Family Movies

Just like films for adults, kids’ movies come in several varieties. Although they all generally feature jokes aimed at kids and situations the younger set can easily understand, the themes, plots, and characters do change depending on the type of kids’ movie it is. Most fall into the following broad categories:

Animated
Disney and PIXAR have been at the top of the animated film world for a long time, but DreamWorks has seriously challenged their supremacy with the Shrek franchise. This year, they bring us How to Train Your Dragon. Disney returns with a 3D Toy Story 3. And, Universal joins the pack with their new 3-D film, Despicable Me.

Most animated movies are computer-generated, which allows for more realistic, three-dimensional images. The plots often feature animals and other non-humans in exciting adventures. They usually also carry a sweet message about friendship, confidence, and doing the right thing.

Action-Adventure
Children love films that feature other children solving mysteries and engaged in daring feats. In most of these films, an adult accompanies them or watches over them from afar.

Child Hero
In most films featuring a child hero, the child has superhuman strength, but some feature children who are merely precocious. Try The Karate Kid for an example.

Animal
Animals are a staple of family entertainment. In the children’s film world, animals can usually talk. Sometimes the children in the movie, and the rare adult, can hear them, sometimes they can’t. Animated films are often animal films, but there are also live-action films like Furry Vengeance and Marmaduke.

Fantasy-Adventure
Fantasy-adventure and action-adventure are often combined, but fantasy-adventure movies have more emphasis on the otherworldliness, and otherworldly roles for children. Alice in Wonderland is an older child, but otherwise fits the bill quite nicely. For younger kids, dive into the imagination of the classic book character Ramona Quimby in Ramona and Beezus, which explores the wonders of her daydreams and perspective on the world, as well as her relationship with her older sister.

Buddy
Buddy movies are as common in the children’s movie world as they are in adult film genres. Although adult buddy films are usually played for laughs, family buddy films can be played for drama or comedy. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a serious take on the buddy movie concept, while Toy Story plays it for laughs. Diary of a Wimpy Kid brings us a bunch of wimpy buddies, too.

Most family-friendly movies are a combination of several of the above genres. Common genre combinations are animated buddy films, animated animal buddy films, and action-fantasy-adventure films.