23 Best Summer Movies for Kids to Watch During Your Family Vacation

If you’ve been following my blog, you know I’m always on the hunt for films that won’t make parents want to fall asleep in the theater. 

After covering The Best Indoor Activities for Kids earlier this spring, it’s finally time to step out into the air conditioning for the 2026 summer slate. 

This season is a goldmine for animation fans, featuring the long-awaited Toy Story 5 – where Buzz and Woody face off against a very relatable electronic device villain – and the absolute chaos of Minions & Monsters. 

These family-friendly summer movies guaranteed to keep the kids entertained and the popcorn flowing.  

The Sandlot

If you want the ultimate kids on summer break movie, this is it. 

It’s set in the 60s and follows Scotty Smalls, who moves to a new neighborhood and tries to fit in with a group of boys who play baseball at the local sandlot. 

They eventually get into a massive predicament involving a legendary dog called The Beast. 

Personally, I love how nostalgic this feels even if you didn’t grow up in the 60s. 

It captures that feeling of a summer that feels like it’ll never end. The Squints pool scene is iconic, though I’ll admit the humor is a little old-school. It’s a total classic.

Luca

This is one of Pixar’s best vibe movies. 

It’s set in a stunning Italian seaside town and follows two young boys, Luca and Alberto, who are actually sea monsters but turn human when they’re on land. 

They spend their summer eating pasta, riding Vespas, and trying not to get caught. 

Honestly, the animation is so beautiful it makes me want to book a trip to Italy immediately.

It’s a very soft movie – there’s no huge villain or scary stakes – just a really sweet story about friendship and being yourself. I highly recommend it for a low-stress movie night.

The Parent Trap

You can’t go wrong with this one. 

Hallie and Annie are twins separated at birth (both played by a young Lindsay Lohan) who meet at summer camp and hatch a plan to switch places and reunite their parents. 

It’s actually a remake, but this version is the definitive one for me. The camp scenes at the beginning give off such great summer energy. 

The dad’s girlfriend, Meredith Blake, is a total cinematic icon, even if she’s the villain. It’s funny, heartwarming, and honestly just a great comfort watch for any age.

Finding Nemo

We all know the plot – Marlin, an overprotective clownfish, travels across the entire ocean to find his son Nemo after he’s taken by divers. Along the way, he meets Dory, the blue tang with memory loss. 

I’ve watched this so many times, and it never gets old. The detail in the Great Barrier Reef is still incredible years later. 

I will say, the beginning with Nemo’s mom is still one of the saddest things Disney has ever done, so be ready for that. But Dory’s just keep swimming motto is the ultimate summer energy.

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation

In this one, the whole monster crew leaves the hotel to go on a luxury monster cruise. 

Drac ends up falling for the ship’s captain, who – surprise – is a Van Helsing. 

To be real, this isn’t prestige cinema, but it is very funny. It’s colorful, loud, and the kids will love the slapstick humor. 

I personally thought the Macarena dance-off at the end was a bit much, but it’s a great brain-off movie for when the weather is too hot to do anything else.

The Goonies

This is the blueprint for every kids on an adventure movie ever made. 

A group of friends find an old treasure map in an attic and go on an underground journey to find One-Eyed Willy’s gold to save their homes. 

It’s got everything: secret tunnels, booby traps, and a group of criminals chasing them. I love how messy and real the kids feel – they talk over each other and argue just like real friends.

Some parts are a little intense for very young kids, but for everyone else, it’s the ultimate summer treasure hunt.

Moana

Even though it’s not technically about summer vacation, the tropical island setting and the vast ocean make it feel like a summer dream. 

Moana is an adventurous teen who sails out to save her people and finds the demigod Maui (voiced by Dwayne Johnson). 

The music by Lin-Manuel Miranda is 10/10 – How Far I’ll Go is an absolute earworm. 

I love that Moana doesn’t have a love interest; her story is purely about her own strength and leadership. It’s empowering and looks gorgeous on screen.

Shrek

An ogre’s swamp is invaded by fairytale creatures, so he goes on a quest to rescue a princess to get his land back.

This movie changed animation forever because it’s so self-aware and funny for both kids and adults. 

Smash Mouth’s All Star is the official song of summer because of this movie. The banter between Shrek and Donkey is legendary. 

It’s a bit gross at times (the earwax candle scene), but it’s a masterpiece of comedy that still holds up perfectly.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

This is the modern sequel where four teens get sucked into a video game and turned into avatars played by The Rock, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, and Karen Gillan. 

It’s a high-energy jungle adventure. Jack Black playing a teenage girl trapped in a middle-aged man’s body is honestly some of the best acting I’ve ever seen.

It’s a great popcorn movie for a family night because it’s fast-paced and has enough action to keep everyone’s attention the whole time.

How to Train Your Dragon

This movie is honestly a masterpiece of world-building. 

It follows Hiccup, a scrawny Viking who doesn’t exactly fit the dragon-slayer mold of his village, Berk. 

When he ends up befriending a rare Night Fury dragon named Toothless instead of killing it, everything changes. 

I’ve always appreciated how this film handles the bond between them – it feels earned and genuine. 

The flight sequences are breathtaking, and Jay Baruchel’s voice acting brings such a perfect awkward-but-brave energy to Hiccup. 

It’s a great story about looking past prejudice and finding your own strength.

Storks

If you want something fast-paced and genuinely funny, this is it. 

It reimagines storks as the delivery drivers for a massive internet retailer (Cornerstore.com) instead of baby deliverers. 

Junior, the company’s top stork, and Tulip, the only human on the mountain, accidentally activate the old baby-making machine and have to deliver an unauthorized infant. 

I honestly didn’t expect to like this as much as I did, but the writing is surprisingly sharp. 

The Wolf Pack that keeps transforming into different shapes (like a submarine or a bridge) is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in an animated movie.

Lilo & Stitch

This is easily one of Disney’s most grounded and heartfelt films. 

Set in Hawaii, it’s about a lonely girl named Lilo who adopts what she thinks is a dog, but is actually a chaotic blue alien (Experiment 626) on the run. 

What I love most is the focus on ohana – family. It doesn’t shy away from the struggles of Nani, the older sister trying to keep their small family together after their parents passed away. 

Bridge to Terabithia

A quick heads-up: have the tissues ready. This isn’t your typical happy-go-lucky summer flick, but it’s an incredible watch. 

It follows Jess and Leslie, two outsiders who create a secret magical kingdom in the woods to escape the hardships of their real lives. 

I thought Josh Hutcherson and AnnaSophia Robb were phenomenal – they captured that childhood friendship perfectly. 

It deals with some heavy themes of loss and imagination, but it’s handled with so much grace.

The Goonies

This is the gold standard for summer adventure. A group of kids finds a treasure map in an attic and heads underground to find the long-lost gold of One-Eyed Willy to save their homes from foreclosure. 

It genuinely captures that feeling of a summer where anything feels possible. It’s a bit 80s-loud, but that’s part of the charm.

Rio

This one is a literal explosion of color and music. 

Blu is a domesticated macaw from Minnesota who travels to Rio de Janeiro to meet Jewel, the only other member of his species. The catch is that Blu can’t fly. 

I really enjoyed the vibrant animation and the catchy samba-infused soundtrack because it makes you want to get up and dance. 

While the plot is a bit predictable, the chemistry between Jesse Eisenberg’s neurotic Blu and Anne Hathaway’s independent Jewel makes it a really fun, easy watch for a hot afternoon.

The Mitchells vs. the Machines

This is probably the most modern-feeling movie on the list, and it is wild. 

It’s about a dysfunctional family on a road trip who suddenly find themselves as humanity’s last hope during a robot apocalypse. 

The animation style is so unique – it’s like a comic book come to life with doodles and memes popping up. 

I really appreciated the relationship between the daughter, Katie, and her tech-challenged dad. 

It’s incredibly relatable for any family that spends a bit too much time on their phones. It’s chaotic, heartfelt, and genuinely hilarious.

Alita: Battle Angel

This one is a bit of a curveball. It’s a live-action sci-fi epic about a deactivated cyborg who is revived and has no memory of her past. 

It’s definitely for older kids (there’s some intense cyborg-on-cyborg violence), but the visuals are stunning. 

Rosa Salazar’s performance as Alita is so expressive – you forget she’s a CGI character almost immediately. 

I’ll admit the plot gets a bit dense with all the Iron City lore, but the Motorball sequences are absolutely electrifying. 

It’s a cool girl power movie if you want something with more edge.

Clifford the Big Red Dog

Finally, we have the live-action version of everyone’s favorite giant dog. 

Emily Elizabeth is a middle-schooler who struggles to fit in until she finds a tiny red puppy that grows ten feet tall overnight based on how much she loves him. 

It’s a very sweet, simple movie. While the CGI Clifford can look a little uncanny valley at times, the movie has a lot of heart. 

Jack Whitehall provides some great comic relief as the well-meaning but messy Uncle Casey. 

It’s a gentle, feel-good movie that’s perfect for younger kids who just want to see a giant dog cause mayhem in NYC.

From the nostalgia of Toy Story 5 to the brand-new magic of The Sheep Detectives, the 2026 family slate is genuinely impressive. 

It’s rare to find a summer where the kids’ movies are actually clever enough to keep the adults awake, but here we are! 

Grab the biggest bucket of popcorn you can find and enjoy these stories that remind us all what it’s like to be young and adventurous. 

Which of these is your little one most excited for?

Looking for more ways to keep the family busy? I’ve listed some great ideas in my post on The Best Indoor Activities for Kids.