30 Best Movies About Grandparents You Need to Watch
Sometimes we want to watch movies that will remind us of our loved ones. In case those loved ones are grandparents, you are in the right place, as this article will show you the best movies about grandparents you can watch.
There are really a lot of different movies about grandparents on this list. Some movies have grandparents just as a small, but integral part of them, while other are about grandparents. Whichever the case, you can’t go much wrong with any of them, so choose your next watch below.
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
After learning that their bright and somewhat insecure seven-year-old daughter Olive (A. Breslin) has been accepted into the Miss California Children’s pageant, frustrated mother Sheryl (T. Collette) and father Richard Hoover (G. Kinnear) decide to take the girl to the town of Redondo Beach where an election is held.
Olive’s older brother Dwayne (P. Dano), a maladjusted young man who hasn’t spoken a word for nine months, and eccentric grandfather Edwin (A. Arkin), a man in poor health who openly snorts cocaine, and reclusive uncle Frank Ginsberg (S. Carell), a homosexual and unrealized suicide. After their vehicle soon breaks down during the journey, and they are all forced to start it by pushing, many details from the lives of each of them will gradually be revealed.
While Olive is a sensitive and insecure girl who believes that she is not beautiful enough to win the title of Miss, father Richard has been having business problems lately because his deal with his partner Stan Grossman (B. Cranston) fell through.
Young Dwayne is silent due to the fact that he despises his parents, whom he considers small-towners, and communicates through written messages, and Uncle Frank was driven to attempt suicide by breaking off his relationship with the much younger Josh (J. Shilton). Only Grandpa Edwin seems to have no problems.
And So It Goes (2014)
A selfish, antipathetic and selfish real estate salesman is asked one day by his son, with whom he has not been in contact for years, to look after his daughter while he is on the road. This seemingly simple request would not have sounded strange if the old man had known that he even had a granddaughter
Moana (2016)
From Disney’s animation studios comes Vaiana, a spirited computer-animated film about an adventurous teenage girl who sets sail on a dangerous mission to save her people. During her journey, Moana meets the once powerful demigod Maui, who guides her on her mission to become the ultimate navigator.
Together, they sail across the ocean in a dangerous, action-packed adventure and encounter giant monsters, and along the way, Moana fulfills the ancient mission of her ancestors and discovers the one thing she’s always been searching for: her own identity.
Meet the Parents (2000)
After love happens, there is an examination, and this is shown with a lot of laughs in this exceptional comedy about getting to know your parents in order to obtain a “Marriage License”. Many who have gone through a similar ordeal on the path of their love could identify with the characters.
Jewish Greg Focker (Ben Stiller), a male nurse, plans to propose to his long-time girlfriend Pam (Teri Polo), but learns that before she agrees, he must ask her strict father Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) for her hand in marriage. Greg has no idea what temptations await him when he visits the Byrnes, to which he agrees unencumbered, thinking that he will solve the situation in the easiest way possible.
It turns out that Jack is a former CIA operative, who doesn’t like Greg at first sight, and everything is further complicated by the fact that on the same weekend Teri’s sister Deborah (Nicole DeHuff) planned to announce her engagement. Everything will go wrong, and Jack’s favorite cat, Jinxie, will also disappear.
Forrest Gump (1994)
In 1982, Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks), a man of below average intelligence, sits at a bus stop and tells his life story to people waiting for a bus. He spent his childhood and youth with his mother in a small town in Alabama. Already in his early childhood, he realized that he was different from others and that he had to fight for everything in life. But his low IQ did not stop him from achieving many things and having a lot of fun. So in his childhood he even met Elvis Presley. He manages to get into college and achieves excellent results in rugby.
Thanks to this, he also met President Kennedy, which was the first of his three meetings with American presidents. During college, he is cheered on all the time by Jenny (Robin Wright Penn), a girl he has been in love with since his boyhood days. He applies for the war in Vietnam, where he receives a medal for bravery…
Ordinary People (1980)
The members of the Jarrett family – father Cal (D. Sutherland), mother Beth (M. Tyler Moore) and younger son Conrad (T. Hutton) – cope in different ways with the terrible accident of the death of their older son Buck at sea.
At the same time, young Conrad experiences the most severe trauma, blaming himself that instead of his universally loved brother, he was not killed, in his own opinion just an average boy, especially since his mother is extremely distant and cold after the accident and does not show emotions, while his father tries with great effort to maintain the family together. Mentally broken, Conrad also visits a psychiatrist (J. Hirsch), but even that doesn’t stop him from attempting suicide.
In Her Shoes (2005)
Maggie (Cameron Diaz) is a party girl barely out of high school who believes her greatest asset is her attractiveness. As she is unemployed, she will end up homeless, wandering from couch to couch of her friends and relatives. Without any confidence in intellectual abilities, she values ​​make-up more than books and has a gift for choosing the perfect outfit and accessories for any occasion.
Rose (Toni Collette) is a lawyer educated at Princeton and works in one of the best law firms in Philadelphia. Her beautifully decorated apartment is her little paradise and refuge from the world. His nose is constantly stuck in the refrigerator, he is constantly struggling with extra pounds and he never feels good in the clothes he wears. Her low self-esteem when it comes to her own appearance is the reason she doesn’t go out with guys at all.
Rose’s only joy is her shoes (because they always fit), unfortunately, she doesn’t have many opportunities to take them out of the closet and show them off. After a terrible breakup, the two sisters learn to appreciate each other again with the help of their grandmother, their mother’s mother, whom they thought was dead (Shirley MacLaine). By connecting with their grandmother, Maggie and Rose learn to make peace with each other and themselves.
The Bucket List (2007)
Mechanic Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) and billionaire Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) meet for the first time in the hospital after they are both diagnosed with cancer. As they go through different treatments, the two become good friends.
Carter is a brilliant historian and family man who always wanted to become a history professor but failed because, as he says, he was penniless in his youth, the wrong color of his skin, and with a child on the way. Cole is an eccentric loner, a man who has been divorced four times, and nothing gives him greater pleasure than torturing his assistant Matthew (Sean Hayes), whom he calls Thomas.
Soon they both learn that they have less than a year to live, so Carter begins to compile a list of things he would like to do before he dies. Although he didn’t really think about it, after being coaxed by Cole, who promises that he’ll pay for everything, Carter completes the list.
The pair embark on a journey around the world, embarking on everything from car racing to skydiving and climbing the pyramids. Adding and deleting new things from the list, the two begin to deal with difficult questions and even more difficult answers that trouble us all.
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)
A year after his father died in the World Trade Center on that “worst day”, as Oskar calls it, the boy is determined to maintain a vital connection with the man who taught him through play to face his worst fears.
Now, as Oskar travels through five New York boroughs in search of the missing lock and meets all kinds of people who have survived in their own way, he begins to discover invisible links with the father he misses, with the mother who seems so far away and with the whole noisy, dangerous and disturbed world around him.
Harry and Tonto (1974)
Harry is a retired 70-year-old teacher who has lived in the New York area all his life. He raised his children there with his deceased children, he worked there… Now the house where he lived has been demolished to build a large garage. Harry and his cat Tonto go on a trip across America.
An old man visits places he never thought he would see, visits his children and their families, makes many new friends and says goodbye to some old ones…
The Princess Diaries (2001)
A socially awkward but very intelligent fifteen-year-old girl, Mia Thermopolis (A. Hathaway) is a class outsider and weirdo who is often mocked by her peers. She is not popular, she has no company of her own, and her only friend is Lilly (H. Matarazzo), a girl who looks just as strange as Mia.
One day, her grandmother (J. Andrews) pays her a surprise visit and reveals to Mia that her father was actually a prince of a European country and that therefore Mia is royal in a country called Genovia where Clarisse’s grandmother is the queen. An ordinary urban modern girl has no idea about the rules by which a royal should behave, and she is faced with a dilemma: will she leave her previous way of life and accept a life with unknown people in an unknown exotic country where her roots are.
Shocked, Mia accepts her grandmother’s invitation to appear at the grand Genoese ball, where she will announce her final decision on whether to accept the throne.
The Proposal (2009)
Margaret (Sandra Bullock) is a dragon woman, in the publishing house where she works as a boss known as the Witch. Andrew (Ryan Reynolds) is her assistant who endures tyranny while patiently waiting for his chance to advance, which comes when the Canadian Margaret is denied a visa for not following the rules.
The only way to stay in the United States is to get married, so Andrew suddenly becomes the groom. Of course, it is a question of mutual blackmail that can bring benefits to both parties, but also a lot of problems if it is proven that it is a fraud, which the agent of the immigration office suspects. To get to know each other, the newlyweds will go to a family reunion of Andrew’s family in the small town of Sitka, Alaska.
Parenthood (1989)
Gil Buckman (Steve Martin) is a slightly neurotic sales professional, who more or less successfully balances family life in the suburbs of St. Louis and his career, because he does not want to be like his father – a distant workaholic who has no time for his children. His parenting skills have just been put to the test when he learns that his wife Karen (Mary Steenburgen) is pregnant for the fourth time, and that his eldest son Kevin (Jasen Fisher) most likely has OCD and needs therapy.
As the remaining two children also have minor problems, Gil begins to blame himself and his fatherly competence. Even though the subject of the film is well-known, this film shows that it can always seem new. Director Ron Howard (Cushion, Willow, Fire Helmets), who himself started his career as an actor, as an interpreter of teenage characters (American Graffiti), proved himself with this film as an excellent connoisseur of this subject, capable of approaching it both humorously and realistically. very deftly connecting events in several families from one American town.
Twelve elaborated characters found excellent interpreters in this film, but the critics gave the most compliments to the famous comedian Steve Martin in the role of Gil and to Jason Robards in the role of his experienced, but not spared from family problems, father Frank.
Dirty Grandpa (2016)
Young, reserved, conservative lawyer Jason Kelly (Zac Efron) is in the final stages of preparing for the perfect wedding to his seemingly ideal fiancée Meredith Goldstein (Julianne Hough) when his beloved grandmother passes away.
Even though it’s only a week until the big day, everyone is worried about Grandpa Dick (Robert DeNiro), who is suddenly single after 40 years of marriage. After the funeral, Dick begs Jason to drive him to Florida, where he will mourn his wife. Knowing that Dick’s license has been revoked – and with a promise to return the next day – Jason reluctantly agrees.
Right at the start of the trip, Dick’s real plan is revealed – he wants to go out and party again. The two soon embark on an unforgettable journey, where wild parties and beautiful women await them.
The Princess Bride (1987)
A good grandfather (P. Falk) reads a fairy tale to his sick grandson (F. Savage) that his grandfather read to him, and to him his father. The beautiful Buttercup (R. Wright Penn) falls in love with the handsome house servant Westley (C. Elwes). A young man goes to sea to earn money for a wedding, but somewhere along the way he is killed by pirates. At least such news reached the girl, who then becomes engaged to Prince Humperdinck (C. Sarandon), although she is aware that she will never be able to love him.
The future queen is kidnapped by an unusual trio from the underworld and taken to the land across the seven seas and seven mountains. The kidnappers are being followed by the terrible Black Avenger, who saves the beauty. It turns out that it is about her youthful love whose life was spared by the pirates. But the real adventure is just beginning.
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) was a successful lawyer who had three children with his wife Etheline (Anjelica Huston), an archaeologist. All three children were precocious geniuses: Chas (Ben Stiller) made a lot of money as an investment expert. Richie (Luke Wilson) was a junior tennis champion and three-time national championship winner.
Adopted Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) is a playwright who won the $50,000 “Braverman” award in her freshman year of high school. However, when Royal abruptly left the family, it was the beginning of two decades of betrayal and failure that would mark the Tenenbaums for life.
They are still very angry with Royal when he suddenly reappears claiming that he has six weeks left to live and that he wants to be reunited with his family. In typical Royal fashion, this story is a complete lie, but his presence and sincere desire for forgiveness soon leave a deep impression on the Tenenbaums, who each struggle individually to deal with thwarted desires and relationships.
Little Women (1933)
This warm story follows the lives of four sisters who, each in their own way, face growing up and the responsibility of mature life. Thus, each of them will try to gain independence, fight for the right to love, and still preserve the family as the greatest emotional and ethical value.
Hope and Glory (1987)
The semi-autobiographical dramedy inspired by the life of director John Boorman brings us the story of a ten-year-old boy growing up in London during World War II. Since all the men in the family are mobilized, Bill is left alone in a house full of women.
Cocoon (1985)
Art, Ben and Joe are three residents of a nursing home who go to the swimming pool in a nearby villa where no one lives. She is soon hired by a group of people who take out large petrified shells from the ocean, supposedly specimens of gigantic shells, and store them in the pool of the villa.
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Art, Ben and John still secretly go swimming, and since they are in the cocoon pool, they start to rejuvenate and become more and more vital…
Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)
A bright little boy (Freddie Bartolomew) suddenly becomes the sole heir and heir to the noble title of Lord Fauntleroy. Moving to a castle doesn’t sound bad at all and it would really be ideal if she didn’t have to go live with her mother (Dolores Costello) with her grumpy and callous grandfather (C. Aubrey Smith).
Freddie Bartolomew is known for being one of the most popular and highest paid child actors in film history, and Dolores Costello, once known as the “silent film goddess”, is probably best known today as the grandmother of the mega-popular Drew Barrymore.
Whale Rider (2003)
In a small village on the coast of New Zealand, the local Maori tribe traces its origins to Paikea, the “whale rider”, who brought the Maori to New Zealand on the backs of whales. The old tribal chief Koro can’t wait for the birth of his grandson and heir… Tradition says that the bearer of that name can only be a male descendant.
But during childbirth, the mother and the boy die, and only the girl survives, whom they call Paikea or Pai. Koro is disappointed, and his son Porourangi, the girl’s father, leaves the village, achieves an artistic career and a new family in Europe, and does not even want to hear about continuing the family tradition. When Pai turns twelve, Koro realizes that he will have to reach his heir in another way. He ordered his villagers to bring him twelve-year-old sons, so that one of them would become the future chief.
Pai is excluded from these gatherings, but accepts the help of her uncle, who is ready to teach the girl tribal skills in the ancient way. In the meantime, interesting things are happening in the ocean and in front of the village. Large flocks of whales begin to approach the village, to answer the call of a shared destiny with Pai. When the flock washes ashore, Pai sees it as a sign of the tribe’s imminent end. Unless the legendary “Whale Rider” appears and saves his tribe.
On Golden Pond (1981)
Daughter Chelsea (Jane Fonda) and her fiance are traveling to Europe the next day and will be back in a few weeks. In the meantime, she leaves her fiance’s son with her parents and when she returns she realizes that the boy has established a relationship with her father that she never had…
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
A poor boy, Charlie Bucket, is one of the lucky five who will visit the wondrous chocolate factory owned by the reclusive eccentric, Willy Wonka. While Willy takes them around the factory full of delicious sweets, the children get into various difficulties that often end with comical consequences. Will Charlie avoid such a fate and win the ultimate prize, a lifetime supply of chocolate?
Ulee’s Gold (1997)
“ULEE’S GOLD” is the story of Ulysses Jackson (Peter Fonda), a solitary beekeeper who works in the tupelo swamps of the Florida Corridor. Ulee is a war veteran who was devastated by the death of his wife and the breakup of his family. All he wants is to work with his bees and live far from the past. After almost two years ago, his son Jimmy (Tom Wood) ended up in prison, and his daughter-in-law Helen (Christine Dunford) escaped, Ulee took care of his two granddaughters Penny (Vanessa Zima) and Casey (Jessica Biel) Jackson.
The trio lived an orderly, if sometimes meager, life until a call from Jimmy changed everything. Helen is in trouble and only Ulee can bring her home. Ulee must travel to Orlando to rescue Helen from two of Jimmy’s former partners in crime, Eddie Flowers (Steven Flynn) and Ferris Dooley (Dewey Weber). It turns out the duo have their own reasons for wanting Ulee in Orlando. Money from an old robbery is involved in the story, and these two will pursue Jackson’s family to the end.
Help will come unexpectedly from a new neighbor (Patricia Richardson), an old friend from the past (J. Kenneth Campbell) and from the ideas and instincts of a child. Pulled from his isolated routine, Ulee will have to use his old strength and cunning to save his family and ultimately himself.
Hud (1963)
Hud Bannon, the hedonistic, arrogant and rebellious son of a ranch owner, is in constant conflict with his mild-mannered father, Homer, who blames him for his brother’s death.
Disagreements intensify when Hud starts taking his nephew with him on wild outings, and the climax of the conflict occurs when father and son fail to agree on the fate of the diseased cattle.
Goodnight Mister Tom (1998)
John Thaw stars in this adaptation of Michelle Magorian’s wartime novel as Tom Oakley, an irascible widower whose life is changed for ever when nine-year-old London evacuee Willie is billeted in his cottage.
The youngster takes to village life and the pair develop a strong bond – which looks set to be broken when Willie’s tyrannical mother summons him back to the capital. Co-starring Nick Robinson and Annabelle Apsion.
Tokyo Story (1953)
Two elderly spouses, Shukishi and Tomi Hirayama, from the small seaside town of Onomichi in southern Japan, decide to visit their children in noisy, business-like Tokyo. After the tiring journey that took them all day, the children cheer up, although not too much, in fact, the parents feel ignored and neglected.
In essence, their children would like to spend time with them, and they do so to a certain extent, but since they themselves have families and a lot of work, it is difficult for them to devote themselves equally to everything. Only the daughter-in-law, the widow Noriko, will meet the guests. She will entertain and listen to them…
Giant (1956)
Texas landowner Jordan Benedict, known as Bick during his stay in the East of America, falls in love with the refined doctor’s daughter Leslie Lynnton, and the two young people get married.
Leslie’s life on a ranch surrounded only by the endless expanses of Benedict’s land is not always easy, especially before Jordan’s sister Luz does not welcome her in a friendly way. She is much more sympathetic to Jordan’s employee Jett Rink, who would like to become rich himself above all else…
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
At the time of the great economic crisis in the United States, the impoverished Joad farming family from Oklahoma is left without land and is forced to go to California in search of work, despite numerous rumors that there is no milk and honey flowing there either. Before leaving, their son Tom (H. Fonda), paroled from prison, joins them.
On the way, grandfather (C. Grapewin) dies, and Tom’s pregnant sister Rosasharn (D. Bowdon) is abandoned by her husband. Upon arrival in California, they end up in a government unemployment camp and find low-paying seasonal work. Tom accepts the ideas of preacher Casy (J. Carradine) and decides to devote himself to the fight for the rights and existence of the poor. The family will be hit by other severe adversities…
The Last Wave (1977)
David Burton (Richard Chamberlain) is a well-to-do corporate lawyer from Sydney who is plagued by visions of impending doom and is assigned the task of defending five Aboriginal men accused of murder. The case itself turned out to be mysterious – the pathologist cannot determine the exact cause of death, and the accused remain strangely silent about the whole affair.
As his visions grow stranger and more intense, Burton sees in his dream one of the five Aborigines, Chris (David Gulpili), wetly holding a sacred stone. Burton’s interest in the case slips into full-blown obsession, and he begins to believe that not only was the murder linked to an underground urban Aboriginal tribe, but that Australia is about to be decimated by a massive apocalyptic tidal wave.
