One of our favorite things to do Sunday evening is have ‘Family Movie Night’ and watch a clean family movie. It’s a fun little tradition, that comes complete with popcorn and those cheap, chewy, box-mix brownies. Yum! In the past, we’ve watched plenty of total duds. Movies that literally stunk, or movies we THOUGHT we remember being family-friendly when we were younger, only to find out we were completely wrong. Blah.
Anyway, I recently asked y’all on Facebook to share with me some of your favorite clean family movies. With your suggestions, some of mine, and a little research…I think I came up with a pretty good list of movies to refer to for our Family Movie Night. I’m excited! (When you’re done checking these out, hop on over to a list of even more movies to watch with kids: Over 100 Family Movie Ideas)
100 Clean Family Movies for Family Night
(Note: I haven’t seen all these movies. They are based on clean family movie suggestions and research. If you feel like one of them is a bad pick for kids, feel free to KINDLY share your insight, and any movies that you do love for families. Also, some of these movies are more appropriate (or easy to understand) for older kids. I’m trying to offer options beyond just Disney movies! So, weigh your choices on the age of your kids. I wanted a good mix so you could choose based on your family.)
Flubber
The Shaggy Dog
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
Ramona and Beezus
Cool Runnings
The Secret Garden
A Cinderella Story
The Princess Bride
Rudy
Seven Days in Utopia
~
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Houseboat
Operation Petticoat
Gifted Hands
Searching for Bobby Fischer
The Princess Diaries
Moondance Alexander
Rocket Man
The Kid
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
~
The Rocketeer
The Ghost & Mr. Chicken
The Incredible Mr. Limpet
Freaky Friday
Snowball Express
Five Children and It
Good Boy
The Parent Trap
The Happiest Millionaire
Follow Me, Boys
~
Swiss Family Robinson
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Bedtime Stories
Hotel for Dogs
Marmaduke
The Little Vampire
The Adventures of Milo & Otis
Nanny McPhee
Homeward Bound
Ella Enchanted
~
Soul Surfer
The Never Ending Story
Matilda
Mirror, Mirror
Thunderstruck
You Again
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
Stuart Little
Enchanted
Dolphin Tale
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Angels in the Outfield
The Mighty Ducks
Charolotte’s Web
Meet the Robinsons
Holes
Because of Winn-Dixie
Sky High
The Big Year
The Ugly Dachshund
Pippi Longstocking
~
Ever After
The Worst Witch
Slappy & the Stinkers
Dennis the Menace
Home Alone
Baby’s Day Out
The Little Rascals
Cheaper by the Dozen
My Dog Skip
The Game Plan
~
A Little Princess
Miracle
Night at the Museum
Hachi: A Dog’s Tale
Legend of the Guardians
Iron Will
Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken
The Last Unicorn
Sister Act
Napoleon Dynamite
~
A Far Off Place
Troop Beverly Hills
Emma
Savannah Smiles
Maverick
Forever Young
Simon Birch
The War
Spellbound
Akeelah and the Bee
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Little Women
Mars Needs Moms
A Shine of Rainbows
Starstruck
The Fox and the Child
Geek Charming
Buck
Wild America
Camp Nowhere
Max Keeble’s Big Move
If you liked these clean family movie ideas, check out:
- Teaching Siblings to Be Kind ~ Family Home Evening Lesson
- 52 Fun Things to Do for Bored Kids
- Over 20 Family Friendly Group Games
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We were just trying to think of a good movie to get for a movie night we’re hosting for my daughter and her friends this weekend, so this is perfect. Thanks!
That Thing You Do is our favorite family movie!
It is of our favorites too. We quote it all the time!
It is of our favorites too. We quote it all the time!
Thanks so much for the info!
I highly recommend the Wilderness Family Trilogy movies! Great wholesome, family movies for any age….among our very favorites! Also, Johnny Shilo, Savage Sam, National Treasure, Night at the Museum, Toby Tyler, It Happened to Jane, Summer Stock, The Gnome Mobile, Soul Surfer, and Secretariat, are others that we very much enjoy for our family movie nights. 🙂
Gifted hands, is a great movie!
Thank you!
How about Willow, Princess Bride, Never ending story, Labrynth, & Uncle Buck!
Good ones! All of them!
I just wanted to say that The Princess Bride has a few parts in it that I would not recommend for all ages just for some language purposes.
My brothers and I used to–and still do(at 31, 29, and 27 years old)–love Candleshoe, Father Goose, Muppets Christmas Carol(at that time of year). More good ones are Tale of Despereaux and National Velvet,
Thanks for the list of great movies!
Muppets Christmas Carol is our family’s favorite holiday movie. We watch it every year on the day after Thanksgiving and it is such a great rendition of Charles Dickens’ book. So well done, so entertaining, and such great music!
That’s such a fun one. Thanks, Rachel!
Ummm… I don’t think you again is a clean kids movie lol there’s a lot of inappropriate scenes I’m trying to be rude just thought u might want to remove that. But no seriously lol I watched that a long time ago plz don’t have that up there:)
Thanks for the heads up, Amelia! If you have any suggestions for great family movies that are clean, to replace that one, I would love to hear. Thanks!
I agree on the bad language.
I noticed The Sand Lot on your list. It is a GREAT movie. The only problem is one of the little boys does some cursing which is a shame because it doesn’t add anything to the movie.
I agree, too much language in The Sandlot. I wouldn’t let my kids watch that.
Would have to agree on the We Bought a Zoo. I enjoyed it, but wouldn’t let my little ones watch it. I have forgotten all about Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken! Saw it in high school and loved it. Will have to see if our library has it. As for Princess Diaries . . . I agree it is cute and my 10 year old wants to see it. But I am putting that off. It seems like the whole movie is spent fantasizing about her first kiss and I really don’t want my little ones watching all the making out. Maybe when she’s older . . . .
Good to know about We Bought a Zoo. Thanks! Oh, the guy from Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken…I literally had the biggest crush on him when I was little. I would just pause the movie and stare. Ha!
I LOVED Maverick, but wanted to point out the sorta-sex scene in it….Just a friendly reminder that it’s there so folks are aware of it.
That is a good one, one of my faves! Thanks for the little note. 🙂
Oh my goodness! The 3 Amigos! No language, no sex scenes, good vs bad guys, character-building in the protaganists, and it’s slap stick with 3 of the best comedians ever!!! Steve Martin, Chevy Chase & Martin Short. And I didn’t see Honey I Shrunk the Kids on here (it’s been a long time, but I don’t think it has language or innuendo).
I forgot all the Narnia movies–for slightly older kids especially; A Wrinkle in Time–book made into a movie (the books are far better, but a Christian allegory is always good in my opinion). I also didn’t see Babe, which is adorable!
There’s quite a bit of language in the 3 Amigos (it is a great movie though 🙂 Also a bit of conversation that is “mature” in nature.
Love, love, loved Cheaper by the Dozen as a kid. I remember my mom laughing so hard she was crying. I decided to watch it with my kids the other night and found myself crying like my mom:). Some things I guess you appreciate more as you age.
Just a warning, though, one of the boys is caught looking at a Playboy magazine(mild by today’s standards, but still), which the mom promptly takes away. The oldest daughter’s boyfriend is trying to convince her to have sex with him, and at one point she yells at him, “You’re just sex crazed!” (Or something along those lines) The dad’s best friend also has pictures of pin-ups by his bunk in contrast to the faithful father of 19 who has his kids’ drawings and pictures.:)
Overall, it’s hilarious and contains a great message about the beauty of family, kids, sacrifice, etc. I just didn’t remember those few instances, and I was totally caught off guard. I thought I forewarn your readers just in case so they can decide when it would be appropriate for their kids to watch.
I’m so embarrassed! I just realized I was thinking of “Yours, Mine, and Ours” in my above comment….not “Cheaper by the Dozen! So sorry!
Honey I Shrunk the Kids!
We love Rigaletto from Feature Family Films! It’s hard to find though. It has a wonderful moral story in it. The Buttercream Gang from FFF as well is adorable and family friendly.
Sound of music, the black stallion, gnomemobile, pollyanna
I would also recommend Five Children and It, the Arthur and the Invisibles trilogy, and The Last Unicorn.
Thanks for the suggestions! I’ve only seen The Last Unicorn, it’s a great one!
This is great to have a list of go to movies! Thank you! But there is at least one scene in “The Big Year” that is inappropriate/sensual, and there was also more language than I was expecting.
Thanks, Melissa! Actually just saw The Big Year, and really…it was super boring. We couldn’t even finish it! I may replace that on the list with something else, and sounds like I should replace We Had a Zoo too. (I think that’s the name of it.)
Our kids are older (tweens and teens) but we still search out good quality family movies. Love your list. I’d add National Velvet (Elizabeth Taylor), International Velvet, Fairy Tale: A True Story, Akeelah and the Bee, October Sky, Searching for Bobby Fischer, and Oh Brother Where Art Thou.
My daughter’s name is Mariel, pronounced like yours. 🙂
Thanks for sharing those, Michele! And…CRAZY. Very rarely, pretty much never, do I hear about someone with my name, pronounced the same. Pretty neat. Tell her ‘hello’, for me!
I know I’m a little heavy on Disney Classics that I grew up with, but here we go…Summer Magic, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Lt. Robin Crusoe, The Apple Dumpling Gang, the classic Herbie movies – finally, The Goonies and Facing the Giants.
I love those classics too! Thanks, Amber!
I just have to add Mary Poppins. 🙂 My kids favourite movie!
My kids love all the old movies like Singin’ in the Rain, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Mary Poppins, Sound of Music, My Six Loves… All of those!
Mrs. Miracle is a recent one that’s really cute! It’s on Netflix, I think.
a lot of the comments mentioned ones that I really like. our family loves Hugo, too
Nice collection, but I am surprised you missed ‘Polyanna’. ‘Mr. Hobbs Takes A Vacation’ is pretty good too.
I love Pollyanna. Thanks for the suggestions!
Sue Thomas FBEye series is our family favorite.
Great list! The Pagemaster & The Brave Little Toaster (3 movies) are family favs here.
If you’re a Doris Day fan(and I am) “Move Over Darling” is a classic side-splitter! With James Garner as her husband that she hasn’t seen for seven years because she was ship wrecked on a deserted island with Chuck Conners(he was a hunk back in the 60’s) and Polly Bergen as James Garner’s fiance that he marries after his wife has been declared dead on the day that the coast guard has rescued his very much alive wife and her handsome island companion that she can not stand but he is tok crazy about her! The hilarity begins as Doris and her mither-in-law(who adores her more than her future daughter-in-law) tries to stop the mismatched couple from tying their nuptials!:oD
That sounds like a fun one!
Love Doris Day! With 8 you get egg roll is another great one 🙂
Awesome. Thanks, Delina!
So many great suggestions! I love The Secret Garden and The War! The War might be a little intense for the younger crowd and has some mild language. Did anyone watch The Buttercream Gang on VHS when they were kids? I think it was a Focus on the Family Film? I wonder if you can purchase it on DVD now?
Just noticed one of the other comments references the Buttercream Gang too and Rigoletto by Feature Family Films! Good call Reagan!
I’m about to try out The Parent Trap on my nieces. I enjoyed both the original and the remake. Meet Me in St Louis is another fantastic musical and I don’t remember any inappropriateness. Shirley Temple movies are a huge hit with my girls, but you do have to screen because a few are seriously politically incorrect.
Great suggestions, Suzanne!
The Parent Trap remake is replete with religious profanity, if you find that offensive.
Hi Mariel,
Perhaps your idea of a clean family movie and mine are just a little different. We decided to watch October Sky when we found your list. In the first 5.5 minutes (the first two of which were filled with radio news announcers), there were two “son of a bitch” (one said by a teenager), one “burns my ass” (also said by a teenager) and two “damn it”. That’s not a very long time to have that much profanity in a “clean family” movie. The profanity continued as the move moved along. Please don’t infer that these were foreign words to me; they just shouldn’t be in movies on a list of “clean family” movies; because that makes them not clean. I like James Taylor too.
Yes, that’s horrible! I’ll definitely remove it from the list. Like I mentioned in the post, I have not seen all of these movies and I appreciate any feedback on them. These were based on a poll of a bunch of moms, asking them for their most favorite clean family movies. Sadly, there are different standards when it comes to that, but I’m with you. That doesn’t sound appropriate at all! Thanks to my readers, I’ve been able to refine this list and I’m hoping I’ve just about nailed it. Sorry about your bum-movie experience! But, thank you for letting me know about it, I’m replacing it right now. And, hooray for James Taylor!
Hi Mariel,
Thank you ma’am. I guess we are on the same page with this. I missed the part too, about you not having seen them all; sorry. I appreciate your desire to put a list like this together. As I’m sure you are aware, it seems to get harder and harder to find something suitable to watch. It’s nice to see someone putting forth the effort to inform others. Big Cat Stevens fan too! I’m afraid my age is starting to show. Thanks again!
See ya!
Stan
Aw, thanks. That’s my whole mission of the blog, is to promote family and encourage people to be their best selves. So, I’m glad you can see that’s what I’m trying to do, although I may make a mistake sometimes. Thanks for stopping by the blog and I hope you have a great Christmas (with lots of family time!) … Cat Stevens is a good one too. I was actually listening to Anne Murray when I wrote my post last night, Christmas Books for Kids. Brings me back to my childhood!
Not a single Pixar movie??? I would consider them more wholesome than some of the ones on the current list – especially in regards to language and suggestive “nuances”. Pixar’s “Up” should be at the top of the list. Just sayin’…
‘UP’ is a great one! Just trying to offer some idea besides the ones that most families have seen recently. But, thanks for the suggestion!
One of the best “old” Disney movies is “North Avenue Irregulars”! Hilarious!
I would like to recommend some of mine:
Last of the Dogmen ( version with Wilford Brimley narrating )
Fly Away Home
Hoosiers
The Straight Story
House of Cards ( Tommy Lee Jones and Kathleen Turner )
Thank you, David!
The Last Unicorn has a few curse words.
Ernest saves Christmas is such a fantastic movie. We watch it around Christmas time and love it. Also, check out the other Ernest movies. They are funny, but family friendly. I wish more movies had this combination.
Ernest was always one of my favorites when I was a kid!
A Christmas Tree Miracle, November Christmas. Beautiful family movies!!
Thank you, Vicki!
Why isn’t Secondhand Lions on any Conservative movies list? The movie is incredible!
Great one to add!