My 10 favorite kids' movies of the last 10 years

I became a father almost 10 years ago. That means I stopped seeing the movies I wanted to see and learned to love the ones I was going to see.

Photo by Georgia Vagim on Unsplash

I was already an adult when my younger brother was born — 23 years older than him, 23 years younger than my dad, a generational buffer of sorts.

When my brother was young, I remember my dad frequently asking me if I had seen various relatively new animated movies like Toy Story 2 (1999) and others from the Pixar family.

I would politely tell him that I had not, as I was a childless man in my 20s and early 30s during my brother’s first 10 or so years of life.

My dad would insist: You have to see it. I would not see it.

And now: I get it. Or at least I sort of get it.

While I have not become an animated kids’ movie evangelist, I have come to appreciate that there are, in fact, some really good ones.

This turnabout has come, of course, now that my wife and I have three kids — the oldest of whom will turn 10 next weekend.

Sometime during COVID, we started a Saturday tradition of family movie night. We turn the pullout couch into a bed. The kids lay three across with popcorn — sometimes, if they are lucky, purchased to-go from the nearby Riverview Theater.

I can still remember the first time our son, now 4, really got to participate. We watched “Back to the Outback,” a decent enough Netflix offering.

It remains one of his favorite movies — and one of the only ways we can still get him to sit still for a haircut — in large part because of the feeling that he was finally big enough to snuggle with his sisters instead of heading off to bed when it was movie time.

I’m sure I’ve seen at least 50 kids’ movies in the last three or four years and countless more in the last 10 years, many of them multiple times. This stands in stark contrast to the number of grown-up movies I’ve seen in that span. (This past year, I saw exactly one of the 10 films nominated for a best picture Oscar).

So in honor of my daughter turning 10 — she is the reason, after all, that I started watching and learned to enjoy kids’ movies in the first place — I decided to compile a list of my 10 favorites that have come out since she was born.

A couple caveats before the list: My definition of “kids’ movie” is probably different than that of some parents. Our boundaries are pretty wide, and anything we will let our kids watch is fair game for this list.

Also, these are merely my preferences. These are the ones that stand out from the last 10 years, and the ones I secretly hope they will pick for re-watches on nights when they can’t agree on something new. There’s probably some bias toward the last few years, but I also think a lot of really good ones have come out in that span. I’m not necessarily trying to say these are the 10 best kids’ movies of the last 10 years — just my favorites.

But I would love if you left a comment at the end about how we agree or disagree.

And with that, let’s go:

10. Nimona (2023): I didn’t know much about this one before we gave it a try during one family movie night, but it blew me away. There are great action sequences. There’s sharp dialogue (a key theme for almost all the movies on this list). There is character depth. And its edgy without being overwhelming. All our kids loved it, but especially our (almost) 10-year-old. Plus it has Metric’s “Gold Guns Girls” on the soundtrack, a song I’ve loved for a while that our oldest daughter loves now, too.

9. Ron’s Gone Wrong (2021): A kid whose family doesn’t have a lot of money desperately wants the robot friend the rest of his classmates have, so his dad and grandma buy him one that fell off a truck. Hilarity ensues? Yes, especially because Zach Galifianakis is the voice of the defective robot. I have often repeated to nobody in particular a line from the movie: “There are no friends in the shed.” But the movie also pokes fun at big tech and has a good message for our over-screened world.

8. The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021): We have a small projector that we can connect to our Roku player, and we used it for one of the first times to watch this movie up in our girls’ shared bedroom. That helped make it an extra-special night, but so did the movie itself. Much like “Ron’s Gone Wrong,” this movie has a lot of over-the-top but funny scenes and themes railing against big tech. It also has a heavy dose of realistic family dynamics; if you’re a parent already thinking about how fast your kids are growing up (hand raised), “The Mitchells vs. the Machines” might catch you with your emotional guard down.

7. Coco (2017): Kids’ movies — and movies in general — often come up short when they dive into cultural identity. They either have the feeling of tokenizing or appropriating in many cases. But “Coco” threads the needle while telling an amazing story of music, life, death and family history. Plus it has perhaps the best song of any movie on this list: Remember Me. We haven’t watched this one in a while at our house; that needs to change.

6. Sing 2 (2021): I’m not entirely sure I’ve ever seen the original “Sing.” But “Sing 2” was one of the first movies we saw in a theater as COVID started to become a little less scary, and it holds a special place in my heart. That sentimentality aside, it also has held up upon repeated viewings. It’s a story of misfits and a big dreamer. It’s a tale of trying to pull off one big and seemingly impossible thing. All of it is extremely well-told.

5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023): Probably the best dialogue of any movie on this list, and proof that old characters can be given new life. This might push your boundary of a kids’ movie — and admittedly I was worried when we saw it the first time because the first few minutes are pretty intense — but by the end I wasn’t just comfortable with it. I loved it, and so did all of our kids. Beyond all the gags, jokes and battles, there’s also a great message about social pressures and acceptance.

4. Matilda: The Musical (2022): This is the only non-animated movie on this list, and I didn’t know much about it before we watched it for the first time. “Matilda” became an instant hit upon first viewing, with its fantastic use of color, amazing performances and complex but understandable story. We went through a major Matilda phase for several months in our house and even went to see a middle school production of it at a nearby school.

3. Turning Red (2022): This is the movie our (almost) 10-year-old has seen the most times. This was her choice pretty much any time she got to pick or had her own screen time for many months. It’s a tale of culture, friendship, emotions and coming of age. It’s extremely well done, with the added benefit of being set in 2002. Billie Eilish, by the way, wrote the pop songs for the fictional boy band 4*Town featured in the movie, showing off even more of her impressive range.

2. Inside Out (2015): Trying to turn emotions into entire characters could have been a fraught premise. Instead, it formed the foundation for one of the most important animated movies of this generation. Life is complicated. Our kids’ lives and feelings will get more complex as they get older. The long-awaited sequel, which comes out in June (nine years after the original), introduces even more emotions.

1. Spider Man Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and Across the Spider-Verse (2023): Is it cheating a little to put both of these movies into one spot? Yes, but if I didn’t they would be No. 1 and No. 2, and I wanted to include more movies. That’s how good the “Spider-Verse” movies are. They would make a list of my 10 favorite movies I’ve seen, period, in the last 10 years (yeah, we sneak in a few “grown-up” movies here are there). I don’t really like superhero movies or big live action blockbusters. But these animated gems are just so well done in every way.

In making this list, I realized just how many movies we have seen — and how many we have access to through various streaming options. I left off some obvious good ones (like ‘Encanto” and “The Bad Guys,” two tough cuts), and our 7-year-old will probably not be happy to see that “Frozen 2” and the “Sonic the Hedgehog” movies didn’t make it. Again, I’d love to hear where we agree or differ in the comments.

Happy (almost) 10th birthday to our daughter.

You made me a dad. I love you more than you will ever know.

Just never make me watch “The Emoji Movie” again.

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