve bought every curious George movie and I’d say as an adult the first one with Will Ferrell is the best, but we’ve seen all of them times infinity. Peacock subscribers can watch them free. I can’t wait until my kids are old enough for Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, Quest for Camelot, and emperors new groove.

  4. Love all these recs, and must chime in with “Because of Winn Dixie”, “Mary Poppins” (a must!), “Hook”, “Peter Rabbit”, and “E.T.”! Happy family movie night!

  5. I use Common Sense Media to help me filter through movies for my kids who are 6 and 4. In addition to the movies on your list and included in the comments, we have loved Shrek, Homeward Bound, and Angela’s Christmas (and the second Angela one). Their favorite show at the moment is Puffin Rock on Netflix.

  6. We often do movie nights with our 3 year old. She really just shows up for the popcorn, but some movies we love watching together:
    – Wonka: this was her first movie in theater and she made it all the way to the end! We also love the soundtrack
    – The Greatest Showman: another great soundtrack
    – Up (my personal fave)
    – Matilda: Emma Thompson as Miss Trunchbull is iconic

    I can’t wait until she’s old enough for The Goonies and The Princess Bride 🙂

  7. A few live action picks we’ve watched and loved with our kids over the last few years (now 9 and 6 – we just added the 3-year-old to movie night but she hasn’t seen these yet!): The Parent Trap (both versions are favorites in our house!), The Sound of Music (our 9yo girl especially loved this, which made me so happy!), Matilda, Homeward Bound, Babe, Enchanted, the first Star Wars, and A Little Princess (after we read the book – the book is so good!!). A few on our list: The Princess Bride, Father of the Bride Parts 1 and 2 (my absolute favorite movies at our daughter’s age!!), Cool Runnings, A League of Their Own, Mighty Ducks, Three Men and a Baby, and What About Bob!

    1. So many recs for Parent Trap! Will absolutely be showing this to my daughter. I have such great memories of this! Had forgotten about Cool Runnings but LOVED that one when I was younger!

      xx

      1. My eight year old loved The Parent Trap and said Cool Runnings was the funniest thing she’d ever seen (we watched that when she was just six I think). She enjoyed Richie Rich okay but was kind of scared by it, which was odd because she’s seen Home Alone and coped with that fine!

  8. Night at the Museum is super fun. We had great success with The Princess Bride for ages 6+ (some scary parts). I forgot about Jumanji!

  9. This is our routine too, and I love it! My kids are 9 and 5. We’ve been in a big musicals period – Wicked and Greatest Showman on repeat! And we are also big on The Princess Bride, Parent Trap, Freaky Friday, Sandlot, the Mighty Ducks trilogy, and the first few Harry Potter movies (1-4, before it gets super dark). Excited for more suggestions in these comments!

  10. My kids, ages 9 and 8, just started watching the Star Wars series with us. Our 8 year old daughter is slightly scared and then exclaims at the end that she’s ready for the next one.

  11. All of the movies on your list have been hits with my kids. I keep a running list of movies to share with them as they become old enough to watch (some of those 80s and 90s movie ratings are questionable…).

    To add to your list for this age range: Blank Check, Troop Beverly Hills, Flubber, Beethoven.

    For later: My Girl, Little Manhattan (this one is a little obscure, but insanely sweet as those first crushes develop), Camp Nowhere, Clue, Wonder, and of course the John Hughes canon.

    For much later: My Cousin Vinny, Devil Wears Prada, the Oceans movies, and Catch Me If You Can are family favorites.

  12. My 5 year old is very into Home Alone, laughs out loud. It kept my 3 year olds attention for awhile too. In more recent non-animated movies, my kids both loved Wicked.

  13. Thanks for these ideas! We don’t do many movies as a family, maybe we’ll do more in 2025. I forgot about Rookie of the Year and Mighty Ducks! I think my girls would like both of those. I agree with Rachel, try Princess Bride! I got the dvd from the library recently (don’t laugh, I refuse to pay for all the streaming services!) after listening to As You Wish by Cary Elwes, and I was surprised that my 7 and 4 year old enjoyed it. They asked to watch it several times. They and their cousins (same ages) also watched White Christmas on thanksgiving and all four girls requested to watch it again – they loved the costumes! One more – as a kid, I loved That Darn Cat, but haven’t watched it as an adult. Might try that one with my kids next!

    1. Big fan of Princess Bride — I quote from it constantly (can you even hear the phrase “stop it now, I mean it…” without adding “anybody want a peanut?”). I was worried it might be too scary with the ROUS / swamp scene / a few other moments but maybe it’s just goofy enough to be OK? Going to try with my older one!

      xx

  14. Loved this post and bookmarking for the future! Could you share where the heart shaped bowls are from? My daughter would get a huge kick out of those!

  15. I love finding movies to watch with my kids, but it can be so hard!

    My son (7 years) currently says The Princess Bride is his favorite movie, and I’m so proud of him – it’s a classic. I only have boys, but they love the sword fighting, but I’m sure a girl would love it on a whole different level!

    I co-sign The Parent Trap – great movie and it holds up!

    School of Rock is also great – really funny and has a good message. Jack Black has become somewhat of a main celebrity in our family because he’s in a lot of kids movies (super Mario, the new jumji…some others I’m blanking on right now.

    My boys were obsessed with a movie called Zathura for awhile – it’s based on a book by the guy who wrote jumanji and is a similar plot, but set in space. More importantly, it stars a young Kristen Stewart and Dax Shepherd!

    We’ve watched the goonies and my boys love it – some of it I cringe at because it strikes my as inappropriate, but I remind myself that Grease was my absolute favorite movie when I was little (we rented it so often that I now wonder why my mom didn’t just buy the VHS) and the whole abortion plotline and Danny trying to put the moves on sandy at the drive in totally flew over my head…

    We also recently watched Ferris Bueller and Real Genius. I distracted my kids during the hot tub scene of Ferris bueller!

    1. Thank you for all of these ideas! Very bullish on Princess Bride after reading through the comments here. Funny about Grease – that was also one of my ALL TIME favorites; I must have watched it a hundred times? I specifically remember my sister saying that Rizzo line: “I’m gonna get my kicks and get ’em while I’m young,” delivered with IMPECCABLE sass, when she was like six years old. HAHA. We had no idea what any of it meant.

      xx

  16. I’m 35 and my best friend and I watched Parent Trap last week and still loved it. It holds up beautifully. It holds a permanent spot on my “feel good movie” list,

    Mighty Ducks is another that will always hold a special place in my heart and will forever hold up to a re-watch.

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