Great Family Movies
Here is a list of family movies that I highly recommend. These are movies that I have personally viewed and believe that the content of the movie is extremely valuable in showing our children the power of the human spirit. Almost all of these movies my children watched with me (and/or my wife) when they were the age of third graders. If you have other movies that you recommend, please email me so that I can view and add to our list. A tremendous website to get suggestions and additional details about movies/television shows/books is www.commonsensemedia.org
African Cats- Disney movie about big cats in Africa
Akeelah and the Bee- champion speller
Arctic Tale- tale of survival for polar bear family
Babe- movie about a pig
Bears- Disney's documentary on bears
Because of Winn-Dixie- numerous life challenges are covered in this movie...from the award winning book
Big Hero 6- movie about the power of brotherhood, friendship, and using your gifts to help others
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (Netflix)- story about African child, William Kamkwamba who brings electric and water to his people who are suffering from drought
A Bug's Life- early Pixar with bugs being the main characters
Dolphin Tale- inspiring tale of survival and courage
Duma- a tale of friendship between a South African boy and a cheetah
Earth- Disney's tale of Earth Day
Elf- holiday movie (just pure joy of life)
Enchanted- fabulous family tale from Disney (not just for girls...my wife had to sell me on this and I loved it)
Fly Away Home- bonding between a young girl and Canadian geese
Hidden Figures- true story of African-American women at NASA
Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey- travels of a cat and two dogs
Hoot- an environmental tale
How to Train Your Dragon- Viking grows up trying to train a dragon
IMAX: Born to be Wild 3D- stories about endangered orangutans and elephants
Inside Out- Pixar movie that deals with feelings
The Iron Giant- robot/child friendship
Life- Discovery documentary about earth's living beings
March of the Penguins- full life cycle of Antarctic penguins
McFarland, USA- true sports story about Latino cross country runners
Miracle- true story of the 1980 USA Olympic ice hockey team
Planet Earth (and II)- Discovery documentaries about our planet (incredible video of the earth)
The Pursuit of Happyness- beautiful film about a parent doing whatever he can do to better his child's life. This is a PG-13 movie and I recommend that an adult preview prior to watching the film before showing to children. My wife and I watched this film with our children and they loved this movie...very powerful film.
The Rookie- true story about a father following his baseball dreams
The Secret of Nimh- taken from children's books...how characters work through adversity
Soul Surfer- true story about a talented surfer who was attacked by a shark and was able to continue surfing
Tangled- Disney movie that provides great messages (I much prefer this to Frozen)
Wonder- beautiful movie about a young boy that makes a positive impact on those around him
Up- Pixar movie about following dreams and caring about others
Zootopia- charming buddy/animal movie promotes tolerance and teamwork