12 items
Disney sold you a Narnia fantasy, and you got your heart broken instead. Bridge to Terabithia arrived in theaters February 2007 with trailers promising whimsy, woods adventures, and an imaginary kingdom. The film lied—or rather, Hollywood lied for it—and a generation of kids learned that sometimes the magical ending is grief.
A family facing hardship gets sent on vacation while a crew of designers completely rebuilds their house into a dream home — then comes the reveal, a crowd gathers, and the chant erupts: "Bus driver, move that bus!" This was comfort-food television at its warmest, the feel-good juggernaut of the 2000s.
A puzzle-box novel that shouldn't have worked, a film adaptation that shouldn't have worked, and somehow both did. Louis Sachar's Holes won the 1998 National Book Award and the 1999 Newbery Medal — then became an honest-to-god good movie.
Left at a ranch while their family is away — and convinced they've been abandoned — two dogs and a cat set out across the wilderness to get home. Chance, the reckless young American Bulldog; Sassy, the imperious Himalayan cat; and Shadow, the wise old Golden Retriever, against the Sierras. Disney's remake of its own 1963 classic earns every tear it takes from you.
Four spoiled zoo animals, one island, and a lemur king ordering everyone to move it, move it. Madagascar arrived on May 27, 2005, as a DreamWorks bet on pure silliness that landed with kids and never quite left.
Robin Williams, four hours in the makeup chair every morning, running through a restaurant quick-change like his life depended on it. The film that proved you could make a comedy about a family falling apart and still have it be genuinely touching—a rare balance the 90s got right, and a comfort object ever since.
Ben Stiller takes the night-guard job at the American Museum of Natural History and discovers the exhibits come alive after dark — Robin Williams as a chatty Teddy Roosevelt, a tiny cowboy named Jedediah, and a premise so charming the real museum's holiday attendance jumped by about 50,000 visitors.
The loudest kitchen table on television. Roseanne Barr and John Goodman as Dan and Roseanne Conner, working double shifts in Lanford, Illinois and trading wisecracks about bills, kids, and each other — the sitcom that made a struggling blue-collar family the biggest thing in prime time.
Jo Frost stepping out of a black London cab in a tailored suit, ready to fix your family. Supernanny made the "naughty step" a household phrase, turned toddler meltdowns into primetime television, and gave every 2000s kid the ambient fear that one bad tantrum could summon her.
![Video thumbnail — The Incredibles - Official® Trailer [HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ixKqYNMqcnE/maxresdefault.jpg)
Pixar's 2004 superhero film about a family forced to hide their powers in suburban normalcy — Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, and their kids Violet, Dash, and baby Jack-Jack. They're drawn out of retirement to battle the villain Syndrome, and the film balances family comedy with genuine action and heart. The Academy Award–winning film proved animation could deliver both laughs and thrills.
Two families — usually polar opposites — traded moms for two weeks, with a rules-change ceremony in the middle and an excruciating reunion table at the end. The appeal was simple and irresistible: watch how other people live, then decide whether your own house was really so bad.
CompuServe's last-ditch answer to AOL — a brightly colored, family-friendly online service with a cartoon interface and unlimited hours for $17.95 a month. It crashed and burned in less than a year, but if you had it, you never forgot it.