It's a simple story, really: Boy meets alien. Boy and alien become best friends. Boy says goodbye to alien when his outer-space buddy has to go home, causing audiences everywhere to sob uncontrollably. How Steven Spielberg tells it, of course, makes a world of difference, as he infuses this family blockbuster with a childlike sense of awe. If you can think of a more magical '80s movie moment than E.T. and Elliott biking past the moon, we'll personally buy you a bag of Reese's Pieces. Rated PG.
Goonies never say die (well, almost never), and neither does this Richard Donner-directed, Steven Spielberg-produced gem. The '80s comedy follows young tweens as they embark on an adventure to save their home from forclosure. The overly enthusiastic Mikey, the leader of the pack, convinces his buddies that searching for One-Eyed Willy's treasure is a great way to keep their roots, but their quest for the jewels is incredibly dangerous... espesically when the Fratelli crime family catches on! Rated PG.
The '90s classic follows a group of young girls who want to turn their baby-sitting jobs into a legit summer camp, but there's a grumpy old neighbor who's determined not to let that happen. Along the way there are family issues, health scares and of course, crushes. Rated PG.
With a record-breaking soundtrack by Lin-Manuel Miranda, this story of a super-powered, multi-generational Colombian family borrows from the magical realist literary traditions of Gabriel García Márquez to explore the importance of familial bonds and staying true to yourself. The colourful, expressive animation keeps Encanto engaging and intriguing, and with the help of some mystical mishaps it will keep your kids... enchanted. Rated PG.
Need a great pick for your next family movie night? Having trouble finding a movie you can all agree on? Our editors have hand-picked some of the best kids' and family movies available to rent or stream on Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, or your favorite streaming service, including beloved classics, action-packed adventures, laugh-out-loud comedies, and powerful dramas. No matter what your family is feeling, these films are perfect to watch together. Need even more inspiration? Be sure to check out our list of 50 Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12 for our favorite time-tested titles we know your family will love. Or use our age-based filters to find the perfect pick, no matter your kid's age. So grab some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy!
Marisa (she/her) has covered all things parenting, from the postpartum period through the empty nest, for Good Housekeeping since 2018; she previously wrote about parents and families at Parents and Working Mother. She lives with her husband and daughter in Brooklyn, where she can be found dominating the audio round at her local bar trivia night or tweeting about movies.
Each week, the streaming service releases a list of its 10 most-watched movies over the preceding seven days. Below, we've listed the top 10 movies in the U.S. from December 11 to December 17, along with general information about each film, such as genre, rating, cast, and synopsis.
Christmas is coming early to Disney+, and we're not talking about the Home Alone movies! The final month of 2023 is unusually eventful as Disney+ previews the new season of Doctor Who with a Christmas special on December 25. But that's your Christmas morning gift. The early presents start with the two-episode premiere of Percy Jackson and the Olympians on December 20.
Rather than send you off with only one recommendation this month, we're also spotlighting two romantic dramas on Netflix: All the Bright Places and I Love Lizzy. Fair warning: both of those movies are pretty heart-wrenching and emotionally messy. But the love between the leading characters in both films can't be denied, and that's one of the reasons why we love watching these films. This is also your last chance to catch Love Actually before it leaves Netflix on December 31, so watch it while you can. For December, these are the best romance movies on Netflix right now. However, we're hoping for a deeper selection in the new year.
Two young girls who were once strangers meet on a flight headed to Oklahoma. After striking up a convo, they find out that both of them are flying down to meet some family members for the first time. So, they decide to use this info to switch places, pretending to be each other when the flight lands.
A family of ducks decides to leave the safety of a New England pond for an adventurous trip to Jamaica. However, their well-laid plans quickly go awry when they get lost and wind up in New York City. The experience soon inspires them to expand their horizons, open themselves up to new friends, and accomplish more than they ever thought possible.
I first saw the movie The Sound of Music as a young child, probably in the late 1960s. I liked the singing, and Maria was so pretty and kind! As I grew older, more aware of world history, and saturated by viewing the movie at least once yearly, I was struck and annoyed by the somewhat sanitized story of the von Trapp family it told, as well as the bad 1960s hairdos and costumes. "It's not historically accurate!" I'd protest, a small archivist in the making. In the early 1970s I saw Maria von Trapp herself on Dinah Shore's television show, and boy, was she not like the Julie Andrews version of Maria! She didn't look like Julie, and she came across as a true force of nature. In thinking about the fictionalized movie version of Maria von Trapp as compared to this very real Maria von Trapp, I came to realize that the story of the von Trapp family was probably something closer to human, and therefore much more interesting, than the movie led me to believe.
Part of the story of the real von Trapp family can be found in the records of the National Archives. When they fled the Nazi regime in Austria, the von Trapps traveled to America. Their entry into the United States and their subsequent applications for citizenship are documented in the holdings of the National Archives and Records Administration.
The family lost most of its wealth through the worldwide depression when their bank failed in the early 1930s. Maria tightened belts all around by dismissing most of the servants and taking in boarders. It was around this time that they began considering making the family hobby of singing into a profession. Georg was reluctant for the family to perform in public, "but accepted it as God's will that they sing for others," daughter Eleonore said in a 1978 Washington Post interview. "It almost hurt him to have his family onstage, not from a snobbish view, but more from a protective one." As depicted in The Sound of Music, the family won first place in the Salzburg Music Festival in 1936 and became successful, singing Renaissance and Baroque music, madrigals, and folk songs all across Europe.
This record of aliens held for special inquiry, dated October 7, 1939, notes that the family was to clear up confusion about the von Trapps' status. (Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, RG 85)
In the early 1940s the family settled in Stowe, Vermont, where they bought a farm. They ran a music camp on the property when they were not on tour. In 1944, Maria and her stepdaughters Johanna, Martina, Maria, Hedwig, and Agathe applied for U.S. citizenship by filing declarations of intention at the U.S. District Court in Burlington, Vermont. Georg apparently never filed to become a citizen; Rupert and Werner were naturalized while serving in the U.S. armed forces during World War II; Rosmarie and Eleonore derived citizenship from their mother; and Johannes was born in the United States and was a citizen in his own right.
Georg died in 1947 and was buried in the family cemetery on the property. Those who had applied for citizenship achieved it in 1948. The Trapp Family Lodge (which is still operating today) opened to guests in 1950. While fame and success continued for the Trapp Family Singers, they decided to stop touring in 1955. The group consisted mostly of non-family members because many of the von Trapps wanted to pursue other endeavors, and only Maria's iron will had kept the group together for so long.
The von Trapps never saw much of the huge profits The Sound of Music made. Maria sold the film rights to German producers and inadvertently signed away her rights in the process. The resulting films, Die Trapp-Familie (1956), and a sequel, Die Trapp-Familie in Amerika (1958), were quite successful. The American rights were bought from the German producers. The family had very little input in either the play or the movie The Sound of Music. As a courtesy, the producers of the play listened to some of Maria's suggestions, but no substantive contributions were accepted.
How did the von Trapps feel about The Sound of Music? While Maria was grateful that there wasn't any extreme revision of the story she wrote in The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, and that she herself was represented fairly accurately (although Mary Martin and Julie Andrews "were too gentle-like girls out of Bryn Mawr," she told the Washington Post in 1978), she wasn't pleased with the portrayal of her husband. The children's reactions were variations on a theme: irritation about being represented as people who only sang lightweight music, the simplification of the story, and the alterations to Georg von Trapp's personality. As Johannes von Trapp said in a 1998 New York Times interview, "it's not what my family was about. . . . [We were] about good taste, culture, all these wonderful upper-class standards that people make fun of in movies like 'Titanic.' We're about environmental sensitivity, artistic sensitivity. 'Sound of Music' simplifies everything. I think perhaps reality is at the same time less glamorous but more interesting than the myth."
Examining the historical record is helpful in separating fact from fiction, particularly in a case like the von Trapp family and The Sound of Music. In researching this article, I read Maria von Trapp's books, contemporary newspaper articles, and original documents, all of which clarified the difference between the von Trapps' real experiences and fictionalized accounts. My impression of Maria from Dinah Shore's show was the tip of a tantalizing iceberg: the real lives of real people are always more interesting than stories.
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