Family Movie Night: How to Find Family-Friendly Movies

Originally published: September 3, 2016

Back-to-school for the Clover family means that we are getting back to some of our regular traditions. I'm a big fan of planning family fun nights. One of my kids' favorite "fun nights" is our movie nights. (Game nights are also a big hit in our family.)

There is almost a Pavlovian response when it's movie night. If I say, "Pizza," the kids automatically pull out a big blanket and spread it out on our family room carpet in front of the TV. This is the night we break the "no eating in the family room" rule. The pizza may vary: homemade, store bought, or take out — but one thing that stays the same is eating on the floor. (I'm not sure we know how to eat pizza at a table. I guess we do if we have guests and it's not an official "movie night.")

Making Family Movie Nights Extra Fun!

Watching movies is a privilege in our home because we try to make movie nights extra special. We don't always eat pizza when we watch movies (although it does feel like we always watch a movie when we eat pizza). Sometimes we just cuddle up and eat popcorn. We will sometimes make hot cocoa or a special fruit smoothie, too. There is usually some lesson to be learned in the movies we watch. So, we typically end our movie nights discussing things the characters learned. I also have a habit of pausing movies to make a point. 

One Picky Momma!

One thing to mention here is that I'm REALLY picky with what I allow in front of my kids' eyes...and ears, for that matter. Before we watch any movie, I usually start by researching parent reviews on it. Focus on the Family has a wonderful resource called Plugged In. It's a site that gives you the lowdown on movies, TV shows, music, books, and video games.

In years past, I previewed a movie before I showed it to my kids. In fact, when my two oldest boys were little, I had to tell them to be careful when they'd tell people they'd "seen" a superhero movie since they typically only saw a few exciting parts and skipped all the stuff I didn't want them to see.

Well, we are in new territory now since we have teenage boys in the house...and little girls. I'm more sensitive than ever about what I allow them to see. We are big fans of modesty, and let's face it, Hollywood movies aren't really known for their modesty. We are also big believers in delaying romantic emotions. I don't want to awaken those emotions until my kids are older. I'm probably opening a whole can of worms by mentioning "modesty" and the fact that we avoid movies that have kissing in them.

Let me simply say that every family needs to pray over what they are comfortable with their kids watching. I'm not your Holy Spirit. You can imagine my delight when I first discovered VidAngel about 10 years ago — a company that filtered movies for me! 

I can't tell you how many hours it would take me to "preview" some movies. I'd have a whole list of notes about scenes to skip or mute or have my kids close their eyes for — don't laugh, yes, I have them close their eyes. Imagine what their friends would think when they'd come over to watch a movie at our house, and I'd politely ask them to close their eyes for a kissing scene. Yep, I'm probably labeled as one of "those" moms. 

My Favorite Discovery = VidAngel!

VIDANGEL! I'm a HUGE fan! The filters on VidAngel are so detailed. It's so amazing. We were running out of movies to watch on our movie nights. Now I feel like we have a whole new lineup. I'm so excited. My kids love it, too. One thing I also love about VidAngel is that it's so affordable. We tried other companies in the past, but they just didn't work as well and required lots of additional hoops to jump through.

We stream our movies from our Apple TV. However, there are other ways to use it, too. In fact, when we travel, we take our Roku and can use VidAngel through their app. It's pretty handy. You can also use Amazon FireTV or GoogleTV.

How VidAngel Works:

VidAngel allows you to apply customized filters for language, violence, sexual content, and more while streaming movies through supported platforms.

Now that you know that we filter movies, hopefully you won't think it's weird to have my children quote scenes from movies that carry a PG13 or R rating. When my littlest was about 3 or 4, she loved to quote a line from Dumb & Dumber. It was so funny, but at the same time, I always hoped people didn't think I let my baby girl watch that movie. I will say that some movies get significantly shorter when you set filters. Key scenes for the storyline sometimes get cut as well. I will also note that there are times when Vidangel will not filter perfectly for this reason. For example, if a character is immodest throughout the whole movie, almost every scene would need a filter. So, Vidangel allows some of those scenes in. There will just be some movies that can't be cleaned up enough, so it's up to you if you want to watch them or not. 

Our Family Favorite Movies

My New(er) Favorites:

Since I'm updating blog posts as I move them from my old site, I figured I should include a few of my new favorites. I keep a few different lists on my phone: ① New movies I want to see (that I add to as I see previews that look good), ② Movies for the whole family, ③ Movies for the boys (because sometimes the girls don't want to see war movies), ④ Movies for the girls (because sometimes the boys don't want to see a RomCom), and ⑤ Movie recommendations from others. That's my little organizational hack for you! Make lists! 

So, here are some of my picks as of 2026:

• Top Gun: Maverick
• Mission Impossible series
• Free Guy
• Play Date
• Notting Hill
• Heads of State
• The Holiday
• Psych — Our family's favorite TV series. Safe with VidAngel
• The Office — Another family favorite with filters
• Yesterday
• Jason Bourne movies
• Knives Out 
• Spirited
• The Adam Project
• Men in Black International
• Jumanji movies
• Johnny English movies
• 50 First Dates

I could add so many movies to this list. I was just looking over my Watchlist inside VidAngel. Head to VidAngel to see which movies you want to watch.

TIP: If a movie is not available through your streaming service and you want to rent and filter it, rent it through your Amazon Prime Video account. VidAngel does a great job of walking you through this process. Sometimes it is a little clunky and takes a moment to connect.

My 2016 Picks:

As I update this blog post, I can't help but keep some of these family favorites on this list. I will say that Disney is not VidAngel-friendly. So, don't be surprised if you're unable to filter Disney movies. But these movies below are just fun for the family without filters. 

• The Incredibles & Cars
• Elf (with filters for crude language)
• Narnia (for older kids)
• Night at the Museum (with filters for language)
• Swiss Family Robinson
• The Martian (with filters)
• How to Train a Dragon 1 & 2 (my 8-year-old's favorites)
• Frozen, Tangled, and Cinderella (my girls' favorites)
• Parent Trap (original and new one)
• National Treasure 1 & 2 (with filters)