Good Tween Movies

Friday, December 11, 2009 at 5:37 pm

Good tween movies are usually aimed at that growing demographic of consumers between 10 and 13, but many of these films can also be enjoyed by those of high school age. Personally, I’m not a fan of tween films, but just in case you’re looking for a Christmas or birthday present for a sibling, niece or nephew, I figured I’d go ahead and put together a list. So when your favorite cellphone-addicted relative opens up their gift, finds one of the following good tween movies, and flashes their metal-toothed grin in approval, you’ll know exactly who to thank.

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October Sky (1999) – Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Laura Dern, and Chris Cooper, this inspirational story is about the son of a coal miner who draws inspiration from the Sputnik launch and goes on to become a successful scientist for NASA. Based on the book Rocket Boys.

Kim Possible Movie: So the Drama (2005) – A Disney Channel original movie, it’s also available on DVD. This animated feature follows the adventure of Kim Possible, a spunky teen secret agent. This time around, she and Ron Stoppable must combine forces to thwart another mad scheme by Dr. Drakken and Shego. And to top things off, Kim must face the prospect of going to her Junior Prom alone.

The Parent Trap (1998) – Before she went nuts and started dating butt-ugly lesbians, Lindsay Lohan starred in this Disney film as twins separated at birth and eventually reunited. The late Natasha Richardson and not-so-late Dennis Quaid play the parents.

Shrek 2 (2004) – The big green ogre named Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers) returns for more adventures in the land of fairy tales. When he and new bride Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) meet her disapproving parents, it leads to skullduggery involving the devious Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders) and her son, Prince Charming (Rupert Everett). The feline assassin Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) is also introduced, and Donkey (Eddie Murphy) returns for more hilarity.

Whale Rider (2002) – Keisha Castle-Hughes received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in her role as Paikea Apirana, a young girl trying to prove her worth as the chief of her New Zealand tribe. Internationally acclaimed, the film made Castle-Hughes the youngest actress (13 years old) to ever be nominated for the award. Young girls should really get a kick out of this one.

Secondhand Lions (2003) – A young boy (Haley Joel Osment) is sent to live with his grouchy uncles (Michael Caine and Robert Duvall). They act like a couple of senile fools at first, but the boy soon comes to realize that the men were real hellraisers in their youth and truly lived life to the fullest.

Old Yeller (1957) – Of the good tween movies on this list, Old Yeller is easily the most depressing. A young boy adopts a dog, comes to love it, and then is eventually forced to put a bullet in it. Heartbreaking in the extreme, it’s also a damn fine movie about loss.

Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009) – The most recent film on this list of good tween movies, Miley Cyrus stars as a young girl who walks a fine line between normal teen and the celebrity life of her alter ego, Hannah Montana. When she starts getting a little big for her britches, father Billy Ray takes her back to the family farm to get in touch with her roots. Plenty of musical numbers in this one, and I stand by my prediction that co-star Lucas Till will be a huge star one day.

High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008) – The third film in the series, the boys and girls of East High must face graduation and the reality that many of their friends will go their separate ways. Starring Zac Effron and Vanessa Hudgens, it had the biggest opening weekend of any musical in history.

Freaky Friday (2003) – When it comes to movies for teenagers, this one is an instant classic (the 1976 original starred Jodi Foster). Lidsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis star as a mother/daughter duo who have trouble relating to one another. After opening a pair of magical Chinese fortune cookies, they wake the next morning to find they’ve switched bodies. I can’t even begin to describe the hijinks that follow, and, fortunately, nobody ends up going to prison for statutory rape.

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This list of good tween movies should be good enough to get you through the holidays. In case you need more gift ideas, how about checking out the following:

This entry was posted on Friday, December 11th, 2009 at 5:37 pm and is filed under Good Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Good Tween Movies”

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February 15, 2011

SECRET

Now WTH is wrong wid dis list!!!

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