Yesterday, I wrote about the importance of a family movie night in my house (see post here).   My husband and I have seen a lot of movies, and many of them we can’t wait to share with our children.  Some are action/adventure.  Some are comedies.  Some have historical significance.  And some are just plain tearjerkers.

In trying to figure out how to organize this list of movies, I have realized that there is not one way to do it.   I considered breaking the movies down by age group or by rating or by genre, but what I settled on is just one long list of great movies.  The below list is of movies that we’ve seen together as a family (we are 2 adults, an 11-year-old, a 9-year-old, and a 7-year-old).  They are movies that a majority of the members of our family have enjoyed.  Occasionally, one person doesn’t like a movie as well as the others because of a personal bias (too scary, too slow, too sad, etc), but in general the movies below have all been hits.  They are all linked to more information about the movie at CommonSenseMedia.org, where you can find out the age rating and read reviews.

Disclaimer:  Our family very much enjoys fantasy and magic.  I prefer exposure to violence over exposure to sex.  If there is a lot of kissing and flirting in a movie, it will probably not make this list.  However, if there are fighting scenes with a lot of blood, it will probably not be found in this list either.

• Chronicles of Narnia (all PG):  The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• Spiderwick Chronicles, PG
• The Golden Compass, PG-13
• Eragon, PG
• A League of Their Own, PG
• Alice in Wonderland, PG
• White Lion, PG
• Spy Kids, PG
• Secretariat, PG
• The Goonies, PG (probably should have been PG-13)
• The Rookie, PG
• Ever After, PG
• Fly Away Home, PG
• Hugo, PG
• National Treasure, PG
• Remember the Titans, PG
• The Man from Snowy River, PG
• My Dog Skip, PG
• Hoosiers, PG
• Babe, PG
• The Sound of Music, PG
• E.T., PG
• Star Wars, PG
• The Princess Bride, PG
• Kicking & Screaming, PG
• Harry Potter (These start out PG but become PG-13 by the 3rd.  We recently did a Harry Potter Movie Marathon in which we watch all 8 movies over the course of a 3-day weekend.  It was terrific!)

What movies would you add to this list?   Do you have older or younger children?   Tell us what movies you’ve enjoyed with those age groups in the comments below.