Chris Healy over at Cookie Magazine lists their top 25 favorite family films. Here’s the list (the comments are ours):

• The Goonies (1985, PG) – A bit potty-mouthed for a ‘family’ movie: There’s some language in it and some suggestive material that parents may not want to expose their kids to just yet. If The Goonies had been made today, it would have garnered a PG-13 rating instead of the PG rating.
• Babe (1995, G)
• The Sound of Music (1965, G)
• Singin’ In the Rain (1952, G)
• Finding Nemo (2003, G)
• Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971, G) – Go with the original – we reccomend avoiding Burton’s 2007 attempt to remake Willy into a cross between Wacko and Weirdo.
• Toy Story (1995, G) – We would have also added Pixar’s Toy Story II and Monsters Inc. to the list.
• Spirited Away (2001, PG)
• Mary Poppins (1964, G)
• March of the Penguins (2005, G)
• The Princess Bride (1987, PG)
• E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982, PG) – If you can find a copy, go for the original 1982 version, not the 2002 ‘enhanced’ version. Commentary on new version: “I can’t watch the version that has the changes without it distracting me. I have seen this movie so many times as a kid, that I know it by heart/ I actually anticipate every scene, every line, every shot. When I get to a point where a change has been made, it is like a slight bump in the road. ‘Oh, look they changed that’ or ‘They changed that line’ or ‘That shot has been cut.’ It takes me out of the movie for just a second, and when there are so many changes that you are constantly being taken out of the movie, it ruins it.”
• The Wizard of Oz (1939, G)
• Happy Feet (2006, PG)
• The Lady and the Tramp (1955, G) – Avoid the direct-to-video Lady and the Tramp II – Scamp’s Adventure. It’s sad that this is what Disney has come to – taking successful films, and turning them into lamed, limping sequels.
• The Parent Trap (1961, G) – Go with the original, 1998′s remake is a bit too racy for young children
• The Muppet Movie (1979, G)
• Shrek (2001, PG) – Shrek takes a very un-Pixar approach to family entertainment by resorting to crudities, bathroom humor and profanity that will give pause to families, particularly those with younger children.
• Star Wars (1977, PG)
• Freaky Friday (1976, G)
• Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-rabbit (2005, G)
• The Iron Giant (1999, PG) – Our only complaint with this film is the heavy-handed anti-gun message: hunters are cold-blooded killers and guns serve no purpose but to harm — good movie, bad anti-gun propaganda.
• The Bad News Bears (1976, PG) – raunchy, tasteless humor and the 2005 remake is no better. Definitely NOT a family movie. What was Cookie Magazine thinking?
• A Little Princess (1995, G)
• My Neighber Totoro (1988, G) – The animation is absolutely stunning and the story is deceptively simple, told with patient, subtle attention to detail.

Popularity: 1%