Best Family Movies of 2003

When an impulsive boy named Kenai is magically transformed into a bear, he must literally walk in another's footsteps until he learns some valuable life lessons. His courageous and often zany journey introduces him to a forest full of wildlife, including the lovable bear cub Koda, hilarious moose Rutt and Tuke, woolly mammoths and rambunctious rams.

Fired from his band and hard up for cash, guitarist and vocalist Dewey Finn finagles his way into a job as a fifth-grade substitute teacher at a private school, where he secretly begins teaching his students the finer points of rock 'n' roll. The school's hard-nosed principal is rightly suspicious of Finn's activities. But Finn's roommate remains in the dark about what he's doing.

In stifling Edwardian London, Wendy Darling mesmerizes her brothers every night with bedtime tales of swordplay, swashbuckling and the fearsome Captain Hook. But the children become the heroes of an even greater story, when Peter Pan flies into their nursery one night and leads them over moonlit rooftops through a galaxy of stars and to the lush jungles of Neverland.

The sailor of legend is framed by the goddess Eris for the theft of the Book of Peace, and must travel to her realm at the end of the world to retrieve it and save the life of his childhood friend Prince Proteus.

Stanley's family is cursed with bad luck. Unfairly sentenced to months of detention at Camp Green Lake, he and his campmates are forced by the warden to dig holes in order to build character. What they don't know is that they are digging holes in order to search for a lost treasure hidden somewhere in the camp.

When young Buddy falls into Santa's gift sack on Christmas Eve, he's transported back to the North Pole and raised as a toy-making elf by Santa's helpers. But as he grows into adulthood, he can't shake the nagging feeling that he doesn't belong. Buddy vows to visit Manhattan and find his real dad, a workaholic publisher.

On the east coast of New Zealand, the Whangara people believe their presence there dates back a thousand years or more to a single ancestor, Paikea, who escaped death when his canoe capsized by riding to shore on the back of a whale. From then on, Whangara chiefs, always the first-born, always male, have been considered Paikea's direct descendants. Pai, an 11-year-old girl in a patriarchal New Zealand tribe, believes she is destined to be the new chief. But her grandfather Koro is bound by tradition to pick a male leader. Pai loves Koro more than anyone in the world, but she must fight him and a thousand years of tradition to fulfill her destiny.

A family of Irish immigrants adjusts to life on the mean streets of Hell's Kitchen while also grieving the death of a child.

The comedic adventures of an introverted boy left on the doorstep of a pair of reluctant, eccentric great-uncles, whose exotic remembrances stir the boy's spirit and re-ignite the men's lives.

Mother and daughter bicker over everything -- what Anna wears, whom she likes and what she wants to do when she's older. In turn, Anna detests Tess's fiancé. When a magical fortune cookie switches their personalities, they each get a peek at how the other person feels, thinks and lives.

Fed up with all the attention going to Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck quits Hollywood, teams up with recently-fired stuntman Damien Drake Jr. and embarks on a round-the-world adventure, along with Bugs and The VP of Warner Bros. Their mission? Find Damien's father, and the missing blue diamond... and stay one step ahead of The Acme Corp., who wants the diamond for their own purposes.

The Baker brood moves to Chicago after patriarch Tom gets a job coaching football at Northwestern University, forcing his writer wife, Mary, and the couple's 12 children to make a major adjustment. The transition works well until work demands pull the parents away from home, leaving the kids bored -- and increasingly mischievous.

An American girl, Daphne, heads to Europe in search of the father she's never met. But instead of finding a British version of her bohemian mother, she learns the love of her mom's life is an uptight politician. The only problem now is that her long-lost dad is engaged to a fiercely territorial social climber with a daughter who makes Daphne's life miserable.

Lizzie McGuire has graduated from middle school and takes a trip to Rome, Italy with her class. And what was supposed to be only a normal trip, becomes a teenager's dream come true.

On a high mountain plain lives a lamb with wool of such remarkable sheen that he breaks into high-steppin' dance. But there comes a day when he loses his lustrous coat and, along with it, his pride. It takes a wise jackalope - a horn-adorned rabbit - to teach the moping lamb that wooly or not, it's what's inside that'll help him rebound from life's troubles.

Two men get laid off and have to become stay-at-home dads when they can't find jobs, which inspires them to open their own day-care center.

As if the Penguin wasn't enough to contend with, a new vigilante has surfaced in Gotham City, and her strong-arm tactics give Batman cause for concern.

Molly Gunn, the freewheeling daughter of a deceased rock legend, is forced to get a job when her manager steals her money. As nanny for precocious Ray, the oft ignored daughter of a music executive she learns what it means to be an adult while teaching Ray how to be a child.

Short film to a song of love lost and rediscovered, a woman sees and undergoes surreal transformations. Her lover's face melts off, she dons a dress from the shadow of a bell and becomes a dandelion, ants crawl out of a hand and become Frenchmen riding bicycles. Not to mention the turtles with faces on their backs that collide to form a ballerina, or the bizarre baseball game.

Workaholic Jim Evers and his wife/business partner Sara get a call one night from a mansion owner, Edward Gracey, who wants to sell his house. Once the Evers family arrive at the mansion, a torrential thunderstorm of mysterious origin strands them with the brooding, eccentric Gracey, his mysterious butler, and a variety of residents both seen and unseen.

The Yowie Yahoo starts kidnapping musicians at a concert attended by Scooby and the gang in Vampire Rock, Australia.

Kim and Ron start out a new school year, only to find out that Ron's family is moving to Norway. This puts a strain on their partnership, just as Dr. Drakken, Monkey Fist, and Duff Killigan team up to find and use an ancient time travel device to rule the world. Attacking Kim in the past, present, and future, can these villians succeed? Or will an unforeseen force be more destructive?

Honey Daniels dreams of making a name for herself as a hip-hop choreographer. When she's not busy hitting downtown clubs with her friends, she teaches dance classes at a nearby community center in Harlem, N.Y., as a way to keep kids off the streets. Honey thinks she's hit the jackpot when she meets a hotshot director casts her in one of his music videos. But, when he starts demanding sexual favors from her, Honey makes a decision that will change her life.

A friend of Fred's, Alejo Otero, invites the Scooby gang to Veracruz, Mexico. There they find a monster, El Chupacabra, terrorizing the town.

Barbie as Odette, the young daughter of a baker, follows a unicorn into the Enchanted Forest and is transformed into a swan by an evil wizard intent on defeating the Fairy Queen.

When the gang from the Hundred Acre Wood begin a honey harvest, young Piglet is excluded and told that he is too small to help. Feeling inferior, Piglet disappears and his pals Eeyore, Rabbit, Tigger, Roo and Winnie the Pooh must use Piglet's scrapbook as a map to find him. In the process they discover that this very small animal has been a big hero in a lot of ways.

Mowgli has been living in the man-village with his little stepbrother Ranjan and his best friend Shanti. But the man-cub still has that jungle rhythm in his heart, and he misses his old buddies Baloo and Bagheera. When Mowgli wanders back to the wild for some swingin' fun, he soon finds the man-eating tiger Shere Khan is lurking in the shadows and planning his revenge.

Milo and Kida reunite with their friends to investigate strange occurances around the world that seem to have links to the secrets of Atlantis.

Pollyanna Whittier goes to live with her wealthy but bitter aunt after the tragic death of her father. Pollyanna shares a game her father taught her -- the 'Glad Game' -- in which everyone can find a silver lining in even the darkest cloud, and her sunny nature, good humor and determination to look on the bright side of life prove to have an astonishing effect on those around her. With the help of her orphaned friend, Jimmy Bean, she casts her spell on the grumpiest townsfolk of Beldingsville -- including the cynical shut-in Mrs. Snow, the morose millionaire Mr. Pendleton and the enigmatic Dr. Chilton. And Pollyanna masterminds the romance between her Aunt's maid, Nancy, and the handyman, Tim. It is only Aunt Polly, who cannot bring herself to embrace Pollyanna's innocence and joy. But all is not straightforward in Pollyanna's war against pessimism, since she must overcome a personal tragedy that threatens to banish "glad" from her vocabulary forever.

Carmen's caught in a virtual reality game designed by the Kids' new nemesis, the Toymaker. It's up to Juni to save his sister, and ultimately the world.

High school loser (Cannon) pays a cheerleader (Milian) to pose as his girlfriend so he can be considered cool. Remake of 1987's Can't Buy Me Love, starring Patrick Dempsey.

Conrad and Sally Walden are home alone with their pet fish. It is raining outside, and there is nothing to do. Until The Cat in the Hat walks in the front door. He introduces them to their imagination, and at first it's all fun and games, until things get out of hand, and The Cat must go, go, go, before their parents get back.

The continuing adventures of Lilo, a little Hawaiian girl, and Stitch, the galaxy's most wanted extraterrestrial. Stitch, Pleakley, and Dr. Jumba are all part of the household now. But what Lilo and Stitch don't know is that Dr. Jumba brought one of his alien "experiments" to Hawaii.

Recruited by the U.S. government to be a special agent, nerdy teenager Cody Banks must get closer to cute classmate Natalie in order to learn about an evil plan hatched by her father. But despite the agent persona, Cody struggles with teen angst.

A bedtime story leads Littlefoot and his grandparents on a journey to a new land, where Littlefoot discovers someone who vanished before he was born: his father! Now Littlefoot must decide between two worlds. Will he leave to be with his friends in the Great Valley, or stay behind and start a new life with his father?

Lord Farquaad was eaten by the dragon, but his ghost has returned, and he's still evil. With the help of his henchman, Thelonious, he kidnaps Fiona. Shrek and the donkey set out to save her, with help from the dragon, before she goes over a waterfall on a raft.

When the Rugrats find themselves stranded on a deserted island, they meet the Thornberrys, a family who agrees to help them escape.

Jay Austin wants to sell you a used car, but watch out! Many victims have fallen prey to his smiling face and hasty promises. Austin does everything his way until his dishonesty and manipulation are exposed. Like many men, he becomes disgusted by the masks he wears and the lies he tells. In every man's life, there can be a turning point. When Jay makes his turn, he never looks back.

The Stevens think that they've won an all-expenses-paid trip to an island that's halfway around the world. When their house is destroyed, their food stolen, and their bacon eaten, the Stevens family breaks apart in front of all their friends on live national television, while the island itself is only a short distance away from Sacramento!

Based on Anne Holm's acclaimed young adult novel North to Freedom, I Am David chronicles the struggles of a 12-year-old boy who manages to flee a Communist concentration camp on his own -- through sheer will and determination. All he has in his possession is a loaf of bread, a letter to deliver to someone in Denmark and a compass to help get him there.

With darkness encroaching on the island of Mata Nui, the only hope for the survival of the islanders rests with two Matoran villagers, who must find the seventh Toa and deliver to him the fabled Mask of Light.

Three friends in wheelchairs welcome a new patient at a children's hospital. Growing up together. All emotions pass the revue. Friendship and hope survive all.

Whilst doing their last concert before the Christmas Holidays, Busted find that their guitars have all disappeared mysteriously. With their only clue to there where-abouts being a mysterious note signed by 'Sinister Santa' the band take on London in hopes of finding their Guitars but learn the true meaning of Christmas along the way.

Eloise is a precocious but lovable six-year-old girl who lives in New York's Plaza hotel. The owner of the hotel's daughter is getting married, but Eloise decides she is marrying him for the wrong reasons and tries her hand at a spot of matchmaking, but will it work?

Placid Lake has always been different. As an odd fish in a sea of mediocrity, his brilliant ideas are bound to get him into more trouble than success. So when he finds himself flying off the school roof and breaking every bone in his body on graduation night, Placid decides to make a bid for the elusive normal life. To his parents' horror, he gets a normal job.

Estranged twins Lizzie and Shane are chosen for a Survivor-like popular game show with college scholarships as the prize.

A young boy, his family, and the migrant workers they hire to work their cotton farm struggle against difficult odds to raise and sell the crop. Meanwhile, the boy dreams of living in better conditions. However, with this particularly tough farming season, the boy learns that his challenges guide him in discovering who he really is.

Linus and Lucy's younger brother Rerun wants a dog for Christmas, and Snoopy's brother Spike may be the answer.

Here comes a new film for a new school year. It is time to return to the Third Street School with Recess, already in fifth grade !. Gang discouraged to discover that have occurred in the school some unpleasant changes: there will be no pizza, no playground ... no lockers! And if that were not enough, his new teacher turns out to be Miss Finster! All this is too much for TJ, who is determined to find a way to defend what they believe Clique school and get back to what it was. Full of emotion, suspense and lots of laughter, enjoying how the 5th year get the best out of everyone ... including the best of Miss Finster and Pickly director! Recess is already in the 5th grade and teach that working together is the best way to learn about friendship, teamwork and, above all, fun