Film fest: Family movies to catch over the holidays
surfs the channels for the best Christmas TV picks for you and your family.
IT’S showtime — and the TV and streaming giants are battling for our eyes and hearts on what is the most wonderful movie time of the year.
Christmas brings us the opportunity to snuggle up with the kids and watch a story unfold on screen. It’s an easy and economical way to keep the small people entertained over the festive holidays, digest the turkey and create happy movie memories together.
We trawled through the TV schedules to suggest some of this year’s best offerings — and a couple of family classics.
Under 5s
Steven Spielberg puts his own take on the Roald Dahl classic in this 2016 epic from Disney. It tells the story of a curious little girl and a kindly giant known as BFG as they set on a challenge to capture a group of man-eating giants. Features some mildly scary scenes.
Irish TV premiere of this colourful live-action movie about a group of chipmunks who head on a trip to track down their human friend.
Disney’s terrific Oscar winner offers a thoughtful message about inclusion, all the while entertaining kids of all ages with colourful sight gags and breezy, richly detailed animation.
Set in a modern, animal-populated metropolis, it tells the story of Judy Hopps, a bunny who finds joining a police force full of bigger and tougher animals isn’t easy.
Sweet animated family film about a group of animals who enter a singing competition. Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson and Matthew McConaughey lend their voices.
No Christmas is complete without a family classic, and this charming animated tale from 1967 has stood the test of time.
On discovering an orphaned boy alone on a boat, Bagheera the panther brings him deeper into the jungle to be raised by wolves — but dangers lie ahead.
Under 12s
Kurt Russell plays Santa Claus in this festive family comedy. It tells the story of siblings Kate and Teddy, who hatch a plan to catch Santa on camera, only to get caught up in a yuletide journey most kids could only dream of.
Pixar’s 2015 animated feature is pretty as a picture and a real charmer. It asks: what if that asteroid that hit earth and made dinosaurs extinct had missed? One of those dinosaurs, Arlo, forms a close bond with a little human friend.
Andy Serkis directs Netflix original’s
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It tells the story of Mowgli, a baby boy lost in the jungle after his parents are killed by a tiger. The starry voice cast includes Benedict Cumberbatch and Christian Bale.
One of the greatest family movies ever made remains as moving and potent an experience as when it was first made in 1939.
Watching it with small people for the first time is a special experience as they get swept up in the tale of Dorothy (Judy Garland), a girl whisked out of her everyday existence into a land of emerald forests, yellow brick roads, lions and scarecrows and a wicked watch.
Child-friendly science fiction unfolds in this excellent fantasy thriller starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt.
It’s set in the near future, where an alien race is attacking earth and a soldier finds himself thrown into a time loop, forcing him to live out the same battle over and over.
Pixar’s terrific animated film is powerfully moving, funny and beautifully rendered. Riley’s an adolescent uprooted from her everyday life and struggling with her emotions - Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness. They all come alive as characters inside her mind in this thoughtful and inventive movie.
Teens
Sandra Bullock heads the cast in Netflix’s dystopian thriller. It centres on a mysterious force which is decimating the world’s population, taking the lives of all who set eyes on it. A mother must flee with her two children to possible safety - but to do so they must make a dangerous and lengthy journey blindfolded.
Excellent Irish drama which packs a solid emotional punch. Seana Kerslake plays the title character, a misfit recently released from prison for assault, looking for a ‘plus one’ to attend the wedding of her dearest friend.
Jennifer Aniston and Danielle Macdonald co-star in this comedy about a plus-sized teenager who signs up for the beauty pageant her mother once won in small town Texas. She does so as a protest on beauty ideals, sparking a debate among the other contestants.
Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron and Michelle Williams head the cast in this big, flamboyant musical that’s perfect for a festive family gathering.
Inspired by the life and times of entertainer PT Barnum, the movie celebrates the birth of show business and tells the story of how he and his entertainers became a global sensation.
Director JJ Abrams’ Star Wars movie is epic in scale and scope - and that’s before the glorious sight of Kerry’s Skellig Michael appears onscreen. The space opera introduces Daisy Ridley’s warrior Rey and John Boyega’s Finn as they aim to battle back against a malevolent force. Our own Domhnall Gleeson pops up as the nasty General Hux.
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