60 Best Kids' Movies of All Time, From Old Classics to New Favorites

You can't go wrong with any movie in the Toy Story franchise, but Toy Story 4's new character, Forky, is basically engineered to be delightful to children. Plus, you get a heartwarming tale about what happens when a toy and its child are ready to move on from each other. MPAA rating: G

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Based on the memoir by William Kamkwamba, the movie tells the story of a high school boy — a self-taught inventor — who tries to save his village by building a wind turbine big enough to power a water pump for the town's ailing crops. Chiwetel Ejiofor co-stars as well as makes his directorial debut. MPAA rating: PG

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Kids never get sick of a good Spider-Man story. In this one, Miles Morales learns how anyone can be a hero through some jaw-dropping animation. MPAA rating: PG

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Based on the book series by Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time brings big, heady sci-fi themes — like dimensional travel — down to kid-level. The mission takes on even more importance because it's about a kid searching for her lost father MPAA rating: PG

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Though you can't truly judge films by what critics say (especially about kids' movies), Paddington 2 accomplished the feat of having a 100% fresh rating on movie-review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes. It's a delightfully gentle story about a bear trying to find his place in the world. (Paddington is also pretty charming, if you need to start there.) MPAA rating: PG

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A young boy named Miguel goes through the Land of the Dead on during Día de Los Muertos and learns hard truths about his ancestors. That sounds like a sad and frightening premise for a movie, but, in Pixar's hands, it's actually a warm, colorful journey that strengthens family connections. MPAA rating: PG

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This movie follows the story of a girl named Mitsuha, who lives in a rural town, and a boy named Taki, who lives in the city. The two strangely start dreaming about each other — but are they only dreams, or is something happening in real life? Originally from Japan, this movie is available dubbed or with subtitles, so make sure you're turning on the version you want. MPAA rating: PG

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More hero than princess, Moana takes to the sea with the demigod Maui to save her village and people. The soundtrack is equally as globetrotting, mixing elements of traditional South Pacific music with Broadway and even hip-hop. MPAA rating: PG

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Amaze your family with a true story that goes behind-the-scenes in America's early space exploration. The film follows three women working at NASA 1960s, so it's a good way to illuminate a bit of history (good and bad) while nurturing a budding math geek. MPAA rating: PG

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This movie is eye- and ear-candy. It's full of bright colors, and the trolls are always bursting into song. The plot may be a little dark — the trolls are trying to stop the evil Bergens from eating them! — but it still qualifies as a feel-good movie. MPAA rating: PG

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This is an underdog competition story about a young girl who learns to play chess in Kampala, Uganda. It comes with a stacked cast — David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong'o, and Madina Nalwanga — and is based on a true story. MPAA rating: PG

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Young Kubo must encounter witches, monsters, and a talking Beetle to rescue his village from a vengeance-seeking spirit — and find out the truth about this missing samurai father. MPAA rating: PG

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From the creators of stop-motion favorites Wallace & Gromit, and with the same sly British sense of humor, comes a story about a farmer and a flock of sheep who get separated in a big city. Most of the movie is wordless, and the humans speak in gibberish, so this is a good pick for toddlers and preschoolers. MPAA rating: PG

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A classic mismatched buddy comedy, Home pairs a wayward alien named Oh with a human girl named Tip. Together, they have to help Oh figure out where he belongs. You can follow them with the series Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh on Netflix. MPAA rating: PG

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This beautifully animated film currently has a 100% fresh score on review site Rotten Tomatoes. The movie tells the story of a tiny princess who's freed from the inside of a stalk of bamboo; she enchants all she meets, but she has a past she needs to contend with.

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For any princess fans, this movie has two princesses who learn that their love for each other is the most powerful form of true love. That's an amazing message for siblings, but we fully realize that most kids just want to hear "Let It Go." MPAA rating: PG

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Delightfully strange, Rango is like a junior version of Chinatown starring desert critters. It's directed by Gore Verbinski, who also had a family hit with the Pirates of the Caribbean series. MPAA rating: PG

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It's easy to be enchanted by the world of vikings and dragons, especially when you meet a dragon as lovable as Toothless the Night Fury. Follow this with the sequels, and you'll get to see the viking Hiccup grow up throughout the series. MPAA rating: PG

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Besides being an amazing feat of stop-motion animation (from some of the same people who did The Nightmare Before Christmas), this creepy kids' movie is ultimately about appreciating the parents you have, which we can get behind. Young Coraline goes through a secret door in her new house to find a copycat world, complete with an "other mother" that gives her attention in the ways her real mother doesn't — but she's hiding some sinister secrets. MPAA rating: PG

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Disney takes the classic fairytale and twists it so that the royal becomes the amphibian, not the other way around. But the true appeal is the New Orleans setting, and the music that comes with it. MPAA rating: G

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People were shocked when this movie seemed to come out of nowhere and score an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature. (It lost to Up, but that's still pretty good for a practically unheard of film.) Once you give it a look, you can see how it charmed the Academy with its story of a quest steeped in Celtic mythology. MPAA rating: NR

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If you love a good underdog story, this one's about a girl from South Los Angeles who dreams of making at the National Spelling Bee. (Maybe it'll get your kids to practice their spelling, too.) MPAA rating: PG

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It's never too early to get them into documentaries. And this one, about the lengths penguins have to go to in order to successfully hatch chicks in the Antarctic, is perfect for any budding nature-lover. MPAA rating: G

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Any Pixar movie will do, but parents might find this one — about the crazy things that parents do in order to protect their children — extra relatable. MPAA rating: G

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You can get through the first three movies in the Harry Potter series before the franchise takes a big leap in intensity — and jumps from PG to PG-13 — and probably gets too scary for younger ones. Luckily, there's enough going on in the wizarding world of those first three films to get them dreaming about getting their own Hogwarts acceptance letters.

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Revered Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki puts his own spin on an Alice in Wonderland-like story, where a young girl goes on a journey through a world where she doesn't quite understand the rules. To this day, this is the highest-grossing movie in Japan — beating even Titanic — and after you see its beautiful animation, it's easy to understand why. MPAA rating: PG

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Director Robert Rodriguez made a name for himself with gritty, adult movies like Desperado and From Dusk Till Dawn. For his Spy Kids franchise, he manages to take all that action down to kid level without making it too cutesy. MPAA rating: PG

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These chickens want to fly the coop — literally! The stop-motion comedy is, like Shaun the Sheep, also from the makers of Wallace and Gromit, and is steeped in British humor. MPAA rating: G

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A big, big, robot (with a voice from a pre-fame Vin Diesel) comes to Earth during the Cold War era, and teaches a lesson about fear and acceptance. This comes from director Brad Bird, who would later go on to do the Incredibles movies at Pixar. MPAA rating: PG

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Little heroes everywhere can be inspired by the story of Mulan, who goes to great lengths — she disguises herself as a man! — so she can take her father's place in the army and protect her family. A live-action remake is planned for 2020. MPAA rating: G

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