Family films 319 films

A family film has to hold two audiences in the same room, and the ones we score highly do it without winking at the adults over the children's heads. What we are judging is whether the film takes its young hero's trouble seriously: a child's shift in a spirit bathhouse, a rat's wish to cook, a robot's romance. Sentiment is allowed; sentiment the film has not paid for is not. The shelf leans towards animation and towards the last two decades.

Start with Spirited Away, 92, which is frightening in ways children handle better than their parents. Then Toy Story, also 92, for its quarrelling voices and tight construction. WALL·E, 92, is the one to show anyone who says animation is not for them. After that, The Wizard of Oz or It's a Wonderful Life, both of which earn their sentiment the hard way.