The 10 best kids’ movies 2020
1. The Lorex (2012)
The first but not the last Dr. Suess story on this list, the musical comedy celebrates the lighter aspects of Suess’s often remarkably dark allegory. It introduces Ted (Zac Efron), a boy who visits the Once-ler (Ed Helms) and learns the story of the Lorax (Danny Devito), champion of the truffula trees. Ted learns the former glory of the trees and their thneeds and how it was all destroyed for factories — but might not be lost for good. Instead of ending where Suess’s story leaves off, The Lorax stays with Ted after he receives the last truffula seed and tries to plant it against the city’s wishes.
2. Over the Moon (2020)
Young Fei Fei is enchanted by the story of the moon goddess Change and the legend of her lover. Still mourning the death of her mother, Fei Fei takes unkind to her father finding new love, and decides to build a rocket to the moon to find Change. She finds a magical world beyond her imagination and must reconcile the fantasy of the moon with the life that awaits her on Earth. Cathy Ang, Phillipa Soo, Ken Jeong, John Cho, Ruthie Ann Miles, Margaret Cho, and Sandra Oh star, so yes, Over the Moon is a powerhouse lineup of Asian American acting talent.
3. Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998)
The title is pretty self-explanatory for this Scooby-Doo adventure which finds the gang on a remote island while filming for Daphne’s TV show. At the risk of spoiling this decades-old kids’ movie, Zombie Island doesn’t follow the Scooby-Doo mystery formula that ends with an angry guy in a mask shaking his fist at those kids and their dog. The zombies are quite real, not to mention the ghosts, werecats, and voodoo. Maybe vet this one if your kids scare easily.
4. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Sony’s standalone Spider-Man animation bonanza was better than it had any right to be and was quickly hailed as one of the best superhero movies ever made. Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) finds himself unexpectedly tasked with being Spider-Man and protecting New York City, a job more than slightly complicated by a rift in the space-time continuum that sees him visited by Spider-heroes from other worlds (including the voice talents of Jake Johnson, Lily Tomlin, John Mulaney, and more).
Not only does the movie tell a tight and enjoyable story, but it does so with dazzling effects that simultaneously elevate the story, the genre(s), and cinema at large. That’s a lot to accomplish for a kid in a mask, but that’s the stuff heroes are made of.
5. Paranorman (2012)
Norman Babcock is a totally normal 11-year-old who can talk to dead people, and often chooses to do so because the living don’t believe in his gift. After a chilling vision and an ominous warning, Norman ends up on a mission to free his town from a witch’s curse — but there’s more to her story than meets the eye. As the only one who can communicate with the spirits now sieging the town, Normal must set the record straight and save both the human world and the forces that haunt it.
6. Klaus (2019)
It might be a Christmas movie, but Netflix’s own original about a spoiled postman-in-training Jesper (Jason Schwartzman) who happens upon an old toymaker is a lovely and rewatchable film year-round. He becomes the go-between for the toymaker, Klaus (J.K. Simmons), and the local children who write him letters hoping for toys. The story spins out to become the origin of Santa Claus and a humbling journey for Jesper.
7. The Princess and the Frog (2009)
Tiana dreams of opening her own restaurant in New Orleans, a plan that gets slightly sidetracked when she kisses a frog prince. Instead of making him human, Tiana herself becomes a frog on a mission to return to her old life and body. She puts up with the pompous Prince Naveen who has been duped by the sorcerer Facilier; they team up to reverse the curse and fall in love along the way. Catch it before it inevitably moves to Disney+!
8. The Grinch (2018)
The 2018 animated take on the grumpy green guy who tries to steal Christmas is hardly the first take on its story, but no other film adaptation has Benedict Cumberbatch as the growling voice behind the Grinch (no disrespect to Jim Carrey, whose live-action version is also available on the streamer). While he plots to steal Christmas from the local town of Whoville, the Grinch encounters a little girl who could thaw his cold heart for good.
9. Hugo (2011)
Hugo Cabret (Sex Education’s Asa Butterfield, but your kids don’t know that!) lives alone in a Paris train station, trying to understand mysteries left behind by his late father (Jude Law), including a robot that can write with a pen. Hugo befriends Isabelle (Chloë Grace Moretz) in a shared thirst for adventure which takes them through her godfather’s past and love for film — slowly but surely piecing together what connects them all to each other. Nothing like getting the youngins hooked on Martin Scorsese!
10. The Cat in the Hat (2003)
Mike Myers’ 2003 turn as the eponymous feline in headgear holds up surprisingly well for kids in 2020 (unfortunately for adults, there may be some triggers of 2019’s Cats). The chaotic cat visits Sally and Conrad Walden (Dakota Fanning and Spencer Breslin), making a massive mess in their house and eventually locking them up (the Cat is by no means a moral compass). Parents will feel seen in Myer’s winking delivery and kids won’t quickly tire of the Cat’s endless hijinx.
