Monday 27 December 2010

Best Family films of the decade

10: THE INCREDIBLES (2004)


Pixar do superheroes, this film was always going to be a lot of fun and as usual with Pixar, I wasn't disappointed. One of the best non comic book superhero films ever made. It's basically Watchmen for kids, superheroes have been banned and are now living everyday lives. After losing his job Mr Incredible gets an offer he can't refuse, madness ensues. I think the best thing about pixar films is that they don't dumb down their films for kids, making them watchable for adults. I wish George Lucas could have done the same thing with new Star Wars films. My childhood would feel a little less raped.

9: SPIRITED AWAY (2001)


I do love studio Ghibli films, they allow our children to be taken to strange worlds Hollywood is too scared to go near. I mean there's talking animals in a Ghibli film but they aren't cute bloody Zebras singing songs and dancing. It's also good having an awesome voice cast, as any anime fan knows the usual caliber of English actor for anime is fucking horrific. At times it can make a great film almost unwatchable. If you haven't seen any Ghibli films and want something for the kids to enjoy I'd also check out Howls Moving Castle, Ponyo, and My Neighbour Totoro. I feel the need to warn you that once you start down the Ghibli road, you won't stop.

8: ENCHANTED (2007)


I would love to act cool and pretend I don't love this film but it would be a blatant bloody lie. Even James Marsden can't fuck it up for me. A Disney princess comes through to the real world, meets Patrick Dempsey (without the Extra Anchovies) and falls in love. It puts a big fucking grin on my face every time it's on, and it's on a lot. Amy Adams is amazing as the Disney Princess come to life, as proven with later films like Doubt, the girl can bloody act.

7: WALL-E (2008)


Another Pixar film and we're not even halfway through. I think the only thing people may find shocking about this film being in the top ten is that it's not in the top five. It's a great film with hardly any dialogue but both you and the kids will find it hard to pull yourselves away until the end of the film. Just pure Pixar related genius.

6: CORALINE (2009)


I am a huge fan of Neil Gaiman and I loved this book. The films not quite as creepy as the book, even if it is a creepy ass movie, but I think it's gets the feel and emotion of the book right. If they'd made this film as creepy as the book it would be in the horror film section, animated or not. MirrorMask and Stardust were in this list before I got it down to the final ten. Hopefully more of his books will make it into films over the next decade. The Graveyard Book would make for an excellent creepy family film.

5: UP (2009)


I feel the need to warn you all now that this is the last Pixar film on this list. It was by far my favourite of their films made in the last decade. I know a lot of people will go on about Toy Story 3 but I don't think it matched up to this one. It was good fun and ended the series well but if I was to sit down to watch a film and had the choice of those two, this would win every time. Oh and if you watch the film without crying or feeling sad at the beginning then you're dead inside. Even Clarence couldn't save you.

4: THE LAST MIMZY (2007)


Some of you may not have heard of this film. It didn't set the box office on fire or have a massive marketing campaign behind it, but I love it. Not many films are made these days which remind me of the films made when I was a kid, this did. I'm not saying it's a carbon copy of any of films like Flight of the Navigator or War Games, it just felt the same. To explain the story fully would take me a while to do it justice, just go out and buy the fucking thing. It's awesome.

3: HARRY POTTER 
(2001, 2002, 2004,2005,2007,2009, 2010)


I don't think I could have made this list without putting Harry Potter in it. Like the books the first two films weren't very good but from The Prisoner of Azkaban they were awesome. The funny thing is this isn't a particularly safe bet for a kids film. If this was just a script and not a book these films would never have been made. The fact that they've managed to make them all, almost managing to keep the same cast throughout is almost unheard of in any film series. I don't know what all the UK actors are going to do with themselves now. These films have also pretty much bank rolled Warner Brothers for the last decade too. I think the film industry is going to miss these films as much as we are.

2: FANTASTIC MR FOX (2009)


I'm going to say something quite controversial here, I don't like Wes Andersons films. I've tried to watch them many times but I've never been able to get into them. Until now. I loved this film, the things I wouldn't usually like about a Wes Anderson film worked really well in animation. The voice cast are awesome and the film just works throughout. As a child I loved the book, the same could be said for anything written by Roald Dahl, the guy was just a machine at tapping into my imagination. The film isn't that much like the book, but it does have the feel of a Roald Dahl novel. If you haven't seen it, then get the cus out there and buy it.

1: 9 (2009)


This is based on a short film Shane Acker made in 2005 that was nominated for on oscar. It may look like a Tim Burton film, and even though he is a producer, thankfully he pretty much had bugger all else to do with it. Sorry I know he's got a lot of fans but recently his films have just been okay. This is the kind of film Tim Burton should have been making over the last ten years. It has the same look and feel as a Burton film but manages to be engaging as well as pretty to look at. It's the future, a rag doll wakes up to find itself in a post-apocalyptic future. Humanity has been wiped out, but he may hold they key to it's salvation. It's pretty dark but you have to see this film, even if you don't have kids. 

2 comments:

  1. I've seen most of these. The ones I've not seen are, Fantastic Mr Fox, The Last Mimzy, Enchanted, Spirited Away.

    I loved UP and thoroughly enjoyed the extras that showed their trip to Venezuela. Fascinating.

    I really enjoyed the quiet way the story of 1:9 catches the attention. Wall-E had the same vibe and it was really sweet for a movie with such little dialogue.

    I didn't enjoy the Coraline story. I've never read the books. Mebbe I should.

    I've not seen Spirited Away but I adored Ponyo.

    Just my thoughts.

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