People Break Down The Best Kids' Films Of All Time

People Break Down The Best Kids' Films Of All Time
Image by anncapictures from Pixabay

Real talk - the mark of an excellent kids' movie is that it still has something profound to say to the adults who took those kids to see that movie. The best films weave that message in seamlessly in and say what they need to say in ways that work for both the kids and the grown-ups.


So lets celebrate those moments. Reddit user KeenestDerp1 asked:

What kids movie has no right to be as good as it is?

So here's the thing, I'm never gonna tell people who don't want kids or can't afford kids etc. to go out and have babies just so you have an "excuse" to watch children's movies and TV.

But I am going to say you should totally still watch some kids stuff from time to time! Cartoons and kids movies now aren't the slapstick pointless explosion of color they used to be.

They're deep, emotional, political, deal with trauma, tell compelling stories ... aaaaaaaand are an explosion of color! Seriously. Don't sleep on kids programming, take a look at what these people had to say:

Groove With It

emperors new groove feel the power GIFGiphy

"Emperors New Groove, fur sure. Yzma and Kronk are easily the funniest Disney villains of all time."

"Other villains like Gaston, Ursula, or Scar have funny moments, but ultimately become legitimate, scary threats by the end. Or Frollo or Shan Yu, who have no humor to redeem them at all."

"Kronk and Yzma, however, remain amusing throughout, and survive on top of that. Eartha Kitt and Patrick Warburton had such great comedic delivery."

"Yzma: That's it, Kronk! Break the door down!"

"Kronk: Break it down, are you kidding me? This is hand-carved mahogany." - Dahhhkness

Vin Diesel At His Best

feels love it GIFGiphy

"The Iron Giant has some of the absolute best animation" - ElephantExplosion

"My wife always likes to look my way at the ending, she knows the waterworks are coming. She gets a kick out of it." - piberryboy

"Unironically my favorite vin diesel performance. With only a few words he was able to convey so much (with the help of expert animation)."

"You are you choose to be/superman sequence is as powerful as anything else I've seen in live action." - Hogwarts_Earth2

" 'You stay. I go. No following.' " - TheTruthenatorer

Rats In A Kitchen

ratatouille GIFGiphy

"Ratatouille. A bunch of rats in a restaurant should not make such a great movie." - cdgal38382

"I think the food critic Anton Egos speech at the end is possibly one of the greatest bits of writing in cinema history."

" 'The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The new needs friends.' "

" 'Last night, I experienced something new: an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions about fine cooking is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core.' "

" 'In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau's famous motto, 'Anyone can cook.' But I realize, only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist; but a great artist can come from anywhere.' " - scotlandisbae

Kung Fu

kung fu panda love GIFGiphy

"Kung Fu Panda. You'd expect a lot of fat jokes and not much else, but all three movies are fantastic in terms of action, drama, and emotions." - WeirdGuy149

"I avoided these movies for so long because I thought they looked dumb as hell and I also don't always care for Jack Black."

"Then my kids got obsessed with these movies and every time I watched it I noticed something new and became more and more impressed. It's got a solid story, solid mythology, and the movie is constantly referencing itself and keeping itself aligned with its themes."

"The fact that the movie is full of scenes of Po doing random stuff and getting hurt in random ways and then every single one of those incidents is brought back in the fight at the end is just amazing to me." - TypewriterKey

"Was about to comment this, actually. Trailers make you think it's a dumb animated comedy, but it ends up being an unironically solid martial arts flick" - ProfessionalSquid

Dragon Time

how to train your dragon smile GIFGiphy

"As a 30 year old man, 'How To Train Your Dragon' remains my favorite movie of all time. Perfect writing, perfect voice acting, perfect music, perfect animation - Toothless, a dragon with zero lines of dialogue, has more personality than most kid's movie protagonists."

"Fun fact, that movie uses more callback lines than any I've ever seen. I counted once and there's more than 15 lines of dialogue that get repeated at different points throughout the movie to show change or character development. This includes, but is not limited to:"

  • "This is Berk"
  • "Thank you for summing that up"
  • "You just gestured to all of me"
  • "That's for ______, that's for everything else"
  • "Ohhh I am hurt, I am very much hurt"
  • "I did this"
  • "Why didn't you?"
  • "We're Vikings, it's an occupational hazard"

"Also notable for having shockingly good sequels as well."

"The second movie is arguably as good as the first, and the third, while not quite as good at the first two, is nonetheless excellent and a worthy conclusion to the series." - NotMieFault

A 90 Minute Toy Commercial

lego batman wink GIF by The LEGO MovieGiphy

"The Lego Movie"

"I was expecting it to be a 90 minute toy commercial. Instead it was really, really good, with a good message about creativity and some great songs."

"Also Lego Batman was better than most live action superhero movies." - TheseWereThePlaces

"These movies were so hysterical!"

"My kids begged me to watch with them. I begrudgingly said yes. I thought it would be so dumb - I loved them!"

"To the point where after we had watched it several times-when there was a movie night months later I would suggest Lego Batman and my son would be like"

" 'Mooooom AGAIN?' " - Absofrickinlutely

A Story About Sisters

lilo and stitch lol GIF by DisneyGiphy

"I watched Lilo and Stitch again recently as an adult, and I realized it's a story about an older sister trying to keep her family together with some aliens thrown in."

"Had me crying throughout the whole thing. Much different than how I remembered it as a kid!" - AGeneNamedCry

"Yeah it's really really heavy. Like they even got Lilo's acting out and tantrums from trying to process losing her parents right." - wardsac

"And Nani's room has lots of awards for surfing, implying she gave up that career to take care of Lilo." - SmartAlec105

"My husband, who does not get emotional over movies, couldn't watch it."

"He didn't actually lose both parents, but his dad died suddenly when he was 9 and the loss crushed his mom. He can recall years when his mom was almost always in bed crying."

"His brother basically raised him from ages 9-14 because their mom had become a shell of her former self."

"He cried watching Lilo & Stitch. I have never seen him cry over any other movie, ever. I think it just hit too close to home for him." - captkronni

"My wife and I have some contact with the foster care system (in a volunteer capacity), and yeah--this movie hits way harder now."

"Nani is a goddamn saint, but she's clearly in over her head in a world that isn't set up for her to succeed. The scene where she accepts that Lilo is going to be taken away and just holds her absolutely wrecks me." - BlueOysterCultist

"Aloha O'e (the song she sings to Lilo) adds another layer of heart wrenching to the scene too."

"It was composed by the last queen of Hawaii and she sang it to her people when Hawaii lost its independence. The writers for the movie legitimately added a whole lot of culture into the film in terms of the native Hawaiian experience." - Worthyness

Father/Son Films

stand out goofy movie GIFGiphy

"I was an assistant manager at a movie theater when 'A Goofy Movie' came out. I could get my family into movies free, but I had to go with them."

"When that movie came out my little brother begged me to take him. I brought him, my sister and my mom, thinking I'd duck out after a few minutes & hang out in the office with whoever was working."

"I ended up watching every minute & absolutely loving it. My mother, a woman now well into her 60's, still loves this movie to this day. She pulled out her old VHS copy when we were there for Easter & we all watched it."

"It 100% holds up over time & I think it's one of the best father/son movies I've ever seen." - Zorgsmom

The Best Musicians Movie

Disney Pixar GIF by Disney+Giphy

"Coco. Everyone talks about Hispanic representation, dealing with death, and gut-wrenching emotional turmoil, and Coco definitely has all that in spades, but as a musician and specifically a guitarist..."

"The chords are right. The plucking, strumming, dynamics are right. The instruments are right. Even the accompaniment."

"And when Miguel is sitting in his little hideaway, the look on his face when he gets into his playing is a genuine look that I've only seen musicians make. The moment he made that face I knew I was in for something special."

"This isn't a petulant child who insists on a hobby his parents hate, this is an artist feeling their art, someone with music in their soul that NEEDS to be played."

"And the stunning truth of how music is so powerful it can even occasionally, momentarily, overcome something as strong as dementia... that scene makes everyone cry but it WRECKED me."

"I watched that movie in theaters, went home, dusted off a neglected instrument, and unashamedly wept into the chords. Best musician's movie ever." - Enmaku

Now go! Stop reading articles on your phone and go watch something childish and great.

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