7 Summer Movies Your Children Will Want to Watch

Michael Foust CrosswalkHeadlines Contributor
Updated Jun 23, 2023

If you enjoy sitting in an air-conditioned theater with your family and munching on popcorn, then this summer has a promising lineup.

Already, a pair of popular animated movies have been released, with more on the way. In the next few weeks, we’ll get to enjoy a superhero film, a Harrison Ford flick and the latest Pixar movie.

For this list, we’ve included anything in the animated and superhero/nostalgic realms. One movie – Barbie (July 21) – didn’t make the list. That’s because it likely will be rated PG-13 and geared more toward adults.

Of course, our list isn’t an endorsement. Do your homework before you head to the theater.

Here are seven movies your children will want to watch this summer:

Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Undefined Undefined

1. Little Mermaid (May 26)

A mermaid falls in love with a prince after a chance meeting at sea. It’s a Disney live-action remake of the 1989 animated classic, although the filmmakers say it’s also based on the Hans Christian Andersen 1837 story of the same name. It stars Halle Bailey in the lead role, Jonah Hauer-King as the prince and Melissa McCarthy as Ursula the sea witch. Rated PG for action/peril and some scary images.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (June 2)

Miles Morales, who calls himself “Brooklyn’s only Spider-Man,” faces a life-altering decision when he is pitted against “Spider-People” from the multiverse. It’s the second installment in the Spider-Verse series, following 2018’s Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Rated PG for sequences of animated action violence, some language and thematic elements.

Photo courtesy: ©Disney, used with permission.

3. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (June 9)

The Autobots join up with the Maximals in a battle to save Earth. Set in the 1990s, the film is a sequel to 2018’s Bumblebee, which itself was a prequel to the Transformers franchise. Bumblebee set a new tone in the Transformers films with less problematic content (specifically, less sensual content). Let’s hope the trend continues. Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and language.

4. Elemental (June 16)

In a metropolis named “Element City” where residents are told that “elements don’t mix,” a fire element girl named Ember falls for a water element boy named Wade. It’s the latest film from Pixar, whose most recent titles didn’t, well, catch fire among the audience (2022’s Lightyear and Turning Red). Rated PG for some peril, thematic elements and brief language.

5. The Flash (June 16)

Barry Allen/Flash travels back in time to stop the murder of his mother but opens up a Pandora's box of unintended consequences. He then joins with Batman, Supergirl and others to save the world. The film is the 13th film in the DC extended universe and the first stand-alone Flash movie in that realm. It’s the lone live-action superhero movie of the summer, unless you count Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy 3, which was released May 3. Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action, some strong language and partial nudity.

Photo courtesy: ©Paramount Pictures, used with permission.

6. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (June 30)

Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) teams up with his goddaughter to stop an evil plot amidst the U.S.-Russian 1960s space race. He also battles ex-Nazis. It’s the fifth and perhaps final film in the decades-long series, which began with Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981. Thanks to CGI, it features a glimpse of a younger Indiana Jones. Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action, language and smoking.

7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Aug. 2)

Four turtles emerge from the sewer to fight crime after receiving power from a “mystery goo.” This animated film is a reboot of the franchise after a previous animated film, 2016’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, fell short of expectations. It features the voices of Rose Byrne, Seth Rogan, Jackie Chan, John Cena and Paul Rudd. It is not yet rated.

Other mainstream films your kids may want to watch: Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One Action (July 12), The Meg 2: The Trench (Aug. 4).

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.