With the kids
Six franchises that hold a child’s attention without insulting yours, and the ages each one actually lands at.
6 picks
The difficulty is rarely finding something a child will sit through. It is finding something you will not resent by the fourth rewatch, and something that does not need a conversation about what happened in the last film.
Every one of these works cold, in any order or near enough, and every one has something in it for the adult holding the remote.
- 01
Toy Story
6 titles · Sci-Fi & FantasyThe safest thing here and the best. Works from about four upwards, and the ones crying at the end are usually the adults.
Open - 02
Despicable Me
7 titles · Sci-Fi & FantasyLoud, silly, entirely unbothered. The films to reach for when the room is already noisy rather than when you want it quiet.
Open - 03
Sonic
5 titles · Sci-Fi & FantasyBuilt for children who know the games and pitched so nobody else is bored. Three films and a series, all self-explanatory.
Open - 04
Shrek
7 titles · Sci-Fi & FantasyThe jokes aimed at the adults in 2001 are the ones that still land. Best from about seven, when the second layer starts registering.
Open - 05
Back to the Future
3 titles · Sci-Fi & FantasyThe first real grown-up film a lot of people saw. Around nine or ten, and it holds up completely.
Open - 06
Karate Kid
7 titles · Action & ThrillerSincere in a way films stopped being for thirty years, and the one on this list most likely to be quoted back at you.
Open