Picture from 5 Movies for Little Monster Lovers
James P. Sullivan and his buddy Mike Wazowski are monsters who are heading off to college to learn to be scarers at Monsters University. Image ©2013 Walt Disney Studios/Pixar

5 Movies for Little Monster Lovers

Godzilla had a monstrous opening weekend ($93.2 million) with the second highest domestic debut in 2014—right behind Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It’s a triumphant return for the large lizard that first appeared on the big screen in 1954.

But if this giant creature and the other Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms in this movie are too much for the younger viewers at home, we have five family friendly monster movies.

Something strange is making a racket in the middle of the Hundred Acre Wood. Deciding to face the monster rather than ignore it, Pooh, Rabbit, Tigger and Piglet set off in search of the mythical purple Heffalump. In the delightful and gentle Pooh’s Heffalump Movie, audiences discover that monsters aren’t always what they seem once you get to know them.

Bunnies might not normally be classified as monsters. But they are on the loose in Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. After trying to rehabilitate the garden-eating rabbits with a brainwashing contraption, Wallace unwittingly turns one of the long-eared animals into a mammoth monster that has an even bigger appetite for garden-fresh produce.

James P. “Sulley” Sullivan and his one-eyed partner Mike Wazawski confirmed what children have long believed—there really are monsters under the bed. However these two employees of a local utility company soon find a better way to provide energy for the city of Monstropolis in the 2001 animation Monsters, Inc. In the prequel movie, Monster’s University, audiences meet a younger version of the pals when they head off to college.

Percy Jackson, the half-human/half-god son of Poseidon, and his half brother Tyson face all kinds of strange mythical creatures while trying to retrieve the legendary Golden Fleece from an island located in the Sea of Monsters. However some fantasy violence and scary images in Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters make this adventure action movie better for older children.

Hotel Transylvania is no tropical resort. But it is the perfect hangout for all kinds of monsters. Count Dracula owns the hotel and has invited all his ghoulish friends to celebrate his daughter’s 118th birthday. However the party plans are interrupted with a human hiker shows up on the doorstep. A few gruesome images and a handful of rude jokes makes monstrous animation more suitable for older children.

More details about the movies mentioned in this post…

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters

Monsters University

Monsters University

Monsters, Inc.

Monsters, Inc.

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Pooh’s Heffalump Movie

Pooh’s Heffalump Movie

Hotel Transylvania

Hotel Transylvania