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Top 10 Powerful Movies About New Beginnings

Photo courtesy of IMDB

Top 10 Powerful Movies About New Beginnings

By Movieguide® Contributor

There is something absolutely heart-warming about a story of new beginnings. People often go through seasons of encountering completely new circumstances in their lives. From Giselle’s family starting over in the suburbs in DISENCHANTED, to father and son defying all odds to rebuild their life in PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS, we’ve gathered together our favorite powerful stories where characters embrace a fresh start.

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS

Quality:
****
Content:
-1 Caution advised for older children, including teenagers, and sensitive adults.
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS, starring Will Smith and his real-life son, is based on the true life and struggles of Chris Gardner as he attempts to create a better life for himself and his young son. One of the most inspirational movies of the year, the movie puts forth a strong message about a parent’s commitment to their child and that with hard work and a belief in one’s self, great things can be accomplished.

TANGLED

Quality:
****
Content:
+1 Moderately questionable elements. (Discernment required for young children.)
TANGLED is Disney’s comical animated version of the Rapunzel fairy tale, wherein a thief gives Rapunzel a chance to escape the old hag who stole her from her parents, the king and queen. Despite an unresolved moral conflict, comical action violence and some Romanticism, TANGLED is beautiful, funny, exciting, delightful, and touching – with a redemptive, sacramental quality that lifts the movie, and its magical themes, into a more sublime entertainment.

FACING THE GIANTS

Quality:
****
Content:
+4 Biblical, usually Christian, worldview, with no questionable elements whatsoever.
FACING THE GIANTS is a thoroughly entertaining high school football movie with a strong evangelistic thrust. When Coach Grant realizes that the importance of the football team is not winning the game but serving God, he completely rebuilds the team, revival breaks out in the school, and miracles start to happen. MOVIEGUIDE® commends the filmmakers for producing such an inspiring, entertaining movie.

DISENCHANTED

Quality:
***
Content:
+1 Moderately questionable elements. (Discernment required for young children.)
In DISENCHANTED on Disney Plus, Giselle questions the happiness she achieved 15 years ago in ENCHANTED and inadvertently turns the lives of her family upside down in the process. DISENCHANTED is a fun, wholesome musical parody, with a strong moral, redemptive worldview that extols family, love and sacrifice, but it drags in places and has some magic spells and violence, so caution is advised for younger children.

FREEDOM WRITERS

Quality:
***
Content:
-2 Extreme caution for older teenagers and adults.
Based on a true story, FREEDOM WRITERS stars Hillary Swank as Erin Gruwell, a young teacher in a mixed race class in high school who reaches out to the ethnic gangs in her class by teaching them about their shared experiences and the history of the genocide against the Jews during the World War II. Entertaining and uplifting, FREEDOM WRITERS focuses on moral values, urging young people to do the right thing, be kind and apply good moral values, but it contains plenty of foul language and some gun violence.

FINDING NEMO

Quality:
****
Content:
+4 Biblical, usually Christian, worldview, with no questionable elements whatsoever.
FINDING NEMO is a wonderful animated adventure about a small clownfish who goes in search of his son, who's been put into a fish tank by human beings. Every second of FINDING NEMO is beautifully animated, spectacularly directed and written with great heart and strong moral values.

UNSUNG HERO

Quality:
****
Content:
+1 Moderately questionable elements. (Discernment required for young children.)
UNSUNG HERO is a true story about a Christian family from Australia’s struggles to survive and thrive in the rough and tumble music business when they move to Nashville, where they try to overcome various obstacles and serve God by making meaningful music. UNSUNG HERO is a powerful story of faith and family, told with lots of sincerity and heart while promoting family, sacrificial love, faith, prayer, honor, and courage.

DESPICABLE ME 4

Quality:
****
Content:
+1 Moderately questionable elements. (Discernment required for young children.)
In DESPICABLE ME 4, Gru must hide his family from a new villain who’s escaped prison, but a young teenage girl living in their new neighborhood blackmails him, which results in exposing Gru’s family and endangering Gru’s infant son. DESPICABLE ME 4 is often hilarious, with a strong moral, pro-family worldview, but much of the humor focuses on the comical slapstick chaos of the minions, so MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for younger children.

YOU GOTTA BELIEVE (2024)

Quality:
****
Content:
-1 Caution advised for older children, including teenagers, and sensitive adults.
YOU GOTTA BELIEVE is a sports drama about the true story of a Little League baseball team in Dallas, Texas that banded together and dedicated their inspiring, underdog season in 2002 to their coach, Bobby, who has terminal cancer and is the father of the first baseman, Robert. YOU GOTTA BELIEVE is an incredibly well-told story, with loads of heart and inspiring moments, about an underdog team that defies all odds, and the movie promotes family, perseverance, looking out for other people, and prayer, but caution is advised for some foul language, name-calling, and themes of cancer and death.

INSIDE OUT 2

Quality:
****
Content:
+2 Moderately questionable elements.
SUMMARY: INSIDE OUT 2 is a sequel to the popular, acclaimed 2015 animated comedy from Pixar and Disney. Riley, the young girl of the first movie, turns 13 and a bunch of unruly teenage emotions, led by Anxiety, take over Riley’s psyche and banish Riley’s other emotions, including Joy. INSIDE OUT 2 is a delightful, inventive, heartwarming movie about “the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10c) and doing the right thing, controlling your emotions, caring for your friends, both old and new, and promoting kindness, friendship, repentance, and forgiveness.

Watch A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS
Quality: - Content: +4
Watch IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE
Quality: - Content: +3