10 Nearly Perfect Family Movies, Ranked
What makes a perfect movie? Is it one key factor that stands out among the rest? Or is it the sum of its parts, with every aspect done well, creating a perfectly cohesive project that comes together brilliantly? While there are many aspects to a family movie that make it splendid, sometimes a film comes slightly shy of greatness. This doesn’t mean it’s any less of a valuable contribution to the cinema; it simply had the opportunity to be one step better, but for whatever reason, didn’t achieve it.
Some movies on this list started out as classics, but have aged like sour milk. Others lost their impact with too many plotlines clouding up the narrative. And the rare ones are basically perfect in every way, but didn’t seem to connect with audiences. Here are 10 nearly perfect family movies, ranked.
10
‘Wild America’ (1997)
As I like to say, “movie stars don’t make good movies, good movies make movie stars.” The 1997 family adventure film Wild America was banking on star power to pull it through, and it got lost in the woods. The film stars three headlining young actors of their time, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Devon Sawa, and Scott Bairstow as the Stouffer brothers.
Based on the real-life story of the protagonists, the Stouffers are wildlife documentarians and conservationists. Marty Stouffer (Bairstow) is perhaps the most well-known, having filmed and narrated the TV series Wild America in the 1980s. With stunning scenes of wildlife and three handsome young actors, what could go wrong? Sadly, the film delivers on fun and interesting scenarios, but there is never any high-stakes or compelling narrative to give the story weight. It is definitely not the worst family film ever made, but it is not the best either.
9
‘Migration’ (2023)
Another movie that tends to feel very “blah” without a clear, impactful narrative is Migration. The voice acting is phenomenal, and the cast, which includes comedy legends like Kumail Nanjiani, Elizabeth Banks, and Danny DeVito, is sublime. The visual graphics are engaging in Migration, and the character designs are likeable. However, the story seems to be a mashup of already established tropes, and it doesn’t bring anything new to the table.
All in all, Migration is an enjoyable movie. It has a fun story, cute characters, and some beautiful aerial cinematography. It is definitely not one you should pass up on viewing, but don’t expect to have your life changed by it. You can watch Migration, enjoy it, and walk away without having to dwell on it. It is a solidly good movie, just not great.
8
‘Over the Moon’ (2020)
Netflix has slowly been finding its way to excellence when it comes to original content. One of their earliest kids’ movies is the musical Over the Moon. The storyline follows a young girl named Fei Fei (Cathy Ang) as she builds a rocket ship and blasts off into space to meet a mythical moon goddess.
On paper, Over the Moon has all of the ingredients to be something stellar, but it doesn’t stick the landing. This is evident in its disparaging critic versus audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes. While the songs in the movie are catchy, there are too many of them, and they are used too often, making the tracks blend together in the viewer’s experience. Everyone agrees that the movie starts out strong, but it drags in the middle and largely becomes uninteresting by the end. Like any artist or network trying to find its signature “voice,” Over the Moon is not bad for a second attempt at a feature-length kids’ film from Netflix. As the studio becomes more prolific and hones its talent, it is easy to look back at earlier projects and see the growth. Over the Moon walked so KPop Demon Hunters could fly.
7
‘The Great Mouse Detective’ (1986)
An example of a kids’ movie that used to be great, but has aged somewhat poorly, is Disney’s The Great Mouse Detective. Launched three years before The Little Mermaid would change history and usher in the Disney Renaissance era, The Great Mouse Detective was the first sign that the studio was getting back on track to telling good stories through hand-drawn animation. The Great Mouse Detective is a nod to Sherlock Holmes, in mouse form, and it is a thrilling mystery movie for kids.
In the 1980s, a lot of content was included in children’s movies that is no longer considered appropriate. Unfortunately, The Great Mouse Detective is no exception. In a scene where Basil (Barrie Ingham) and Dr. Dawson (Val Bettin) go undercover at a dockside pub, there is drinking, gunfights, and a vaudeville-type striptease by female mice. The main character, Basil, also smokes several times in the movie. Probably deemed fantasy fodder or harmless at the time, it doesn’t ruin the whole movie, but it is hard to overlook now.
6
‘Ron’s Gone Wrong’ (2021)
Ron’s Gone Wrong is a hilarious and charming movie about a young boy named Barney (Jack Dylan Grazer) who struggles to fit in and make friends at school. When the latest tech toy comes out, and Barney’s family can’t afford one, they improvise and find him one that’s slightly glitchy. Little does anyone know that what makes Barney’s robot imperfect is also what makes it incomparable, and Ron (Zach Galifianakis) is able to learn what it really means to be a friend.
Ron’s Gone Wrong has a terrific beginning and middle, but it is the end that feels convoluted. As Barney takes Ron into the wilderness to keep him from being confiscated by the Bubble company, he soon starts to experience health issues. There are several touching moments as the two spend time in the woods together and bond, and Ron ultimately risks capture to bring Barney back to safety. This felt like it should have been the ending. However, there is an odd pivot in the film that goes into Ron losing his identity by uploading his software into Bubble’s mainframe. The theory is that if Ron uploads his programming, all of the “Best Friend Out Of The Box” can learn, like Ron, to be better companions to their users.
This weird second ending feels disjointed from the rest of the movie. There are very clear implications made about the dangers of social media and relying on tech to fill a role that only humans and peer friend groups should have in a young person’s life. Destroying Ron’s uniqueness and using him to make a mass corporation’s product more palatable to users, thereby making them more money and feeding into corporate greed, feels like a sellout in more ways than one. This ending goes against several of the more profound and inspiring thoughts communicated in the film and seems like it was written by someone else and Frankensteined into the film. Incoherent ending aside, Ron’s Gone Wrong is a highly entertaining movie, and you won’t regret giving it a try.
5
‘The Wild Robot’ (2024)
Another family flick that has an ending which feels like two movies crammed into one is The Wild Robot. Lupita Nyong’o voices Roz, a robot built for human servitude that is out of her element when her delivery crate crashes on an island inhabited by animals. The premise is fascinating, and watching Roz adapt to her surroundings and learn how to interact with wildlife is intriguing. Adding a plot about Roz raising a small duckling adds a layer of personal involvement and, overall, isn’t a bad addition to the original premise.
The trouble comes at the end of the film. Like Ron’s Gone Wrong, there are two very disconnected streams of thought going on, and it feels like two groups of producers couldn’t agree on which finale to go with, so they threw both in. The main story arc was about Roz raising Brightbill (Kit Connor) so he could migrate. Then, after Roz has completed that task and cared for the surrounding animals, she is compelled to return to a human settlement where she is basically an unpaid laborer forced into indentured servitude.
This odd, jarring conclusion has nothing to do with what made the movie special. The whole point of the movie is supposed to be about a robot that was intended for human use making a new life for itself away from civilization. The film didn’t have to force Roz to live a life she was never supposed to. This ending unravels the whole mythos that she was designed for one life, but destined for another. Roz was meant to be wild, and it is a pity that the powers that be didn’t leave her that way.
4
‘Stuart Little’ (1999)
Based on the book by E.B. White, Stuart Little is an utterly charming tale of a little mouse who gets adopted by a human family. There are strong themes of unconditional love, acceptance, and understanding woven throughout the story. The cast is stacked with talent, including Michael J. Fox, Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie, Jonathan Lipnicki, and Nathan Lane.
The reason that Stuart Little hasn’t received more love could be due to poor release timing. Though it may not have been ahead of its time, Stuart Little didn’t fit in with the other kids’ and family fantasy movies of the 1990s. This was the era of more gritty, dark fantasies like Hocus Pocus, Matilda, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Audiences simply didn’t have the palate for a quirky, sunny, and optimistic fantasy. Although the visual effects aren’t the most recent, they are still convincing enough to draw viewers into the world of the play. Hopefully, Stuart Little will finally find his audience, like he found the right family to belong to.
3
‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ (2010)
Nicolas Cage is no stranger to fantasy, and a largely underappreciated one starring Cage and Jay Baruchel is The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. In the movie, Cage plays Balthazar, a wizard seeking to free his long-lost love from an imprisonment spell. The legend that Balthazar and his nemesis, Horvath (Alfred Molina), grapple over is finding the great wizard, Merlin’s (James A. Stephens) ultimate successor, the Prime Merlinian. No one expects greatness from awkward and unsure Dave (Baruchel), but he could very well be exactly who they have been looking for.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice does not lack when it comes to special effects, action sequences, or an engaging story. Perhaps its biggest deterrent is the somewhat unharmonious combination of fantasy and modern elements. It is always a tricky balance when combining ancient lore like that of Merlin and Morgana (Alice Krige), and setting the story to take place during current events. The movie can either lean too far one way or the other, and striking that perfect cohesion is not easy. Using songs like “Secrets” by OneRepublic dates the film and makes it hard for viewers not to consciously know it was an early 2010s movie. Modern-heavy elements aside, if you haven’t checked out this forgotten, almost perfect Nicolas Cage fantasy movie, this is your sign.
2
‘Pete’s Dragon’ (2016)
Many of Disney’s vintage live-action movies are overdue for a modern makeover, and one of the best so far has been Pete’s Dragon. Writer and director David Lowery kept the wonder, but took out the whackyness in this updated version, nearly four decades later than its predecessor. Bryce Dallas Howard stars as Grace, a local ranger who finds a young boy in the woods. Pete (Oakes Fegley) is more feral than friendly, and when Grace asks him how he has managed to survive alone in the forest for so long, Pete replies that he wasn’t alone. Pete’s companion is a large, green, and sometimes invisible dragon named Elliott (John Kassir).
Pete’s Dragon is a wonderful family fantasy. It has enough realism to be grounded for adult audiences and enough whimsy to be inspiring for younger viewers. With a remake of such an iconic and beloved film, there are bound to be those who prefer the original, and this was the case for several fans of the 1977 Pete’s Dragon. The two movies are very different in their feel and presentation. A notable difference that some appreciated and others did not was the choice to remove music from the movie. The 1977 version has several noteworthy songs, and the 2016 version does not have any. Each movie caters to its own audience, and it seems like these two renditions were too different to keep everybody happy. If you are not fiercely loyal to the original, give Pete’s Dragon a watch. It is a delightfully understated triumph that creates its own kind of magic.
1
‘Robin Hood’ (1973)
An almost perfect family movie that is flawless from start to finish is Disney’s animated Robin Hood. An anthropomorphic cast of creatures retells the legendary tale about the folk hero who robbed from the rich to give to the poor. This adaptation seems to be divisive between critics and fans, having a 56% and 81% Rotten Tomatoes rating, respectively.
Critics are swift to tear the movie apart because it’s an easy target. It was made before Disney achieved its zenith with films like Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, but that doesn’t make it any less worthy. Though most early Disney animated movies felt lackluster, Robin Hood does not. It is an interesting retelling with several subtle commentaries made about class differences and social injustice. It features the iconic animation styles that early Disney films were beloved for, and the music is memorable. Disney’s Robin Hood feels like a Monty Python and the Holy Grail for kids. Either viewers will connect with the droll delivery and presentation, or they won’t, so it takes no prisoners. Even though some of the rehashed character designs make it a step less than perfect, it is very nearly there and well deserving of any appreciation it receives.
