5 Great Family Movies to Pop in on Friday Night

Disclosure: In any review for a product or service, products or compensation may have been provided to me to help facilitate my review. All opinions are my own and honest. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC Guidelines. Please see “Disclose” and "Terms of Use" tabs for more information.

If you’ve basically given up on the idea of a family movie night at the theater because of the high cost of
admission, snacks, and so on, then you may be looking for an alternative form of entertainment after a
long week of work and school has left your family beat. Luckily, you can still get the feel of the theater
in the comfort of your own home by staging a movie night. So dim the lights, pop some corn, and get
comfy in your favorite armchair. Here are a few family-friendly movies that will have everyone feeling
good come Friday night.

1. Finding Nemo (2003). There’s no denying that Pixar pretty much hits it out of the park every
time, and you’ve likely got your favorite film, but you really can’t go wrong with this whale of
a tale about a clown fish searching the vast ocean for his lost son. The graphics are incredibly
beautiful, but it’s the characters and the storyline that make this movie special, and they’ll have
you coming back to watch it again and again.

2. The Princess Bride (1987). This fractured fairy tale is fun and offbeat with plenty of characters
that are a little left of normal (a six-fingered villain, a rhyming giant, a Spaniard with a spiel,

and of course, a dread pirate that turns out to be none other than the hero). Young kids may
hide their eyes when the giant rats attack or the life-sucking machine gets pumped up, but the
ending is a happy one and wicked Prince Humperdinck gets what’s coming to him.

3. Mary Poppins (1964). This is one classic that never goes out of style, with candy-colored sets
made even more vibrant through Technicolor and hilarious hijinks that could never possibly
occur (or could they)? The titular nanny and her bag of tricks are sure to delight kids of all ages
and parents (and grandparents) will enjoy this blast from the past. By the end of the night
everyone will be saying supercallifragilisticexpialidocious (if you say it loud enough…well, you
know the rest).

4. The Nightmare before Christmas (1993). Not every family is interested in the sugary sweetness
of Disney movies, and Tim Burton offers an incredible alternative with his stop-motion fantasy
about a haunt from Halloweentown who wants something more out of life. Unfortunately, his
way of getting it is to tie up Santa and take over Christmas. Of all the Burton movies, this one
is probably the most accessible for kids, but parents will find plenty to love in this story about
wrong choices made for the right reasons, and ultimately, redemption.

5. E.T. (1982). This tale of an extra-terrestrial that gets left behind on Earth is both imaginative and
endearing. Although most parents will have been amazed by the Spielberg creation in their own
childhood, your copy may have been relegated to the trash along with every other VHS tape in
your collection. But thanks to DVDs, you can now pass on the magic to
your own kids with a movie that has at its heart a message of tolerance.