Putting together a good family film is like performing alchemy.
You need young protagonists, interesting visuals, and yeah, the occasional fart joke to keep
the kids and the kids at heart engaged.
On top of that, there has to be enough depth to hold everyone's interest.
A family film can't appeal to just one member of the household.
A movie like that can be hard to find, but it's not impossible.
These hidden gems come pretty close.
If you're old enough to remember the golden age of Nicktoons, Rocko's Modern Life probably
rings a bell.
Joe Murray's surreal parody of American culture had all the slapstick comedy you'd expect
in a kids' show, but its real strength was its gleefully satirical edge.
In fact, Murray was initially reluctant to make the show, saying he wasn't interested
in writing for kids.
He only agreed to do it for the money, and instead of filling Rocko's staff with seasoned
animation writers, Murray reached out to people who made comic books and performed improv.
Plotlines that felt formulaic or too cartoony were rejected outright, and the show clashed
with censors on multiple occasions.
At least, it did back then.
"Let us move forward 20 years to the modern day through my...nipples of the future!"
In Static Cling, Rocko returns to Earth after 20 years in space and must acclimate to modern
staples like smartphones, coffee shops, and food trucks, all while trying to get a revival
of his favorite '90s TV show on the air.
Static Cling might be full of 21st century trappings, but at its heart it's still the
same weird, offbeat show that aired in the '90s.
"Isn't it great how some things never change?
My favorite show, with my favorite friends."
Y'know, if the acting thing doesn't work out for Chiwetel Ejiofor, he might just be able
to work out a career behind the camera.
Just look at his directorial debut feature, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.
The film, which is based on a memoir by Malawian inventor William Kamkwamba, is a triumph.
No, it's not particularly surprising if you've seen this type of movie before, you know where
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is going but when a movie is this well-made, that doesn't
matter.
You'll get swept up in the story anyway.
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind begins when young William blackmails his teacher into
letting him stay in school when his family can't afford his tuition.
The tension ramps up when a famine hits William's village, leading to robberies and riots.
Thankfully, William has a plan.
A habitual scavenger and a mechanical genius, he sets out to build a windmill to power an
old water pump, which should help revive the village's crops.
It's an affecting tale anchored by remarkably strong performances, including Ejiofor as
William's stubborn father.
The modest scope helps, too.
William's quest is important but small, showing the effect that one dedicated person can have
on their local community.
It makes The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind aspirational in addition to uplifting, and the movie is
all the better for it.
It's a little funny calling Dangal a "hidden gem."
It's the highest-grossing Indian film of all time.
On its release, it shattered records in China, out-grossing Hollywood blockbusters.
Practically everywhere outside the United States, it's a legitimate phenomenon.
But for those of us in the US, Dangal somehow managed to fly under the radar.
That's a shame, because the Hindi-language sports film really is a movie that the entire
family can enjoy, provided your kids are old enough to keep up with the subtitles.
In the movie, Aamir Khan stars as Mahavir Singh Phogat, a former amateur wrestler who
was forced to give up on a promising career in order to get a more traditional job.
Now older, Mahavir decides to train his daughters Geeta and Babita as wrestlers, hoping to continue
his legacy and lead them to some championship gold.
With Dangal, Aamir Khan proves once again why he's an international superstar.
Still, Dangal's fights may be the film's biggest attraction.
The action scenes in Dangal are visceral and extremely exciting, giving the movie a raw
physical edge that other family films lack, without resorting to straight-up violence.
It's heartbreaking, it's exciting, and it's extremely well-made.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's novella The Little Prince is one of the most famous books ever
written.
It's been translated into more languages than any other book aside from religious texts,
and outsold just about any famous book you can think of.
So, say you're going to adapt The Little Prince for the screen.
No pressure, right?
Well, thankfully, director Mark Osborne and the talented animators at Mikros Image paid
tribute to The Little Prince's legacy with a film that's remarkably faithful to the original
novella even while making a number of notable changes.
The film version of The Little Prince introduces a new main character, a young girl who becomes
enamored with the unnamed narrator's story.
It also tacks on a new ending, which clears up the novel's intentionally ambiguous conclusion.
"When a mystery is too overpowering, one dare not disobey."
Somehow, it all works, expanding the magical world of The Little Prince while still honoring
the source material.
Also?
The stop-motion animation is gorgeous, and the all-star voice cast, which includes Paul
Rudd, Jeff Bridges, Rachel McAdams, James Franco, and plenty of others, brings its A-game.
All in all?
Just like the book it's based on, The Little Prince is an instant classic.
The Main Event is basically a pro-graps take on '90s mainstay Rookie of the Year an 11-year-old
kid finds a magic luchador mask that gives him super-strength, which he uses to become
one of WWE's top superstars and it doesn't come with many surprises.
Like a real wrestling match, the ending of this one was set in stone a long time ago.
But what The Main Event does have is a whole lot of heart, as well as a sly self-awareness
that keeps the film from succumbing to cliches.
"I look ridiculous."
Yeah, there are over-the-top slapstick scenes and the requisite fart jokes, but there's
also a complex relationship between Leo and his father that fuels most of The Main Event's
real drama.
Besides, despite the goofy premise, The Main Event taps into a real fantasy.
Wrestling fans both young and old have dreamed of getting a chance to hop in the ring and
show their stuff for years.
For many of us, The Main Event is the closest we're going to get.
"Don't Miz out on this awesome opportunity."
There's a lot more going on in Mune: Guardian of the Moon than you may realize.
Originally, writer Benoît Philippon conceived of Mune as a short film inspired by the work
of director Terry Gilliam.
However, over time, the story expanded and evolved, gaining a complex cosmology that
was too big for anything other than a full-length feature.
The end result is a fantasy film that's just as lore-heavy as The Lord of the Rings, but
with a whimsical fairytale touch that makes it feel like a legend from some long-lost
civilization.
In the world of Mune, the light side of the world controls the sun, and the dark side
the moon.
When the young, underqualified Mune is appointed Guardian of the Moon, his rival Leeyoon retaliates,
opening the door for a villain named Necross to steal the moon and throw the entire world
off-balance.
That's about as simple an explanation of Mune's plot as you'll find, and while it can be a
little difficult to keep up with Mune's mythology, it's certainly not anything you've seen before.
Even if the story loses you, you can keep yourself busy by marveling at Mune's breathtaking
animation.
Philippon mixes computer-generated 3D with hand-drawn scenes to great effect.
Mune is a beautiful film, and it's worth watching for the visuals alone.
In 2004, writer and director Juan Antin had an idea: What if he made a movie about what
it would've been like for native South Americans to meet European colonizers, who they mistook
for literal gods?
Fourteen years later, Pachamama arrived, telling the tale of a young boy who wants to be shaman
for his tribe, but must prove he's overcome his selfishness by retrieving a precious artifact
from an Incan tax collector first.
Pachamama is a fascinating look at an underrepresented culture and mythology, and while it's a fantasy
story, it doubles as a pretty solid history lesson for younger viewers.
The story is slight and simple: kids are clearly the target audience here but the animation
is so compelling that adults should have no problem finding interesting things to look
at during Pachamama's brief 71-minute runtime.
The Breadwinner deals with some mature topics.
If you live in a household with small children, keep this one in the queue for a few years.
It's just too heavy for the little ones.
On the other hand, older kids, teenagers, and adults should find The Breadwinner's look
at Taliban-controlled Afghanistan fascinating, and it's hard to imagine anyone who won't
be touched by the film's portrait of a family that'll do anything to survive.
Based on the critically acclaimed children's novel by Deborah Ellis, The Breadwinner tells
the story of Parvana, an 11-year-old girl who is forced to provide for her family after
the Taliban arrest her father.
Cutting her hair and masquerading as a boy, Parvana takes to the streets to find work,
but her efforts are complicated by both the oppressive Taliban regime and the outbreak
of the United States' invasion of Afghanistan.
The Breadwinner's simple character designs and sparse, clean linework belie the gripping,
nuanced story, which offers an intimate look at a world most viewers probably know nothing
about.
There's a reason sporting events make such great documentaries.
Like any good story, they have good guys and bad guys.
Their stakes are clearly defined, and conflict and drama are baked into the very premise.
Even better, because they're not scripted, sports have an urgency that fiction can't
match.
Things don't always go according to formula, and sometimes the wrong person wins.
The Short Game, Josh Greenbaum's 2013 documentary about a group of pre-teen golfers vying for
the 2012 U.S. Kids Golf World Championship has all of that, but it's the kids themselves
who really make the show.
The Short Game can sometimes be hard to watch.
It's unflinching when it comes to depicting the toxic atmosphere and overbearing parenting
that sometimes accompany kids' sports, but it's also very compelling.
If you have kids who're interested in spending some time on the links, show them The Short
Game first.
It might get them all fired up to go hit the driving range, or it might convince them to
find a new hobby.
Either way, they should be entertained.
Thanks for watching.
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