16 Kids’ Movies That Parents Can Actually Watch Over And Over Without Losing Their Minds
Although there are tons of films made specifically for adults and kids alike, kids movies you can watch over and over again transcend generational gaps and allow people of all ages to savor their musical scores, talented actors, and stellar cinematography. The colorful and adventurous stories that unfold as they play out on the screen craft captivating scenes and memorable moments that can be cherished by their viewers, no matter when they were born.
No form of media is as priceless as one that people can enjoy together. The second most priceless? One that you can consume repetitively. The most rewatchable kids movies cater to the palates of everyone who's watching, especially the families who choose to congregate just to spend some quality time together.
- 1108 VOTESPhoto: DreamWorks Pictures
When a hyper-talkative donkey is banished to the local ogre's swamp, the temperamental title character, Shrek, decides to make a visit to the king to request the donkey's banishment to be moved elsewhere. The king, Lord Farquaad, agrees, but only if they can successfully rescue Princess Fiona from the towering, dragon-guarded castle she currently resides in.
Shrek and Donkey succeed in their mission, but discover that Princess Fiona is under a curse. At night, she transforms into an ogre herself. The reversal of this spell can only be accomplished by "true love's kiss," which she hopes to get out of Lord Farquaad. When she and Shrek end up having a fling together, the objective switches to getting her out of his clutches.
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- 286 VOTES
Disney's The Lion King is a '90s animated classic that takes its audience on a colorful journey through the grassy plains of Africa. The film is a full-on musical drama that follows a tragic lion cub, Simba, as he quests to return home to his pride.
After his uncle's villainous overthrow of his father, Simba becomes an outcast, lost in the savanna and attempting to make his way in life among the other animals. Both new and old friends care for, inspire, and motivate the young lion until he grows up and is pushed to take his rightful place as king of the Pride Lands. With musical sequences like "The Circle of Life," "I Just Can't Wait to be King," and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," The Lion King curates a tale that's timeless through the decades.
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- 388 VOTES
A Disney and Pixar collaboration of colorfully euphoric proportions, Finding Nemo is a beautifully 3D animated tale of exploring the Great Barrier Reef. Throughout the film, memorable, perpetual reminders of family and friendship come in the form of motivational mantras like Dory's "just keep swimming," and the shark clan's "fish are friends, not food."
When a scuba diver abducts the movie's title juvenile clownfish, Nemo, and takes him off to become a house pet, his father, Marlin, scours the ocean in search of him. Accompanied by a blue tang named Dory, Marlin adventures across Australia's blue depths, meeting an assortment of other aquatic wildlife along the way, including great white sharks, migrating sea turtles, and forests of jellyfish.
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- 464 VOTESPhoto: 20th Century Fox
In an ode to team spirit and companionship, The Sandlot takes its audience on an imaginative tour of growing up as an aspiring little leaguer in the '60s. From grassy, suburban backlots to full-fledged baseball fields, the kids that comprise the sandlot team of curveballers and home-run hitters make names for themselves as outstanding sports players.
Through their adventures, one foe never ceases to haunt them. The lot sits next to the home of a dog that they've dubbed "the Beast," who chews up and spits out any ball that flies into its bounds. When one of the team members, Scotty, hits his stepdad's signed Babe Ruth ball into the Beast's lair, the team conspires to get it back - and an epic chase ensues. The team ends up befriending both the Beast and his owner, making the dog their mascot and upgrading the Babe Ruth ball to one signed by the entire 1927 New York Yankees team.
- Photo: Buena Vista Pictures
Homeward Bound is the epic story of a ragtag crew of housepets that have to find their way back home to their owners after becoming lost in the wilderness. The three lost and confused animals, which consist of Chance the pit bull, Shadow the Golden Retriever, and Sassy the Himalayan cat, trek across the treacherous peaks of the Sierra Nevada, finding themselves confronted by natural dangers like cliffs, bears, and waterfalls.
Although they can telepathically talk to each other, their perils increase as they go deeper and deeper into the wilderness. As they find themselves increasingly separated from each other, the drama that ensues keeps the audience on the edge of their seat.
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- 670 VOTESPhoto: Paramount Pictures
Filled to the brim with ancient Viking folklore and mystical, scaly beasts, How to Train Your Dragon is both a visual and auditory rollercoaster for anyone who enjoys fantasy flicks. Downtrodden over his inability to slay dragons in battle, How to Train Your Dragon's main protagonist, Hiccup, uses a brains-over-brawn approach to his fighting skills. He uses his mechanical ingenuities to build a prosthetic fin for a rare dragon that he injured, which allows for Hiccup to gain its trust and befriend it. As opposed to slaying the dragons, Hiccup studies his new dragon friend, which he has named Toothless, and becomes a dragon expert.
For his final Viking exam, Hiccup must slay a dragon, which he is avidly opposed to. Together with Toothless, they must convince the other Vikings that dragons are friendly in order for them to live in harmony.
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- 770 VOTESPhoto: Loew's, Incorporated
The Midwestern fairytale of The Wizard of Oz begins when a tornado uproots Dorothy's quaint farmhouse. Upon grabbing her dog and emerging from her home - and squashing the Wicked Witch of the East while they're at it - she realizes that the two of them aren't "in Kansas anymore." Instead, Dorothy and Toto have been teleported to a magical realm full of witches, wizards, and anthropomorphic anomalies such as living scarecrows, talking lions, and sentient tin men.
After Toto runs away, she acquaints herself with the local, bewitched citizens of the Land of Oz. Befriending those with ailments that require magical assistance, they set out on a journey to see the "wonderful Wizard of Oz," singing and dancing about it along the way.
- 868 VOTESPhoto: Buena Vista Distribution
Blessing the world with her fantastic carpet bag of magical oddities is none other than the title character of Mary Poppins herself. The film is an uplifting and enigmatic fantasy that circles around a dysfunctional family that Mary Poppins is attempting to reinvent with her quirky lifestyle.
Making her introduction by floating down on a gravity-defying umbrella, Mary Poppins takes her place as the household's new nanny. Leaving in her wake a riot of catchy songs like "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and "A Spoonful of Sugar," as well as uproarious laughter from both the cast and audience, Marry Poppins instigates a world of both live-action and animated Disney adventure.
- 958 VOTESPhoto: Warner Bros. Pictures
Taking a deep dive into the mind of a playful child, The Lego Movie follows the adventures of Lego people in a make-believe Lego city as they try to take down the evil Lord Business. Featuring a cast of iconic pop-culture characters in their Lego forms, familiar faces such as Batman, Gandalf, and Han Solo make frequent cameos throughout the film.
What makes The Lego Movie so memorable is that, because the Lego scenes are just a kid playing pretend with his dad's Lego collection, the characters have some pretty strange and twisted mannerisms, especially the superheroes. For instance, instead of being a heroic image of vigilance, Batman is a bigoted jerk who roams the city hitting on Lego women and showing off his Batmobile.
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- 1062 VOTESPhoto: Associated Film Distribution
With their witty charm and sassy banter, Jim Henson's cast of puppets are a treat for any screen. The Muppet Movie takes them on a trip back in time to tell the tale of how they all met each other. Guided by his musical talent and amphibian intuition, Kermit makes his way up in the world, leaving Florida and migrating to the streets of Los Angeles to pursue a career in showbiz.
From the kidnapping of Miss Piggy to the transformation of Animal into a giant, the whimsical misadventures that these puppets get themselves into while romping around the real world bring magic to otherwise bland sets.
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- 1164 VOTESPhoto: Columbia Pictures
The Karate Kid is a live-action, martial arts fighting flick that will kick and punch its way into the hearts of both adults and children alike. Daniel, freshly implanted from New Jersey to California, finds himself struggling as the new kid in town. After being bullied by the other school kids, Daniel asks his household handyman, Mr. Miyagi, for assistance in beating his main rival in a local karate tournament.
Daniel is taught karate in the form of diligence, attaining his signature moves from the chores that Mr. Miyagi makes him do. His famous "wax on, wax off" technique seems like a car-cleaning strategy at first, but comes in handy when Daniel finds himself in a tight spot.
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- 1266 VOTESPhoto: Illumination Entertainment
Hoards of babbling, yellow, despicable henchmen team together for mischief and fun in Minions. This origin tale follows them from the beginning of time, when they were merely intrusively yellow, single-celled organisms that roamed the prehistoric Earth, all the way to America in the late '60s, where they now search the planet for a mischievous master to serve.
The three main Minions, Kevin, Stuart, and Bob, all have their own unique quirks, but they are all equally delinquent. They bounce from the streets of New York to the convention centers of Florida, eventually pairing with the supervillain Scarlet Overkill, who takes them back to England with her to embark on a mission to steal the Queen of England's crown. The Minions end up biting off more than they can chew with their mission, and their antics get so wildly out of hand that they end up on the bad side of legions of supervillains.
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- 1373 VOTES
A whirlwind of magic, fantasy, and musical adventure, Disney's Frozen is a critically acclaimed, 3D animated film that presents both a tundra of drama and a flurry of fun. Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's classic fairytale, "The Snow Queen," Frozen's snow queen, Elsa, finds herself enchanted with magical powers over ice and snow.
Unable to control her powers from a young age, Elsa is isolated from her younger sister, Anna, and is later branded as a monster by her kingdom. She builds her own ice palace and engulfs the entire area in a furious blizzard. As Anna adventures out into the flurry to find her, she meets a cast of characters that join along in heavily orchestrated, memorable songs like "Do You Want to Build a Snowman," and "Let It Go."
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- 1454 VOTESPhoto: Warner Bros.
An 11-year-old boy and a massive military weapon form an enigmatic friendship in The Iron Giant. When the aforementioned boy, Hogarth, stumbles upon the mechanical beast, he also discovers that it is a friendly and curious creature. Hogarth gives the robot a safe hiding spot while teaching it how to be human and reads it Superman comics. However, the Iron Giant is inquisitive about introspective human concepts, such as death, and has a hard time analyzing them.
When the United States government comes to claim their missing mecha, it is unable to handle its emotions and goes berserk. The stunning 2D animation alongside the intricate storyline make The Iron Giant a tale that captivates audiences of all ages.
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In an effort to avoid being overthrown, the animated Queen Narissa shoves her stepson Prince Edward's love interest, Giselle, down an enchanted well. The rest of Enchanted is about rescuing her once she comes out on the other end - deep in the depths of New York City. Here she is transformed from her animated self into a live-action, real-world human and is taken in by a soon-to-be-engaged divorce lawyer and his daughter. Alarmed by her disappearance, Prince Edward and Giselle's chipmunk friend, Pip, dive in to rescue her.
The two fairytale characters running around the real world, especially in the densely populated crowds of Times Square, provides more than an abundance of laughs. As they adapt to their new environment, their culture shock is as charming as it is entertaining.
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- 1646 VOTESPhoto: Buena Vista Pictures
Held captive by his two evil aunts, James is a young boy who dreams of traveling the outside world. In James and the Giant Peach, his dreams take flight when a magic worm transforms an otherwise regular peach into a vessel for his escape (and adventures).
Upon entering the giant peach, James is introduced to a crew of anthropomorphic bugs that have also been granted exceptional new forms by the magic worms. His live-action form takes the shape of a new stop-motion doll, and the entire movie becomes a surreal festivity of an animation where the cast sings, dances, and flees in terror of the giant rhino as they make their way across the ocean waves to New York City.
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