Best Family Movies – Part 14
Posted on 19 Feb 00:00 
Family movies can, at times, be hard to find. A family movie needs to be suitable for all the members of the family and should not have awkward moments while the whole family is watching. These are some movies that are perfect for the entire family to view.
This is an American spy family film that is the first installment in the 'Spy Kids' series franchise and was theatrically released in the United States on March 30, 2001, by Dimension Films. Spy Kids’ storyline is about two children who are spies, and inadvertently expose their parents’ secrets (who are ex spies).’
Director: Robert Rodriguez wrote the script for the 'Spy Kids', edited the script, directed the movie, and produced it.
Main Cast: Alexa Vega (as Carmen Cortez), Daryl Sabara (as Juni Cortez), Antonio Banderas (as Gregorio Cortez), and Carla Gugino (as Ingrid Cortez).
Awards and Nominations: Rotten Tomatoes gave the 'Spy Kids' a 93% rating. It was nominated for Best Fantasy Film at the 28th Saturn Awards but lost to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Young Artists Awards nominated the film for two awards, Best Family Feature Film and Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actress. Still, Spy Kids lost the awards to other films. The movie won ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards for Top Office Box Films and an ALMA Award for Outstanding Director in a Motion Picture.
2. A League of Their Own (1992)
This is a sports comedy-drama that features a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Most of America's athletic young men are fighting during World War II. A professional all-female baseball league is formed in the Midwest, funded by publicity-hungry candy maker Walter Harvey (Garry Marshall). Competitive sisters Dottie Hinson (Geena Davis) and Kit Keller (Lori Petty) fight with each other, scout Ernie Capadino (Jon Lovitz) and grumpy has-been coach Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) on their way to fame.
Director: Penny Marshall.
Main Cast: Tom Hanks (as Jimmy Dugan, the manager), Geena Davis (as Dorothy "Dottie" Hinson, #8, catcher/assistant manager), Madonna (as "All the Way" Mae Mordabito and #5, center field), and Lori Petty (as Kit Keller, the #23 pitcher).
Awards and Nominations: Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 78% rating, giving the following consensus comment,” Sentimental and light, but still thoroughly charming, In 2002, the US Congress selected the movie to be preserved in the National Film Registry for being aesthetically and culturally significant.
'Casper' is a comedy-drama based on the Harvey Comics cartoon character Casper the Friendly Ghost. The film uses computer-generated imagery. It is the first feature film to have a fully CGI character in the lead role. The movie’s theme is death, and its main character has a tragic backstory that addresses his death. The plot depicts an afterlife therapist and his daughter, who meet a friendly young ghost when they move into a crumbling mansion to rid the premises of wicked spirits.
Director: Brad Silberling.
Main Cast: Bill Pullman (as Dr. James Harvey, the ghost therapist, and Katt’s father), Christina Ricci (as Kathleen "Kat" Harvey, the ghost therapist daughter and Casper’s love interest), and Malachi Pearson (as the voice of Casper McFadden, a lonely ghost and Katt’s love interest).
Awards and Nominations: Christina Ricci won the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor, while Malachi Pearson won the Young Artist Award for Best Performance by a Young Actor: Voiceover Role. Stinkers Bad Movie Awards selected the Casper movie for the Worst Picture. It lost the award to a Universal Pictures film.
This epic fantasy disaster comedy is the sequel and spin off of the 2003 Bruce Almighty movie. This film is a modern-day story of Noah's Ark.
Director: Tom Shadyac.
Main Cast: Steve Carell (as Evan Baxter) and Morgan Freeman (as God) reprise their roles from the original film, Lauren Graham (as Joan Baxter, Evan's wife) and John Goodman (as Congressman Chuck Long).
Awards and Nominations: 'Evan Almighty' received awards and nominations mostly because of the soundtrack in the film. It was nominated for a Dove Award for Special Event Album of the Year at the 39th GMA Dove Awards in 2008. Room for Two’s ‘Be the Miracle’ song was also nominated for Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year. LeAnn Rimes’ ‘Ready for a Miracle’ won the Dove Award for Traditional Gospel Recorded Song of the Year. At the 2007 MTV Movie Awards, Evan Almighty was nominated for “Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet.”
Jeremy Leven used Jodi Picoult's 2004 novel, 'My Sister’s Keeper' to write this drama. The storyline depicts a young woman who wants medical emancipation from her parents and rights to her own body, because her parents relied on her to help their leukemia-stricken daughter remain alive.
Director: Nick Cassavetes.
Main Cast: Cameron Diaz (as Sara Fitzgerald), Abigail Breslin (as Anna Fitzgerald), and Evan Ellingson (as Jesse Fitzgerald).
Awards and Nominations: It won the Teens Choice Award for Choice Summer Movie Drama, an ALMA Award for Outstanding Actress in Motion Picture (for Cameron Diaz), and two Young Artist Awards for Best Performance in a Feature Film – Supporting Actress (Sofia Vassilieva) and Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actress (for Abigail Breslin). The only award it missed was Brennan Bailey’s Young Artist Best Performance in a Feature Film – Supporting Actor.
6. George of the Jungle (1997)
This is a comedy based on Jay Ward's cartoon, 'George of the Jungle'. At the center of the story, is George, a primitive jungle man raised by a gorilla after he survived a plane crash. George saves Ursula, a wealthy heiress, and leaves the African jungle life to San Fransisco.
Director: Sam Weisman.
Main Cast: Brendan Fraser (as George), Leslie Mann (as Ursula Stanhope, George’s love interest), and Thomas Haden Church (as Lyle van de Groot, Ursula’s treacherous fiancé).
Awards and Nominations: The Saturn Awards nominated the movie for the Best Fantasy Film, but it lost the award.
7. Three Men and a Baby (1987)
'Three Men and a Baby' is an comedy-drama whose plot is about three bachelors who attempt to adapt their lives to fatherhood with the arrival of the love child of one of them. Jim Cruickshank wrote the film’s script while basing it on a screenplay that James Orr wroted for the 1985 French film Trois Hommes et un couffin (Three Men and a Cradle).
Director: Leonard Nimoy.
Main Cast: Tom Selleck (as Peter Mitchell), Steve Guttenberg (as Michael Kellam), and Ted Danson (as Jack Holden).
Awards and Nominations: In 1988, the People's Choice Awards nominated the Three Men and a Baby film for the Favorite Comedy Motion Picture Award, and it won.
8. Mr. Popper’s Penguins (2011)
This is a 2011 comedy-drama whose script was written by Sean Anders, John Morris, and Jared Stern, with Rolfe Kent’s music. The trio loosely based the screenplay on Richard and Florence Atwater’s 1938 children’s novel 'Mr. Popper’s Penguins' . The film’s plot depicts a man who spends more time at work than with his children, but when his father sends him a gift in the form of penguins, things change resulting in creating a tighter bond between him and his children.
Director: Mark Walters.
Main Cast: Jim Carrey (as Tom Popper), Carla Gugino (as Amanda Popper), and Madeline Carroll (as Janie Popper).
Awards and Nominations: Rolfie Kent won the BMI Film Music Award for his music. At the USA Kids Choice Award in 2012, Jim Carry was nominated for Favorite Movie Actor of the Blimp Award, but he lost. Jim was also nominated for a Grace Award and Best Film for Families for the Most Inspiring Performance in Movies. He did not win.
Conclusion
Family movie time is a good way to relieve stress after a long working week and a good opportunity for the whole family to sit together and enjoy some quality time. Selecting an appropriate family movie is paramount to everyone's enjoyment. These family movies fit that criteria.
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