The film industry loves to talk about "summer movies," but is summer really about that?
In my opinion, hitting unsuspecting people with pool noodles is the epitome of a proper summer experience. It has all the necessary components: laughter, the outdoors (hopefully), sunshine, water activities, and time with family and friends.
While none of these family movies involves bludgeoning others with colorful imitation pasta, they manage to capture the essence of summer just as well.
Three Wise Men and a Baby, Extended Cut
If Christmas in July is your jam, on July 6, the Hallmark channel is premiering an extended cut of Three Wise Men and a Baby. Family togetherness gets weirder when there’s a new baby, and the poor kid isn’t related to you in any way.
Despite having male leads on a channel dominated by female-led films, it was the best rated cable movie of 2022, a spoof of the '80s comedy classic, but this time, three brothers find themselves the unexpected caretakers of a baby girl over Christmas. How wise is their parenting? Hopefully they know to buy diapers instead of frankincense.
The film has also spawned a sequel, called Three Wiser Men and a Boy, set to premiere during Hallmark's Christmas extravaganza later this year. Details here.
Three Wise Men and a Baby can be streamed on Hallmark Movies Now, and rented/purchased on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, AppleTV, Sling TV, Google Play, and Fandango at Home.
Swiss Family Robinson
The 1960 Walt Disney classic chronicles the adventures of a tight-knit family, which, when shipwrecked on an island, builds a new life better than any of them could have expected.
There’s an outdoor-games day reminiscent of a rollicking Fourth of July celebration, a natural swimming pool with a waterslide to die for, and plenty of encounters with wild animals of all sorts (with an animal-loving boy named Francis, no less). It also features the best treehouse you’ve ever seen, and a final standoff with pirates. ‘Nuff said.
The film can be streamed on Disney+, or rented/purchased in Google Play, Fandango at Home, Amazon Prime Video, and AppleTV.
Karate Kid
Set in sunbaked Los Angeles, this 1984 coming-of-age drama stars a young Ralph Macchio as Daniel, a displaced New Jersey teen learning how to take on bullies and become a man through the art of karate.
A curmudgeonly mentor instructs him via washing cars and painting fences, and a beach bonfire meet-cute with the fluffy-haired girl of his dreams completes the story. Her self-defense skills make her a knockout twice-over: she can sock an ex-boyfriend in the face when he gets between her and Daniel.
Karate Kid can be streamed on Starz, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Philo, and The Roku Channel, and rented/purchased on Google Play, Fandango at Home, Sling TV, and AppleTV.
Muppet Treasure Island
For Muppet lovers and literature lovers alike (an unexpected crossover, to be sure), this 1996 film provides a musical, funny, checkered-and-plaid retelling of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic that parents and kids alike can enjoy.
It’s filled with sunshine and sea, and when your kids start bouncing off the walls with summer-break boredom, you can show them the Muppets’ stunning rendition of “We’ve Got Cabin Fever” from this cinematic masterpiece.
Muppet Treasure Island can be streamed on Disney+, and rented/purchased from YouTube, AppleTV, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, and Fandango at Home.
Luca
The 2021 Pixar flick will make a splash with your kids. Set in a coastal Italian town, sea monsters face the assorted dangers of mean kids, scary dads, and fishhooks.
A curly-haired human girl seeks the assistance of Luca, a fish-boy, and his monster friends to win a big end-of-summer obstacle course. They defeat the bullies in part by winning a spaghetti-eating contest (what’s more summery than stuffing your face with meat and carbs?).
It’s unexpectedly beautiful to watch, filled with vibrant animated sequences, for which Pixar seems to have a gift.
Luca can be streamed on Disney+, or rented/purchased from Google Play, Fandango at Home, YouTube, AppleTV, and Amazon Prime Video.
Image: Three Wise Men and a Baby/Hallmark Channel
Sophia Sariego is a Los Angeles native working in the pro-life movement. She loves Eucharistic Adoration, making music, and hitting the beaches in her spare time.
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