Amazon’s Prime Instant Video catalog has a lot of great movies for kids and families, and Prime members can view them for free! If you’re not already an Amazon Prime member, you can click here to try a free, 30-day trial subscription.
Note: all movie descriptions are from IMDB.
Hugo (PG, 4/5 stars, currently free for Prime members to view, otherwise $9.99 to buy)
Hugo is an orphan boy living in the walls of a train station in 1930s Paris. He learned to fix clocks and other gadgets from his father and uncle which he puts to use keeping the train station clocks running.
The only thing that he has left that connects him to his dead father is an automaton (mechanical man) that doesn’t work without a special key which Hugo needs to find to unlock the secret he believes it contains.
On his adventures, he meets with a shopkeeper, George Melies, who works in the train station and his adventure-seeking god-daughter. Hugo finds that they have a surprising connection to his father and the automaton, and he discovers it unlocks some memories the old man has buried inside regarding his past.
– Written by napierslogs
Cats & Dogs (PG, 4/5 stars, currently free for Prime members to view—only through 4/30/13, otherwise $2.99 to rent and $9.99 to buy)
A secret war between cats and dogs quickly peaks as Professor Brody a scientist tries to create a serum to cure dog allergies in humans.
As the unsuspecting humans go through their busy lives, the cats make several attempts to possess the formula, as their canine foes try tirelessly to stop them. Caught in the crossfire, a young beagle named Lou, adopted by the Brody family, tries hard to succeed as a secret agent, and in being a friend to the young Scotty Brody.
An evil snow white cat named Mr. Tinkles is planning to sabotage the efforts of Professor Brody to discover a cure for human allergies to dogs. And he’ll even make every person on Earth allergic to dogs so that he can take over the world with his army of evil cats!
– Written by Anthony Pereyra
The Secret of NIMH (PG, 4/5 stars, closed captions available, currently free for Prime members to view, otherwise $2.99 to rent and $9.99 to buy)
Mrs. Brisby, a widowed mouse, lives in a cinder block with her children on the Fitzgibbon farm. She is preparing to move her family out of the field they live in as plowing time approaches, however her son Timothy has fallen ill, and moving him could prove fatal…
…she learns that her late husband, Mr. Jonathon Brisby, along with the rats, was a part of a series of experiments at a place known only as N.I.M.H. (revealed earlier in the story as the National Institute of Mental Health). The experiments performed on the mice and rats there boosted their intelligence…
…The rats and Mr. Brisby escaped from N.I.M.H. and came to live on the Fitzgibbon farm. The rats created a home for themselves under Mrs. Fitzgibbon’s rose bush, creating an elaborate habitation of beautiful chambers, elevators, and Christmas lights. …Because of her husband’s prior relationship with the rats, they agree to help Mrs. Brisby move her home out of the path of the plow…However, the [plans of the] evil Jenner and his unwilling accomplice Sullivan, who wish to remain beneath the rose bush, [may ruin everything]
– Written by Miss Victoria