The Best Kids Movies From The '90s That Your Kids Can Still Appreciate Today

Robin Williams was basically the voice of a younger generation in the '90s. He starred in countless family movies and Mrs. Doubtfire features him as a divorced dad who dresses up as an elderly nanny to be able to see his kids more. Underneath it all, it's actually a pretty sad story, but on the surface, your kids will love every epic moment of his hi-jinks.

Matilda has everything a kid could ask for. There’s a magic, a worthy villain in the form of an elementary school principal, and harmless revenge on some pretty awful parents. If your overly inquisitive kids can get over the fact that they never really explain why Matilda herself has powers, then they will definitely appreciate this one.

The Sandlot is one of those '90s movies that birthed so many inside jokes and one-liners that to introduce your kids to it, would give you a whole new set of movie quotes to randomly bust out on each other. Your kids don't even have to like baseball to appreciate this coming of age movie about a group of kids who spend the summer growing up a little.

In an updated version of the original movie, Lindsay Lohan plays both of the twins, Annie and Hallie, who were separated at birth to each be raised by one parent. They meet at summer camp and discover who they are, so naturally they switch places to get to know the other parent.

Clearly, the recipe for some of the best kids movies from the '90s was magic and precocious kids. Jumanji has both, including a young Kirsten Dunst and, once again, Robin Williams. The movie centers around a magical board game that delivers witty puns along with different jungle animals or weather. Things get totally chaotic, but the characters each learn a little something along the way.

Although LeBron James will star in the Space Jam sequel in 2021, it still might not live up to the 1996 original, which starred Michael Jordan and Bill Murray. In the first movie, Jordan is called on to help Bugs Bunny and the rest of his animated friends win an important basketball game. The blend of live action and animation is a little shaky at times, but Space Jam is definitely a '90s classic.

Emilio Estevez stars in The Mighty Ducks as an unwitting youth hockey coach who is ordered to coach a team of misfits after he is arrested for drunk driving. It takes a little time for him to warm up to his new role and for the team to be able to work together to play against a more experienced hockey team, and overall, it’s a heartfelt story.

When a ghost hunter moves into an old Maine mansion to try and banish the spirits residing there, Casper, one of the ghosts haunting the mansion, falls in love with the guy’s daughter. They have an adorable friendship and he even gets to show his human form for a few hours to steal a kiss with her, but they end up being better off as friends. Mostly because he’s still a ghost.

Long before Netflix rolled out its own version of Richie Rich as a series, the 1994 movie starred Macaulay Culkin as the title character who wants nothing more than friends to enjoy his massive wealth with him. When his parents go missing, his new friends band together with him to help expose one of the Rich family’s employees as the culprit behind their disappearance.

Macaulay Culkin also stars in Home Alone as Kevin, who is somehow left home when his entire family goes on a holiday trip out of the country. Instead of freaking out, though, he sets booby traps in his home to thwart a pair of intruders.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Roger, a foster kid whose father promises to reunite their family if the Anaheim Angels make it to the World Series. Since the baseball team is one of the worst in the league, the promise is clearly meant to be empty. But when Roger starts seeing angels, who help the team get on a winning streak, things start to look up for him.

I will never not cry when Vada rushes into her childhood best friend’s funeral and cries over his coffin. It’s one of those moments from '90s kids movies that stay with you forever, so why not sob over the heartbreaking scene in the coming of age movie with your own kids?

Hocus Pocus is one of those Halloween movies that has stood the test of time. But if your kids haven’t yet been introduced to the awesomeness of the Sanderson sisters who come back from the dead to steal childrens' souls in modern day Salem, then now is the time.

Robin Williams plays an unsuccessful scientist whose many failed experiments cause him to lose the love of his life. But when he invents a new rubber, called Flubber (obviously), he finds a way to prove himself as a potential husband and as a scientist.

Like I said, Robin Williams was all over the best kids and family movies in the '90s. If you ask me, Jack might be one of his best overall. He plays Jack, a 10-year-old boy who is born with a rare genetic disorder which causes him to physically age at a rapid rate. So when he finally goes to public school to meet other kids, he has the outward appearance of a 40-year-old man. Despite his difficulties, he manages to build a group of friends. I’m not crying, you’re crying.

Before Michelle Trachtenberg annoyed us all as Buffy’s little sister in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she was the title character in Harriet the Spy. As a wannabe spy, she records everything she sees in a notebook and all is well until someone at school finds said notebook and all hell breaks loose for her.

When 11-year-old Preston is almost hit by a car while riding his bike, the driver gives him a check as hush money. Only, he forgets to fill it out, leading Preston to make the check out for $1 million, cash it, and begin spending it extravagantly. Eventually, the guy who almost hit him and his goons track Preston down, but not before he spends a few weeks enjoying the fruits of his non-labor.

Although The Witches remake is in full swing, the original 1990 movie is still a classic. It focuses on the adventures of Luke, who witnesses a witch convention and hears a head witch announce her plan to turn all children into mice. When Luke is caught spying on them, she turns him into a mouse first, and he has to figure out how to stop the witches’ plan and turn himself back into a human.

Both Addams Family movies from the '90s are ones you should watch with your kids, but you should probably start with the first one, which was released in 1991. In this one, long lost Uncle Fester returns home after years away, but has been brainwashed to go against the Addams family and take their fortune.

George was raised by gorillas in the jungle since he was left stranded there as a baby. Years later, he meets and falls in love with an explorer, Ursula (played by Leslie Mann) and she goes as far as to leave her terrible fiancé for the jungle Adonis. After George leaves the jungle to be with her, they discover that her fiancé kidnapped George’s gorilla BFF and they have to return to the jungle to save him.

Maybe It Takes Two was like another version of The Parent Trap, but having Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen as its stars basically made the movie as amazing as it was. They play two girls who aren't related but inexplicably look identical and change places to see how the other one lives. So it’s kind of like The Parent Trap, but with an incredibly wealthy girl and her orphan doppelganger.

I love the newer Jurassic installments as much as the next blockbuster movie-goer, but there is something to be said for the 1993 classic that is Jurassic Park. It’s the movie that started the dinosaur adventure franchise and will help give your kids an idea of where the ideas for Jurassic World came from.

When fitness fanatic Tony Perkins (played by Ben Stiller) threatens to turn a youth weight loss camp into a high intensity weight loss program, the kids fight back and try to keep it the same fun camp that it has always been.

Rosie O'Donnell, Demi Moore, Melanie Griffith, and Rita Wilson play the adult versions of their teenage selves who get together and reminisce about their childhood. Through flashbacks, you get to see a coming of age story that is rated PG-13, so it’s not strictly for kids, but it can be enjoyed and appreciated by the whole family.

Lizzie, who is living an unhappy life in a less than stellar marriage, is suddenly revisited by Fred, her childhood imaginary friend. Instead of making things completely better, however, he turns her life upside down in the most chaotic ways.

As someone who still loves almost everything about the '90s (not a fan of crimped hair anymore, thank you very much), I have already started introducing my kid to some of these '90s kids movies. Maybe your own kids won't love all of these movies as much as you did, but there’s a good chance that they can still appreciate most of them for their adventurous storylines and genuine humor.