5 Movies Your Kids Must See

5. Rocky (ages 12+)

Like “To Kill a Mockingbird,” this isn’t a kids’ movie, per se. And it’s definitely one that you’ll want to wait for until your children are just a bit older. But this is a movie I think kids need to have as they prepare for the teenage years, when they’ll often feel intimidated by others and tempted to give up. “Rocky” is one of the great inspirational dramas, and Rocky Balboa is one of our great cinematic characters. The great thing about Rocky is not that he keeps pushing forward and goes a distance, although that’s a great theme, but that he never loses his goodness. He looks out for his friends, brings out the beauty in the shy pet store girl and keeps his decency about him even as his career progresses (I believe, with no irony, that the Rocky saga is one of the great movie franchises). As Balboa says in later entries, the world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows, and there comes a point where kids need to learn that. But they also need to be inspired to keep moving forward and pursuing their dreams in spite of the punches. In a sense, Rocky’s story is the same as the story of “The Muppet Movie”; it just acknowledges the hardship a little more.