Top 30 Kindness and Friendship Movies for Families

Trolls (2016)

The Trolls live in happiness, singing, dancing and hugging all day. However, they are discovered by the Bergens, large miserable creatures, who can feel happy only after eating a Troll. When their village is invaded by the grumpy Bergens, two mismatched friends must work together in perfect harmony to save the Trolls. 

Rating PG

The Fox and the Hound (1981)

The tale is about an unlikely pair: an adopted fox (Tod) and a hound dog (Copper). They become best friends and grow close to one another. Tod and Copper vow to remain 'friends forever' but they are faced with some adversities along the way.

Rating G 

Taare Zameen Par - Like Stars on Earth (2007)

An eight-year-old boy, Ishaan Awasthi, is thought to be a troublemaker. He cannot seem to get anything right in class. He is sent off to a boarding school to 'be disciplined'. One day, the new teacher Nikumbh, breaks all the rules of 'how things are done' in the school, infects the students with joy, all except Ishaan. Soon he realizes that Ishaan is very unhappy, and he sets out to discover why. He attempts to help him. With time, patience and care, he ultimately helps Ishaan find himself.

Homeward Bound (1993)

The Incredible Journey follows three household animals (two dogs and a cat) as they travel across forested mountains and areas of countryside to find their owners. The pets mistakenly believe that they have been abandoned by their loved ones when in reality they have been left in the care of a friend while the family has temporarily moved. All three pets can talk, and they bicker and crack jokes as they set off on a truly incredible journey chock full of misadventures as they wend their way back to their owners.

Rating G 

Wonder (2017)

The incredibly inspiring and heartwarming story of August Pullman, a boy with facial differences, that, up until now, have prevented him from going to a mainstream school. When he enters the fifth grade, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid - but his new classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face. His relatives and the school community all struggle to discover their compassion and acceptance.

Rating PG 

The BFG (2016)

Sophie, a ten-year-old girl, meets the Big Friendly Giant. Soon, she realizes that the 24-foot behemoth is actually quite gentle and charming. As their friendship grows, Sophie's presence attracts the unwanted attention of Bloodbottler, Fleshlumpeater, and other giants. After traveling to London, Sophie and the BFG must convince Queen Elizabeth to help them get rid of all the bad giants once and for all.

Rating PG 

Fly Away Home (1996)

The inspiring film about a 13-year-old girl from New Zealand sent to live with her father in Canada. They learn what family is all about when they adopt an orphaned flock of geese and teach them to fly!

Rating PG 

Charlotte’s Web (2006)

A young girl named Fern rescues a runt piglet, raises it as her own, and names him Wilbur. However, after Wilbur grows into a pig, she is compelled to sell him to her Uncle Homer Zuckerman. At Zuckerman's barn, Wilbur meets a host of animals and later learns from them that come winter, he will be slaughtered for food. Fearing for his life, Charlotte, a gentle and wise spider who befriended the lonely Wilbur, vows to save his life.

Rating G 

Lilo & Stitch (2002)

A Hawaiian girl named Lilo adopts an unusual pet - Stitch. Without a greater purpose in life, no friends, family or memories, Stitch does a little soul searching and begins to understand the meanings of 'love' and 'family' and his feeling for Lilo begin to change.

Rating PG 

UP (2009)

As a boy, Carl Fredricksen wanted to explore South America and find the forbidden Paradise Falls. 64 years later, he begins his journey, along with a Boy Scout named Russell, by lifting his house with thousands of balloons. On their journey, they make many new friends including, a talking dog.

Rating PG

ET (2009)

A group of aliens visits Earth and one of them, E.T., is lost and left behind on this planet. The little alien soon finds a friend and emotional companion in 10-year-old Elliot. The two begin to communicate and start a different kind of friendship in which E.T. learns about life on earth and Elliot learns about the true meaning of friendship.

Rating PG

Big Hero 6 (2014)

A little genius, the 14-year-old Hiro Hamada makes money in illegal robot fights. His older brother, Tadashi, saves Hiro from a dangerous gang and shows him his nurse robot Baymax, a robot whose sole purpose is to take care of people. Also, when the younger brother needs help, he transforms Baymax and his other friends, Go Go Tamago, Wasabi, Honey Lemon and Fred into a band of high-tech heroes.

Rating PG

Babe (1995)

Farmer Arthur Hoggett wins a piglet named Babe at a local fair. The piglet learns about all the other creatures on the farm and befriends one of the sheepdogs, Fly. With Fly's help and Farmer Hoggett's intuition, Babe embarks on a career in sheepherding with some spectacular results.

Rating G

Because of Winn-Dixie (2005)

Opal, a ten-year-old girl, has just moved to a small town in Florida with her father. She adopts a stray dog whom she names after the local supermarket where he was found. Opal discovers that Winn-Dixie is able to make friends with everyone he meets, and now Opal has some new friends, because of Winn-Dixie.

Rating PG 

Finding Dory (2016)

The friendly and forgetful blue tang fish, Dory, gets separated from her parents as a child. She is living happily in the reef with Nemo and Marlin. But when she suddenly remembers she has a family who may be looking for her, the trio set off on a life-changing adventure to find them.

Rating PG

Ponyo (2008)

5-year-old Sosuke, the son of a sailor, develops a relationship with Ponyo, a young goldfish princess. Ponyo longs to become human, and as her friendship with Sosuke grows, she becomes more humanlike.

Rating G

The Iron Giant (1999)

The story of a nine-year-old boy, Hogarth Hughes, who makes friends with a massive robot that came from outer space, the Iron Giant. The robot finds its humanity by unselfishly saving people from their own fears and prejudices.

Rating PG

Meet The Robinsons (2007)

Lewis, a 12-year-old orphaned genius, wants to see what his mother looked like. He meets a mysterious stranger named Wilbur Robinson, who takes him on a ride to the future, where he meets Wilbur's wacky family.

Rating G

Akeelah and the Bee (2006)

Akeelah Anderson, an 11-year-old girl from south Los Angeles, despite the objections of her mother Tanya, enters various spelling contests, for which she is tutored by the forthright Dr. Larabee. Akeelah's aptitude earns her an opportunity to compete for a spot in the Scripps National Spelling Bee and in turn unites her neighbors who witness the courage and inspiration of an amazing girl.

Rating PG

Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)

The story of a 13-year-old witch, Kiki. She must leave home for one year so that she can learn how to live on her own. Kiki is very resourceful, imaginative, and determined. Along with her talking cat Jiji, she's ready to take on the world.

Rating G

How to Train Your Dragon (Trilogy) (2010)

Hiccup is an awkward 15-year-old kid who must tackle the tough task of capturing a dragon. During one of the village's battles, Hiccup believes he sees a Night Fury, one of the most elusive dragons on the island, and shoots it down. Hiccup soon realizes that the dragons aren't at all what the Vikings have always believed them to be.

Rating PG

Zootopia (2016)

The city of Zootopia is a mammal metropolis where various animals peacefully live with one another. When Judy Hopps becomes the first official rabbit cop on the police force, she quickly learns how tough it is to enforce the law. She runs into a con artist fox named Nick Wilde, and they have to work together, must piece together all the clues and find out who is behind it all.

Rating PG

Paddington (2015)

A young Peruvian bear travels to London in search of a home. Finding himself lost and alone at Paddington Station, he begins to realize that city life is not all he had imagined.   He meets the kindly Brown family, who offer him a temporary haven.

Rating PG

The Kid Who Would Be King (2019)

Alex stumbles upon the mythical sword Excalibur. He soon unites his friends and enemies into a band of knights who join forces with wizard Merlin. Together, they must save mankind from the wicked enchantress Morgana and her army of supernatural warriors.

Rating PG

The Peanuts Movie (2015)

Snoopy embarks upon his greatest mission as he and his team take to the skies to pursue their arch-nemesis, while his best friend Charlie Brown falls in love and tries to impress Little Red-Haired Girl.

Rating G

My Neighbor Totoro (1990)

The tale follows two young girls, 10-year-old Satsuki and her 4-year-old sister Mei as they settle into an old country house with their father and wait for their mother to recover from an illness in an area hospital. They soon encounter and befriend playful creatures in their house and the nearby forest, called Totoros.

Rating G

Shrek (2001)

A story about green ogre Shrek who lives alone in the woods. His peaceful life is suddenly shattered by an invasion of annoying fairy tale characters. Shrek begins his quest along with his donkey friend. At the King's request, Shrek is going to rescue Princess Fiona, who is awaiting her true love in a tower guarded by a fire-breathing dragon. It quickly becomes apparent that Shrek begins to fall in love with the lovely princess.

Rating PG

Batkid Begins (2015)

One day, a 5-year-old boy and cancer survivor, captured the world's attention. The Make-A-Wish Foundation granted his request to be Batman for a day. The boy begins looking at how this phenomenon took place, becoming one of the biggest 'good news' stories of all time.

Rating PG

Kindness Is Contagious (2014)

'Kindness Is Contagious' asks ordinary people on the street about the kindest thing anyone has ever done for them. The responses are inspiring - with many sharing their stories of receiving unexpected kindness and empathy from other people.

Rating NR

A Little Princess (1997)

Young Sara Crewe goes to New York to attend boarding school. She becomes popular with her classmates but quickly clashes with the severe headmistress, Miss Minchin, who attempts to stifle Sara's creativity. After the death of Sara's father, she is forced into life as a servant. Treated as a lesser class of person by her former companions, Sara befriends her fellow servants and turns to the power of imagination in order to maintain hope for the future.

Rating NR