7 Best Road Trip Movies for the Whole Family
Whether you’re looking for road trip ideas or wanting to explore the world without leaving your couch, we have 7 best road trip movies that will provide amusement, entertainment, and perhaps life lessons as well.
1. Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey
Based on the book The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford, the movie Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey tells the story of three pets journeying from the Canadian wilderness to San Francisco, a
distance of 300 miles.
The movie starts by showing three kids saying goodbye to their beloved pets, two dogs, and a cat. The children were being uprooted after their mom remarried and were not allowed to bring their pets to their new home in San Francisco. It’s a story about overcoming obstacles, loyalty, and love. Besides presenting a family-friendly story, Homeward Bound takes you to the beautiful backcountry in North America - from the mountains and waterfalls to the rivers and woods.
2. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
If you like classic musicals and fantasy movies, this film is for you. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang tells the story of Caractacus Potts and his family traveling in their magical flying car to the kingdom of Vulgaria.
You won’t find the
driving distance to Vulgaria using our driving calculator. Still, you would have an idea of where to go on your next family road trip - to Disney World in Orlando, where you can make your fantasies into realities. From Twilight Zone Tower of Terror in Hollywood Studios to Journey Into the Imagination with Pigment in Epcot, there are many magical moments you can recreate at Disney.
3. Green Book
A true story comes alive in the movie Green Book, about an interracial friendship between an African American classical pianist and his Italian American driver/bouncer on a road trip from New York City to the deep south in the 60s. “Doc” Don Shirley, the pianist, hired Tony “Tony Lip” Vallelonga for his eight-week concert tour through 11 states from New York City.
Starting in New York City the pair stopped at the following places: Pittsburgh, Hanover (Indiana), Cedar Rapids (Iowa), Louisville (Kentucky), Raleigh (North Carolina), Macon (Georgia), Memphis (Tennessee), Little Rock (Arkansas), New Orleans (Louisiana) and
Birmingham (Alabama).
4. College Road Trip
Parents with college-bound kids will relate to this movie. College Road Trip shows James Porter, a protective parent insisting on driving his daughter Melanie from
Chicago to Washington DC, to check out colleges. Melanie, on the other hand, wanted a girls-only road trip to the nation’s capital.
An entertaining family movie that will make you laugh and possibly identify either with the father or daughter in some of the scenes too.
5. National Lampoon’s Vacation
National Lampoon’s Vacation shows a man’s effort in driving his wife and children from Chicago to Southern California’s Wally World for the most-anticipated family vacation. Instead of driving a reliable car as planned, they set off on the road trip in their old station wagon, and things didn’t work out as expected.
This hilarious road trip movie will remind you to be prepared before your next road trip. Read
10 Ways to Make your Road Trip Hassle-Free.
6. Little Miss Sunshine
“That family that travels together stays together” rings true for the Hoovers, a family of six traveling on a road trip from Albuquerque to Redondo Beach in the vintage yellow VW bus. The characters in the movie are Olive, the 7-year-old aspiring beauty queen, Dwayne, a teenager dreaming of becoming a fighter pilot and Sheryl, Olive, and Dwayne’s mom. Sheryl’s husband, Robert, is a struggling motivational speaker and life coach. The family of four lives in Albuquerque with their temporary residents, Sheryl’s suicidal and gay brother Frank and Richard’s father, Edwin. Edwin was caught snorting heroin and evicted from the retirement home.
Watch the movie, follow their travels, and see how they sorted out the challenges on the over
800 miles journey.
7. Interstate 60: Episodes on the Road
Granted only one wish by a mystical figure or rather fairy-godfather, Neil Oliver goes on a road trip on Interstate 60 in search of love and life answers. This modern-day fairy-tale movie takes you on a journey to a road that doesn’t exist - to a fantasy world.
