5 Movies to Get Parents & Kids Through the Last of the Summer Holidays

As the nights draw in and the days get shorter we are almost ready to say goodbye to summer. Unfortunately, there’s still another 10 days or so until the kids go back. 10 days during which we still have to keep them busy. 10 days until we can dress them up in their over-priced uniform and make them stand in front of a door and take the pictures of them looking all bright eyed and excited, before months of sums and book reports makes them long for next summer (or at least Bonfire Night/Christmas).

If going to another zoo or botanical gardens makes you feel twitchy or if another Mr Tumble marathon might push you over the edge, here are five movies that you can get right now via digital download to help quell the rage of your respective offsprings while you drink your cold cup of tea.

 

5. The Lego Batman Movie

After the success of The Lego Movie, a sequel was inevitable and considering the character already had a part in the previous movie and a successful tie-in videogame series, Lego Batman was a no-brainer for the sequel. It’s a hugely entertaining movie, if a little less laugh-out-loud hilarious than its predecessor.

The voice cast is as star-studded as you’d expect with Will Arnett voicing the titular character. I wasn’t immediately convinced Jenny Slate would pull off a decent Harley Quinn but that has a lot more to do with my HQ obsession and nitpicky nature than it does her talent (and she does a good job too).

Watch on Amazon Video

 

4. Moana

As if sensing that Frozen was dominating the singing princess genre for far too long, along came Moana with its mystical characters and charming sidekicks (isn’t that every Disney movie?) and made a firm grasp at the title of ‘Soundtrack Stuck in Most Parent’s Heads’. As expected from Disney by now, ever since they ate Pixar, it’s a competent and beautifully rendered adventure with great voice talent and a gripping fantasy story.

As a father of a young girl, it’s also great to see a role model who is not immediately concerned with the pursuit of romance, instead taking on the greater responsibility of saving the world.

Watch on Amazon Video

 

3. Trolls

Trolls has been a phenomenon in our house. Ever since we showed Claudia the trailer she’s been obsessed and the movie has been on repeat play back-to-back ever since. The house is now littered with tiny plastic people with big hair and we even splashed out on a Hug Time Poppy which is now far less well dressed and more covered in pen than it used to be.

The main thing that has kept Trolls on our tv and even in our car is the hypnotic soundtrack which mixes new songs with re-imagined classics sung by a cast of adorable characters. This one should come with a warning as your children will be hooked for weeks to come.

Watch on Amazon Video

 

2. Smurfs: The Lost Village

After the slightly misguided Roger-Rabbitting of the preceding Smurfs movies (which I didn’t actually think were that bad) this movie reboots the franchise (again) with not a human hair to be seen. The first fully CG animated Smurf’s adventure, The Lost Village tells the story of Smurfette’s discovery of a map that leads the Smurfs on a hunt through the Forbidden Forest in search of their greatest secret yet.

It’s a magical adventure which does make you confident that The Smurfs have finally found their final form. Hopefully this will be reflected in more sequels but the cute little forest dwellers have inevitably found rivals for screen time with the aforementioned Trolls.

Watch on Amazon Video

 

1. Boss Baby

Ever since 30 Rock, Alec Baldwin has proven that as well as being an accomplished actor, he can also turn on the laughs with the best of them. Putting all that talent in the tiny body of a newborn baby in a business suit was always going to be a recipe for success. Like Storks, The Boss Baby takes on the childbirth origin story in a cunning new light so if nothing else you can use it to teach your children where babies don’t come from.

This one is currently on repeat play in our house and there’s no end in sight yet.

Watch on Amazon Video

If none of these take your fancy and you have an Amazon Prime subscription then maybe some of these will take your fancy for absolutely free!

Disclaimer: This post is rammed silly with affiliate links. That doesn’t mean we don’t love you. It means we like eating food and travelling in cars.