Top 10 family friendly movies of summer 2011

Moviegoers haven't had to worry about a shortage of films geared toward families this summer.

“Generally, when you’re talking about family films … the studios are kind of smart about it,” said Melissa Henson, director of communications and publications at the Parents Television Council. “They generally roll out summer, November, December.”

Film companies know it's best to catch kids on breaks from school. Henson, who works closely with PTC’s film critics, believes there were plenty of offerings this summer for everyone from toddlers to teenagers, though some films may not be as family friendly as the film companies promote them to be.

John Mulderig, assistant director for media reviews at the Catholic News Service, said it’s difficult to find family films “free of the irksome potty humor Hollywood currently seems to feel is an indispensable ingredient in kids’ movies.”

Henson agreed that there is distasteful content in movies directed toward families. While it may not be obscene by adult standards, parents may want to screen some films “if you don’t want your kids walking around making fart jokes all the time," she said.

“Zookeeper,” which Mulderig reviewed for the CNS, is one example he gave of a movie that has been slammed for its crude content, not to mention its poor reviews.

Lori Pearson, communications director for the content rating website Kids-In-Mind.com, warned about the accuracy of MPAA ratings in determining whether or not something is family friendly.

“Something one would think is good for young people based on the MPAA rating might not actually be,” Pearson said.

Henson said that just as a G rating doesn’t guarantee that a movie is free of objectionable content, some PG-13 films can have redemptive messages that make them a good choice for older families.

Taking all that into account, the Deseret News has compiled its top 10 films for families from Summer 2011. The list is based on information and reviews from PTC, CNS, the Deseret News Family Media Guide's "Worth Your Time" scale, Kids in Mind and Rotten Tomatoes.

Note: The WYT percentage is the percentage of Deseret News readers who have deemed the movie to be worth spending their time and money on. The Rotten Tomatoes' “Tomatometer” is a compilation of reader and critic reviews across the nation. The Kids-In-Mind numbers represent, in order, sexual content, violence and profanity on a scale of 0 to 10.