I started making a list of the best fantasy family movies of all time. No space travel like Star Wars. No fantasy worlds mixed in with modern Earth like Time Bandits. No boobs like the PG film The Beastmaster. Yep. PG.
I realized what I had always known: The best fantasy came out in the late ’70s and early ’80s. The ’60s resurgence of Tolkien was likely thrust into hyperdrive by George Lucas’s epic fantasy vision. Studios wanted to take us places we hadn’t gone before. Problem is, many studio execs didn’t understand magic — on screen or off. They turned to puppeteers like Jim Henson, stop-motion masters like Ray Harryhausen, and animation visionaries like Hayao Miyazaki and Don Bluth. The execs gave these artists the freedom to fantasize.
These films swept you from your cinema seat or couch and dropped you into places of wonder, holding you in a trance for hours. When it lifted, as the credits rolled, you couldn’t wait to go back again and again.
I’m not here to preach nostalgia. This list is about escaping into worlds full of myths, magic, and lore created by some of the most talented artists in cinema. Here are the best family films from the best fantasy era — the late ’70’s through the ’80s.
25. Taro the Dragon Boy (1979) (8+)
A Japanese animated film produced with early development from Isao Takahata — who would go on to co-found Studio Ghibli with Hayao Miyazaki. It shows. The film feels like proto-Ghibli without the Miyazaki magic. A lazy boy gets a potion from a tengu (a powerful spirit) that gives him the strength of a hundred men, but only when he’s helping others. He sets out to find his mother, who was cursed into a dragon. The journey takes him through demons, mountain witches, and snow spirits pulled from Japanese mythology. The animation is patterned after traditional ink paintings and silk screens.
24. Willow (1988) (6+)
George Lucas produced this standard sword-and-sorcery quest starring Warwick Davis as a farmer-turned-hero protecting a baby from an evil queen. There’s a prophecy, magic, and faeries. It’s executed with practical effects and a solid cast including Val Kilmer. It’s light, maybe a little too light, but an ideal entry point for kids who are interested in fantasy but get overwhelmed by the genre’s darker moments.
23. The Return of the King (1980) (6+)
Rankin/Bass followed their Hobbit TV movie with this adaptation of Tolkien’s final book. The rotoscoped animation gives it a dreamlike quality that works better in some scenes than others. It condenses a massive story into 98 minutes, so expect shortcuts. There’s also not much of an ending. But it captures the scale of the film, especially the battle that The Hobbit skips. Not perfect, but ambitious.
22. Legend (1985) (8+)
Tim Curry in makeup will carry a movie, even overshadowing a star director (Ridley Scott) and actor (Tom Cruise). In Legend, Curry plays the devil, who is trying to eradicate unicorns from the world. The plot is thin, but the visuals are stunning. It’s full of dark forests, glowing fairies, and practical creature effects.
21. Krull (1983) (7+)
The creature effects stand out in Krull. It’s necessary because the story is not fully drawn out beyond “the princess-to-be needs rescue.” Luckily, the prince wields a magical throwing star called the Glaive. He needs it. The world is dangerous with monsters and ancient plotting beings lurking around every corner. It doesn’t all work, but Krull takes big swings when it comes to fantasy.
20. The Flight of Dragons (1982) (5+)
If your kid is into dragons, Flight of Dragons is for you because it gets into the fantastical, theoretical science of how dragons fly and why magic works. A scientist gets pulled into the world and uses his brains to survive. The animation is TV-quality, but the story is feature-film smart.
19. Alice (1988) (10+)
You ready to get a little dark? Jan Švankmajer’s stop-motion and live-action telling of Alice in Wonderland is unsettling, surreal, and kind of a nightmare. But it is fantastic fantasy with creative puppetry that’s tactile and creepy. Alice is for older kids who can handle darker material. The film is fascinating and fully commits to its vision.
18. The Black Cauldron (1985) (7+)
Disney’s darkest animated film of the ’80s may have been a box office bomb, but there’s some decent fantasy underneath it all. The story centers on a magical cauldron that can raise an army of the dead. The villain is genuinely scary as are his undead minions. The world feels heavy with darkness thanks to the gorgeous hand-drawn animation.
17. Conan the Destroyer (1984) (8+)
Arnold Schwarzenegger returns as Conan in a PG-rated version of its much darker predecessor, Conan the Barbarian. Destroyer trades the first film’s brutality for monster fistfights and spirited temple raids. Grace Jones steals every scene she’s in. In fact, the entire supporting cast plays their roles like an experienced D&D party.
16. Ladyhawke (1985) (7+)
Shapeshifting is never easy on relationships. Especially not when your curse turns you into a hawk during the day and your partner a wolf at night. Rutger Hauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Matthew Broderick are excellent. They work their chops in front a beautiful Italian country setting. If your family wants to see a fantasy with fantasy monsters, you’re out of luck. There’s not much more than lycanthropy-lite. The film’s pacing also slows to a crawl as the love story unfolds. And the ’80s synth is a little out of place. Despite a few issues, there are many young fantasy fans who yearn for movies like this.
15. Dragonslayer (1981) (9+)
When a sorcerer’s apprentice has to face a dragon that’s been terrorizing a kingdom, things get intense. The pace of Dragonslayer meanders at times but the dragon moments arrive with big, fiery payoffs. If your child is into dragons, this is the movie for you. The ILM team apparently handled the FX using a mix of puppeteering, miniatures, real effects, and Go-motion — a version of stop-motion that uses computer graphics to motion blur the background. They did this FX experiment while in-between production of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The dragon, 400-year-old Vermithrax Pejorative, is one of the best creatures ever created in cinema.
14. The Lord of the Rings (1978) (8+)
Ralph Bakshi made some of the most beautiful animation you’ve never seen. The Lord of the Rings may be his most high profile. His use of rotoscope, a process of painting over live-action film, add a tinge of realism to the orcs and an ethereal hauntedness to the Ring Wraiths. The folky hand-painted landscapes contrast the psychedelic skies as creatures stalk Frodo and company. The Balrog is painted in luminant glory. Unfortunately, Bakshi’s attempt at covering the full Lord of the Rings story ran out of money. Overall, it’s ambitious but uneven, hopeful but terrifying. The battles are intense. The world is vast. It ends abruptly. But what’s there is a fantasy classic.
13. Return to Oz (1985) (9+)
Academy Award-winning editor and sound mixer Walter Murch directed just one film: Return to Oz. It’s a dark reimagining of the second book in the Frank Baum series. Critics and audiences at the time wanted another bright and shiny Wizard of Oz. But Return to Oz was more inline with the books than the family film classic. The dark edge and tone are why this film continues to find an audience 40 years after release. It’s classic kindertrauma — almost gateway horror — with frightful creature designs that can be unsettling and can be off-putting for younger crowds. It’s also wildly creative, taking you into a fantasy world created with animatronics, prosthetics, acrobats, and puppeteers. A sequel that’s in no way derivative of the first film.
12. The NeverEnding Story (1984) (8+)
The Nothing is coming. What an ominous way to describe a lack of imagination. The film is a clear swipe at visual-driven storytelling. It’s about a book that bleeds into reality. The stakes are real for the characters the young reader comes to care about. It’s packed with memorable moments and characters like Artax (fight the sadness!), Falkor, and the Rock Biter Pyornkrachzark. It strays into a little Nothing of its own in-between the action. No surprise as it was director Wolfgang Petersen’s first English film after Das Boot. He goes for it with no fear of being corny. Despite his efforts, the film is corny. But it remains fun and genuine because of the fantasy world he creates.
11. The Twelve Tasks of Asterix (1976) (6+)
Asterix is a pint-sized French comic hero who’s been outsmarting Julius Caesar since 1959. In this 1976 animated film, a fed-up emperor challenges Asterix and his oversized friend Obelix to complete twelve impossible tasks. Each one drops them into a completely different world with its own rules and its own punchline. There’s a supernatural footrace, a hypnotist, a German who can only be defeated by finishing a specific cake, and a bureaucratic maze so perfectly designed to crush the human spirit that it nearly works. Adults will find they’re laughing just as much as the kids.
10. The Little Mermaid (1989) (6+)
Ariel has everything. A loving father, a kingdom under the sea, and a collection of human junk she treats like treasure. What more could she want? Love, you say? Yea, that’s a pretty good answer. Ariel agrees. She trades her voice to a sea witch for a pair of legs and a shot at the prince she fell in love with on the surface. Things go terribly right and wrong. The Little Mermaid is a light fantasy film that launched Disney’s Renaissance Era in 1989, one of Disney’s best animation eras. The underwater world is lush and inventive, the villain is menacing, and the songs are well-written nostalgic fun.
9. The Hobbit (1977) (6+)
Before Peter Jackson’s billion-dollar trilogy, before the endless prequels, the guys behind your favorite Christmas specials, Rankin/Bass adapted Tolkien’s beloved adventure. Bilbo Baggins is a Hobbit of good standing who lives in a hole in the ground — not a nasty, dirty, wet hole. It was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort. Then Gandalf arrives. Then the Dwarves. Then the adventure takes off into a charmingly painted world full of danger, including a dragon named Smaug. Like Smaug, Tolkien’s story is arrow-proof for young fantasy fans. It’s a warm, simple, and just-scary-enough introduction to Middle-Earth. Oh, and the folk music — it’ll a’get yer tankard swayin’!
8. Clash of the Titans (1981) (9+)
If this Earth once existed, it would make history class much more interesting. Clash of the Titans is a barrage of mythical creatures. Pegasus, Hell hounds, The Kraken, Medusa, and whatever else stop-motion master Ray Harryhausen can conceive of. It brings Greek mythology to life. Yes, the human performances are a little stiff, but we’re not here for them. The monsters are the stars of Clash of the Titans and there are enough here to fill its own Monster Manual. This was Harryhausen’s final film. He went out strong, imprinting images on young minds that are still there a half-century later.
7. Labyrinth (1986) (8+)
Sarah is a spoiled jerk of a big sister. She wishes her baby brother away to the Goblin King. But it’s not some twisted wretch. It’s David Bowie. His portrayal of the Goblin King Jareth is genuinely unsettling, magnetic, and strange in ways that only Bowie could pull off without being too creepy. Jim Henson’s creature work surrounds him with a world that feels handmade and alive — every puppet, every set piece, every weird corner of the labyrinth has Muppet flair sewn into it. The songs are odd and catchy in equal measure. Labyrinth flopped in 1986. But here we are thirty years later, still praising this bizarre but creative fantasy film.
6. The Last Unicorn (1982) (8+)
Most fantasy films promise kids a happy ending from the opening frame. The Last Unicorn isn’t that film. It starts out dark when a unicorn learns she may be the last of her kind. It ends…not dark, but also not cleanly happy. It’s about a unicorn discovering human emotions like melancholy. The film is occasionally frightening in an emotionally honest way. Mia Farrow, Jeff Bridges, and Christopher Lee voice work fit the world, like they live in it. The animation is soft and painterly, like an illustration come to life. Beautiful, sad, and great for emotional growth.
5. Castle in the Sky (1986) (7+)
Castle in the Sky moves like a serial adventure, pulling you forward without stopping to explain itself. It’s fantasy set in a world that once had great technology. There are traces of it on the journey: ancient robots, airships, crumbling ruins, and a mystery that deepens as it unfolds. It all builds to the discovery of the floating city. The film is full of wonder. It’s legendary director Hayao Miyazaki’s second feature film. I guess he hasn’t found his mah yet — you know those moments that let you breathe — because there’s not a single wasted scene. It opens with a girl falling from the sky and doesn’t stop until the credits.
4. The Dark Crystal (1982) (8+)
Jim Henson and Frank Oz built The Dark Crystal from scratch. Every creature, every landscape, every piece of mythology invented specifically for this film. The world operates on its own logic, and the film never pauses to hold your hand through it. It’s a rare creative bet that pays off. The Dark Crystal is the darkest offering of the Muppet overlord Henson. Forty years later, the world is revered because the handmade approach holds up in ways CGI-centric films don’t.
3. The Princess Bride (1987) (7+)
The Princess Bride knows exactly what it is — and who its audience is. A grandfather sits down to read his sick grandson a story. The grandson resists. The grandfather says trust me on this. Fred Savage settles in as do your kids. Then the adventure takes over. Sword fights, a giant, rodents of unusual size (R.O.U.S.s), and a love story that’s not embarrassed to be a love story. William Goldman’s script is endlessly quotable because the characters mean every word they say, even when the words are ridiculous. It’s one of the funniest family films. Nay — one of the funniest films of all time because it doesn’t wink too hard. Decades later, The Princess Bride still works on every level, even if you watch every year, knowing exactly what’s about to happen next.
2. The Secret of NIMH (1982) (8+)
This is the best Disney film of the ‘80s. But it’s not made by Disney. Director Don Bluth left Disney in 1979 and took several of the studio’s best animators with him. They launched with The Secret of NIMH — and what a statement it was. It’s an epic road adventure about a widowed mouse who needs to move her family before the farmer’s plow destroys their home. As if that’s not enough to deal with, her son is too sick to survive the journey. She sets out into a world darker and stranger than anything Disney had ever made. The animation is lush and detailed. There’s danger around every corner. Bluth believed kids could handle real tension. He was right.
1. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) (9+)
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind came out in 1984, two years before Hayao Miyazaki co-founded Studio Ghibli, and it already contains everything that would define the studio’s best work. A young princess navigates the politics of warring kingdoms while trying to protect a toxic jungle that everyone else wants to destroy. The ecology, the mythology, and the conflict are all connected. You pull on any thread and the whole world responds. It’s epic in scope but not bloated. The story moves between intimate character moments and massive set pieces without losing its footing. Most fantasy worlds exist to serve the story. Nausicaä’s world feels like it existed long before the story started and will continue long after it ends. A reminder that some of the best family fantasy movies have no elves, mermaids, krakens, or David Bowie.
