Greatest Family Drama Movies of All Time

We’ve picked the absolute best family drama movies that can be enjoyed with — you guessed it — the entire family.

Greatest Family Drama Movies of All Time

Family dynamics create the perfect fodder for box office hits. These family dramas make you laugh, cry and even reflect on your own relationships — and that’s exactly why we love them.

From singing amidst the Austrian mountaintops in “The Sound of Music” to exploring alien life in “E.T.,” these films will let you poke fun at your own family, while also reminding you how special they can be (craziness aside). We’ve picked the absolute best family dramas, using ratings from Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes, that can be enjoyed with — you guessed it — the entire family.

27. Field of Dreams

Release Date: April 21, 1989

Metacritic Rating: 57

Tomatometer: 87

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 86

Combined Score: 76.66

How It Ranks

“If you build it, they will come.”

“You” being Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner), who is told by a mysterious voice to build “it” — a baseball field amid his cornfield. And “they” being the 1919 White Sox team who were paid to throw the World Series in what became known as the “Black Sox” scandal — and whose ghosts promptly “come” out from the great beyond to play ball in Ray’s new field.

In case you don’t remember, Costner was once the king of baseball movies, some of them raunchy (“Bull Durham”) and some just plain awful (“For Love of the Game”). But none matches the sentimental wallop that “Field of Dreams” delivers — helped along by smaller roles played by James Earl Jones and Hollywood legend Burt Lancaster. We challenge you to watch the last scene, of Ray playing catch with his long-deceased father, without welling up.

26. The Sound of Music

Release Date: April 1, 1965

Metacritic Rating: 63

Tomatometer: 83

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 91

Combined Score: 79

How It Ranks

The hills are alive with the sound of high drama. Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer and a cast of thousands sing their way through this three-hour epic from the mid-’60s that starts off as a fun romp with great songs — until the Nazis invade 1930s Austria. Outstanding location work in Salzburg (Mozart’s hometown) and songs that we still can’t stop singing nearly 60 years later make “The Sound of Music” great viewing for the whole family as they enjoy the adventures of the von Trapps.

And its pre-World War II setting can open up the conversation with younger viewers about the state of Europe in the 1930s and how decisions made at the end of the First World War 20 years earlier set the stage for its far-more-destructive sequel.

25. Big

Release Date: June 3, 1988

Metacritic Rating: 73

Tomatometer: 97

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 82

Combined Score: 84

How It Ranks

Can you imagine waking up one morning and being about twice the age you were the night before? That’s what happens to Tom Hanks in this unique coming-of-age tale about a boy wanting to grow up too fast.

Hanks’ character, Josh, makes a wish at an amusement park to be “big,” and his wish is granted. He soon finds himself with a girlfriend and a full-time job that earns him enough money to pay for his New York apartment. It’s all fun and games until he realizes how much of life he’s missing out on, with an anxious mother and bored best friend desperately awaiting his return.

24. A Christmas Story

Release Date: Nov. 18, 1983

Metacritic Rating: 77

Tomatometer: 89

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 88

Combined Score: 84.66

How It Ranks

What do you want for Christmas? If your answer is a Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model Air Rifle, then you have likely seen “A Christmas Story,” the 1983 holiday classic based on the writings of Jean Shepherd. “Shep” and co-screenwriter and director Bob Clark distilled several of the former’s short stories into a yuletide tale of young Ralphie’s (Peter Billingsley) insatiable appetite for that aforementioned BB gun, and his misadventures on the way to acquiring it come Christmas morn.

Fun fact: If you find yourself in Cleveland, you can actually visit the Christmas Story House, the home where the movie was shot. It has since been turned into an interactive museum where you can pretend it’s Christmas morning in the Parker house. (Oddly enough, the museum house is actually closed on Christmas Day.)

23. Little Miss Sunshine

Release Date: July 26, 2006

Metacritic Rating: 80

Tomatometer: 91

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 91

Combined Score: 86.67

How It Ranks

This indie comedy follows the Hoover family on a road trip to a beauty pageant in Redondo Beach, California. Toni Collette plays Sheryl Hoover, a mother of two trying to help her daughter, Olive, fulfill her dreams.

Along for the ride are Sheryl’s husband, son, brother and father. Of course, tensions rise as the family’s old yellow Volkswagen van has a tough time making the trip. Humor and grief meld together beautifully throughout this poignant film that reminds us how truly important family can be.

22. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial

Release Date: June 11, 1982

Metacritic Rating: 91

Tomatometer: 98

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 72

Combined Score: 87

How It Ranks

Fatherless Elliott (Henry Thomas) needed a friend, though he never dreamed he’d get one from beyond the stars. In a career rife with masterpieces, Steven Spielberg’s touching tale of the titular alien trapped in a suburban neighborhood and just trying to “phone home” and get back to his planet remains as inspiring today as when it ruled the box office in 1982.

(Yes, there are a few colorful insults among Elliott and his siblings, but what family doesn’t see such jokes lobbed back and forth?)

21. The Incredibles

Release Date: Nov. 5, 2004

Metacritic Rating: 90

Tomatometer: 97

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 75

Combined Score: 87.33

How It Ranks

Some families are dysfunctional, but some are superheroes. The animated Incredibles debuted on movie screens in 2004, and proved so popular that they returned in 2018. What makes “The Incredibles” so wonderful as family viewing is that, yes, they are superheroes, but they still face the same issues as everyone else — albeit with a heap of heroism thrown in.

And it’s worth the price of admission alone to hear Samuel L. Jackson, as outrageous as always, voicing the over-the-top “Frozone.”

20. Juno

Release Date: Dec. 5, 2007

Metacritic Rating: 81

Tomatometer: 94

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 88

Combined Score: 87.67

How It Ranks

Another indie comedy, “Juno” follows the life of a quirky pregnant teen played by Ellen Page. Hoping to find a good family that will adopt her child, Juno meets Mark and Vanessa Loring (played by Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner) along the way.

The movie spans nine months, as Juno builds a rather atypical relationship with the adoptive parents. Allison Janney and J.K. Simmons play Juno’s parents, adding some comic relief every time Juno decides to come home.

19. How to Train Your Dragon

Release Date: March 21, 2010

Metacritic Rating: 75

Tomatometer: 99

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 91

Combined Score: 88.33

How It Ranks

We had a dragon once. His name was Toothy, and he burned up all our furniture, ate everything in the fridge and refused to duck his head when going through doorways.

If only we’d watched this DreamWorks Animation flick from 2010 to know how to do it properly, but now we know for next time. After all, who ever said having pets was easy?

18. The Princess Bride

Release Date: Oct. 9, 1987

Metacritic Rating: 77

Tomatometer: 97

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 94

Combined Score: 89.33

How It Ranks

Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monster, chases, escapes, true love, miracles.

Oh, and it’s also one of the most endlessly rewatchable tales ever committed to screen. As beloved as “The Princess Bride” has become, it’s hard to believe it didn’t do much business in theaters. It was thanks to the home video market (you see kids, back during this time, streaming was called “renting videotapes”) that Rob Reiner’s adventure of Westley, Buttercup and company found its rightful place in the culture.

It’s just good fun overall. And what really earns it the “family drama” label is that the fantasy tale is bookended by a wizened older man (Peter Falk) reading the story aloud to his grandson (Fred Savage), just as so many of our own grandparents did once upon a time.

17. The Nightmare Before Christmas

Release Date: Oct. 13, 1993

Metacritic Rating: 82

Tomatometer: 95

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 91

Combined Score: 89.33

How It Ranks

It was a brave — or foolish — move on Tim Burton’s part to bank on a tale of a spirit from “Halloween Town” trying his hand at Christmas, but Burton has never been one for trodding the traditional path. Thus there’s the great moment of a child unwrapping a severed head (don’t worry, this flick is PG) on Christmas morning, but, hey, that’s what happens when you import the spirit of Halloween to Christmas.

Charming stop-motion animation and spritely songs sung by frequent Burton collaborator Danny Elfman as Jack Skellington foster a magical, and thoroughly original, take on two of your family’s favorite holidays.

16. The Little Mermaid

Release Date: Nov. 13, 1989

Metacritic Rating: 88

Tomatometer: 93

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 88

Combined Score: 89.66

How It Ranks

Believe it or not, there was time when Disney’s animated movies weren’t must-see events. In the late 1980s, after a slump of lesser-remembered outings, the Mouse House sunk all of its resources into this adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson’s fable and brought on composer Alan Menken to pen those groovy earworms “Under the Sea” and “Kiss the Girl.”

The result was box office bonanza, critical acclaim and several Oscars, including ones for Menken’s songs.

14. Miracle on 34th Street (tie)

Release Date: May 2, 1947

Metacritic Rating: 88

Tomatometer: 96

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 87

Combined Score: 90.33

How It Ranks

Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) doesn’t just dress up like Santa Claus; he insists he really is Jolly Old Saint Nick in the flesh. But is he a crazy old man or the real deal? Whatever he is, Kris gets a job as Santa at Macy’s, where his too-honest approach directing consumers to rival stores that stock the toys their kids actually want, ironically, actually increases business at Macy’s. (Imagine Walmart sending customers to Target.)

“Miracle on 34th Street” is warm and fuzzy from start to finish. Its humor is both earned and pleasant, and Gwenn’s performance as the eternally optimistic Kris Kringle won him an Oscar. “Miracle” is also a Thanksgiving weekend tradition, as it commences with the annual Macy’s parade to welcome Santa. If at all possible, seek it out in glorious black and white rather than the trying-too-hard “color” version.

14. The Iron Giant (tie)

Release Date: July 31, 1999

Metacritic Rating: 85

Tomatometer: 96

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 90

Combined Score: 90.33

How It Ranks

“The Iron Giant” is like a twisted take on “E.T.” in that it involves a boy who befriends a rather tall robot from outer space. The story is set during the height of the Cold War, meaning that government goons are out to either destroy the metal warrior from beyond or co-opt it for their own nefarious means.

“The Iron Giant” is noteworthy for being the directorial debut of Brad Bird, whose later credits included “The Incredibles,” “Ratatouille,” and even one of the umpteen “Mission Impossible” outings.

13. To Kill a Mockingbird

Release Date: Dec. 25, 1962

Metacritic Rating: 88

Tomatometer: 92

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 92

Combined Score: 90.67

How It Ranks

Atticus Finch has been named the greatest movie hero of the 20th century, so it’s no surprise that Gregory Peck won an Oscar for Best Actor in the role.

A book first, “To Kill a Mockingbird” won the hearts of many as Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel. The story follows lawyer Atticus Finch and his daughter Scout as they figure out issues of race and innocence in their small hometown of Monroeville, Alabama.

12. Aladdin

Release Date: Nov. 25, 1992

Metacritic Rating: 86

Tomatometer: 95

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 92

Combined Score: 91

How It Ranks

The late, great Robin Williams as the Genie brought this movie to life back in the fall of 1992. Williams was constantly off-the-cuff with his comedy, so it’s all but certain that what was recorded in the sound booth deviated from the Genie’s scripted lines. It doesn’t matter, as those improvisations made the Genie a force of nature when Aladdin rubbed that magical lamp.

Composer Alan Menken once again collaborated with the Disney machine, which picked up two additional Oscars for “Aladdin.”

9. The Lion King (tie)

Release Date: June 24, 1994

Metacritic Rating: 88

Tomatometer: 93

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 93

Combined Score: 91.33

How It Ranks

The circle of life was good to “The Lion King,” which took in over $700 million to become champ of the box office in 1994. Composer Hans Zimmer and songsmith Elton John (“Can You Feel the Love Tonight?”) both took home Academy statuettes for their unforgettable work on this film, which featured then-top-of-the-line animation.

Yes, “The Lion King” was remade in 2019, spiffing up the animation to be as lifelike as possible in the digital era, but for our money, it’s a far cry from the magic of the earlier iteration from a quarter-century ago.

9. Mary Poppins (tie)

Release Date: Aug. 26, 1964

Metacritic Rating: 88

Tomatometer: 100

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 86

Combined Score: 91.33

How It Ranks

When it comes to family movies, one of the absolute most supercalifragilisticexpialidocious out there is “Mary Poppins.” There might never have been a better song-and-dance team than Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, who tap, croon and giggle their way with the Banks children across magical realms.

And while ostensibly a comedy on the surface, the film actually takes on issues like women’s suffrage. It also slyly criticizes a style of parenting that could be described as, at best, the precise opposite of helicopter parenting. Does the banker father George (David Tomlinson) even know his children’s names? Luckily, Poppins saves George as much as his two children, Jane (Karen Dotrice) and Michael (Matthew Garber).

9. My Neighbor Totoro (tie)

Release Date: May 7, 1993

Metacritic Rating: 86

Tomatometer: 94

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 94

Combined Score: 91.33

How It Ranks

Don’t mistake Japan’s Hayao Miyazaki’s animated films for “cartoons.” Miyazaki’s films are invariably beautiful, brave and thought-provoking, as is “My Neighbor Totoro,” a fantasy in which two young girls encounter beings from another realm, including the titular creature Totoro.

But this is more than an adventure story: Miyazaki uses his film to subtly but powerfully comment on post-World War II Japan’s society as well as its uneasy walk into modernity — and of the problems with modernity in general. This was nowhere more succinctly accomplished than in a scene where one of the protagonists sees a bottle at the bottom of a creek.

7. Finding Nemo (tie)

Release Date: May 30, 2003

Metacritic Rating: 90

Tomatometer: 99

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 86

Combined Score: 91.66

How It Ranks

Every child’s worst nightmare is being separated from his or her parents. But for poor Nemo, he will be separated from both — first his mother to an untimely death and then being lost far from his father, Marlin (Albert Brooks), setting the action in motion.

Don’t get us wrong, as dark as much of this can be for a dramatic story, the proceedings are lightened up considerably thanks to it being a Pixar picture. Indeed, trying her damndest to help out poor Nemo (Alexander Gould) is Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), whose short-term memory failings supply much of the film’s comedy.

7. WALL-E (tie)

Release Date: June 27, 2008

Metacritic Rating: 95

Tomatometer: 95

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 90

Combined Score: 91.66

How It Ranks

Little WALL-E wanders a planet-wide garbage dump that was once known as planet Earth, collecting trash and compacting it down. It’s an ongoing, endless task, but the sweet little robot does it anyway. That is, until the day WALL-E encounters the alien probe called EVE, commencing an adventure that will take them to outer space and to a colony of sedentary humans living in indolence off-world.

Laughs are plentiful, but there’s actually a serious message here not only about taking care of our planet, but about the dangers of becoming lazy and simply tossing aside anything that no longer interests us. Oh dear, and for that late scene where WALL-E suffers severe damage and needs rescuing by EVE, bring tissues!

And speaking of films that make us cry...

6. Up

Release Date: May 29, 2009

Metacritic Rating: 88

Tomatometer: 98

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 90

Combined Score: 92

How It Ranks

If ever there were a film tailor-made to gently coach a discussion with our little ones about death and grief, it is “Up.” Sure, animated movies for nearly a century have thrown the deaths of parents and friends at their protagonists, but never has it been so tenderly accomplished as in this Pixar masterwork.

The wordless montage of Carl and Ellie going from young lovers to elderly adults — set to a tender score by Michael Giacchino — is about as effective a sequence in film history. Sadly, it ends with Ellie’s death, leaving poor Carl (Edward Asner) to live out the rest of his life as a grouchy curmudgeon. And that’s just in the first 15 minutes!

There’s an adventure that follows, with Carl and a chubby kid named Russell (Jordan Nagai) literally flying Carl’s house on balloons to a faraway land to face off against bad guy Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer), and the film’s final image, of the departed Ellie’s lifelong dream coming true at long last, leaves not a dry eye in the house.

5. Little Women

Release Date: Dec. 25, 2019

Metacritic Rating: 91

Tomatometer: 95

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 92

Combined Score: 92.67

How It Ranks

A book first, the story of “Little Women” has entertained decades of generations with the timeless themes of love, death, war and family conflict, as it follows the four Marsh sisters who struggle to survive during 19th century New England.

While the book has been adapted for the big screen a total of five times, the highest ranked one was the latest version starring Saoirse Ronan and directed by Greta Gerwig.

3. It’s a Wonderful Life (tie)

Release Date: Jan. 7, 1947

Metacritic Rating: 89

Tomatometer: 95

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 95

Combined Score: 93

How It Ranks

George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) spent his entire life putting aside his own desires for the sake of others: When his father died, he stayed in tiny Bedford Falls to run the family bank lest the vile Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore) take over the town. And he puts his own college money aside so that younger brother Harry (Todd Karns) could be educated instead.

It’s understandable that George would be resentful, which all bubbles up on a particular fraught Christmas Eve as he contemplates jumping off a bridge. Good thing a guardian angel named Clarence (Henry Travers) is there to talk him out of it — and show George what life would be like had he never been born. “It’s a Wonderful Life,” in addition to being one of the great Christmas movies, turns on questions of how one person’s actions influence and touch so many others, whether we know it or not.

3. The Wizard of Oz (tie)

Release Date: Aug. 25, 1939

Metacritic Rating: 92

Tomatometer: 98

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 89

Combined Score: 93

How It Ranks

The whole family has gone off to see the Wizard for over 80 years. While the grand production design, color cinematography and songs like “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” are justly remembered, “The Wizard of Oz” is actually pretty heavy at times, what with a teen not only heading to a mystical land, but being menaced by a wicked witch and her various beastly henchmen — and facing a particularly gnarly tornado.

Judy Garland leads a wonderful cast in one of the greatest cinematic adventures ever made, and it’s a movie the entire family can continue to enjoy as its centennial approaches.

2. Beauty and the Beast

Release Date: Nov. 22, 1991

Metacritic Rating: 95

Tomatometer: 94

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 92

Combined Score: 93.66

How It Ranks

If “The Little Mermaid” put Disney back on the map, it was “Beauty and the Beast” that made the critical establishment really take notice. The movie took in more than $400 million and was also nominated for Best Picture, the first time an animated film was so honored. Years later, a separate category was created by the Academy for Best Animated Film, with “Beauty & the Beast” paving the way for animated films to be taken so seriously.

How could we ever forget the story of Belle and her father, Maurice, encountering the terrifying yet enchanting Beast?

1. Spirited Away

Release Date: Aug. 30, 2002

Metacritic Rating: 96

Tomatometer: 97

Rotten Tomatoes’ Audience Score: 96

Combined Score: 96.33

How It Ranks

Has there ever been a more haunting film, animated or otherwise, than Hayao Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away”? And when we say “haunting,” understand that we don’t mean scary, at least not in the traditional sense. Rather, “Spirited Away” takes creativity and the power of the imagination to new heights with its tale of a young girl who flees her suburban existence into the nearby woods, which are inhabited by all manner of fantastic creatures.

The ethereal realm painted by “Spirited Away” is mesmerizing, as our young hero encounters all kinds of exotic beasts. But what’s so great is the philosophy behind the animated story: According to certain tenets of Japanese beliefs, people don’t disappear; rather they are spirited away to another realm, and return when their work there is complete.

The film also deals with notions of respecting one’s elders and their culture, but overall it’s just an amazing travelogue through a fantasia unlike any other.