MOVIES – Top Ten Animated Family Movies.

So, the American animation industry only does family movies. I mean that’s pretty much the mainstream animated movie in America is a family movie. Alright, so I decided that I’m going to make my Top Ten Family Movies.

This isn’t exactly what my family itself watches when we have movie nights or family nights.

My kids, they tend to have very varying taste depending on their age. For example, my three-year old son, he likes to watch what he calls “Cheese Gromit,” which is basically Wallace & Gromit, ad nauseam.

Those aren’t exactly theatrical feature movies, which is what I’m going to be talking about today. And I wouldn’t even know where to categorize that, under shorts films?  I don’t know. And I’m going to restrict this to only American features.

You can either watch the video or read the transcription below.

I’ve also put trailers for each movie below:

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Alright so here we go.

10. Rise of the Guardians

My number ten is actually a movie that I don’t own and I have just recently watched, and that is Rise of the Guardians by DreamWorks.

It didn’t do very well at the box office, and I think the reason is because it was a movie for teenagers, marketed towards teenagers about Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny. They’re not going to go to this movie because it’s about Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny, okay, it doesn’t make any sense.

When you watch the movie it’s actually not necessarily geared for the little kids. Little kids could like it, but it’s a lot more of a superhero show or a superhero movie than regular family fair that you would expect.

I actually really, really enjoyed it. I watched this movie I was like, this is fantastic. I like the take on the characters. I like the animation. I like the designs. The acting was fantastic.

The sidekicks in it were actually fun to watch and exciting to watch. You actually like watching the sidekicks in this movie. I really appreciated that.

I was really entertained and pleasantly surprised, and very saddened that it didn’t make as much money in the box office. This movie was a reason for so many layoffs at DreamWorks.

I understand why, because the marketing like I said was for teenagers and you were trying to get them to go watch Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny, and it’s just not going to work.

“Hey, want to watch the tooth fairy, 14 year old?” Come on. They’ll say “No.” They’re not going to do that.

So I think it was a great movie with a great premise, yet the marketing, was the wrong characters for the wrong target audience. And I think that was really the reason why it failed. But I really, really enjoyed Rise of the Guardians.

9. Lilo & Stitch

My number nine family film, Lilo and Stitch.

Yeah Lilo and Stitch, you know there’s something about this movie. Out of all the Disney hand drawn movies, I don’t know what it is about this movie. And on top of that the theme is family, “Ohana means family and family means not leaving anyone behind.”

They shove the theme down your throat in a really bad way. That’s just preachy, you know, and annoying and preachy.

But funny and fun and science fiction, It has an alien.

It’s beautiful with watercolor backgrounds, Lilo is really quirky and crazy and fun to watch. And it’s my number nine, I highly recommend it if you guys haven’t watched it with your family.

Lilo and Stitch is a great, great family movie.

8. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

My number eight is a movie that when I first watched it I’m like,

“Really? This is not funny. This is so not funny. I don’t understand this comedy…Wow this is funny. This is really funny. Oh my gosh, this is so funny! I don’t know what it is about it but I think this is hilarious.”

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, this is a great family movie.

It’s just about a guy that makes it rain food and it’s based on a book.

At first, I really didn’t like it. Like I said,  I didn’t get it, I’m like,

“This is really forced. It’s really, really forced.” But no, it grew on me as I watched it and the comedy kind of grew on me. And then I’m like “Why am I fighting this? This is really just a lot of fun.”

The characters move like Muppets which is really fun. They act like Muppets which is even weirder, but there’s something about it that just hit me where I live.

I don’t know what it is. It’s just fun and light-hearted, and it’s fun to watch with my kids, and it makes me laugh. It just makes me laugh. I highly recommend this movie and this is my number 8, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

7. Wreck-It Ralph

My number seven, I don’t own. P was late watching this movie, and that is Wreck-It Ralph.

Wreck-It Ralph is about a videogame bad guy who decides he doesn’t want to be a bad guy anymore and  he goes off into the arcade – he’s an arcade videogame bad guy – and goes off to find a way to not be bad and be a hero.

It’s really, really fun and exciting and there’s just a lot of nostalgia. If you’re really into video games you’ll like it. It’s a solid story. It’s very moving.

The moment I saw the trailer I’m like,

“That is going to make so much money, because we’re such video game obsessed people now.” Everybody plays video games now and it just hit the culture right where it lives.

I absolutely knew this was going to be a money maker just by its premise alone. But Rich Moore also managed to knock the story out of the park; great movie, Wreck-It Ralph, my number seven.

6. Toy Story Trilogy

My number six, and I’m going to start cheating here, this is the beginning of my cheating. It is the entire Toy Story trilogy.

Toy Story is a fantastic, fantastic trilogy. Every single one of these movies is better than the next. I don’t know how they can possibly manage to do these movies and just make them better and better and better.

I mean, the reason I packed them in and say that the entire series is, my number six, is because if I split them up it would take up most of my list. There’s another series that I’m going to be talking about that would have also taken most of my list.

What can I say? Watch these movies. These are great family movies.

They are great, fantastic, great stories, great characters, they make you laugh too. It’s just oh my gosh! And there’s no singing, nobody has to stop the movie for a song, and it’s still merchandising galore for Disney.

The Toy Story series as a whole is my number six.

5. How to Train Your Dragon

My number five, I like even more than Toy Story:  How to Train Your Dragon.

It’s got dragons in it. It’s got dragons in it. It’s cool it’s got dragons in it. The story is actually really, really good.

It’s really fun, about a boy who wants to kill dragons, who want to be a fighter but he’s totally isn’t a fighter and then he ends up befriending the most dangerous type of dragon ever. And it’s got basically barbarians in it, and the designs of the dragons are great.

I like the characters in it, they’re great, and it’s go action in it- a lot of it. And that’s what I really like about it,  action.

That’s the kinds of movies that I do like, and I wish there was just more of these genre of movies where it’s family but theypushes it to action adventure.

That’s what I like, and this hits me right where I live, How to Train Your Dragon is my number five.

4. Peter Pan

My number four, Peter Pan, action adventure again- little kids finding pirates.

I like the book too, I mean, I really do. And there’s something about the book.

I don’t know what it is, but this movie really hits me and I just like the child-like nature of the story  and the way it feels.

My number four is Peter Pan.

3. Monsters, Inc.

My number three is another Pixar movie, and that is Monsters, Inc.

Now maybe it shouldn’t be so high on the list because Toy Story might be much better, but I don’t know anybody who’s had a little girl who doesn’t think that the little girl in this movie is not their little girl.

You identify with her and that to me speaks a little bit more as far as family goes than to Toy Story, because you’ve got this little girl who really does feel like your daughter.

That’s just personally, where I’m coming from, and that’s why it’s higher than Toy Story.

If you have kids, you know that they’re obsessed and scared of monsters in the dark. This is like kind of almost like,

“Hey it’s okay they’re not so bad,” So this is a really great family movie, my number three is Monsters, Inc.

2. Kung Fu Panda

My number two, and again this one hits me where I live as far as my personal taste, and that is Kung Fu Panda.

I love kung fu. I love kung fu movies. This is an animated kung fu movie. It’s awesome.

I don’t just mean Kung Fu Panda, Kung Fu Panda 2 as well, the sequel. I just don’t own it and I’m dying to own it.

This movie is so much fun, and come on, how can you not love kung fu.

It’s just great. It’s great fighting, archetypal kung fu characters.

Oh man, Kung Fu Panda and Kung Fu Panda 2 my number two top family movies. Watch them, they’re great.

1. The Incredibles

This movie is going to be number one in a lot of different lists. I’m going to tell you this right now. The Incredibles.

The Incredibles, it is a family movie about a family of superheroes and it’s awesome, and it’s one of the few movies out there that Pixar has done that actually deserves a sequel. But it’s all up to Brad Bird.

Brad Bird needs to decide what the next movie is going to be about. But this movie is the awesome.

You have to watch this movie. If you have a family, this is the family movie to watch, highly recommend it, The Incredibles.

What’s Y0ur List?

So that’s my Top Ten family movies. What do you think? What would your Top Ten have been?

I really actually enjoy getting comments from people who have left me their Top Ten. It’s really interesting to see what other people actually think about this stuff.

Go ahead and leave your Top Ten if you want on my comments below.

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Alright and that’s it for me. I hope you like my list and I’ll see you next time. Alright, bye.