We aren’t ones to jump on the Disney and Pixar bandwagons around here — which makes selecting movies for our Family Nights a wee bit challenging. Disney certainly isn’t banned in our home, but my daughters have found them quite scary, and mom and dad are not fans either.  We did however, absolutely love the new Cinderella movie that came out last winter!

I’m always in search of great, quality, wholesome movies for us to enjoy as a family. Considering what a book enthusiast I am, why not stick with the good, old fashioned books that have been made into movies? Four out of Five of my top favourites are adaptations from favourite books, and the fifth is from a musical.

Anne of Green Gables

This is my all time favourite childhood movie. It used to play on T.V. annually while I was growing up, and I knew almost every word by heart. I <3 L. M. Montgomery! It’s a pretty accurate adaptation; and Megan Follows captures the essence of Anne Shirley wonderfully. The second movie is  not as well done, and the third is a disgrace and I forbid you from watching it. I haven’t actually watched Anne with my girls yet — I want them to read it first so that their imaginations aren’t limited by the characters they see on the screen. I watched the movie first — so Anne will always be Megan Follows for me. I’m more than a little bit excited that Big Sister has started to read it!

Mary Poppins

I must say that I did not enjoy this book nearly so much as my daughter did. I did, however, faithfully read each and every book in the series to her delighted ears. This is definitely a case where the movie is so much better than the book! Julie Andrews is a so much more lovely Mary Poppins than the character depicted in the books! This movie is so enjoyable and fun!

The Wizard of Oz

My daughter loved this book — and I do suggest especially in this case that you read it first — and it was fun to spot the differences (hint: the shoes)  in the movie vs the book by L. Frank Baum (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz). I must warn you though I’m sure everyone has seen it, the witch is quite terrifying in the movie. My daughter hid her head under a blanket during several scenes. It’s really to bad though, the witch plays a much more minor role in the book. My daughter loved this book so much, she later went on to read most of the other books in the series.

Little Women

This is one of my all time favourite movies and of course books. While the movie doesn’t really do the book justice, it is so very lovely though that all is forgiven. This is the perfect movie to watch at Christmastime and would make a great family tradition!

The Sound of Music

Musicals are so great to watch with kids! And this one is so much fun, and we continue having fun with it by singing “How do you solve a problem like Maria” or “These are a few of my favourite things!” on a regular basis.  It was also a great jumping off point for my oldest who had some great questions regarding WW2. She just loves history and historical fiction, we will have to do this one again when we study Modern Times.

What are your favourite family movies?

This post is linked up at the Hip Homeschool Hop