20 great movies you can watch with your kids

We're off to see the wizard...for the 20th viewing! No matter how many occasions we enter the magical realm of Oz, the Technicolor dreamscape never fails to dazzle. As Dorothy and her menagerie of friends set off to take down the wicked witch and saunter down a yellow brick road to self-discovery, you can watch your children be wowed the same way you were at their transformative age.

Another trip to a mystical realm, Jumanji rolled the dice on a monstrous budget, assuming Robin Williams and some crummy CGI would transport children somewhere special. The bet paid off with a board-game-turned-real-life-treasure-hunt that is anything but boring.

Hey, you guys...we have a great film for the whole family! When a group of best friends gets word of treasure tucked beneath a misty cove, they set off on a quest that's a treasure trove of twists, laughs, incredible set designs, and indelible one-liners that is, as the kids say, "absolute cinema."

Stephen King has said this is his favorite movie adaptation of the author's source material, and it's easy to see why. It's not quite on par with The Shining--the Stephen King adaptation with the most intriguing cinematic atmosphere- but the film does manage to walk the axe's edge between a whimsical best friends' journey and tumultuous childhood realism, as the journey to find a body in the woods contains deadly truths about these children's yearning to grow up.

A one-size-fits-all comedy about a pair of magical jeans that made even more of an impact than Sydney Sweeney's American Eagle campaign. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was a phenomenon for girls who befriended these fictional best friends who go on summer vacation, learn to grow up, and most importantly, stick together through the tribulations of tweenhood.

The hills and everything else are alive in The Sound of Music. Perhaps the greatest musical for family movie night, this jubilant production sings on the sun-dappled winds of lyrical cinematography, ebullient music, and endearing characters, most of all the cheery babysitter who wins over these rowdy little kids and, most likely, your own kids at home as well.

I'll never forget watching Star Wars with my family as a child. As a kid falling in love with movies, I found the magical atmosphere of lightsaber duels and space travel in George Lucas's work to be something to behold. That the characters are so endearing in George Lucas' fictional galaxy makes them all the more appealing to your children.

Grab some Reese's Pieces and sit your kids down for a magical movie night unlike any other, where you can watch your kids' eyeballs light up the same way yours once did watching this suburban slice of magical realism about a wrinkly alien and the little children who befriend him. Perhaps Spielberg's best film for movie night, E.T. is phoning home for your next movie night with the children.

Leave it to Hayao Miyazaki to make a movie about a talking pig, one of the most surreally gorgeous movies ever made. Animation's greatest director Miyazaki's film leaves a trail of poetic hand-drawn images and mystical characters that casts a spell on children to this day.

The new Barbie  movie is made of anything but plastic. Sure, the premise gets a little old, but the comedy is packed with stunningly transporting set designs, hilarious jokes, and yes, a whole lotta Ryan Gosling as Ken. Gosling's comedic performance is simply sublime!

Just kidding--but what a film about families this would be for family movie night! Your little children wouldn't be able to sleep for weeks after watching Hereditary.

Lindsay Lohan delivers one of the great child performances in a dual role as twin sisters, one from America and one from England, who meet unexpectedly at summer camp. Their plight to get their mother and father back together is about as joyously light as movies get.

There aren't many children for whom the Harry Potter spell doesn't cast transporting effects. There's so much ingenuity to the world-building, the character development, the score, and the story that even adults find themselves whisked away into Harry Potter's symphonic world of wizards. 

The films of Powell and Pressburger have the feel of a childhood bedside story, where magical tales trip the light fantastic in your mind, where colors are mystically enhanced, and stories unfold in an ethereal mist between reality and fantasy. When a fighter pilot crash-lands and dies, he escapes heaven to be back with his wife on Earth in one of the most romantic, whimsical, and colorful films ever made.

Did you really think we would leave Clueless off our list? As if! The modern adaptation of Jane Austen is totally fun, with fictional high school characters who have bedazzled their way into cinema history. 

The greatest animated movie ever made, My Neighbor Totoro is Hayao Miyazaki's greatest example of pairing real-life issues--a mother's bout with cancer and her daughter's way of grieving--with a mystical fantasy land made of cute surprises, fluffy creatures, and almost impossibly poetic images. This is the peak of animated cinema, overflowing with human emotion and fantastical creations for all ages to enjoy.

For more daring parents, Amarcord is a winning option for children, tapping into the scattered, whimsical brain of Federico Fellini as a child. The film is replete with sexual scenarios, sure, but parents who want their children to grow up with an artistic bent and their young boys to perhaps understand their ramped-up hormones should give this almost impossibly beautiful film a try.

From Fellini to Wes Anderson, who is clearly influenced by Fellini more than any other director, Moonrise Kingdom is another auteurist dive into the ramped-up hormones of young children. When two little kids run off like mini Bonnie and Clyde, they embark on one of cinema's cutest, most whimsical ventures into self-discovery.

How stupid do you have to be to forget your 10-year-old at home? About as stupid as you'd have to be to rob this 10-year-old boy, who booby-traps his house with hilarious pranks.

Is there a better fantasy movie out there? Inconceivable! The Princess Bride is the ultimate family movie night option, a wonderful blend of action, fantasy, and true love that remains magical to this day, every day.