Mega List of Smart Family Night Movies

Sunday evenings around here are our official Nacho Sunday Movie Nights, or, on alternate weeks, Pizza Sunday Movie Nights. It is exactly what it sounds like. We all load up a big ol' plate of nachos (or pizza) and watch a movie. This weekly tradition started a few years ago when 1) I got more intentional about making Sunday a day of rest, and elaborate dinners were the obvious thing to cut out of my Sundays, and 2) during the COVID shutdowns, we started watching a lot of classic movies with the kids. Eventually they coalesced into one of our favorite events of the week!

One of the most perfect foods ever. This is a hill I will die on.

In true homeschool mom fashion, I try to sneak as much culture and history into movie night as possible (although some nights are a total waste of brain cells-- looking at you, All Dogs Go to Heaven). On the nights that it's my turn to pick, I try to choose something that will broaden my kids' understanding of the world historically, culturally, or philosophically. This blog post is going to be a list of smart movies for older kids* that I can refer back to when I need ideas and also record what we've seen already. Who knows, maybe it will have some good movie night ideas for your family, too. If there's a movie that your family loves that isn't on the list, please let me know! I am always looking for more ideas for movie night!

*Obviously use your own discretion when picking movies for your own family to watch. These are all shows that I'm pretty sure won't scar my kids for life (from about 9 years old and up) but may not be great for other families. Several of these movies have violence and/or strong language. I have found the IMDB Parent's Guides to be helpful for determining suitability.

Italics: movies we have watched

Bold: movies I SUPER recommend!

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

The Adventures of Robin Hood (Errol Flynn version)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett) (This one is actually a miniseries)

The Agony and the Ecstasy

Alexander the Great (Richard Burton version)

Anastasia (Ingrid Bergman)

Anne of Green Gables

As You Like It (Laurence Olivier)

Babette's Feast

Ben-Hur

The Black Stallion

Born Free

The Boys in the Boat

Brave

Brother Sun, Sister Moon

The Buccaneer

Chariots of Fire

Charlotte's Web

Cheaper By the Dozen (1950 version)

A Christmas Carol

Coco

The Court Jester

Darby O'Gill and the Little People

Davy Crockett

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951 version)

Doctor Dolittle (Rex Harrison)

Ender's Game

Fantasia

Fantasia 2000

Fiddler on the Roof

Finding Nemo

Frankenstein (Boris Karloff version)

Free Willy

Gone With the Wind

The Great Escape

Hans Christian Anderson

Heidi

Henry V

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Hobbit (Rankin and Bass version)

Howl's Moving Castle

Indiana Jones 1 and 3 (we all want the ninety minutes of our life back that we spent watching #2)

Inside Out

Iron Will

It's a Wonderful Life

Ivanhoe (1982)

James and the Giant Peach

Johnny Tremaine

Jurassic Park

The Karate Kid

Kedi (this one is a foreign film spoken entirely in Turkish, so make sure your kids can keep up with the subtitles)

Lilies of the Field

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (we're very partial to the 1979 version. The animation is SOOOO bad it's hilarious, but the music is one of the best movie soundtracks ever. We have a tradition of watching it on a snowy evening every year with Turkish delight and hot chocolate.) 

A Little Princess

Little Women

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Luca

The Man from Snowy River

Mary Poppins

Matilda

A Midsummer Night's Dream (the old version with Mickey Rooney)

Miracle on 34th Street

The Miracle Worker

Moby Dick

Mr. Holland's Opus

My Fair Lady

My Neighbor Totoro

Nacho Libre

Newsies

North and South

Oliver!

Phantom of the Opera (Cameron Mackintosh 25th Anniversary stage production, NOT the 2004 film version)

The Phantom Tollbooth

Pollyanna

Ponyo

Pride and Prejudice (we love the BBC miniseries!)

The Prince of Egypt

The Princess and the Frog

The Princess Bride

Ratatouille

The Red Shoes

The Rescuers

The Rescuers Down Under

The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming!

Sarah, Plain and Tall

Silas Marner

Singin' In the Rain

The Sound of Music

Spirited Away

Split Infinity

Star Wars

The Sword in the Stone

The Robe

The Secret Garden

Secondhand Lions

Seven Samurai (another foreign language film; make sure your kids can keep up with the subtitles!)

The Swiss Family Robinson

Tall Tale

The Taming of the Shrew

Temple Grandin\

The Ten Commandments

Toy Story

Treasure Island

Wall-E

Where the Red Fern Grows

White Christmas

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken

Without a Clue

The Wizard of Oz

Zorro (The Mark of Zorro [1940] or The Sign of Zorro)

This next section with the *Asterisks* denote movies I either haven't seen in forever or haven't seen at all, and need to be previewed for questionable content. I can't recommend these movies; this is just a personal list for me. If you have seen any of these, let me know your thoughts on their suitability!

*Akeelah and the Bee*

*Animal Farm*

*The Book Thief*

*The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind*

*Camelot*

*Coraline*

*Exodus*

*Gandhi*

*Groundhog Day*

*Hidden Figures*

*The Hiding Place*

*How the West Was Won*

*Hugo*

*The Hunt for Red October*

*Jason and the Argonauts*

*Jiro Dreams of Sushi*

*Joan of Arc* (Not sure which version to go with at this time)

*Land of the Pharaohs*

*Lawrence of Arabia*

*Luther*

*The Merchant of Venice* (BBC version)

*Patton*

*Quo Vadis*

*Rear Window*

*Remember the Titans*

*Searching for Bobby Fischer*

*The Song of Norway*

*The Truman Show*

*The Wind Rises*

*The Young Victoria*

Well, I started this post as a way to remember what I wanted in the future, but I think I just mainly gave myself movie FOMO. This is a seriously hefty list!