The 16 coolest movies to watch with your children 2026

If you are a movie lover and you love those movies that go straight to the heart, you should see this list of movies that we recommend you watch with your children. They are great and moving movies, but far from plots with a romantic love story, and yet they are capable of accelerating your pulse and making tears flow from your eyes. By watching them you will know brotherly love, the power of friendship, and the most powerful force in the world: the one that unites parents and children. Each of these films tells a story of profound human transformation, their characters are full of a generosity that makes them break all barriers to enter the world of others and help them fulfill their greatest dreams.

'Captain Fantastic', patriarch of a family of six children

The drama-comedy 'Captain Fantastic', released in our country last December, directed by Matt Ross is recommended to watch with older children. "Comical and transcendent, complex, entertaining and only occasionally Manichean and thick (...) a film to make the ruling majorities think, and at the same time entertain," say film critics. The Captain of the title, played by Viggo Mortensen, is Ben Cash, patriarch of a family of six children who chose to live isolated from urban and capitalist society, fending for themselves in the middle of the forest. At the beginning of the film, the mother of the family, hospitalized for psychiatric problems, commits suicide and from there, the father and children embark on a return to civilization to fulfill her last wishes.

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'Kubo and the two magic strings'

'Kubo and the Two Strings' received the BAFTA award for Best Animated Film in 2016. It is an action-adventure film, set in a magical Japan as a backdrop, produced by LAIKA, the acclaimed animation studio. The intelligent and kind Kubo makes a living as best he can by telling wonderful and fantastic stories to the inhabitants of a small coastal town, including Hosato (George Takei), Akihiro (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) and Kameyo (Brenda Vaccaro). But his peaceful existence changes suddenly when he accidentally summons a mythical spirit that returns from the heavens determined to carry out an ancient revenge.

Kubo lives peacefully in a small, normal town until a spirit from the past turns his life upside down by reigniting revenge. This causes Kubo a multitude of bad feelings as he finds himself chased by gods and monsters. If Kubo truly wants to survive, he must first locate a magical armor that was once worn by his father, a legendary samurai warrior.

According to critics, "a film so visually captivating, so full of emotional textures, and so endowed with hallucinatory power that looking away from it is almost impossible."

'Where the Wild Things Are'

'Where the Wild Things Are' is the film based on the classic story by Maurice Sendak. This psychological-fantastic drama combines the visual imagination of a poet like Spike Jonze with the intensity of children's games, where you can go from euphoria to disaster in the blink of an eye. In that sense, it is one of the films that best understands and captures the experience of being a child in an adult world.

When Max, a disobedient boy, is sent to bed without dinner, he plunges into an imaginary world of his own creation that is populated by ferocious creatures that blindly obey him.

According to film critics, "a perfectly unstable balance between the rational and the dreamlike, between the adult's gaze and the primary, spontaneous and capricious reactions of the child's mind, which fills the screen with joyful moments."

'The Amazing World of Norman'

'The Amazing World of Norman' is about the terrified inhabitants of a town besieged by zombies who can only ask for help from the misunderstood Norman, a young man who knows how to talk to the dead. In addition to facing the undead, he will have to face ghosts, witches and, what is worse, the most dazed adults to save his town from an ancient curse.

"The artisanal beauty of plasticine animation is combined with the findings of digital to create a beautiful miniature that walks with the harmony of a tightrope walker through a thin, simple and effective plot (...) A visual experience of the first magnitude, worthy of the Burton of the first era," critics say.

'The unforgettable Simon Birch'

'The unforgettable Simon Birch' is a film in which the protagonist is a boy of very small stature, deep in his heart he knows that he was born to do something great. His life is a constant search to discover his destiny; However, it seems that he only knows how to get into trouble. Meanwhile, Joe, his best friend, tries to find out who his father is, since his mother has always kept it a secret.

"Tear-inducing melodrama about two children marked by difference. Magnificent performances, good intentions in the direction, something lacking in subtlety and a magnificent soundtrack. With moments of intensity," words of film critics.

'School of Rock'

Starring the comic and charismatic Jack Black, it tells the story of Dewey Finn, a rocker who is left without a band and without a job. Overnight he finds himself becoming a music teacher at Horace Green's primary school. Although he has no idea about teaching, he uses his talent to create a rock band with the children, true musical prodigies, from the center. It is the example of the cool teacher.

'Peter and the Dragon'

'Peter and the Dragon' is a film with a lot of background. Peter is a mysterious 10-year-old boy who has no family or home, and who claims to live in the forest with a giant green dragon named Eliott. With the help of Natalie, an 11-year-old girl whose father owns the local sawmill, Grace will set out in search of answers that will find out where Peter comes from, what his true home is and the truth about that dragon.

'Dead Poets Society'

'Dead Poets Society' is about a teacher who changes the lives and inspiration of his students. At an elitist and strict private school in New England, a group of students will discover poetry and the vital importance of fighting to achieve their dreams, thanks to Mr. Keating, an eccentric teacher who awakens their minds through unconventional methods.

'E.T. (The Extraterrestrial)

One night, an alien ship lands outside of Los Angeles. The presence of some men causes the aliens to flee hastily, leaving one of their companions on the ground. Elliott, a lonely boy, meets the strange visitor in the yard of his house. As any child would have done, he takes in the creature. His friends also meet this adorable alien, who simply wants to go home. Parents and authorities soon become interested, so Elliott and his friends have to use all the resources at their disposal to protect the alien and help him in his mission to leave Earth.

'E.T. (The Extraterrestrial)' received the Oscar for best film, best director, best original screenplay, best photography and best editing.

'The Choir Boys'

In 1948 Clément Mathieu, an unemployed music teacher, accepts a position as a supervisory teacher at a juvenile re-education boarding school. By teaching music and choral singing to these difficult children, Mathieu will transform their daily lives. It is a 2004 French film of the drama and musical genres directed by Christophe Barratier. 'The Choir Boys' is a film of great beauty and sweet intentions, which offers the viewer a lesson in human life: the value of charity and compassion in the face of the harsh discipline of the law.

'The advantages of being a marginalized'

'The advantages of being a marginalized' in Spain and The advantages of being invisible in Latin America is a 2012 film based on the novel of the same name published in 1999. Perfect to watch with your teenage son.

Charlie, a 15-year-old teenager, is a shy and marginalized young man, who writes a series of letters to an unidentified person in which he addresses issues such as friendship, family conflicts, first dates, sex or drugs. The protagonist will have to face difficulties, while struggling to find a group of people with whom he can fit in and feel comfortable.

'The boy in the striped pajamas'

'The Boy in the Striped Pajamas' is a film adaptation of a novel by Irish author John Boyne. In 2007 and 2008 it was the best-selling book of the year in Spain. The action is narrated from the innocent perspective of Bruno, son of a Nazi Schutzstaffel officer who moves with his family to a place called "Auschwitz", which is nothing more than the Auschwitz extermination camp. Bruno, eight years old and unaware of the meaning of the Holocaust, makes friends with a Jewish boy named Shmuel who lives on the other side of a fence and who, like other people in that place, wears "striped pajamas."

'Billy Elliot'

'Billy Elliot' takes place in 1984, during a miners' strike in County Durham, between pickets. Among the most hot-headed miners are Tony and his father. He has insisted that Billy, his little son, take boxing lessons. One day, at the gym, Billy watches the ballet class of Mrs. Wilkinson, a stern woman who encourages him to participate. From that moment on, Billy will passionately dedicate himself to dance.

'Pride and Prejudice'

'Pride and Prejudice' is about the childhood and adolescence of the five Bennet sisters who were raised by a mother obsessed with finding them a husband. But one of them, Lizzie, intelligent and strong-willed, wants a life with more open perspectives, a desire supported by her father.

'I am Sam'

'I Am Sam' is a 2001 film that tells the story of a mentally disabled adult man and his development with his daughter. It stars Sean Penn and Michelle Pfeiffer and is written by Kristine Johnson and Jessie Nelson. The film narrates, to the beat of the Beatles, the difficulties they have to go through when, from the age of 7, Lucy begins to have more mental capacity than her father. The State questions Sam's ability to educate his daughter, so he faces a trial that could cause him to lose custody.

'Beetlejuice'

'Beetlejuice' (in Spain, Bitelchús) is about a couple of ghosts who hire the services of a specialist in scaring mortals, to scare away the new owners of their house.