Over the last few weeks, I have been asking people what their favorite childhood movie they still enjoy is. Of course, the results varied, but many family-friendly movies later, I have picked my top-two.
Because I am extremely biased to my own favorite movie, I had to include it. “Brother Bear” was a staple in my childhood. Although I partially grew up in the digital age, my childhood remained in the DVD era. Whether I was watching movies at our house, my grandparents or on one of the car DVD players, my options were always limited.
This is a movie that I could watch over and over again even as an adult. That is a key part of making a family-friendly movie. It needs to have two things: child humor and adult humor. “Brother Bear,” though it doesn’t have much adult humor, does have enough to keep me intrigued due to its topics alone.
The main character, Kenai, struggles to accept his life as it is. Throughout the movie, Kenai goes through stages of grief around death. It was portrayed in a way that children understand, but still holds up 20 years later for us adults.
This movie also broke many social norms for its time, giving children an insight into topics they may not know about. Drawing inspiration from Native American tribes, “Brother Bear '' showcased the spiritual beliefs similar to the practices of Inuit people.
Unlike “Brother Bear,” I watched a few other movies that contained more adult humor that can still light the fire of some people’s inner-child. Out of the nine movies I watched, “Scooby-Doo” came in at the top of the list.
I’m not sure I can even confirm if this was made for children, or if it was made for people in their 20’s and 30’s. The amount of adult humor in this movie is relentless. There are countless marijuana references and almost-missed comments and actions throughout the movie that were clearly made for the adult watchers.
“Scooby-Doo” never made me laugh as a kid as much as it did this week. I’ll admit that watching movies in the family-friendly category is my guilty pleasure, but it’s nothing that I am ashamed of.
To top it off, “Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed” is just as good as the first one when it comes to adult humor. They might not have as much of an educational outlook as “Brother Bear” does, but these movies still hold their end, giving adults a movie to enjoy.
It’s important that you enjoy a movie just as much as your kid or grandkid. If neither of these movies sound interesting to you, then I have compiled this list of other good watches for the family: “The Lorax,” “Ratatouille,” “Surf’s Up,” “Shark Tale,”Over the Hedge” and “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.”
