From The Call of the Wild to Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, these are 10 underrated live-action family movies of the last five years.
With the rise of streaming services in the digital era, there is no shortage of amazing and groundbreaking films that are catered to and created for audiences of all ages to enjoy. Recent hits like the live-action Little Mermaid, Sonic the Hedgehog movies, and Paddington movies show just how much is still possible when it comes to family-friendly entertainment on the big screen.
9 'My Spy' My Spy follows the story of JJ and Sophie, a duo consisting of a hardened and highly capable CIA operative and a clever 9-year-old girl. After JJ's operation of spying on Sophie's family is found out by Sophie, JJ is forced to work with and help Sophie in her day-to-day life so that she won't spill the beans and threaten his job.
Nightbooks is filled to the brim with the same type of spooky, child-friendly charm that one would expect from a classic horror fable, right down to the evil witch and the brimming with innocence children. Nightbooks wears this inspiration on its sleeve, doubling down on the fantasy charm yet dark-when-it-needs-to-be style that made these fables classics in the first place.
While We Can Be Heroes was considered one of the biggest hits for Netflix in terms of watch time, fans and critics dismissed the film compared to the likes of Rodriguez's other family films, such as Spy Kids. However, We Can Be Heroes still holds a lot of merit as a true modern-day evolution of Rodriguez's classic filmmaking style for his family-friendly films.
4 'The One and Only Ivan' The One and Only Ivan follows the story of a Gorilla named Ivan, living his life inside a suburban shopping mall as the leading attraction to a fading circus show. When a new animal enters the circus, it inspires Ivan to reminisce on how his life got to this point and question if he really wants to spend the rest of his life as an attraction for the enjoyment of humans.
2 'Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical' Adapted from the classic Roald Dahl story, Matilda the Musical follows the story of the extraordinary young girl Matilda, who despite her gifted nature has been neglected by her parents her entire life. Her situation however somehow gets worse when she finally begins attending school, run by the incredibly strict and evil Principal Trunchbull.