Big List of Movies We Watched as a Family With a Big Age Range

In my household, we have a wide span of ages and a range of interests so finding movies the six of us can watch together poses a challenge. (The oldest is 16 and the youngest is nine.)

Over the past few years, I’ve considered it a sport to find ones the teens, tween, and kid will like.

Being not-at-all humble about it, I’m a gold medalist in movie picking. If I tell the kids, “Trust me, you’ll like it,” they believe me. If my husband picks it, they’re more suspicious. You have to earn your recommending power around here. He did pick some on this list, not that it’s a competition. (Not one with prizes other than honor.)

In this post I’m providing THREE LISTS with brief thoughts or warnings if needed. With a few exceptions, I’m only sharing the movies we liked.

#1. Movies all six of us enjoyed together:

Right now our kids are 16, 14, 12, 9. During some of these movies, they were anywhere from one to two years younger because we’ve been at this for a while. The Covid year accelerated our pace, obviously. And I will admit the youngest watched movies I never would have let the older three watch at his age.

Can’t Buy Me Love: Major hit. Covered the youngest’s eyes and ears sometimes.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: More swearing than I remembered. Still a great one.

Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure: I still remembered tons of lines, which obviously annoyed the kids. They really liked the movie though.

A League of Their Own: So good!

Big: There’s some innuendo that in a modern rewatch is a bit strange considering Tom Hanks is supposed to be a kid inside, but that went over the heads of the younger two. The “kidnapping” element is also glossed over, which is for the best.

Ghostbusters: I’d forgotten everything about this movie except for the giant Marshmallow so it was a fun rewatch for me.

Back to the Future: A must-watch for every generation. (Various kids watched the sequels on their own. I wasn’t up for those again.)

Chances Are: I can’t say the nine-year-old got it, but it was still a good watch for the group. It was one of my favorites…