Disclaimer: This list of “101+ Boy Approved Films for Family Movie Night” has been approved by my three sons and their boy friends. Does this mean that this list isn’t for girls, too? Of course not! It means that if you happen to have children (male or female!) like mine who will refuse to participate in family movie night unless the number of boys, explosions, race cars, sword fights, treasure hunts, robots and general action and adventure far outweigh the number of princesses and fairies, then you might find this list helpful, too. 🙂

101+ boy approved films for family movie night

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Family Move Night is kind of a big deal around here. We snuggle on the couch together as a family, make popcorn, and there is almost always ice cream involved. If my boys are lucky, we’ll pull out the hide-a-bed sofa and let them spend the entire night watching movies until they fall asleep in the living room. Over the years they’ve developed a very particular style when it comes to their movie choices – they want lots of action and adventure, slapstick comedy, imaginative plots, and no princesses. Well, maybe a couple of princesses, but there had better be a lot of sword fighting to balance it all out! Talking animals are always a hit, too.

Since I’m always on the hunt for new Family Movie Night favorites, I spent the last few weeks polling all of the little boys that I know about their favorite movies, and the list below is the results. All of the films are rated G or PG, with the exception of Jurassic Park, which is rated PG-13. Please keep your child’s age, maturity and sensitivity level in mind when choosing which movie to watch. I haven’t seen every single movie on this list, but I’ve seen a large percentage of them, and I can’t wait to add the ones we haven’t watched yet to our movie queue!

The Neverending Story

The Neverending Story

the sandlot movie poster

The Sandlot

Wall-e movie poster

Wall-E

the chipmunk adventure movie poster

The Chipmunk Adventure

The Goonies movie poster

The Goonies

Jumanji movie poster

Jumanji

Horton Hears a Who

Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!

3 Ninjas movie poster

3 Ninjas

Harry Potter movie poster

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

101 Dalmations movie poster

101 Dalmatians

A Bug's Life

A Bug’s Life

A Goofy Movie

A Goofy Movie

Air Bud movie poster

Air Bud

super Buddies movie poster

or ANY of the Buddies Movies, really!

disney Aladdin movie poster

Aladdin

Alvin and the Chipmunks

Alvin and the Chipmunks

An American Tail

An American Tail

Babe movie poster

Babe

Back to the Future

Back to the Future

Beethoven movie poster

Beethoven

Blank Check movie poster

Blank Check

Bolt movie poster

Bolt

Cars movie poster

Cars and Cars 2

Casper movie poster

Casper

Chicken Little movie poster

Chicken Little

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Dennis the Menace

Dennis the Menace

Despicable Me movie poster

Despicable Me

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Dr Seuss The Lorax

Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax

Eight Below movie poster

Eight Below

Epic movie poster

Epic

ET movie poster

E.T.

Ewok Adventure movie poster

Star Wars: Ewok Adventures (aka The Ewok Movie)

Finding Nemo movie poster

Finding Nemo

Flight of the Navigator

Flight of the Navigator

disney Flubber movie poster

Flubber

Free Willy movie poster

Free Willy

George of the Jungle

George of the Jungle

Home Alone movie poster

Home Alone

Homeward Bound - the Incredible Journey

Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey

Honey I Shrunk the Kids

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids

Hook movie poster

Hook

How to Train Your Dragon

How to Train Your Dragon

Ice Age movie poster

Ice Age

Indiana Jones movie poster

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

Iron Will movie poster

Iron Will

Jungle 2 Jungle movie poster

Jungle 2 Jungle

Jurassic Park movie poster

Jurassic Park

Kung Fu Panda

Kung Fu Panda

Little Monsters movie poster

Little Monsters

Man of the House

Man of the House

Marmaduke movie poster

Marmaduke

Meet the Robinsons

Meet the Robinsons

Monsters Inc movie poster

Monsters, Inc. and the follow-up movie, Monsters University.

Mr Poppers Penguins

Mr. Popper’s Penguins

Newsies movie poster

Newsies

Night at the Museum

Night at the Museum

Oliver and Company

Oliver and Company

Over the Hedge

Over the Hedge

Peter Pan movie poster

Walt Disney’s Peter Pan

Pete\'s Dragon movie poster

Pete’s Dragon

disney Planes movie poster

Planes

Ratatouille kid friendly movie

Ratatouille

Richie Rich family movie night movie

Richie Rich

Robin Hood classic kids movie

Robin Hood

Robots disney movie for kids

Robots

Rookie of the Year

Rookie of the Year

Shark Tale movie for families

Shark Tale

Short Circuit movie for family movie night

Short Circuit

dreamworks Shrek movie poster

The movies in the Shrek Series are all lots of fun

Space Jam kids movie night movie

Space Jam

Star Wars family movie night movie

Star Wars Series

Star Wars - the Clone Wars

The animated version is a big hit, too! Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Stuart Little movie poster

Stuart Little

Swiss Family Robinson

Swiss Family Robinson

The Adventures of Milo and Otis

The Adventures of Milo and Otis

The Big Green

The Big Green

The Chronicles of Narnia

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe along with the other movies in the series, Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

The Croods movie poster

The Croods

The Great Mouse Detective

The Great Mouse Detective

The Incredibles movie poster

The Incredibles

The Indian in the Cupboard

The Indian in the Cupboard

The Iron Giant

The Iron Giant

The Jungle Book

The Jungle Book

The Karate Kid

The Karate Kid

The Land Before Time

The Land Before Time and the many following sequels

The Lego Movie

The LEGO Movie

The Lion King

The Lion King

The Little Rascals

The Little Rascals

The Mighty Ducks

The Might Ducks

The Nightmare Before Christmas

The Nightmare Before Christmas

the pagemaster movie poster

The Pagemaster

The Princess Bride

The Princess Bride

The Sword in the Stone

The Sword in the Stone

The Wizard movie for family movie night

The Wizard

TMNT great movie for kids

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Toy Story classic kids movie

Toy Story (along with Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3)

Turbo funny kids movie

Turbo

White Fang classic family movie

White Fang

Wild America classic movies for families

Wild America

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

(the Johnny Depp version, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, isn’t half bad either!)

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101 boy approved films for family movie night

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2 Comments

  1. This is a great list. Believe it or not my youngest son loves Frozen. Some of my favorite movies are in this list too.