The Best Family Movies Of 2022

No matter how often a modern family might find themselves splintered off doing their own things — sometimes even watching their own movies or TV shows on separate televisions or mobile devices — the tradition of gathering everyone around to watch a family film is still alive and well for many households. If anything, it's a more viable option than ever given how many more streaming options we have to choose from at home without the need to gather up the brood and take them to the theater to spend a small fortune on snacks and popcorn.

2022 saw a number of excellent family movies from a variety of platforms and in almost every type of genre. From films made primarily for younger kids but with just enough to keep the adults entertained to all-ages fare meant to equally appeal to family members young and old, the year saw just about every combination of demographics catered to.

After a rocky few years, Pixar knocked it out of the park in 2022 with one of their best films yet. Disney continued to make the case for its streaming service with several top-notch original films. Despite some troublesome business-related headlines this year, Netflix showed that it's still committed to AAA original movies. And yet another strong DC animated movie proves that maybe live-action isn't the only way to go for that universe.

Based on the first two books in the beloved "Lyle" children's book series by Benard Waber, "Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile" is about the titular reptile who is able to walk, talk, sing, and dance. Lyle befriends a young boy named Josh Primm (Winslow Fegley) who had been having trouble fitting in after his family moved to New York City, with Mrs. Primm (Constance Wu) and the rest of the family soon taking to Lyle as well. Along for the fun is Lyle's owner, Hector P. Valenti (a particularly fun Javier Bardem), who not only bonds with the Primm family as well but also joins them in keeping Lyle out of the crosshairs of their neighbor — the suitably named Mr. Grumps (Brett Gelman).

Musician Shawn Mendes voices the computer-animated Lyle, called a "wise choice" by RogerEbert.com reviewer Nell Minnow in a three-star review. Minnow not only praised the movie's musical numbers but also the animation of Lyle, pointing out that the "CGI is exceptionally well-integrated, and with the help of good sound design, avoids the frequent mistake of making heavy creatures seem weightless." And critic Sarah Knight Adamson claimed in her review that the kids at the screening she attended not only clapped at the end of the movie but got up and danced during the end credits — the ultimate ringing endorsement of how fun "Lyle, Lyle" is.

The folktale of "Cinderella" has been adapted numerous times, notably several times by Disney in particular. In fact, one could argue that Disney's 1950 feature-length animated version is the definitive screen adaptation — and they've already done a live-action one as well. So why would they bother doing yet another version of the story? Well, when the version is as fresh and inventive as "Sneakerella," we're completely fine with it.

If you can get past the admittedly corny title, "Sneakerella" more than justifies its existence in the pantheon of Cinderella adaptations first and foremost by cleverly gender-swapping the two leads. Here, it's a boy named El (Chosen Jacobs) who takes on the lead role, working in his mean stepfather's (Bryan Terrell Clark) shoe store as he dreams of designing his own sneakers. Instead of a fancy ball, El attends a sneaker release party, where he meets Kira (Lexi Underwood), who isn't a princess but is instead the daughter of a pro athlete-turned-sneaker tycoon, Darius King (former NBA star John Salley). 

Every step of the way, "Sneakerella" cleverly reimagines the details of the story we all know so well — and in doing so, makes it almost an entirely new movie with only a slight hint of a familiar foundation. Courtney Howard of Variety put it best when she called it a "surprisingly satisfying reboot of a tired but timeless classic."

Disney as a company might not be known for having the biggest sense of humor about itself or its properties, but it deserves credit for greenlighting not only the concept of the "Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers" movie but the finished project itself. The film exists in a "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"-esque world where live-action people and animated characters freely co-exist without anyone questioning it — and more specifically, a world where the original "Rescue Rangers" series existed and its chipmunk stars (John Mulaney and Andy Samberg) essentially played themselves.

Playing with and poking fun at all kinds of tropes, from nostalgia to reboots to celebrity culture and more, the "Rescue Rangers" movie's overall meta vibe might go over the head of younger viewers at times — and absolutely delight adults — but it's still an effective action-adventure movie that they'll enjoy plenty on that level alone. The cameos are plentiful but never feel forced, with some even playing surprisingly large roles. We won't completely spoil it here, but the original version of Sonic the Hedgehog from the first trailer of the "Sonic" movie is not only his own character, but he hangs around a lot longer than you might expect.

It's partly a fresh take on the original TV series, partly a spiritual successor to "Roger Rabbit" (and, yes, he briefly appears as well), and partly a legitimately good modern family adventure movie. If only Disney would loosen the reins like this more often.

In terms of original animation, Netflix first made a name for itself in that department largely by teaming with DreamWorks Animation and doing series based on their movies. But the streaming service has since shown an increased preference for working with smaller studios for its original fare — and in turn, producing much more creative and inspired fare. Such is the case with "My Father's Dragon," an excellent animated film that sees Netflix team with Cartoon Saloon, nominated for multiple Best Animated Feature Oscars for movies like "The Secret of Kells," "Wolfwalkers," and "The Breadwinner."

Based on the 1948 novel of the same name — previously adapted into an anime movie in 1997 — "My Father's Dragon" tells the story of a boy named Elmer (Jacob Tremblay) who is not adjusting well to a recent relocation with his mother (Golshifteh Farahani) and copes by going on an adventure to a magical island where he meets a dragon named Boris (Gaten Matarazzo). Tara Bennett of Paste Magazine says "'My Father's Dragon' is another top-tier addition into the Cartoon Saloon library of contemporary animation classics." Other critics have suggested that it's Cartoon Saloon's most accessible film, which makes it a great starting point for any family's journey into the studio's already stellar collection of animated works.

While this is filmmaker Richard Linklater's third film using rotoscoped animation following "Waking Life" and "A Scanner Darkly," "Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood" is the first that is aimed at the entire family. It is also his most personal film to date, inspired by his own childhood spent idolizing astronauts and dreaming of space travel (per Collider). Of course, Linklater never actually got to walk on the moon as the movie's young Stanley (Milo Coy) seemingly gets to. But it's a beautiful way to recount what it was like to be a child watching real people get to go to space and walk on the moon for the first time, milestones of human achievement that subsequent generations tend to take for granted.

This coming-of-age story with a slight sci-fi bent is perfect for family members of any age, from those who actually have memories of the time the movie is portraying to current children who will be able to identify with the way the film so perfectly nails what it's like to be a kid and to still feel a sense of magic and wonder about the world and life itself. The visual style does wonders for the story, looking like live-action if you squint at it but with it being just cartoony enough to sell some of the more fantastical elements of a movie that Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly calls "lulling and immersive and surprisingly lovely."

Netflix doesn't do many sequels to its own original movies — and when it does, it's most often of the more-of-the-same, cruise control variety of the "Kissing Booth" series and the like. This makes "Enola Holmes 2" a welcome exception in that it took a promising but flawed original and made a superior sequel that fulfilled the ambitiousness of its predecessor. Showing that Millie Bobby Brown is so much more than just El of "Stranger Things," the actress is fantastic as the title character, the younger sister of famed detective Sherlock Holmes (Henry Cavill) carving her own niche in the crime-solving game.

Rather than adapting one of the "Enola Holmes" books as the first film does, "Enola Holmes 2" instead tells an original story, inspired by the real-life events of the 1888 matchgirls' strike in London (via Decider). In the movie, Enola finally opens her own agency and quickly finds that nobody with a legitimate case is willing to take he seriously — that is, until a poor matchstick girl enlists Enola's help in finding her sister. 

In here review for The New York Times, Beandrea July gushed, "One can't help but cheer on this Y.A. feminist tale as a welcome addition to the Sherlock Holmes universe." Kids have always liked family-friendly mystery stories, and this is one of the best that's been put on screen in a long time. 

For a time, Pixar was a company that could seemingly do no wrong. It wouldn't be until "Cars 2" that a Pixar movie was first critically panned, which is impressive given that it was their 12th feature film. Pixar has definitely made some of its best films since then, but seeing their name in front of a movie is now no longer an automatic signal of excellence, and the company has continued to land all over the map qualitywise with its releases.

However, 2022's "Turning Red" saw Pixar make not only one of its most creatively daring movies in years, but also one of its most acclaimed — earning a 95% Rotten Tomatoes score that puts it in the same league with Pixar classics like "Wall-E," "Monsters Inc.," and "Ratatouille." It's the story of a young girl named Mei (Rosalie Chiang) who is going through puberty, cleverly utilizing the metaphor of her transforming into a giant red panda when she feels certain feels.

Dealing with the topic in such a frank manner had many people praising the movie but plenty criticizing it (per Vox), though the overall consensus seemed to fall on the side summed up by Newsday critic Robert Levin who said, in a glowing four-star review, "This is a movie for anyone who has experienced the turmoil Mei experiences, which is to say just about everyone."