Movies for kids
You're guaranteed to find a film that will keep the kids quiet
Need ideas to keep the kids entertained? We suggest a trip to the movies to see one of these family-friendly films. Check out our reviews of the kids movies currently playing in London cinemas or plan ahead with our round-up of upcoming films.
- Robosapien
- The Croods
- Jack the Giant Slayer
- Oz the Great and Powerful
- The Host
Robosapien
A freewheeling kids’ film – nothing more, nothing less
Rated as: 2/5
The Croods
Dreamworks' latest features Nic Cage voicing a caveman forced out of his home by an earthquake
Rated as: 3/5
Jack the Giant Slayer
A very loose reimagining of the old English folk tale about a scrappy youngster who bumps off big blokes
Rated as: 2/5
Oz the Great and Powerful
James Franco takes the lead in this long-hyped 'Wizard of Oz' prequel
Rated as: 2/5
The Host
Saoirse Ronan stars as a teenager whose body is taken over by an alien soul from another planet
Rated as: 3/5
What's on at the cinema for kids?
Life of Pi
- Rated as: 4/5
Ang Lee handles the special effects and especially the 3D with absolute surety, creating moments of jaw-dropping, eye-ravishing beauty.
Sammy's Great Escape
- Rated as: 2/5
Zoologists will be wringing their hands at the turtles’ irritatingly cute gigantic dome-shaped heads, way out of proportion to their shells. Still, any toddlers’ folly that features Hendrix’s version of ‘All Along the Watchtower’ can’t be a complete wash-out.
Warm Bodies
- Rated as: 3/5
Love used to be so simple: girl meets boy. Then it was girl meets vampire. Now, with ‘Warm Bodies’, we’re on to girl meets zombie...
Wreck-it Ralph
- Rated as: 3/5
‘Wreck-It Ralph’ is a fluorescent funride through an imagined arcade game universe that bludgeons the viewer with cleverness and state-of-the-art nostalgia, but is found rather wanting in the charm department.
Oz the Great and Powerful
- Rated as: 2/5
It’s been 28 years since Disney last followed the Yellow Brick Road – and given the critical and commercial whipping endured by 1985’s tangled, terrifying ‘Return to Oz’, you can hardly blame them for being cautious.
The Croods
- Rated as: 3/5
The Croods in this animation are a prehistoric family who have escaped death by disease, mammoth, big cat and other assorted nasties via the simple ruse of staying in their cave whenever they can.
Jack the Giant Slayer
- Rated as: 2/5
Stranded awkwardly between innocent fantasy adventure and the more knowing cleverness of ‘The Princess Bride’, Bryan Singer’s fairy tale reboot is a simple coming-of-age story writ large.
The Host
- Rated as: 3/5
A retread in the territory of ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ told from a post-occupation vantage point, this adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s young-adult romance novel unfolds in a dark future where alien parasites have nearly won the battle for Earth.
Robosapien
- Rated as: 2/5
Based on the popular kids’ toy, this mediocre, off-the-cuff robo-flick is a cliché-ridden ‘Short Circuit’ wannabe. But it’s got one decent feature – a cute knee-high talking android that kids will really warm to.
Upcoming kids movies
Despicable Me 2
Jason Segel and Steve Carell return to voice the follow-up to the successful family animation about an evil inventor who becomes a family man
Monsters University
Over a decade after ‘Monsters, Inc.’ comes this prequel detailing the university days of Mike and Sulley – a time when they weren’t quite so chummy.
Comments & ratings