Top 10 Kids & Family Movies About the Great Outdoors

OVER THE HEDGE is a new animated comedy about a shifty raccoon who cons a group of animals into stealing food from humans so he can repay an angry bear. OVER THE HEDGE is often very funny and entertaining and has a positive heartwarming ending, but it has some moral problems and is slow in parts.

Like the movie ANTZ, Walt Disney’s A BUG’S LIFE tells the story of a persistent ant who saves his colony from a menacing villain. This time, the villain is a grasshopper who leads a band of other grasshoppers to extort food. It extols the values of courage, teamwork, hope, perseverance, community, and individual effort, leading to a rousing, heartwarming, funny finish.

FINDING DORY, the animated sequel to the classic family movie FINDING NEMO, shows Dory suddenly remembering she has a mommy and a daddy and getting help from her friends, both old and new, to reunite with them. FINDING DORY is another heartwarming, funny, whimsical fish story from Pixar and Disney showing that family and friends make life worth living.

BABE is a winsome pig who has a knack for rounding up sheep. Using clever computer animation, the animals in Babe's world speak English to one another and sort out a most unusual occurrence. Babe, being a naive little pig doesn't realize there is a pecking order in the barn yard, and so he has to patch up dissention among the jealous sheepdogs. BABE has many moments of purity and pleasure that will virtually compel its viewers to love their neighbors.

Goofy and satirical, SHARK TALE is about a fish named Oscar who gets mistaken for a fierce shark killer. Narrative-rich and visually stunning, SHARK TALE needs more humor and has some politically correct elements that are annoying. Even so, SHARK TALE has considerable entertainment value and makes the moral point that people cannot live a lie.

LILO & STITCH is the story of two outcasts who find each other and, through many dangers and trials, change each other for the better and find love and “Ohana,” the Hawaiian name for family. Cartoon violence and two brief comical references to evolution and voodoo are the only things which mar the moral worldview of LILI & STITCH, which is appropriate for older children.

RIO is a colorful animated comedy about Blu, a cockatoo who gets into all sorts of trouble when some thieves in Rio de Janeiro steal him from his American owner. RIO is a funny, action-filled animated comedy for older children, teenagers and adults, with fun characters, enjoyable twists and turns, and a mostly positive moral, redemptive worldview stressing heroism, friendship, sacrifice, and courage.

OPEN SEASON is a new animated comedy about a big grizzly bear and a mule deer who get into lots of trouble in the human city and in the vast forest. OPEN SEASON is very funny, lively and clever with marvelous animation and positive moral elements, but MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for younger children because of some light off-color humor, strong slapstick violence and brief scary moments.

MADAGASCAR, the new animated feature from DreamWorks, tells what happens when a zoo-bred lion named Alex and his three friends from the Central Park Zoo find themselves stranded on the island of Madagascar off the coast of Africa. MADAGASCAR is laugh-out-loud hilarious, and it contains clear messages urging people to abandon their baser instincts to become civilized, thoughtful, careful, and self-sacrificing.

SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON, Disney’s classic 1960 movie, is about a family in the early 1800s, shipwrecked on a deserted island, who build a clever treehouse home on the island, deal with many animals and eventually fight off a band of pirates. Based on the famous novel by Johann Wyss, SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON is a rollicking good family movie with a strong Christian worldview that extols faith, family, prayer, teamwork, and perseverance.