Because they are especially written and filmed with family values in mind, when the parents and their children sit down together to watch free movies online, they can laugh together and get caught up in plots and one-liners that often have different meanings for mom and dad, as they do for the kids.

Choosing Great Movies for the Children

Watching movies can be a great bonding activity for a family. Because of this, many movies were specially made in order to cater to a wide range of audience. The stories should be apt of little kids as well as teenagers. These family films and childrens films usually include elements from other genres such as fantasy, animation and adventure. These films may also feature literary adaptations and musicals.

In fact, many of the family films made in the 1930s up until the 1950s features literary works such as the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and other adaptations of the Grimms Fairy Tales. Interestingly, most of these family films were animation films also.

Eventually, family films expanded from animation films into motion pictures that cast children as actors. An example is The Sound of Music, which was released in 1962. During this decade, almost half of the top highest grossing films were family films.

In the next decade, family films further expanded to include science fiction themes and adventure stories. In 1985, the movie Back to the Future spurned the production of two more movie sequels.

Anticipating the Continuous Rise of Family Films

Today, the family film genre still includes animated movies. However, most of these are already made with the technology of a computer. With more themes and elements, family films continue to top the box office. In fact, seven of the top ten highest grossing films in 2010 were family movies. More and more family films may also be looked up in websites that offer free streaming movies and free movie downloads.