10 Great Family Movies for Summer

With the kids home for the summer, by the end of the week, you may be looking to melt into the couch.  At least, that’s how I remember feeling when the kids were younger.  If  you need a little downtime, but still want to make it family friendly, I totally recommend a family movie night.

We started this tradition when the kids were younger, and as you know, to this day, The Girl and I still do our Friday Night Movies. I figure most kids have seen all of the recent movies, so I chose some older {I’m going to call them classics} that might be fun to watch.

Here’s my top 10:

1. Parent Trap {the new and the old one}.  The kids will get a kick out of watching the same story set in different eras.
2. Goonies.  This is a cult classic.  Plus, whenever my kids say something I can’t understand, I just say “Boobie twapped, that’s what I said,” and they totally know they need to repeat whatever they said.  It’s one of those movies that is part of our family dialect.
3. Freaky Friday.  This is another one that has a new and old version.  Watch them both, but I’ll warn you, the first is better.
4. The Princess Bride.  This is a must.  Plain and simple.  It will be “love, trew love” I promise.  In fact, if you haven’t watched it with your kids, stop whatever you are doing right now and make it happen.
5. The Muppet Movie.  Okay again, they have redone this one, but stick to the 1979 version.  It captures the magic of the Muppets.
6. Where the Red Fern Grows.  If your kids haven’t read the book, you may want to require it first, but seriously, this movie will make you cry.  Every.  Time.
7. Old Yeller.  I have a new appreciation for this one now that we have Lucy.  It’s basically about a boy and the love he has for his dog.
8. Swiss Family Robinson.  What’s not to love about a family making the most of being stranded on a deserted island?
9. Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier.  This is a must if you have boys.  They will spend the next week outside recreating the movie over and over.  It totally fuels their imagination.
10. The Adventures of the Wilderness Family.  This is a little more obscure suggestion, but totally worth it.  It’s based on a true story about a family tired of the city bustle who move to Colorado to homestead.  It’s awesome–if you’re into that sort of thing, and I am.

I could probably think of a ton more that we’ve watched over the years, but these are kind of the “classics” that come to mind.

What are some of YOUR favorite family movies?

~Mavis