Favorite Thanksgiving movies is a topic that is bound to trigger some conversation around the dinner table – but let’s admit it. If you are looking for a safe topic to focus on, this is a good one to offer up! If you are lucky enough to find consensus then watching a movie after dessert might be an appealing way to finish off the day. After all, not everyone wants to watch that many football games in a row! Starting the day with the Macy’s Day Parade and finishing with the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving movie may even make the children in the family feel special!
Cartoon Thanksgiving Movies
There are lots of things to do for the Thanksgiving holidays like taking a walk on the canal, going to the National Art Gallery or watching the Washington Ballet’s annual Nutcracker. If it is a cold and rainy day on Thanksgiving, a walk on the canal may not be an option so then what do you do? Check out some of these very kid friendly movies!
Free Birds (2013) This action-packed cartoon comedy deserves a place on the list of favorite Thanksgiving movies for kids! Free Birds follows Reggie, a turkey pardoned by the U.S. president living out his days at Camp David eating pizza and watching Mexican telenovelas. His life is upended when Jake, a member of the Turkey Freedom Front, whisks him away to 1621. Reggie’s mission: take turkeys off the Thanksgiving menu. Owen Wilson voices Reggie, Woody Harrelson is Jake, Amy Poehler is Jenny (Reggie’s love interest) and George Takei is the time machine. Prime Video
Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving (1973) This is one of my favorite Thanksgiving movies of all time. This 25-minute animated film tugs on our heartstrings the way only a true classic can. Watch Charlie Brown learn the meaning of Thanksgiving the rest of the Peanuts gang. (Fun fact: It’s the only Peanuts TV special that wasn’t inspired by the comic strip.) Jimmy Ahrens, Todd Barbee and Christopher DeFaria star with Bill Melendez and Phil Roman as co-directors. This is currently available on Apple TV.
Turkey Hollow (Jim Henson) (2015) When the Emmerson family visits Turkey Hollow, a mysterious off-the-grid town, they attempt to track down the town’s elusive legend: the ten-foot Howling Hoodoo. Kids Tim (Graham Verchere) and Annie (Genevieve Buechner) also stumble into the plot of their eccentric aunt’s scheming neighbor, Eldridge Slump (Linden Banks) and his farmhands, which involves illegal turkey activities and a plan to steal their aunt’s farm. Prime Video
Favorite Thanksgiving Movies – Family Focused
Home for the Holidays With a stacked cast of celebrities, including young Robert Downey Jr. and Dylan McDermott, this Jodie Foster movie will make you feel better about your own family’s dysfunction. Claudia Larson starts the holidays unemployed, having been fired for…kissing her boss. What follows is a slew of misunderstandings: Her brother’s supposed new boyfriend, an aunt with dementia, a dropped (!) Thanksgiving bird and a secret wedding. Though it didn’t break any box office reccords, Home for the Holidays is now generally considered a cult classic. Look for this on Prime Video.
Miracle on 34th Street (1947) One of my guilty secrets is that I love black and white movies. Show me a Ginger Rogers/Fred Astaire movie and I am one happy camper! Although it has come to be known as a Christmas favorite, Miracle on 34th Street actually opens at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. When a department store Santa Claus claims to be the real thing, a doubtful 6-year-old, Susan (Natalie Wood), discovers that dreams do come true, if you just believe. Aside from going down in the canon as one of the greatest Hollywood classics of all time, Miracle on 34th Street won three Academy Awards. Edmund Gwenn (as Kris Kringle) won Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Valentine Davies for Best Writing, Original Story and George Seaton for Best Writing, Screenplay. It was also nominated for Best Picture but lost to Gentlemen’s Agreement. In 2005, it was added to the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
Trains, Planes and Automobiles (1987) I confess that this is truly another of my favorite Thanksgiving movies – plus I LOVE the house that Steve Martin finally comes home to. This John Hughes-era classic centers on a road trip to Chicago gone terribly wrong. All advertising executive Neal Page (Steve Martin) wants is to get home for Thanksgiving—but poor weather diverts his flight. As he attempts to find a way home, he becomes repeatedly entangled with fellow traveller Del Griffith (John Candy), a shower curtain ring salesman. This very sweet movie will make you appreciate how much easier your trip to Thanksgiving dinner was!
National Lampoon’s Holiday Reunion (2003) If you think your family is dysfunctional, just wait until you watch the Griswolds try to celebrate Thanksgiving. For a non-traditional Thanksgiving, the conservative family travels to Idaho to spend the holidays with their free-spirited relatives, and hilarity ensues as it does with every National Lampoon movie.
Adams Family Values (1993) Not every movie on my list of favorite Thanksgiving movies takes place in November. This sequel picks up right where the original movie left off, with Gomez and Morticia sending their kids to summer camp as recommended by the family’s new nanny, Debbie Jellinsky. Turns out, Debbie has more sinister intentions than looking after the newest Addams addition, Pubert. Instead, she seduces Uncle Fester and schemes for his inheritance. Meanwhile, Wednesday and Pugsley are cast in the camp’s Thanksgiving play, “A Turkey Named Brotherhood.” Of course, neither will stand for that, and with the help of some pyrotechnics and a stolen vehicle, manage to evade their fate.
More Movies for Thanksgiving – Once the Munchkins are Asleep
Friendsgiving (2020) Best friends Molly and Abby plan to spend a low-key Thanksgiving together as the former navigates motherhood and a divorce, while the latter is recovering from a breakup. However, both invite a bevy of guests, including potential lovers, mutual friends, former boyfriends and unexpected family members for a day sure to end in chaos. Malin Åkerman stars as Molly and Kat Dennings as Abby alongside Wanda Sykes, Margaret Cho, Jane Seymour and Chelsea Peretti. This one is rated R on Prime Video.
Grumpy Old Men (1993) I put this one in the after the kids go to be category just because I don’t think they will enjoy it. If you think you’ve dealt with your fair share of frenemy experiences, wait until you watch this classic Thanksgiving movie about two neighbors, John Gustafson (Jack Lemmon) and Max Goldman (Walter Matthau), who feud incessantly. Their feud takes a new direction when English professor Ariel Traux moves to town and has Thanksgiving dinner with their mutual friend, prompting the retirees to compete for her affections. As the stakes get higher, old wounds are revealed that both men will have to face if they’re ever going to live in peace. The film ended up being a surprise 1993 success, earning $80.5 million on its $35 million budget, and went on to spawn Grumpier Old Men.
American Experience:The Pilgrims (2015) Want to brush up on your history? Look no further than American Experience: The Pilgrims, an eye-opening documentary that reveals the story of the “First Thanksgiving” and explains the founding of the first English colony in New England. Look for this on Prime Video
The New World (2005) Keeping with the documentary theme, here is another movie to watch after the little kids go to sleep. As legend goes, the origin of the first Thanksgiving was between English colonists and Native Americans. However, The New World shows the tenser dynamics often glossed over. The movie follows the mythical love story of Captain John Smith (Colin Farrell) and Pocahontas (Q’orianka Kilcher) in the midst of the founding of Virginia’s Jamestown settlement. There’s betrayal and turmoil, politics and passion.
Hollidaysburg (2014) – This may be a movie for the family members home from college to watch as they sort out the return to family and high school friends. Hollidaysburg takes place when a a group of old friends returns home for Thanksgiving break after their first months at college. Tori (Rachel Keller) must process the estrangement between herself and her former best friend, Katie (Kate Boyer). Meanwhile, has-been prom king Scott (Tobin Mitnik) is dumped by his girlfriend, Heather (Clair Chapelli). But, thanks to a chance encounter, he reconnects with an old friend—Tori. Hollidaysburg was one of two films produced via the Starz competition reality show The Chair. You Tube
The Turkey Bowl (2019) Businessman and former high school quarterback Patrick Hodges (Ryan Hansen) gets tricked into returning to his hometown for Thanksgiving weekend. When he arrives expecting a funeral, he learns that his old buddies need his help finishing a football game from 15 years ago, known as “The Turkey Bowl.” As they train, old rivalries—and old romances—step out of the shadows, and Patrick must confront the reason he left his hometown in the first place. R rated on Apple TV.
