“Children” Movies that are So Good that Adults Need to Watch

Some movies, eventhough the audience seems to be meant for kids, you and I both know that there’s no way a kid would be able to completely grasp all the emotions and references and symbols present in a movie like Up (2009) Zootopia (2016). Chances are, as an adult you might appreciate these movies even more than your kid would because you get the full picture. Although, feel free to watch these excellent crafted movies with your kids, cuz we know they will love it too.

1

Over the Garden Wall

Elijah Wood, Collin Dean, Christopher Lloyd
Nate Cash
2014

Two brothers, Wirt and Greg, find themselves lost in the Unknown; a strange forest adrift in time. With the help of a wise old Woodsman and a foul-tempered bluebird named Beatrice, Wirt and Greg must travel across this strange land, in hope of finding their way home. Join them as they encounter surprises and obstacles on their journey through the wood.

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8.8 IMDB
2

Coco

Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt
Lee Unkrich
2017

Despite his family’s baffling generations-old ban on music, Miguel dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz. Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead following a mysterious chain of events. Along the way, he meets charming trickster Hector, and together, they set off on an extraordinary journey to unlock the real story behind Miguel's family history.

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8.4 IMDB
3

Children of Heaven

Mohammad Amir Naji, Amir Farrokh Hashemian, Bahare Seddiqi
Majid Majidi
1997

Zohre's shoes are gone; her older brother Ali lost them. They are poor, there are no shoes for Zohre until they come up with an idea: they will share one pair of shoes, Ali's. School awaits...

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8.3 IMDB
4

Toy Story 3

Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack
Lee Unkrich
2010

Woody, Buzz, and the rest of Andy's toys haven't been played with in years. With Andy about to go to college, the gang find themselves accidentally left at a nefarious day care center. The toys must band together to escape and return home to Andy.

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8.3 IMDB
5

Howl's Moving Castle

Chieko Baisho, Takuya Kimura, Akihiro Miwa
Hayao Miyazaki
2004

When Sophie, a shy young woman, is cursed with an old body by a spiteful witch, her only chance of breaking the spell lies with a self-indulgent yet insecure young wizard and his companions in his legged, walking castle.

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8.2 IMDB
6

Up

Ed Asner, Jordan Nagai, Christopher Plummer
Pete Docter
2009

Carl Fredricksen spent his entire life dreaming of exploring the globe and experiencing life to its fullest. But at age 78, life seems to have passed him by, until a twist of fate (and a persistent 8-year old Wilderness Explorer named Russell) gives him a new lease on life.

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8.2 IMDB
7

Klaus

Jason Schwartzman, J.K. Simmons, Rashida Jones
Sergio Pablos
2019

When Jesper distinguishes himself as the Postal Academy's worst student, he is sent to Smeerensburg, a small village located on an icy island above the Arctic Circle, where grumpy inhabitants barely exchange words, let alone letters. Jesper is about to give up and abandon his duty as a postman when he meets local teacher Alva and Klaus, a mysterious carpenter who lives alone in a cabin full of handmade toys.

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8.2 IMDB
8

Song of the Sea

Brendan Gleeson, Fionnula Flanagan, Pat Shortt
Tomm Moore
2014

The story of the last Seal Child’s journey home. After their mother’s disappearance, Ben and Saoirse are sent to live with Granny in the city. When they resolve to return to their home by the sea, their journey becomes a race against time as they are drawn into a world Ben knows only from his mother’s folktales. But this is no bedtime story; these fairy folk have been in our world far too long. It soon becomes clear to Ben that Saoirse is the key to their survival.

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8.1 IMDB
9

Mary and Max

Toni Collette, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Eric Bana
Adam Elliot
2009

A tale of friendship between two unlikely pen pals: Mary, a lonely, eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max, a forty-four-year old, severely obese man living in New York. In the mid-1970s, a homely, friendless Australian girl of 8 picks a name out of a Manhattan phone book and writes to him; she includes a chocolate bar. He writes back, with chocolate. Thus begins a 20-year correspondence. Will the two ever meet face to face?

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8.1 IMDB
10

Wolf Children

Aoi Miyazaki, Takao Osawa, Haru Kuroki
Mamoru Hosoda
2012

After her werewolf lover unexpectedly dies in an accident, a woman must find a way to raise the son and daughter that she had with him. However, their inheritance of their father's traits prove to be a challenge for her.

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8.1 IMDB
11

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

Aki Asakura, Kengo Kora, Nobuko Miyamoto
Isao Takahata
2013

Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter and his wife, a tiny girl grows rapidly into an exquisite young lady. The mysterious young princess enthralls all who encounter her - but ultimately she must confront her fate, the punishment for her crime.

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8 IMDB
12

Zootopia

Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba
Byron Howard, Rich Moore
2016

Determined to prove herself, Officer Judy Hopps, the first bunny on Zootopia's police force, jumps at the chance to crack her first case - even if it means partnering with scam-artist fox Nick Wilde to solve the mystery.

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8 IMDB
13

Ratatouille

Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Lou Romano
Brad Bird
2007

A rat named Remy dreams of becoming a great French chef despite his family's wishes and the obvious problem of being a rat in a decidedly rodent-phobic profession. When fate places Remy in the sewers of Paris, he finds himself ideally situated beneath a restaurant made famous by his culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau. Despite the apparent dangers of being an unlikely - and certainly unwanted - visitor in the kitchen of a fine French restaurant, Remy's passion for cooking soon sets into motion a hilarious and exciting rat race that turns the culinary world of Paris upside down.

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8 IMDB
14

The Dam Keeper

Robert Kondo, Daisuke \'Dice\' Tsutsumi
2014

In a desolate future, one small town has survived because of a large windmill dam that acts as a fan to keep out pollution. The dam's operator, Pig, works tirelessly to keep the sails spinning and protect the town, despite abuse from classmates and an indifferent public. When a new student joins Pig's class, nothing will be the same again.

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8 IMDB
15

Persepolis

Chiara Mastroianni, Danielle Darrieux, Catherine Deneuve
Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi
2007

In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Statrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own.

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8 IMDB
16

Ernest & Celestine

Anne-Marie Loop, Lambert Wilson, Pauline Brunner
Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar, Benjamin Renner
2012

Celestine is a little mouse trying to avoid a dental career; Ernest is a big bear craving an artistic outlet. When Celestine meets Ernest, they overcome their natural enmity by forging a life of crime together.

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7.9 IMDB
17

Fantastic Mr. Fox

George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman
Wes Anderson
2009

The Fantastic Mr. Fox bored with his current life, plans a heist against the three local farmers. The farmers, tired of sharing their chickens with the sly fox, seek revenge against him and his family.

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7.8 IMDB
18

Shrek

Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz
Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson
2001

It ain't easy bein' green -- especially if you're a likable (albeit smelly) ogre named Shrek. On a mission to retrieve a gorgeous princess from the clutches of a fire-breathing dragon, Shrek teams up with an unlikely compatriot -- a wisecracking donkey.

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7.8 IMDB
19

Big Hero 6

Scott Adsit, Ryan Potter, Daniel Henney
Chris Williams, Don Hall
2014

The special bond that develops between plus-sized inflatable robot Baymax, and prodigy Hiro Hamada, who team up with a group of friends to form a band of high-tech heroes.

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7.8 IMDB
20

My Life as a Zucchini

Gaspard Schlatter, Sixtine Murat, Paulin Jaccoud
Claude Barras
2016

After his mother’s death, Zucchini is befriended by a kind police officer, Raymond, who accompanies him to his new foster home filled with other orphans his age. There, with the help of his newfound friends, Zucchini eventually learns to trust and love as he searches for a new family of his own.

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7.8 IMDB
21

Kubo and the Two Strings

Art Parkinson, Charlize Theron, Rooney Mara
Travis Knight
2016

Kubo mesmerizes the people in his village with his magical gift for spinning wild tales with origami. When he accidentally summons an evil spirit seeking vengeance, Kubo is forced to go on a quest to solve the mystery of his fallen samurai father and his mystical weaponry, as well as discover his own magical powers.

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7.8 IMDB
22

The Little Prince

Jeff Bridges, Mackenzie Foy, Rachel McAdams
Mark Osborne
2015

Based on the best-seller book 'The Little Prince', the movie tells the story of a little girl that lives with resignation in a world where efficiency and work are the only dogmas. Everything will change when accidentally she discovers her neighbor that will tell her about the story of the Little Prince that he once met.

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7.7 IMDB
23

Coraline

Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Jennifer Saunders
Henry Selick
2009

When Coraline moves to an old house, she feels bored and neglected by her parents. She finds a hidden door with a bricked up passage. During the night, she crosses the passage and finds a parallel world where everybody has buttons instead of eyes, with caring parents and all her dreams coming true. When the Other Mother invites Coraline to stay in her world forever, the girl refuses and finds that the alternate reality where she is trapped is only a trick to lure her.

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7.7 IMDB
24

Wreck-It Ralph

John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer
Rich Moore
2012

Wreck-It Ralph is the 9-foot-tall, 643-pound villain of an arcade video game named Fix-It Felix Jr., in which the game's titular hero fixes buildings that Ralph destroys. Wanting to prove he can be a good guy and not just a villain, Ralph escapes his game and lands in Hero's Duty, a first-person shooter where he helps the game's hero battle against alien invaders. He later enters Sugar Rush, a kart racing game set on tracks made of candies, cookies and other sweets. There, Ralph meets Vanellope von Schweetz who has learned that her game is faced with a dire threat that could affect the entire arcade, and one that Ralph may have inadvertently started.

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7.7 IMDB
25

Tangled

Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy
Byron Howard, Nathan Greno
2010

When the kingdom's most wanted-and most charming-bandit Flynn Rider hides out in a mysterious tower, he's taken hostage by Rapunzel, a beautiful and feisty tower-bound teen with 70 feet of magical, golden hair. Flynn's curious captor, who's looking for her ticket out of the tower where she's been locked away for years, strikes a deal with the handsome thief and the unlikely duo sets off on an action-packed escapade, complete with a super-cop horse, an over-protective chameleon and a gruff gang of pub thugs.

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7.7 IMDB
26

When Marnie Was There

Sara Takatsuki, Kasumi Arimura, Nanako Matsushima
Hiromasa Yonebayashi
2014

Upon being sent to live with relatives in the countryside due to an illness, an emotionally distant adolescent girl becomes obsessed with an abandoned mansion and infatuated with a girl who lives there - a girl who may or may not be real.

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7.7 IMDB
27

The Secret of Kells

Evan McGuire, Christen Mooney, Brendan Gleeson
Tomm Moore
2009

Adventure awaits 12 year old Brendan who must fight Vikings and a serpent god to find a crystal and complete the legendary Book of Kells. In order to finish Brother Aiden's book, Brendan must overcome his deepest fears on a secret quest that will take him beyond the abbey walls and into the enchanted forest where dangerous mythical creatures hide. Will Brendan succeed in his quest?

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7.6 IMDB
28

Boy & the World

Vinicius Garcia, Lu Horta, Marco Aurélio Campos
Alê Abreu
2014

Suffering because of his father's departure to the big city, a boy leaves his village and discovers a fantastic world dominated by bug-engines and strange beings. An unusual animation with various artistic techniques that portrays the issues of the modern world through the eyes of a child.

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7.6 IMDB
29

The Red Turtle

Emmanuel Garijo, Tom Hudson, Baptiste Goy
Michael Dudok de Wit
2016

The dialogue-less film follows the major life stages of a castaway on a deserted tropical island populated by turtles, crabs and birds.

7.5 IMDB
30

The Illusionist

Jean-Claude Donda, Jacques Tati, Edith Rankin
Sylvain Chomet
2010

A French illusionist travels to Scotland to work. He meets a young woman in a small village. Their ensuing adventure in Edinburgh changes both their lives forever.

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7.5 IMDB