Transformers One.
Photo: Paramount

This list is regularly updated as movies rotate on and off of Prime Video. *New additions are indicated with an asterisk.

The selection of family films on Amazon Prime’s streaming service leaves a little something to be desired, but that just makes a guide like this even more useful! You have to dig through the titles on Prime Video to find something appropriate for everyone from kindergartener to great grandpa, but there are some titles worth a look, including some family classics that you may have forgotten. We’ve even included the MPAA rating alongside each one.

Critic Brian Tallerico watches and writes about movies and TV every day. To curate this list, he dives into Amazon Prime Video’s catalogue every month to surface family-friendly titles both kids and adults can enjoy — using his taste and a lifetime of cinema study as his guide, instead of whatever the algorithm happens to be pushing. After triple-checking to make sure they’re still available, he watches each and writes his recommendation. We highlight more than just the crowdpleasers: Family movies may be intended for kids, but that doesn’t mean their artistry or ideas don’t have the potential to be just as interesting. Read on to find something to watch.

Year: 1989
Runtime: 1h 24m
Director: Don Bluth
Rating: G

While Disney made headlines in 1989 with the return of their animated domination in the success of The Little Mermaid, animation lovers were admiring another hit from the eternally underrated Don Bluth. The man behind The Land Before Time and The Secret of NIMH directed this story of a dog (Burt Ryenolds) who gets murdered and comes back from heaven to get his revenge, partnering with an adorable child along the way. It was a massive hit on VHS, leading to a sequel, TV series, and DTV holiday movie.

Year: 1979
Runtime: 1h 57m
Director: Carroll Ballard
Rating: G

Remember when family films didn’t have to talk down to kids? Just look at this poignant, moving adventure classic from the Walter Farley 1941 book of the same name about a boy who is shipwrecked with a wild stallion, who becomes one of his best friends. When they return to civilization, they enter a race in this film that was chosen to enter the National Film Registry as one of the most significant film works of all time.

Year: 2024
Runtime: 1h 43m
Director: Ant Timpson
Rating: PG

This New Zealand comedy is old-fashioned fun for the whole family. It stars Nell Fisher as a young girl who is seeking a mythical creature known as the Canterbury panther, and she takes her estranged dad (a charming Elijah Wood) on the journey. It’s the kind of adventure tale that they used to make way more often than they do nowadays—quirky, empowering, and fun.

Year: 2021
Runtime: 1h 53m
Director: Kay Cannon
Rating: PG

Another year, another Cinderella movie. The original one on Prime belongs to pop superstar Camila Cabello, who channeled her fame from the music world into this jukebox musical take on the classic tale. That means familiar hits, intertwined with a few original songs. It’s not the best Cinderella, but it’s not the worst either. Maybe it will be the shoe that fits you.

Year: 2018
Runtime: 1h 28m
Director: Nick Park
Rating: PG

Aardman is just the best. Still mostly known for Wallace & Gromit (and maybe now Shaun the Sheep), the stop-motion masters have made other films too, including this 2018 release about a tribe of Stone Age people facing off against the future really when bronze-using invaders challenge them to a game of football. Nick Park directed this funny flick that may not be Aardman’s best, but minor Aardman is still a family film worth seeing.

Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 27m
Directors: Derek Drymon, Jennifer Kluska
Rating: PG

The massive blockbuster franchise of Hotel Transylvania films took a surprising turn in early 2022 when the pandemic forced this once-Sony property into a Prime Video exclusive. Likely the final film in this four-movie series, this one sees Dracula (Adam Sandler) becoming a human as his son-in-law (Andy Samberg) becomes a monster. Of course, it’s about what’s on the inside that really counts. Everybody knows that.

Hotel Transylvania: Transformania

Year: 2024
Runtime: 1h 44m
Director: John Krasinski
Rating: PG

No one is going to argue that Krasinski’s maudlin flick about imaginary friends (one of the reasons it’s called I.F.) is some sort of instant classic, but it is better than the critical drubbing it got on release. It has a BIG heart, and that’s sometimes enough for a streaming service that doesn’t exactly have a rich catalog of family films.

Year: 1946
Runtime: 2h 10m
Director: Frank Capra
Rating: PG

One of the most beloved films of all time doesn’t just have to be watched around the holidays. The lessons in this film about what people value in life could be appreciated any time of the year, as could one of the most iconic performances in film history from Jimmy Stewart.

Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 22m
Director: Benjamin Renner
Rating: PG

One of the best Illumination films is so for a number of reasons, including a screenplay by Mike White, great voice work from Kumail Nanjiani, and sharp visuals from Benjamin Renner, the French cartoonist behind the gorgeous Ernest & Celestine. Yes, this is not your typical movie from the house that the Minions built.

Year: 2020
Runtime: 1h 40m
Director: Peter Segal
Rating: PG-13

Delayed and rescheduled because of the pandemic, this action-comedy landed exclusively on Prime Video in June 2020 to mixed reviews. It stars the reliable Dave Bautista as a CIA agent who gets trapped watching a precocious nine-year-old girl. A little violent for the real little ones, it’s worth a look just for Bautista. And there’s a sequel dropping in Summer 2024!

Year: 1982
Runtime: 1h 19m
Director: Don Bluth
Rating: G

Animation great Don Bluth made his directorial debut with this twisted 1982 fantasy film, proving that he wasn’t going to make movies that talked down or coddled his audience. Adapted from Robert C. O’Brien’s novel, it turns the existence of average field mice into an elaborate fantasy world. Audiences of a certain generation were probably traumatized by its visuals at a young age. Pass the trauma on to your kids!

Year: 1995
Runtime: 1h 42m
Director: John Sayles
Rating: PG

Take a break from the escapism and show your kids something culturally resonant and unforgettable in John Sayles’ version of a classic Irish legend. With breathtaking cinematography by Haskell Wexler, this is the story of a girl in Ireland who hears that her brother was swept away by a selkie when he was a baby. It’s a tale of magic and legends in a way that could only take place in Ireland.

Year: 2024
Runtime: 1h 44m
Director: Josh Cooley
Rating: PG

Should the Transformers movies just always be fully animated? One of the most acclaimed films in the long run of films based on the Hasbro toy is this 2024 animated hit, a movie that completely shifted the future of this franchise. Well, maybe. It didn’t go great at the box office (in part because of a horrible, misleading trailer), so you should probably boost those viewer numbers on Prime if you want to see a Transformers Two.

Year: 1989
Runtime: 1h 39m
Director: John Hughes
Rating: PG

The movie world lost John Candy way too early. Just look at his fantastic run of ‘80s comedies, which ended with this 1989 John Hughes flick about a bachelor who has to babysit his brother’s kids. The script is kind of mediocre, but Candy does so much to make it memorable. We still miss him.

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