Maybe you’ve already made your way through the new releases or you’re looking to introduce your family to some of your favorite childhood memories, here are some of the best family movies around. We love animated movies as much as the next kid but sometimes you want to see live human beings on the screen. Your kids are sure to love this collection of non-animated movies.
The Princess Bride
A young boy’s grandfather reads him the tale of a farm-boy turned pirate who overcome obstacles to be reunited with his true love.
Released: 1987
Rating: PG
Age Recommended: 8 and up
Where to Watch: Disney+, Prime Video, Apple TV
Read the Parent Guide: Princess Bride
The Muppet Movie
Kermit the frog and his new friends set off on a cross-country trip to find success in Hollywood.
Released: 1979
Rating: G
Age Recommended: 5 and up
Where to Watch: Disney+, Prime Video, Apple TV
Read the Muppet Movie Parent Guide
The Goonies
The Goonies, a group of young misfits, find an old treasure map and set out to find a pirate’s treasure.
Released: 1985
Rating: PG
Age Recommended: 9 and up
Where to Watch: HBO Max, Prime Video, Freeform
E.T the Extra-Terrestrial
A friendly alien is stuck on earth, a troubled young boys helps him find his way home.
Released: 1982
Rating: PG
Age Recommended: 8 and up
Where to Watch: Peacock, Prime Video
Babe
A farmer helps his pig, who was raised by sheepdogs, learn to herd sheep.
Released: 1995
Rating: G
Age Recommended: 5 and up
Where to Watch: Prime Video
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
A scientist father accidentally shrinks his 2 children and 2 neighbor children to the size of bugs. The kids face new challenges in their shrunken state while the father tries to find them.
Released: 1989
Rating: PG
Age Recommended: 7 and up
Where to Watch: Disney+, Prime Video, Apple TV
The Sound of Music
A young novitiate is sent by her convent in 1930s Austria to become a governess to the seven children of a widowed naval officer.
Released: 1965
Rating: G
Age Recommended: 7 and up
Where to Watch: Disney+
Annie
A spunky young orphan is taken in by a rich eccentric, much to the chagrin of the cantankerous woman who runs the orphanage.
Released: 1982
Rating: PG
Age Recommended: 6 and up
Where to Watch: Prime Video, Apple TV
Mary Poppins
In turn of the century London, a magical nanny employs music and adventure to help two neglected children become closer to their father.
Released: 1964
Rating: G
Age Recommended: 5 and up
Where to Watch: Disney+
The Wizard of Oz
Young Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto are swept away by a tornado from their Kansas farm to the magical Land of Oz, and embark on a quest with three new friends to see the Wizard, who can return her to her home and fulfill the others’ wishes.
Released: 1939
Rating: G
Age Recommended: 6 and up
Where to Watch: HBO Max, Prime Video, Apple TV
Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope
Luke Skywalker joins forces with a Jedi Knight, a cocky pilot, a Wookiee and two droids to save the galaxy from the Empire’s world-destroying battle station, while also attempting to rescue Princess Leia from the mysterious Darth Vader.
Released: 1977
Rating: PG
Age Recommended: 7 and up
Where to Watch: Disney+, Prime Video, Freeform
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
An orphaned boy enrolls in a school of wizardry, where he learns the truth about himself, his family and the terrible evil that haunts the magical world.
Released: 2001
Rating: PG
Age Recommended: 7 and up
Where to Watch: Peacock, Prime Video, Apple TV
Home Alone
An eight-year-old troublemaker must protect his house from a pair of burglars when he is accidentally left home alone by his family during Christmas vacation.
Released: 1990
Rating: PG
Age Recommended: 10 and up
Where to Watch: Disney+
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
A poor but hopeful boy seeks one of the five coveted golden tickets that will send him on a tour of Willy Wonka’s mysterious chocolate factory.
Released: 1971
Rating: G
Age Recommended: 8 and up
Where to Watch: HBO Max
Back to the Future
Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.
Released: 1985
Rating: PG
Age Recommended: 10 and up
Where to Watch: Peacock, Prime Video, Apple TV
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Blacksmith Will Turner teams up with eccentric pirate “Captain” Jack Sparrow to save his love, the governor’s daughter, from Jack’s former pirate allies, who are now undead.
Released: 2003
Rating: PG-13
Age Recommended: 12 and up
Where to Watch: Disney+
Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark
Archaeology professor Indiana Jones ventures to seize a biblical artifact known as the Ark of the Covenant. While doing so, he puts up a fight against Renee and a troop of Nazis.
Released: 1981
Rating: PG
Age Recommended: 11 and up
Where to Watch: Paramount+, Prime Video, Apple TV
Matilda
A girl gifted with a keen intellect and psychic powers uses both to deal with her crude, distant family and free her kind teacher from their sadistic headmistress.
Released: 1996
Rating: PG
Age Recommended: 9 and up
Where to Watch: Hulu, Disney+
Jurassic Park
A pragmatic paleontologist touring an almost complete theme park on an island in Central America is tasked with protecting a couple of kids after a power failure causes the park’s cloned dinosaurs to run loose.
Released: 1993
Rating: PG-13
Age Recommended: 12 and up
Where to Watch: Hulu, HBO Max
Jumanji
When two kids find and play a magical board game, they release a man trapped in it for decades – and a host of dangers that can only be stopped by finishing the game.
Released: 1995
Rating: PG
Age Recommended: 10 and up
Where to Watch: Hulu
The Addams Family
Con artists plan to fleece an eccentric family using an accomplice who claims to be their long-lost uncle.
Released: 1991
Rating: PG-13
Age Recommended: 7 and up
Where to Watch: Netflix, Paramount+, Prime Video
Good Burger
A dim-witted teenager and his new coworker try to save the old burger joint they work for from failing after the opening of a brand new burger restaurant across the street, which’s planning to put them out of business.
Released: 1997
Rating: PG
Age Recommended: 10 and up
Where to Watch: Prime Video, Apple TV
The Sandlot
In the summer of 1962, a new kid in town is taken under the wing of a young baseball prodigy and his rowdy team, resulting in many adventures.
Released: 1993
Rating: PG
Age Recommended: 8 and up
Where to Watch: Disney+
The Parent Trap
Identical twins Annie and Hallie, separated at birth and each raised by one of their biological parents, discover each other for the first time at summer camp and make a plan to bring their wayward parents back together.
Released: 1998
Rating: PG
Age Recommended: 6 and up
Where to Watch: Disney+
Cheaper By the Dozen
With his wife doing a book tour, a father of twelve must handle a new job and his unstable brood.
Released: 2003
Rating: PG
Age Recommended: 10 and up
Where to Watch: Disney+
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Hook
When Captain James Hook kidnaps his children, an adult Peter Pan must return to Neverland and reclaim his youthful spirit in order to challenge his old enemy.
Released: 1991
Rating: PG
Age Recommended: 10 and up
Where to Watch: Freeform, Prime Video, Apple TV
The Karate Kid
A martial arts master agrees to teach karate to a bullied teenager.
Released: 1984
Rating: PG
Age Recommended: 11 and up
Where to Watch: Hulu, Prime Video
The Mighty Ducks
A self-centered Minnesota lawyer is sentenced to community service coaching a rag tag youth hockey team.
Released: 1992
Rating: PG
Age Recommended: 11 and up
Where to Watch: Disney+
Air Bud
An unexpected player joins the school basketball team – a circus dog who escaped from a cruel master.
Released: 1997
Rating: PG
Age Recommended: 6 and up
Where to Watch: Prime Video
Casper
An afterlife therapist and his daughter meet a friendly young ghost when they move into a crumbling mansion in order to rid the premises of wicked spirits.
Released: 1995
Rating: PG
Age Recommended: 8 and up
Where to Watch: Prime Video, Apple TV
Hocus Pocus
A curious youngster moves to Salem, where he struggles to fit in before awakening a trio of diabolical witches that were executed in the 17th century.
Released: 1993
Rating: PG
Age Recommended: 10 and up
Where to Watch: Disney+
