Best Family Movies – Part 11

Posted on 29 Jan 00:00


The film industries all over the world have produced an infinite amount of films. However, finding one for family viewing can be difficult. These films perfectly meet family viewing criteria. 

1.  Enchanted (2007)

This is a 2007  live-action/animated musical fantasy romantic comedy. 'Enchanted' live-action/animated movie features a Disney Princess. She lives a peaceful life in her animated world, but she is forced to adapt to the new changes that follow her new life in live-action New York City. 'Enchanted' applies live-action filmmaking, traditional animation, and computer-generated imagery that makes references to Disney’s past films, making it both a homage and a self-parody of Disney’s animated features.

Director: Bill Kelly wrote the movie script which Kevin Lima used to direct this film. 

Main Cast: Amy Adams (as Giselle), Patrick Dempsey (as Robert Philip), and James Marsden (as Prince Edward) are among Enchanted movie’s leading actors.

Awards and Nominations: This movie won several awards, including the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Film- Family, Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Live Action Family Film, and three Saturn Awards for Best Actress, Best Fantasy Film, and Best Music. It also received several award nominations, for example, an Oscar Award for Best Original Song, Critics' Choice Movie Awards for Best Song and Best Composer, and the Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and Best Original Song.


2.  Are We Yet There? (2005)

Steven Gary Banks, Claudia Grazioso wrote this story, and it was used to form the plot for 'Are We Yet There'. The plot features Nick Persons, a selfish player who owns a collectibles sports shop in Portland, Oregon. Everything in Nick’s life is perfect until he meets Suzanne Kingston, a businesswoman who has children, Lindsey and Kevin, which Nick hates. Nick and Suzanne become friends and share nice moments with each other. Suzanne asks Nick to drive her kids to Vancouver, which crushes his peaceful exsistence. He agrees to take them. So begins Nick's torture.

Director: Brian Levant.

Main Cast: Ice Cube (as Nick Persons), Aleisha Allen (as Lindsey Kingston), and Philip Daniel Bolden (as Kevin Kingston).

Awards and Nominations: It won the BMI Music Film Award. Its nominations include the 2005 Teen Choice Awards (Choice Movie – Comedy which it lost to Napoleon Dynamite) and the 2006 Kids' Choice Awards (Favorite Movie which it lost to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)


3.  Labyrinth (1986)

Sixteen-year-old, Sarah, has to reach the center of an enormous otherworldly maze in time to save Toby, her infant brother. Toby got to Jareth, the goblin king, when reciting from a magical book, being annoyed by Toby's crying, she wished him there to be taken by the goblin king. Now, Sarah desperately wants Toby back and she has to go through what ever it takes to get back him from the maze.

Director: Jim Henson.

Main Cast: David Bowie (as Jareth, the king of the goblins), Jennifer Connelly (as Sarah Williams, a 16-year-old girl who journeys through the labyrinth to find her baby brother), Toby Froud (as Toby Williams, Sarah's baby half-brother), and Christopher Malcolm (as Robert, Sarah and Toby's father). 

Awards and Nominations: Labyrinth film received the Best Special Visual Effects Award nomination at the British Academy Film Awards. It also received two Saturn Award nominations, for Best Fantasy Film as well as Best Costumes. Hugo Awards also nominated Labyrinth for the Best Dramatic Presentation.


4.  Asterix and Obelix Mission Cleopatra (2002)

This French/Italian fantasy comedy was adapted from René Goscinny’s and Albert Uderzo’s Asterix comic book series. In 1968, the book Asterix and Cleopatra was animated to make the film, 'Asterix and Cleopatra'. Later in 1999, a movie called movie 'Asterix & Obelix Take On Caesar' was released.  'Asterix and Obelix Mission Cleopatra' is the  sequel to that 1999 film. The film depicts an Egyptian queen who is tired being belittled by Julius Caesar. She makes a deal with Julius Caesar that if the Egyptians build a palace at Alexandria, in only three months, which is larger than Caesar's palace in Rome he must acknowledge that Egypt was the greatest of nations. To perform this task, Cleopatra hires the architect Numerobis, on a threat of death and much to the dismay of Pyradonis, her customary architect. If she prevails Julius Caesar must acknowledge that Egypt is one of the world's greatest nations.

Director: Alain Chebat is both the writer and the director.

Main Cast: Alain Chebat and Monica Bellucci (Queen Cleopatra), Christian Clavier (as Asterix) and Gérard Depardieu (as Obelix) reprise their roles as and remain the lead actors and they are reprising their roles from the 1999 film.

Awards and Nominations: the film won César Awards, France (2003) for the Best Costume Design. The same organization nominated it for Best Supporting Actor and Best Production Design. The European Films Awards (EFA) nominated Alain Chebat for the Best European Actor Award, but he lost the award.

Box Office: With a $128 million gross on a $56 million budget, it was the most successful film ever produced in thirty-six years and the second biggest commercial success of all time after 1966's La Grande Vadrouille.


5.  Nanny McPhee (2005)

This fantasy comedy was adapted from Christianna Brand’s book, 'Nurse Matilda'. The setting is Victorian England, and the filmis about a widowed father with seven children he loves, but cannot handle because the are unruly. The children have used pranks and tricks to drive out a series of nannies, but one nanny, Nanny McPhee, is different and manages the children. She has facial defects, and each disappears when the kids successfully learn a lesson. Nanny McPhee uses her magical powers to improve various events. When she accomplishes her mission, she tells the children that although they want her to stay, they no longer need her, and she leaves.

Director: Kirk Jones.

Main Cast: Emma Thompson (as Nanny McPhee), Colin Firth (as Cedric Brown, an undertaker and the widowed patriarch of the Brown family) and Thomas Sangster (as Simon Brown), the eldest of the Brown children). 

Awards and Nominations: In 2006, Nanny McPhee won the Heartland International Film Festival for a Truly Moving Picture and the New York Festivals Silver Medal Award for Introductions and lead-ins. Other nominations came from Satellite Awards (Best Youth DVD), Women Film Critics Circle Awards (Best Family Film), Young Artist Awards (Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor, Best Family Feature Film (Comedy or Musical), and Best Young Ensemble in a Feature Film).


6.  Cinderella (2015)

This romantic fantasy is based on the folk tale, 'Cinderella and The Glass Slipper', and is a live-action adaptation of Walt Disney's 1950 'Cinderella' animated film.

Director: Kenneth Branagh.

Main Cast: Lily James (the title character, Cinderella, also known as Ella), Richard Madden (as Prince, also known as Kit) and Cate Blanchett (as Stepmother, also known as Lady Tremaine).

Awards and Nominations: the cast (particularly Blanchett, James, and Bonham Carter), Branagh's direction, musical score, costumes, production values, and faithfulness to the original animated film earned positive reviews, making the film a critical success. Consequently, the movie was nominated for the Best Costume design at the 88th Academy Awards, 21st Critics' Choice Awards, and 69th British Academy Film Awards.

Music: Cinderella movie stood out for the vast use of music. It had a sound track listing of 33songs, including "A Golden Childhood" (3:56mins), "The Great Secret" (3:01mins), "A New Family" (2:15mins), "Life and Laughter" (1:34mins), "The First Branch" (2:11mins), "Nice and Airy" (1:53mins), and "Orphaned" (3:46mins).


7.  Alice in Wonderland (2010)

This live-action/animated dark fantasy adventure film depicts the story of  nineteen-year-old Alice Kingsleigh, who is told that she can restore the White Queen to her throne, with the help of the Mad Hatter. To do this, Alice has to slay the Jabberwocky, a dragon-like creature controlled by the Red Queen and who terrorizes Underland's inhabitants.  She also has to defeat the Red Queen to protect the world. The plot is loosely based on Lewis Carrol's fantasy novels, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and Walt Disney's 1951 animated film  titled Alice in Wonderland.

Director: Tim Burton.

Main Cast: Johnny Depp (as Tarrant Hightopp, the Mad Hatter), Mia Wasikowska (as Alice Kingsleigh), and Helena Bonham Carter (as Iracebeth, the Red Queen). The voice cast consists of Michael Sheen (as Nivens McTwisp, the White Rabbit), Alan Rickman (as Absolem, the Caterpillar).

Awards and Nominations: Robert Stromberg and Karen O'Hara won the Best Art Direction Academy Award. Other awards came from British Academy Film Awards (Best Hair and Makeup), Saturn Awards (Best Fantasy Film and Best Costume), Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards (Best Makeup and Best Costume Design), and Annual Satellite Awards (Best Visual Effects and Best Costume Design), among other organizations. Various award nominations came from different organizations, including Golden Reels Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and the Grammy Awards, among others. 

Conclusion

Movies will remain to be among man's greatest sources of delight. Watching films is fun, enlightening, and comforting especially with the family.

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