Recommend a movie for family movie night

Cafe Society
1

Since lockdown cancelled all our weekend plans, we’ve been doing family movie night on Friday and Saturday evenings. It’s been fun for the most part, but after nearly a year of such weekends, we’re running out of things to watch that everyone can agree on. It’s become a chore that takes nearly as long as the movie to find something to watch.

The parameters:
Mom & Dad (myself and my wife) - 80’s/90’s kids. Nerds. Lean toward scifi/fantasy.
Kids (14,12, & 8) - Very reluctant to watch anything “old”. (i.e. pre 2010 or so) 8 year old likes action. 12 year old prefers comedy or realistic. 14 year old likes fantasy but open to other things.

Have easy access to: Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Peacock. Anything not on one of those, could probably get via library.

Stuff we’ve watched this year: All the MCU movies (most of them twice!). All the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies. All the Back to the Future movies. Hamilton. All the Toy Story movies, Soul, Onward, A bug’s Life, Over the Moon, Next Gen, The Parent Trap (Lindsay Lohan version), Freaky Friday (again, Lindsay Lohan version), Mr. Lemoncello’s Library (ugh), Mulan (animated & live action), Mulan 2, Jungle Book (“live action”), Beauty and the Beast (live action), Aladdin (live action & Animated), Return of Jafar, Aladdin & the King of Thieves. Tarzan, the Good Dinosaur. Narnia 1&2. Lord of the Rings 1&2 (the kids lost interest halfway through Two Towers. Can you believe it?!?) The Princess Bride. Home alone 1,2, and regrettably, 3. The Santa Clause. Pirates of the Caribbean 1. Addams Family (live action and animated), Addams Family Values. Trolls World Tour. The Mighty Ducks, Big. Maleficent 1&2 Muppet Treasure Island. Nightmare before Christmas.

Stuff that’s been suggested by one family member or another and vetoed by at least one family member: Any other Muppet movies. Apollo 13, Harry Potter series, Rogue One (we’ve all seen every other Star Wars except Solo, which no one has bothered suggesting), Wizard of Oz, Mary Poppins, Any Tinkerbell movie, Any X-men movie. The Iron Giant. Meet the Robinsons. Wonder Woman, Aquaman. The Spy Next Door.

Phew… ok, any suggestions?

2

I don’t see The Incredibles (or the sequel) in that list. Nor Galaxy Quest or Raiders of the Lost Ark. I’m sure there are many other suitable recommendations but those jump right out at me.

Also, it’s probably older and with less action than your list, but I’ve never met anyone who didn’t ultimately enjoy Rear Window (the original Hitchcock version).

Wallace & Gromit (start with the 30 minute shorts, then the film) and Chicken Run, preferably after watching The Great Escape (another old and ‘slow’ movie that virtually no one doesn’t like because it is great.)

Stranger

3

It’s from 2007, so probably hopelessly old in the eyes of your children, but I thought Stardust kind of, sort of, captured the magic of The Princess Bride.

4

This hits some of your criteria (and isn’t terrible.)

5

Tremors. I think it is available for rent (not free) on Amazon Prime.

6

Ink (2009) - A mysterious creature, known as Ink, steals a child’s soul in hopes of using it as a bargaining chip to join the Incubi - the group of supernatural beings responsible for creating nightmares. Her father has to find a way to rescue her and bring her back to our world. — (This is a very visually-interesting movie.)

Ping Pong Playa (2007) - A kid dreams of playing professional basketball in order to escape his dead-end job, living in the suburbs, his bossy older brother and running his Mom’s ping pong classes. For a table tennis comedy double feature, pair this up with Balls of Fury, also from 2007.

Big Trouble in Little China (1986) - IMO you just can’t go wrong with ol’ Jack Burton.

7

Check out the Miyazaki animation canon:
Spirited Away
Howl’s Moving Castle
Princess Mononoke

8

Galaxy Quest seems perfect. Fun for all ages.

9

In terms of superhero fun parodies that are family friendly, I’d suggest Megamind (2010) and Sky High (2005) even if it is a bit older. The Emperor’s New Groove (2000) is pretty timeless, as well as tons for fun for all ages. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) was good, but haven’t seen the sequel. I feel Labryinth (1986) doesn’t suffer from it’s age, but since the don’t want Muppet movies, probably a pass for them. Shrek 1 & 2 would probably be a good mix for the kids as well. Treasure Planet (2002) was probably an objectively bad movie, but I have a fond spot for it along with most pirate movies. I’ve heard good things about the Despicable Me movies, but haven’t seen any of them, same for Spiderman Into the Spiderverse.

10

Explorers – available via Amazon Prime. It’s from 1985 but the three mains were about 15 so the older kids might be interested in watching boys roughly their own age contacting aliens.

11

“Like I told my last wife, I says, ‘Honey, I never drive any faster than I can see. Besides, it’s all in the reflexes.’”

Stranger

12

Yes! Excellent choice! I chose this for a group movie watching event back in 1995 and a few of my friends were going “oh boy, does that movie look dumb…” but soon enough they were converts. Love the over-the-top action and sassy sarcasm. Kids and adults love it.

Miyazaki
Another inspired choice…if you are not familiar with Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki in particular, then you are in for a treat. Better than Disney in almost every way.

13

Oh my god yes.

Also The Goofy Movie, and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971).

When my kids were young, they loved Duel and It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

14

Hancock (2008) – available via Netflix.

Secondhand Lions (2003) - available via Amazon Prime.

15

Okay, first off, whoever vetoed Iron Giant doesn’t know what the hell they’re talking about. Override that shit. It’s amazing.

Second, a fairly normal recommendation: Coraline seems to fit pretty squarely into the other stuff you’ve got on your list. It’s based on a Neil Gaiman novel, made by some of the same people as Nightmare Before Christmas, and is really good.

Third, an out-of-left-field recommendation, that totally breaks your rule about old stuff but otherwise might be good: The Court Jester, from 1955. The video is probably the most famous scene. It’s profoundly silly stuff, full of great wordplay and physical comedy and adventure and romance and magic and . One of the best comedies ever made. (As endorsements: my kids fussed at me when I chose this one for movie night, but both the 8yo and the 11yo ended up giggling their way through it).

16

Clint Eastwood’s “Philo Beddoe” movies – available via Amazon Prime.

“Right turn, Clyde.”

17

We have a family movie night every Sunday, and NATIONAL TREASURE was a popular one recently.

18

Box Trolls and Paddington are both worth watching.

19

Thanks for the suggestions, all. Now let me shoot most of them down with kid logic. :wink:

Both Incredibles have been seen and enjoyed, just not in the past year of movie nights. (See also Frozen 1&2, Tangled, Wall-E, Up, Wreck-it-Ralph 1&2, Moana for more Disney/Pixar in that category)

Galaxy Quest I love, but doesn’t it rely on a background steeped in Star Trek to really work? Sadly, none of our kids have taken to Trek yet.

Raiders I’ve considered, but I worry about the flesh-melting at the end provoking nightmares.

Have you ever met an 8 year old who watched it? :slight_smile:

We got as far as the trailer for Chicken Run. It was vetoed by the picky kids for being too old-fashioned looking. (Drives me nuts, but so be it…) I don’t think any claymation is going to fly.

Never heard of Stardust or My Spy. Will look into them. Tremors is definitely too scary, I think.
Ink looks a TERRIFYING. (Delightfully so, and I will check it out on my own or with wifey, but not with the kids). Ping Pong Playa is a possibility. (Though after Mighty Ducks kinda bombed I don’t know if they’ll want another sports underdog comedy) Big Trouble in Little China seems like a hard sell… I don’t actually remember enough about it to know if it would be good for the kiddos or not.

On the Miyazaki front, I forgot to mention Kiki’s Delivery Service, which we did watch one Movie Night. They’ve also seen Totoro. I remember Spritied Away being kinda scary (have I mentioned these kids scare kind of easily?) Maybe Howl’s Moving Castle or Princess Mononoke. I don’t remember either very well. Are they scary?

Megamind is a good suggestion. I liked that one when I saw it on a plane. Will look into Sky High. We did watch Emperor’s New Groove one Movie Night. Kids didn’t love it. I’d be interested in Jumanji. Do we go with the 2017 one or the original first? I’d love to get them to watch Labyrinth, but they’ve vehemently said no to Dark Crystal, so I doubt it. (Same for Neverending Story, which isn’t Henson, but I think would get lumped in. There’s still hope for one of the kids, but the other 2 are very anti-muppet for some reason.)

Shrek’s been vetoed too. (They’ve seen most of the first one at camp and didn’t like it.)

I’ve been pushing for Treasure Planet as well, but haven’t gotten much enthusiasm from them for it. I think they’ve seen all the Despicable Me’s, and we saw Spiderverse in the Theater and loved it. (The Tobey Maguire Spiderman movies have gotten vetoes too, BTW)

Explorers is a maybe. Is it scary? Seems on the order of ET, which terrified the little one. (I swear, we were made of sterner stuff in the 80s. Either that or the parents didn’t care if a movie traumatized us. I lived in fear of ET living under my bed too, but I dealt with it…)

Willy Wonka is another one that was deemed too scary. (The eldest watched it, and has warned the others). Goofy Movie… really? It’s good? maybe. Duel seems out for scaryiness, and Mad, Mad, Mad World I’m sure would be vetoed for “oldness.”

Hancock I’ve wanted to see, but I think it’s probably too adult for the kids. Secondhand Lions seems worth a look…

20

The main two aliens are totally played for laughs but there are a couple of scenes which could be troublesome – one with a very large security device with multiple legs which turns out to be comic relief and Robert Picardo as the “space pirate” towards the end.