Family movies

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What movies do you like for family viewing? They can be religious in nature or not.
 
KCT said:
What movies do you like for family viewing? They can be religious in nature or not.
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Do you have boys or girls, or both? What ages? We have all boys, all age 8 and under, so my recommendations are based on movies that boys in that age range may like. Here are some that I can think of:
  • Any Pixar movie (e.g., Toy Story 1/2/3, The Incredibles, Cars, etc.)
  • Swiss Family Robinson (old Disney live-action movie)
  • The Apple Dumpling Gang
  • Classic Disney animated movies (The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Pinnochio, 101 Dalmations, Peter Pan, other Winnie the Pooh movies, etc.)
  • Robin Hood (starring Errol Flynn)
  • Joseph, King of Dreams
  • The Miracle Maker - The Story of Jesus
  • Curious George and Curious George 2
  • Scooby-Doo movies. But be careful. Some Scooby-Doo movies from around 1998-2000 are not so good. In particular, I would strongly recommend that you avoid “Scooby-Doo and the Witch’s Ghost,” because of scary/evil elements that turn out to be real – not just some guy in a monster suit. In fact all Scooby-Doo movies are at least somewhat scary, and may not be good for small children. They also are not of the same quality as Disney movies in any way, and they don’t pretend to be. Having said all that, they are fun for kids and for adults who loved Scooby-Doo when they were kids (like me). My favorites are Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Vampire, Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico, Scooby-Doo and the Loch Ness Monster, Scooby-Doo Where’s My Mummy, Aloha Scooby-Doo, Scooby-Doo Pirates Ahoy, and Chill Out Scooby-Doo.
 
My family enjoys watching:

Old Disney classics: Candleshoe, Jungle book, Rocketeer…

Pixar: (BIG family favorite) Up, Cars, WALL•E…

Dream works: Prince of Egypt

familytv.com/: A lot of good ones here, we get most of them from the library

We all so enjoy these TV shows:

Early Edition

Little House On The Prairie

Sue Thomas F B Eye

Some great movie review sites:

decentfilms.com/

ncregister.com/tags/movie_reviews

Let me know if your looking for anything particular…

God Bless
 
PaulGH said:
  • Any Pixar movie (e.g., Toy Story 1/2/3, The Incredibles, Cars, etc.)
  • Swiss Family Robinson (old Disney live-action movie)
  • The Apple Dumpling Gang
  • Classic Disney animated movies (The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Pinnochio, 101 Dalmations, Peter Pan, other Winnie the Pooh movies, Disney’s Robin Hood etc.)
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These.

But now that I and the rest of my family are a bit older we’re kind of big on animated movies around the PG rating too. Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Bolt, etc.
 
Our children are ages 3 to 7 - two older ones boys, two younger ones girls. Our county library allows us to order movies from any of the libraries in the county, so we watch a lot of movies - many of them older ones.

Our kids love the old musicals most of all - and almost any movie from before 1965.

Early on, they were encaptivated by “Music Man”.

It usually takes us three or four days to get through a movie. Our kids don’t really watch any other television - so we often wrap up the evening by watching part of a movie as a family at night - if they take naps.

The kids all loved “My Fair Lady”, “Wizard of Oz”. We just finished the “King and I” and they just loved the play inside of it. (I think we had to watch that eight or nine times). “Sound of Music” is a favorite.

We also, watch the pixar movies and some Disney. They all love “Follow Me Boys” (about scouting). “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, “Mary Poppins”

We try to mix up the movies - with serious movies followed by lighter one. And we try not to get stuck watching one movie over and over again.

We watched “Ben Hur” this year (which has serious content). But the kids loved watching that. Our oldest got a “roman colosseum” playmobil for Christmas and we watched that movie to give some context to his toy. (Last year they got the Pyramids and Sphinx and we watched “Cleopatra”.). Even though Ben Hur has some pretty serious elements, the kids fell in love with it. We had a week or two where we watched other “Charlton Heston” movies - and the kids have asked that we watch “The Greatest Story Ever Told” - which i have ordered for us to watch next week.

I will generally go to the imdb website and see user comments on a movie i am not familiar with. I don’t mind my kids seeing movies with serious content, especially if it allows us a chance to discuss historical context. But i do warn them of any impending scenes that are unsettling. They are aware that the movies use actors - and that the actors don’t really suffer.
 
Our kids were raised watching classics every Saturday night. 👍

I’m asking because we’re thinking of offering a family movie night at church, and I’m looking for titles.

When I was teaching, I found that most of my students (middle school) did not like classics. They were raised on action movies and movies w/ lots of special effects. Some of the classics would not hold their attention.

I’d love to show classics at church, but I’m skeptical that folks would attend. Maybe if we do some popular recent movies first, and the idea takes off, we can wean them ON to classics. 🤷
 
Courageous
Fireproof
Little House on the Prairie
Narnia movies
 
We did watch “seven brides for seven brothers”, and i think they enjoyed it, but it was a long time ago, so i don’t remember.

If this is a church event, then, i would agree with you, that you need to either do something more modern - or have a big discussion on why the movie is so great.

I would probably start with something like “Tangled” (modern Rapunzel story). It would appeal to girls, but has a lot in it for boys. It’s not too babyish for older kids. I’m probably not the right one to give advice for the general public. My wife and i have kind of shunned modern technology with our kids (with the exception of having a DVD/VHS player). We don’t have cable, and haven’t downloaded a movie, yet. With so many having extravagant tvs in their home with surround-sound - it seems that you have to compete with the experience of watching it with a group - and the fun of that. If you would know your movies ahead of time, you could always play the trailer for the next movie to get them excited about it.

after you get the program off the ground, and people find it fun, you may be able to revisit classic movies.
 
KCT said:
I’m asking because we’re thinking of offering a family movie night at church, and I’m looking for titles.
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You might consider Ignatius Night at the Movies, from Ignatius Press:

ignatius.com/promotions/movienights/

One thing you have to consider with a movie night at church is getting the rights to present the movie in a public/group setting. If you go with the Ignatius program, they have an option where you can purchase a site license, or where you can sell Ignatius products as a fundraiser (in which case they grant you the site license).
 
My favorite movie that my kids watch is Despicable Me. That movie is flat out hilarious. I never get tired of it.
 
There may be cursing in it, but Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is what I consider to be a great family movie. It’s hilarious, but there’s also a pretty serious emotional plotline that hits home near the end.
 
Nec5 said:
There may be cursing in it, but Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is what I consider to be a great family movie. It’s hilarious, but there’s also a pretty serious emotional plotline that hits home near the end.
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That’s one of my favorite movies of all time. I do wish that I could get a profanity-free version of it to watch with my kids. (Well, even without the profanity, they might need to be a bit older. I can’t recall if there is anything else objectionable in the movie or not.)
 
For a middle school crowd,

Tangled (lots of useful stuff about chastity, waiting for the one, self respect)

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (being yourself not who you think you should be)

Despicable Me (lots of good stuff about Fatherhood and able to relate easily to God the Heavenly Father)

Brave is going to be out in theaters soon, and I think that might be a fun middle school outing.

HTH.
 
Other movies that are a bit older, but we’ve used clips from, so could be possibilities

SandLot
Babe
Anne of Green Gables
Christy miniseries
Stardust

Musicals like
Godspell
Pirates of Penzance
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Sound of Music (it’s really long though)
 
We watch a lot of older movies…We just watched “The Happiest Millionaire”…it’s long, but was pretty good. The music was like Mary Poppins…

The Absentminded professor, The Shaggy DA, Herbie…The origianl movies like that are always good for a laugh…I’d stay away from remakes of them…well, just because I hate remakes of movies:p
 
Holes

A Shark’s Tale (“My sister had a baby and I took him after she passed away and the baby lost all his legs and arms and now he’s just a stump but I take care of him with my wife and… and he’s growing and he’s fairly happy… and it’s difficult because I’m working a second shift at the factory to put food on the table… but all the love that I see in that little guy’s face it makes it worth it in the end. True story.”

Wall-e
 
  • Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium
  • Despicable Me
  • All the Disney/Pixars
  • Night at the Museum
  • Dr. Dolittle (Rex Harrison)
  • Swiss Family Robinson
  • Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
  • The Music Man
  • The Karate Kid (old or new)
 
shainski said:
I would probably start with something like “Tangled” (modern Rapunzel story). It would appeal to girls, but has a lot in it for boys. It’s not too babyish for older kids. I’m probably not the right one to give advice for the general public.
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Well I just watched it this morning and I’m a straight 16 year old male so I think that’s accurate. 😃
 
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