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Top 10 Movies for Families from 1997

AIR BUD

Quality:
***
Content:
+2 Moderately questionable elements.
In AIR BUD, a basketball-shooting golden retriever inspires his boy owner, and his high school basketball team to win the state championship. This surprising, thoroughly winsome comedy with genuine emotion, boasts a likable cast and strong moral values with almost no objectionable elements.

ANASTASIA

Quality:
****
Content:
+3 Some minor questionable elements. (Media-wisdom is suggested to discuss.)
Forty one years prior to the 20th Century Fox animated movie, ANASTASIA, featuring action, romance, an evil villain, revisionist history, and some spiritism, the same studio released an live action acting tour de force featuring Ingrid Bergman in the title role. Though appearing somewhat staged with limited action, the 1956 ANASTASIA features very strong performances by all of the leads and features a moral worldview where family is extolled and deception rebuked.

CATS DON'T DANCE

Quality:
****
Content:
+2 Moderately questionable elements.
CATS DON’T DANCE is a funny musical cartoon send up of 1930ís Hollywood, featuring a motley crew of animal actor-wannabes to whom acting parts are denied because only humans get the parts. Led by Danny, a cat from Kokomo, they overcome the mean-spirited scheming of Darla, the spoiled brat starlet, and improvise an audition for the studio boss, who elevates them to fame and fortune.

FLUBBER

Quality:
***
Content:
+1 Moderately questionable elements. (Discernment required for young children.)
In FLUBBER, Robin Williams stars as Professor Phillip Brainard, a college professor who creates an animated energy-filled compound that just may be the answer to the financial troubles of the college where he teaches. Quickly paced with lots of slapstick humor and visual gags, the movie is acceptable for all ages, though it has a few minor flaws morally and in its storytelling.

MR. MAGOO

Quality:
****
Content:
+1 Moderately questionable elements. (Discernment required for young children.)
Leslie Nielsen does a great job of recreating the cartoon Mr. Magoo as a live action persona in Walt Disney’s MR. MAGOO. In spite of his extremely poor vision, Magoo foils a group of international jewel thieves. This mainly moral movie is slightly flawed by slapstick violence, a little sexual innuendo and a few foul words.

LEAVE IT TO BEAVER

Quality:
***
Content:
+3 Some minor questionable elements. (Media-wisdom is suggested to discuss.)
In LEAVE IT TO BEAVER, Theodore (Beaver) Cleaver endures several boyish mishaps as he tries to win his father’s respect. An entertaining, wholesome family movie in the best sense, LEAVE IT TO BEAVER probes father-son dynamics in a lighthearted, uncomplicated story which will richly requite the cost of movie admission tickets.

WILD AMERICA

Quality:
***
Content:
+1 Moderately questionable elements. (Discernment required for young children.)
In true-story WILD AMERICA, young teenager, Marty Stouffer , takes off with his older brothers on their 1967 cross-country quest to photograph wild animals. The three brothers encounter many dangerous quarries, culminating in their courageous entrance into a cave of hibernating brown bears. Containing no sex, violence or foul language, this moral movie focuses on achieving dreams, despite the reticence of a reluctant father.

JUNGLE 2 JUNGLE

Quality:
***
Content:
-1 Caution advised for older children, including teenagers, and sensitive adults.
JUNGLE TO JUNGLE is a very funny noble savage yarn based on a pathetic French movie. The good news is that they have removed almost all of the pagan attributes of the French story. The bad news is there is some offensive language and scatological humor as well as the suggestion that 13-year-old is eligible for relationships with the opposite sex. The better news is that the movie ends in restoring marriage and extolling the family.

MRS. BROWN

Quality:
****
Content:
-1 Caution advised for older children, including teenagers, and sensitive adults.
In MRS. BROWN, John Brown, faithful retainer to Queen Victoria, helps pull the Queen out of a long depression which started when her beloved husband, Prince Albert, died in 1861. With uncommon intelligence and value, MRS. BROWN is a fascinating history lesson and a moving portrait of a man who truly honored service above self .

BATMAN & ROBIN

Quality:
****
Content:
-1 Caution advised for older children, including teenagers, and sensitive adults.
BATMAN & ROBIN is a leather-clad morality tale set in a dark retro-futuristic world. In this fourth cinematic outing, the Caped Crusader battles the deranged bio-chemist Mr. Freeze and the crazy environmentalist Poison Ivy. Containing extreme comic-book, action violence, but almost no foul language and many moral messages, this movie is not for children, but should please long time fans of the series.