The summer holidays can hang heavy if you have children to entertain. And while we’d all like them to be romping at the seaside or trekking up Yr Wyddfa, sometimes that just isn’t possible. So Guardian writers have compiled a list of children’s films that can’t fail to move, amuse or thrill. The best ever? That’s a tough call – but everyone will have a good time trying to find out.
For zero to five-year-olds
The Jungle Book
The ultimate toe-tapping, child-friendly cartoon musical, reworking Rudyard Kipling’s India-set stories into an irrepressible blast of fun. Songs such as The Bare Necessities and I Wan’na Be Like You are rightly hailed as classics; there’s not a wasted second in the whole thing.
Yellow Submarine
The Beatles might not have anticipated that the animated movie inspired by their 1966 hit single would become a bewitching Technicolor vision for the ages, but that’s what happened. The childlike psychedelia lends itself to a simple plot even little ones can follow, and what’s to be lost by getting them to listen to the likes of Nowhere Man and All Together Now so early in life?
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit
“Just a bit of harmless brain alteration, that’s all,” Wallace reassures his side-eyeing beagle in this Aardman foray into cackling horror. The film sees the duo working as humane pest controllers, summoned by Lady Tottington who finds her castle grounds overrun with bunnies on the eve of the village vegetable show. Predictably brilliant, helped by game guest voice stars Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes.
James and the Giant Peach
Roald Dahl’s yarn is possibly the most kiddy of his major books, meaning it translates beautifully to the screen for the smallest viewers. The brilliant stop-motion animation by former Tim Burton protege Henry Selick gussies the whole thing up, but includes enough of Dahl’s grit to keep it respectable.
My Neighbour Totoro
“We’re happy as can be!” chirps the theme song, but the wonder of Studio Ghibli’s enchanting 1988 animation is how it combines abundant joy with aching sadness in its tale of sisterhood, a beaming catbus and a humongous cuddly forest spirit.
Shaun the Sheep Movie
There isn’t a slack second in this superb Aardman story in which our plucky sheep accidentally sends the farmer on a runaway caravan into the big city, where he develops amnesia and requires rescue. Meanwhile Farmaggedon (an alien baby crashlands near Mossy Bottom) includes some superlative burping moments, for those who like that sort of thing.
Encanto
There can’t be many children’s movies that set out to tackle generational trauma, but Encanto smooths the path with endless explosions of colour and a soundtrack that bangs far beyond breakout hit We Don’t Talk About Bruno. This magical realist tale, set in Colombia, is a Disney first in other ways too, featuring an all-Latin American cast and boasting a protagonist who wears glasses.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Plotted as if by a six-year-old who keeps saying “and then”, this movie – in which boffin invents machine that turns water into food, mayhem ensues – has an unrivalled psychedelic visual splendour: tiny ones will gawp hypnotised, while older siblings will chortle at the gastronomic chaos.
Pixar shorts
Bundled with Disney+ are these little gems, with all of Pixar’s wit, imagination and perfectly judged sentimentality distilled into dialogue-free shorts of 10 minutes or less – perfect for under-2s, whose attention can quickly wander.
Cinderella
Not too scary and not too saccharine, Cinderella is the perfect classic Disney starter film with its singing mice, dress-making birds and the all-important fairy godmother. What’s more, the songs are still instant earworms. Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!
Flight of the Navigator
Clearly greenlit in a post-ET bubble, the tale of a boy whisked around by a universe-researching UFO rightly enchanted a generation of 80s kids with its wisecracking spaceship, cute critters and a kindly young Sarah Jessica Parker.
Captain Underpants
Adapted from Dav Pilkey’s novels, this may have passed the grown-up world by, but your kids will love the couple of scrappers who run rings round nasty head teacher Mr Krupp and villainous Professor Poopypants (yes, it’s that kind of film).
Charlotte’s Web
There have been a few screen adaptation’s of EB White’s evergreen barnyard classic, but it’s the 1973 cartoon, featuring Debbie Reynolds as the voice of the helpful spider, that best distils the original’s gentle charm. Some pretty nifty songs too, from Disney old stagers the Sherman brothers.
Alice in Wonderland
Since done over a thousand decibels louder by Tim Burton, the Disney cartoon adaptation from 1951 is an altogether nicer, kindlier experience, and was a key influence on the lysergically inclined generation of the 60s – though not entirely necessary, perhaps, to explain this to the kiddies.
For five to eight-year-olds
How to Train Your Dragon 1-3
Hiccup, Astrid, Snoutlout and chums occupy a sweet spot between dragony lore, zippy aerial adventure and affecting school-age tensions, albeit of the Viking variety. All three films are a super entertaining tribute to the power of overcoming mental – and physical – obstacles.
The Lego movies
Forget Barbie: you want toy movies full of smarts, catchy music and amusing comment on consumer culture? This insanely entertaining quartet of brick-built animations wrote the book on it, keeping adults as happily on side as children. Everything is indeed awesome!
The Wizard of Oz
Eighty-four years after its release this endures because at its heart it’s a simple tale of friendship and self-discovery – plus it’s got a green witch who cackles and flies on a broomstick.
Chicken Run
This Aardman story of hens plotting their escape from a Yorkshire farm that closely resembles a prisoner-of-war camp has pluck, wit and endless invention. It also juggles feminism, Marxism, fascism and the mechanisms of patriarchy with a light touch. Take note, Barbie!
Finding Nemo
One of those miraculous animated epics that seem to come from nowhere to transfix an entire generation. The real hero is Nemo’s dad, which makes this a sneaky cross-generational treat – and the follow-up, featuring amnesiac blue tang Dory, pretty much repeats the trick.
Babe
As talking animal pics go, Babe is one of the all-time greats. Adapted from Dick King-Smith’s story about a sheep-herding pig who triumphs over ridicule to win big at the sheep trials, it’s as cute as you like, very funny, and tugs seriously at the heartstrings.
The Iron Giant
The path from an adaptation of a symbolic poem by Ted Hughes to major studio animation is not likely to be repeated any time soon. But however it got here, the result is exquisite, a moving story of a nine-year-old boy who finds a robot in the woods during the cold war 1950s.
Matilda
Before the recent Matilda the Musical film came plain old Matilda, starring (and directed by) Danny DeVito as a used car salesman too crooked and self-absorbed to notice his daughter’s burgeoning genius. This being Roald Dahl, there are child torture scenes aplenty, including the unforgettable sight of Bruce Bogtrotter being force-fed a gigantic chocolate cake (which, disappointingly, will fail to put your own kids off the same substance).
The Little Mermaid
The newfangled live-action remake may have added some excellent songs to the soundtrack (namely Awkwafina’s The Scuttlebutt), but the original tale of Ariel the mermaid wishing to be “up where they walk, up where they run, up where they stay all day in the sun” still takes some beating. A warning: the opening shark scene and Ursula the sea witch may scare some little ones witless.
Elf
In a big-hearted festive comedy, Will Ferrell’s Buddy the elf, who was raised in Santa’s workshop, finds out he’s really a human and leaves the north pole to track down his birth father. Soon he is let loose in New York City and encounters people who – shock horror – do not believe in Santa. Worse still, his dad is on the naughty list! Will Buddy stop them being cotton-headed ninny muggins and spread Christmas cheer? Of course!
Mary Poppins
You might goggle at the worst cockney accent ever to be committed to celluloid and grimace at the vilification of the mother – too busy campaigning for women’s suffrage to look after her family – but children will love the songs, the magic and the gentle silliness.
Frozen
The apotheosis of Disney’s girl-power messaging, as well as the launcher of a tidal wave of white-silver fake plaits and snowman plushies, with the power anthem Let It Go complementing the no-compromise mood. Your children will never be the same after this.
ET – The Extra-Terrestrial
What’s ET short for? It’s not really: 1hr 55min is a fairly decent length for a kids’ film. Not that there’s a chance of any kid on earth getting bored with this timeless story of a child who forges an incredible bond with an alien being – and then has to let him go.
Toy Story 1-4
The first film – with its toybox yarn of talking cowboy and interloping spaceman – changed the animation game and it still plays beautifully. The follow-ups only deepen the experience, introducing new characters like super-creepy Lots-O’-Huggin’ Bear, and wading into even more affecting territory around growing up and emotional obsolescence.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
This hails from the days when kids’ films didn’t mess about: the Child Catcher (played, grownups might like to know, by ballet dancer Robert Helpmann) is up there with Bambi’s mum and Watership Down as a nightmare-inducing creation that might emotionally scar little kids for life. Otherwise this is a sunny, fun trip about an inventor and a flying car, and yes, there’s a female character called Truly Scrumptious. Different times, for sure.
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
From the Rick Moranis glory years, this cracking adventure story is about a zany scientist who accidentally zaps his children down to microscopic proportions then puts them out with the trash. They have to find their way back home through vast, terrifying jungle terrain (their back garden), encountering beasts (giant ants) and vital food sources (the biggest cookie imaginable) on the way. Serious supersized fun.
The Greatest Showman
This hat tip to circus entrepreneur PT Barnum, played with natural razzle-dazzle by Hugh Jackman, is a musical to send emotions soaring. There’s one singalong banger after another and it captures the sheer euphoria of the stage with a childlike glee.
Goodnight Mister Tom
One of the last of John Thaw’s films, this beautiful, Bafta-winning adaptation of the Michelle Magorian evacuee novel is a gorgeous, chocolate box delight with a strong emotional core. The final reel – tragedy after tragedy, finishing with young William finally calling gruff old Tom dad – packs considerable wallop.
For eight to 12-year-olds
Harry Potter series
If they haven’t seen them already, your kids will no doubt be clamouring to; but bear in mind, the later ones are a 12 certificate, at the upper end of our age range. Still, the eight-film cycle is virtually the defining creation of the 21st century: brilliantly complex lore, tremendous onscreen excitement, and a boldly humanist, multicultural message.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse/Spider-Man: Across the Spider Verse
An intoxicating blizzard of imagery and ideas, taking the familiar Marvel webslinger and putting him through every conceivable variant in dizzying style. Not bad for something that was originally conceived as a stopgap for its studio to keep hold of the character rights.
The Railway Children
E Nesbit’s terribly upright novel from 1905 became a petticoat-waving children’s classic of 1970s cinema, and if your kids will be puzzled by the mysteries of Eton jackets and steam-belching locomotives, there’s no mistaking the basic empathy and believability of this tale of turn-of-the-century derring do. (Grownups are permitted a tiny tear at Jenny Agutter’s famous “Daddy, my daddy!” final scene.)
Mrs Doubtfire
Some child protection questions come to mind on rewatch of the 1993 classic, though there’s still huge fun to be had in the story of the estranged father who disguises himself as a Scottish nanny to spend more time with his children. It’s a film wholly powered by full-throttle performances.
The Incredibles
Pixar moved into the superhero game with this brilliantly entertaining film, as the incog Incredibles are called back after years of anonymity to take on superfan/supervillain Syndrome.
The Princess Bride
Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, miracles – and true love. This 1987 classic stuffed full of quotable lines has it all, brought to life by an unsurpassed cast who get the tone just right. To misquote its dashing hero Westley (Cary Elwes), there’s a shortage of perfect movies in the world, it would be a shame to miss this one.
Coraline
A word of warning: this dark stop-motion animation adapted from Neil Gaiman’s short novel may creep sensitive kids out. Coraline is a 13-year-old who discovers a portal to a mirror world – it initially seems much nicer than her dull reality, but nasty, child-napping secrets soon leak out, and some memorably scary images – like the buttons sewn over kids’ eyes – mean this isn’t a film to be trifled with.
Flushed Away
This Aardman-produced tale gets up to all sorts of fun and games after pet rat Hugh Jackman goes down the drain. There he meets Kate Winslet’s feisty mouse and together they take on underworld villain Toad and his hench-cousin Le Frog. Quality work all round.
Jurassic Park
Steven Spielberg’s cautionary blockbuster is still the best in the six-film franchise it spawned: taut, funny, complicated, terribly exciting. It’s also essential viewing if you want to understand almost any pop culture reference since, from Jeff Goldblum’s quips to the shot of the glass of water shaking.
Star Wars
Across nine “episodes” and two (so far) standalone spin-offs as well as The Clone Wars animated film – not to mention the associated TV shows – Star Wars has occupied a central place in children’s imaginations of successive generations, going back to its 1977 original. A rite of passage for every kid.
Back to the Future
For children who are beginning to clock their loved ones might once have been younger, this is a perfect entry point into a world of time-travel, nuclear physics and rock’n’roll – as well as slightly less kid-friendly stuff like peeping Toms, sexual assault and your mother having a crush on you.
The Sound of Music
A high bar of good parenting is set by Julie Andrews in the nuns and Nazis classic. Yet even those of us who can’t rehabilitate seven traumatised children and teach them close-part harmony will nevertheless have done them a good turn just by exposing them to this stupendous movie. Warning: will result in a year of your life being soundtracked by a single CD.
The Goonies
Everyone of a certain age can do the truffle shuffle thanks to this 80s cult classic about a gang of kids who go off in search of the treasure of renowned pirate One-Eyed Willy – and are tailed by the evil gangsters the Fratellis. Do they prevail? Goonies never say die!
Spirited Away
The sheer imaginative exuberance of Hayao Miyazaki’s animation will send young heads spinning. There’s a multitude of tiny details that make repeated viewing a continual pleasure and scenes of rare beauty and verve that linger in the memory long after you’ve pressed stop.
Labyrinth
Muppets and David Bowie might seem an unlikely combination, but Jim Henson’s fantasy is a beautifully handled coming-of-age tale, with Jennifer Connelly a resourceful and complex heroine pitted against Bowie’s dangerously alluring goblin king. Plus there’s plenty of zaniness to keep younger viewers entertained.
The Karate Kid
Wax on, wax off – expect kids to mimic all the moves in this classic martial arts tale which sees Mr Miyagi teach Daniel La Russo (played by Ralph Macchio) how to overcome the vicious school bullies. But do be warned: the elegant crane kick at the film’s finale is unlikely to work out so well if your little one ends up in a real playground scrap.
Paddington 1-2
Paul King’s intricate, vibrant and very, very funny takes on the Michael Bond books brim with invention and snappy good humour, while also staying scrupulously respectful to the source. Plus, they give actors including Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant some of the legitimately richest roles of their careers.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy
Rendering Tolkien’s blood and thunder saga across nine and a half slablike hours, Peter Jackson’s richly detailed and thoroughly respectful epic will keep any even remotely interested kids quiet for the duration. (Bear in mind that Jackson’s subsequent Hobbit effort actually finishes with the 15-cert Battle of the Five Armies, so perhaps steer clear at this stage.) It’s hard to see how anyone can top this.
• This article was amended on 1 August 2023. Buddy, played by Will Ferrell in Elf, is human, not half-human.
Have we missed your favourites? Tell us more in the comments or by filling in the form below.
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Contributors: Kate Abbott, Ben Beaumont-Thomas, Tim Jonze, Andrew Pulver, Catherine Shoard, Imogen Tilden, Chris Wiegand
