Ask Lemmy

All the films in the following list are PG-13, PG, or older and unrated, and I went light on sexual themes in the PG-13 part (except for Austin Powers, because... it's Austin Powers). This is just me quickly going through my own movie collection.

PG-13:

• Arachnophobia (1990)
• Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
• Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
• Cabin Boy (1994)
• Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)
• Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
• Gremlins (1984)
• Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
• Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)
• Kung Pow: Enter the Fist (2002)
• Life is Beautiful (1997)
• Little Shop of Horrors (1986) Director's Cut, if you can
• Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003)
• The Mummy (1999)
• The Mummy Returns (2001)
• O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
• Pirates of the Carribean (2006)
• Princess Mononoke (1997)
• Raising Arizona (1987)
• Sneakers (1992)
• UHF (1989)
• Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022)

PG:

• *batteries not included (1987)
• The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
• Back to the Future trilogy (1985-1990)
• Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
• Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)
• The Dark Crystal (1982)
• Dreams by Akira Kurosawa (1990)
• Flow (2024)
• Ghostbusters (1984)
• Ghostbusters II (1985)
• The Goonies (1985)
• Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
• The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
• Jewel of the Nile (1985)
• Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
• Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
• Porco Rosso (1992)
• The Princess Bride (1987)
• The Producers (1967)
• Indiana Jones original trilogy (1981-1989)
• Real Genius (1985)
• Shaolin Soccer (2001)
• Spaceballs (1987)
• Strange Brew (1983)
• Three Amigos! (1986)
• Time Bandits (1981)
• Twins (1988)
• Uncle Buck (1989)
• War Games (1983)
• The Wizard (1989)
• Wizards (1977)
• Young Frankenstein (1974)

Unrated:

• The Great Escape (1963)
• Hundreds of Beavers (2024)
• Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
• Nova Seed (2016)
• Rashomon (1950)
• Seven Samurai (1954)
• Stalker (1979)

Also, special mention to Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987) which would be otherwise PG except for the scene where Steve Martin says "fuck" 18 times, which alone earned it it's R rating.

Tron. Labyrinth. Goonies. Legend. Etc.

The Princess Bride. It's got fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles...

Grave of the Fireflies will fix that. They'll yearn for Bluey.

Lots of Spielberg directed stuff fits here I think like close encounters, Indiana Jones, Jaws

The blues brothers I remember was a lot of fun & don't recall anything that stands out as too adult. tons of music, violence is not very serious

mst3k/rifftrax take a lot of old cheap movies and have comedians joke over the movie's audio, I think most of it is pretty pg-13 stuff but not pandering to kids

Some Coen brothers/Ethan Coen movies like O brother where art thou and raising Arizona, true grit, add a bit more complexity to stories over kids movies, but keep the violence not too scary

Any of the Studio Ghibli anime. Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke are two of my favorites. If you’re not into anime, just trust me and give them a try; the writing and drama is on par with any Grammy-winning blockbuster from the past 50 years.

My kids and I watched a lot of Futurama.

Mr bean.

Star Wars: Clone wars, Bad Batch, and Rebels.

All animated, very much not cutesy little kid stuff. War, trauma, death, PTSD for soldiers, all of it. Its also something special to watch a sith lord murder their way out of a ship using nothing but the force.

Edit: oh, movies, my bad. Hmm, thats a little trickier for me.

My father got into serious trouble with my mom when my little brother was two because of Blazing Saddles. My mom had taken me somewhere, and my brother was in the playroom playing with blocks. Dad figured it was safe to watch Blazing Saddles, as little bro wasn't able to see the TV, and he could see little bro.

A few days later, little bro walks up to my mother and casually called her a "tonic bitch," and wandered off.

Needless to say Mel Brooks was banned in our house for a few years, but we all loved it when we were allowed to watch it. Spaceballs as well.

My first thoughts were the naked gun or Monty Python movies.

Galaxy Quest… while not a great movie, it’s a fun movie.

Family friendly / older fare. Labyrinth, goonies, princess bride, frighteners, galaxy quest, original clash of the titans, fifth element, back to the future etc etc.

Maybe they'd like some of the kids cartoons I enjoy as an adult or when I was in high school?

Dexter's Lab, Ed Edd and Eddy, Power Puff Girls, 2 Stupid Dogs, Home Movies, Dr. Katz., Invader Zim, Rugrats, Ren and Stimpy, Hey Arnold, Rocko's Modern Life, Phineas and Ferb, Daria, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, Regular Show, and Adventure Time.

Police Academy

The Mask of Zorro (1998, with Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones)

The Tenth Kingdom

The princess bride

Lord of the Rings! Ditto for most of the YA film adoptions from the last twenty years

Edward scissor hands! And other Tim Burton

It's vague if they are okay with animated films intended for adults, so....

Titan AE, Iron Giant, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, The Rocketeer, Indiana Jones, Star Wars IV thru VI, Forever Young, The Incredible Journey (original, not the voiceover remake).

The movie I had on tape when I was a kid and I watched over and over again is Young Frankenstein.

It’s a tv cartoon, but Invader Zim covers that gap

How old are your kids?

Young kids: The Iron Giant, Princess Bride, and if shows count, Adventure Time and Avatar

Teenagers: Everything, Everywhere, All at Once

When my son first starting getting out of kids movies, he liked Indiana Jones and back to the future a lot. Ghostbusters went over well.

Also, Phineas and Ferb is great for every age. Old Simpsons are good too!

The Gods Must Be Crazy had me in stitches as a kid.

The Truman Show