The holiday season comes with plenty of excitement and surprises and also a slate of new movies designed to appeal to a vast swath of different demographics. Among the new titles hitting theaters in late December of 2023 is Migration, an animated movie about a group of birds who decide to leave their quiet life in a New England pond behind, and ultimately find themselves dealing with the many dangers of life in New York City. While this isn’t exactly a Christmas movie for kids, it is certainly a movie aimed at kids that is coming out at Christmas time.
If you’ve already seen Migration and are looking for other pieces of kid-friendly entertainment that the whole family can enjoy, then you’re in luck. We’ve compiled a list of three great movies like Migration that you can watch now:
Happy Feet (2006)
Telling the story of a young penguin who breaks the mold of his society’s culture, Happy Feet was a smashing success when it was first released in 2006. [It was directed by George Miller, the mastermind behind Mad Max: Fury Road and Furiosa.] In a world full of singing penguins, Mumble is a dancer and teaches everyone around him to appreciate the joys that dancing can bring.
Like Migration, Happy Feet is about a family forced to broaden their horizons and understand that there is more than one way to do things. It’s a fairly conventional story of belonging that will resonate with both kids and their parents.
Happy Feet is streaming on Max.
Madagascar (2005)
When a giraffe at the Central Park Zoo gets tired of the routines of his everyday life, he decides to try to escape into the wild. Much like Migration, Madagascar is about escaping from the comfortable bubble you’ve lived in your entire life and understanding that there’s an entire world out there that’s just waiting to be explored.
While the sequels are undeniably a mixed bag, the original Madagascar is pretty wonderful, thanks in large part to strong vocal performances and sharp jokes about the differences between life in the zoo and life in the wilds of Madagascar.
Madagascar is streaming on Peacock.
Paddington (2014)
Both Paddington and its sequel are movies that basically anyone would enjoy, but the original Paddington captures a lot of the fish out of water that is so crucial to Migration. The film tells the story of a young bear from Peru who is forced to leave his home following an earthquake and ultimately finds himself adopted by a British family.
As his misadventures cause strife for the family, he’s also forced to reckon with a taxidermist who has her sights set on his rare hide. Paddington is ultimately about the overwhelming benefits of kindness and what it means to create a family wherever you wander.
Paddington is streaming on Netflix.
