INFOGRAPHIC: The Best Family-Friendly Movies for the Holidays, Revealed

  • Analysis of Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb ratings, and Google user reviews reveals the best-rated movies filmed in the United States.

  • Toy Story 2 takes the top spot, scoring 90.33 out of 100.

  • The 5th Wave ranks as America’s least-liked family-friendly movie, scoring 42.33 out of 100.

A new study has revealed America’s top-rated movies, perfect for the holiday season, chosen by people and critics alike.

The study by image editor experts Remove BG, analyzed IMDb ratings, Rotten Tomatoes scores, and Google user scores for movies filmed throughout the US from 1990 to the present. The scores on these sites were then averaged out each to give a score out of 100, with non-family-friendly movies (anything rated above PG-13) being omitted from the ranking.

America’s top ten family-friendly movies, according to IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and Google user reviews:

Toy Story 2 takes first place, with a score of 90.33 out of 100. Released in 1999, this animated movie scored 79 on IMDb, 100 on Rotten Tomatoes, and 92 on Google user reviews.

Second place goes to Avengers: Endgame, with a score of 90 out of 100. Released in 2019, the movie scored 84 on IMDb, 94 on Rotten Tomatoes, and 92 on Google user reviews.

In third place is a tie between Toy Story 3 and Toy Story, with both movies scoring 89.67 out of 100.

Toy Story 3 (2010) earned 83 on IMDb, 98 on Rotten Tomatoes, and 88 on Google user reviews. Toy Story(1995) scored 83 on IMDb, 100 on Rotten Tomatoes, and 86 on Google user reviews.

In fourth place is The Truman Show (1998), with a score of 88.67 out of 100. This movie scored 82 on IMDb, 94 on Rotten Tomatoes, and 90 on Google user reviews.

Fifth place is a tie between Jurassic Park (1993), The Iron Giant (1999), and Catch Me If You Can (2002), each with a score of 87.67 out of 100.

Jurassic Park scored 82 on IMDb, 91 on Rotten Tomatoes, and 90 on Google user reviews, while The Iron Giant scored 81 on IMDb, 96 on Rotten Tomatoes, and 86 on Google user reviews.

Catch Me If You Can scored 81 on IMDb, 96 on Rotten Tomatoes, and 86 on Google user reviews.

Sixth place is another tie between The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019) and Million Dollar Baby (2004), both scoring 87.33 out of 100.

The Peanut Butter Falcon scored 76 on IMDb, 95 on Rotten Tomatoes, and 91 on Google user reviews. Million Dollar Baby scored 81 on IMDb, 90 on Rotten Tomatoes, and 91 on Google user reviews.

Seventh place is the biggest tie yet, at four-ways, with Past Lives (2023), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Coraline (2009), and The Fugitive (1993), each with an average score of 87.00 out of 100.

Past Lives scored 78 on IMDb, 95 on Rotten Tomatoes, and 88 on Google user reviews. Star Trek: First Contact scored 76 on IMDb, 93 on Rotten Tomatoes, and 92 on Google user reviews.

Coraline scored 78 on IMDb, 91 on Rotten Tomatoes, and 92 on Google user reviews. The Fugitive scored 78 on IMDb, 96 on Rotten Tomatoes, and 87 on Google user reviews.

Eighth place goes to The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) and Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), each with an average score of 86.67 out of 100.

The Bourne Ultimatum scored 80 on IMDb, 92 on Rotten Tomatoes, and 88 on Google user reviews. Guardians of the Galaxy scored 80 on IMDb, 92 on Rotten Tomatoes, and 88 on Google user reviews.

Ninth place is another two-way tie between Hidden Figures (2016) and Top Gun: Maverick (2022), both scoring 86.33 out of 100.

Hidden Figures scored 78 on IMDb, 93 on Rotten Tomatoes, and 88 on Google user reviews. Top Gun: Maverick scored 82 on IMDb, 96 on Rotten Tomatoes, and 81 on Google user reviews.

Tenth place is shared by Dances with Wolves (1990), What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), and Forrest Gump (1994), each scoring 86.00 out of 100.

Dances with Wolves scored 80 on IMDb, 87 on Rotten Tomatoes, and 91 on Google user reviews. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape scored 77 on IMDb, 90 on Rotten Tomatoes, and 91 on Google user reviews, while Forrest Gump scored 88 on IMDb, 76 on Rotten Tomatoes, and 94 on Google user reviews.

Interestingly, the lowest-rated movie of any in the list is 2016’s The 5th Wave, scoring just 42.33 out of 100. The science-fiction action movie directed by J Blakeson released to negative reviews from critics. Despite this, the movie was moderately successful, grossing $109.9 million worldwide against a $38–54 million budget

Marc Porcar, CEO of Remove BG, commented on the findings, saying,

“The study's findings reveal Toy Story is a clear favorite among movie lovers, with its enduring appeal clear as all three titles rank in the top five of America's highest-rated movies. The top-rated titles are a mix of 90s classics and recent releases, suggesting that audiences are drawn to fresh and novel storylines no matter how old the movie.”


Sources:

Methodology:

  1. An initial seed list of movies related to each state was generated using IMDb’s advanced title search tool.

  2. The results were filtered to only include movies that were released in 1990 or later and had a minimum of 100,000 ratings on the platform.

  3. Scores for each movie from IMDb, Google User reviews, and Rotten Tomatoes were then collected.

  4. The scores from these three sources were then averaged together to produce a score for each movie. Scores were standardized on a scale from 0 to 100, which served as the ranking metric.

  5. The US age rating for each movie (as per the MPAA) was gathered from IMDb, omitting non-family-friendly movies–anything above PG-13 rated.