Unfortunately, becoming older is a natural part of life, but thanks to the charm of these children’s films, adults can short reflect on both their own adolescent antics and the imagined circumstances that may have served as inspiration. The foundation of storytelling has traditionally been coming-of-age stories, like those found in best kids adventure movies, which use dramatic settings to depict the realistic process of a child’s transformation from innocent with wide eyes to an adult with a sophisticated outlook on the world. The movies listed below transport us to our early years.
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1. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban (2004)
Director- Alfonso Cuarón
Harry Potter rushes away after inadvertently inflating his aunt Marge who is visiting him in the summer before his third year at Hogwarts because he is tired of his awful aunt and uncle. Unfortunately, the threat in the wizarding world is considerably greater than Harry anticipated. Sirius Black, a convicted murderer, has escaped from the wizarding prison Azkaban. Black, known as Lord Voldemort’s most ardent disciple, is after Harry in order to exact revenge on Voldemort and complete the killing. However, not everything is as it seems, and a traitor may be hiding within Hogwarts.
2. Honey, I Shrunk The Kids (1989)
Director- Joe Johnston
Professor Wayne Szalinski, a suburban paterfamilias and tireless inventor, is just about to perfect his cutting-edge matter-shrinking device until he discovers that it actually works when it zaps both his children and the boys of his next-door neighbours. They must now venture outside into their now enormous backyard, a hostile world where practically everything indicates trouble, in order to return to the relative safety of their house while being shrunk to a mere quarter-inch size.
3. How To Train Your Dragon (2010)
Director(s)- Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois
Hiccup is a shy 15-year-old living in the shadow of his Viking Chief father on the magical island of Berk. He must take on the difficult job of catching a dragon in order to prove his manhood and win the respect of his fellow vikings. Hiccup shoots down a Night Fury, one of the island’s most elusive dragons, he thinks he spots during one of the village’s conflicts. He searches for the dragon because he wants to identify his shot and does so; however, the dragon is stuck in his bolas in a forest. Hiccup has no idea that he is about to make an odd relationship and a discovery regarding the dragon species.
4. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
Director- Wes Anderson
A covert year-long correspondence between the two 12-year-old outcasts Sam, the most unpopular troop at Khaki Scout camp, and Suzy, the most attractive raven in Noah’s arc, on the small island of New Penzance, off the coast of mid-1960s New England, paves the way for a wonderful romance and a daring act of defiance. A strong posse of worried parents and dead serious officials leave no stone unturned in their quest for the missing children as the two runaway lovers set out to find love, independence, and happiness against the backdrop of an impending severe storm.
5. The Goonies (1985)
Director- Richard Donner
Goon Docks, an idyllic seaside hamlet in Oregon, is sadly about to go through a community-wide foreclosure to make room for a new golf course. The chance to preserve their homes, however, arises when a group of local childhood friends who go by the name of “Goonies” discover an old treasure map filled with hints and clues that point to the rumoured booty of the renowned pirate, “One-Eyed” Willy. The Goonies are now in a mad dash for survival as the criminal Fratelli family closes in on them. This race takes them through an underground labyrinth of brilliantly lethal booby traps that Willy himself created to safeguard his money.
6. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Director- Steven Spielberg
An innocent extraterrestrial who was left behind by his party of covert visitors ends up trapped on Earth and is confronted by an unsettlingly bizarre world. Being scared and alone, he is fortunate to be found by a lonely 10-year-old boy named Elliott. After the first shock wears off, Elliott chooses to take him home and gives him the name “E.T.” Little by little, a link will develop, and as our friendly blue planet transforms into a prison rife with perils and government agents, Elliott and his band of rescuers will need to act quickly to discover a method to reconnect E.T. with his extraterrestrial family. Elliott will lose a great friend unexpectedly as a result of this, though.
7. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
Director- Andrew Adamson
Due to World War II bombings, four siblings from the same family are forced to leave their hometown. The kids are brought to their home by a mother and a professor. Lucy, the family’s youngest member, discovers a wardrobe to hide in while playing hide-and-seek. She repeatedly enters the wardrobe and emerges in the Narnia region. The four kids enter together one last time after entering twice together already. In addition to battling wolves, they come across talking animals, a wicked white witch, and Aslan, a majestic lion.
8. Stand By Me (1986)
Director- Rob Reiner
After being shocked to learn of a close friend’s passing while reading the local newspaper, writer Gordie Lachance, now in his late 30s, travels back in time to the steamy summer of 1959 in Oregon, when he and his three closest friends, Chris, Teddy, and Vern, embarked on a journey that would forever alter their lives. The story of a twelve-year-old boy’s death at the time piqued their curiosity in following the train lines, and they ended up becoming heroes by discovering his body first. Unfortunately, Ace Merrill and his gang of bullies from the neighbourhood also did. Finding true friends can sometimes be more difficult than growing up in some cases.
9. ParaNorman (2012)
Director(s)- Chris Butler, Sam Fell
There is a youngster named Norman Babcock in the town of Blithe Hollow who has the capacity to communicate with the dead, but everyone else except for his eccentric new buddy, Neil, doubts that he actually has this talent. One day, Norman’s eccentric uncle, with whom he has a strained relationship, informs him of a significant annual rite he must perform to save the town from a curse placed by a witch it had long since excommunicated. When Norman finally makes the decision to assist, though, things don’t go as expected. With the accursed dead rising, a magic storm of the witch now approaches Blithe Hollow. Norman fights to defend his community with the assistance of some unanticipated new friends, only to learn the terrible truth about the curse. Once Norman realises this, he must act as only he can to end the issue permanently.
This list is by no means all inclusive. There are hundreds if not thousands of films that could be added to this list, but we feel these are the best of the best, the essential adventure movies for kids.
