10 Musicals for a Fun Family Movie Night

THE SOUND OF MUSIC is the most successful musical in history with a brilliant performance by Julie Andrews. It has a profound Christian message about seeking God’s will for your life and is as clean and wholesome as can be.

JOURNEY TO BETHLEHEM is a heartfelt musical about the Nativity Story and the Birth of Jesus Christ, with scenes of King Herod the Great, played by Antonio Banderas, who orders his son, Antipater, to find the Christ child and kill him. Though some people avoid musicals, JOURNEY TO BETHLEHEM is really a terrific, entertaining one that treats the Birth of Jesus with the theological seriousness it deserves but also includes some funny comic relief, good songs, plenty of jeopardy, and wonderful acting.

A WEEK AWAY is a musical on Netflix about a troubled teenager who’s caused problems in every foster home he’s has been, but, when a family offers to put him in a summer camp that’s Christian, he’s hesitant. A WEEK AWAY is a fun, exciting, highly enjoyable Christian musical that the entire family will love.

Despite some confusion over witches, this classic Hollywood take on L. Frank Baum’s beloved book features a tremendous performance by Judy Garland as Dorothy, who desperately wants to get back to her Christian guardian, Aunt Em, in Kansas.

In ENCHANTED, an animated heroine is pushed down a well into the cruel, uncaring real world of New York City, where she finds her real love. ENCHANTED turns the archetypal fairy tale story inside out in a delightful, positive, morally worthwhile way.

MARY POPPINS RETURNS, set years after the original Disney movie musical, finds Michael Banks (and his sister Jane) all grown up, and Michael has his own children who are in desperate need of a Nanny. MARY POPPINS RETURNS has a strong moral worldview, with more imagination and less magical thinking, about supporting each other as a family. Adorable and enjoyable, MARY POPPINS RETURNS will entertain the entire family.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST follows the fantastic adventures of Belle, a beautiful, but bored French girl whose life takes an unexpected turn when she finds herself imprisoned by a brooding Beast with a mysterious secret that holds the key to their future. With its newly enhanced format and the addition of a great new scene and song, this movie is a must-see for all except the very young or easily frightened.

WONKA is a colorful fantasy that tells how Willy became Willy Wonka and overcomes a government-sanctioned cartel of three large chocolate makers to start his own chocolate factory. WONKA is a delight to watch, a very fun and funny movie with memorable songs and a positive story about good triumphing over evil through the magic of joy and great dreams, but the criminal chocolate makers bribe a group of chocoholic clergy to look the other way.

ENCANTO is a lively animated musical about a girl living in an isolated magical village in Colombia where everyone in her family has a magical gift but her, but she becomes the only one who can save her family from losing its magic. Beautifully produced, funny and heartwarming, ENCANTO sounds like it could be filled with witchcraft, but the movie explicitly states that family is the real magic and contains overt Christian references, themes, images, and symbolism, which form the backdrop to the story and plot.