Movie Featuring Gifted Kids (and Adults!)

It's nice to sit down and watch a family movie together, and especially nice to find movies feature gifted children or individuals in a positive light. But sometimes those movies are as hard to find as other kids like ours, so here is a list to get you started. 

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Fostering the social and emotional development of gifted children through guided viewing of film by Thomas P. Hébert and Kristie L. Speirs Neumeister

The authors propose guided viewing of film as a strategy through which teachers and counselors may assist young gifted students in gaining helpful insights to deal with problems they face. This article presents a theoretical foundation for this approach, a variety of strategies for implementation, and a collection of films appropriate for use with gifted students...
 

Heartland Truly Moving Pictures

Heartland Truly Moving Pictures, a non-profit organization, recognizes and honors filmmakers whose work explores the human journey by expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life.  A great place to find great films for the whole family!  Also check out Heartland's F.I.L.M. (Finding Inspiration in Literature and Movies) project.  Movies featured here include downloadable project guides, encouraging viewers to read the book, watch the movie, and experience the adventure!  Over a dozen F.I.L.M. projects are available so far, including Ratatouille, Charlotte's Web, Amazing Grace, Nancy Drew, August Rush and more...

 

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai (PG)

Peter Weller stars as Buckaroo, an acclaimed neurosurgeon, particle physicist, and, of course, rock star. He travels with the Hong Kong Cavaliers, a band of hard-rocking scientists who are also really good dressers. Buckaroo's interdimensional experiments with his Operation Overthruster throw him (and the Earth) straight into the middle of an alien war, and before you know it, he's got just a few hours to save the world. Confused? Hang on (old cult film, clearly PG protagonist, lots of great actors)
 

Akeelah and the Bee or VHS (PG)

An 11 year old African American girl tries to hide her intelligence in order to fit with her classmates and inner city neighborhood. Things change dramatically when she wins a school spelling bee and begins studying for the Scripps national bee...
 

Amazing Grace and Chuck (VHS only) (PG)

A 12-year-old Little League whiz decides to stop playing baseball until the world agrees to complete nuclear disarmament... and soon, other athletes around the world follow suit, as the protest escalates
 

Angus (PG-13)

An under-appreciated gem (coarse adolescent language)
 

August Rush or UnBox Download (PG)

Cared for by a mysterious stranger who gives him the name August Rush, a child uses his remarkable musical talent to seek the parents from whom he was separated at birth...
 

Beauty and the Beast or VHS (G)

A young woman who loves to read, and doesn't accept the common picture of acceptable society (Disney)
 

Billy Elliot or VHS (R)

Billy's got problems. His dad has scraped together the fees to send him to boxing lessons, but Billy has discovered a different aptitude: a genius for ballet dancing. Since admitting to such an activity is tantamount, in this fiercely macho culture, is very bad, Billy keeps it quiet. But his teacher, Mrs. Wilkinson, thinks he should audition for ballet school in London...
 

Black

An Indian movie based on the life and struggles of a little girl extremely bright and intelligent but deaf and blind. Its her journey into the world of knowledge (very intense at times)
 

The Black Cauldron or VHS (PG)

Hidden by darkness. Guarded by witches. Discovered by a boy. Stolen by a king. Whoever owns it will rule the world. Or destroy it.
 

Bridge to Terabithia (PG)

Film version of Katherine Paterson's award-winning novel Bridge to Terabithia (emotionally intense for sensitive young kids)
 

A Bug's Life or VHS (G)

On behalf of "oppressed bugs everywhere" an inventive ant named Flik hires "warrior bugs" to defend his colony from a horde of freeloading grasshoppers, led by Hopper. But when Flik's cavalry turns out to be a ragtag group of flea circus performers, the stage is set for comic confusion ... as well as unlikely heroes! (Disney & Pixar)
 

Cold Comfort Farm or VHS (PG)

This hilarious spoof on British costume dramas based on great literature stars Kate Beckinsale as a strong-willed, young woman named Miss Flora Poste, who finds herself orphaned and without means in the 1930s. Moving in with some half-savage relatives on a country farm, Flora is hardly daunted by their primitivism, but instead takes charge and imposes hygiene, order, and good manners on the dirty, superstitious lot...
 

Charlotte's Web or Widescreen (PG)

Beautiful production of E. B. White's classic farmyard tale .  Great to watch the movie and read the book...
 

Clay Marzo: Just Add Water  (NR)

Have you ever loved something to the point that it becomes what you live for? Meet Clay Marzo whose passion for surfing is so pure it defies description. Take a visually stunning and emotionally powerful journey through his life...
 

Contact or VHS (PG)

A radio astronomer (Jodie Foster) discovers an alien signal that contains plans for building a transport device to another world
 

Dead Poets Society or VHS (PG)

English professor John Keating (Robin Williams) inspires his students to a love of poetry and to seize the day. A compelling warning in it to parents who don't respect their children's gifts.
 

Elizabeth or VHS (R)

The daughter of Henry VIII becomes the Queen of England (Cate Blanchett) and must deal with various forces of betrayal and conspiracy that threaten her and the throne
 

Empire of the Sun or VHS (PG-13)

12 year old Jim who survives on his own wits and intelligence during the downfall of China during WWII
 

Ever After or VHS (PG)

Take away the Fairy Godmother, and what have you got left from the Cinderella fable? The story of a girl for whom a bad stroke of luck is no match for her internal strength and purity of heart. A romantic drama that purports to tell the "facts" behind the Grimm brothers' story... (Drew Barrymore, Anjelica Huston)
 

Explorers or VHS (PG)

An alien race, determined to make contact with earthlings, feeds some unsuspecting individuals the blueprints for space travel. The three kids in Explorers make their intergalactic trip in crystalline blue Flubber...
 

Ferris Bueller's Day Off or VHS (PG-13)

Unschooling for gifted teenagers... (Matthew Broderick)
 

Finding Forrester or VHS (PG-13)

On a dare, Jamal sneaks into Forrester's musty sanctuary, and what might have been a condescending cliché--homeboy rescued by wiser white mentor--turns into an inspiring meeting of minds, with mutual respect and intelligence erasing boundaries of culture and generation
 

Finding Neverland (FS) or DVD (WS) or VHS (PG)

Playwright J. M. Barrie finds inspiration for his greatest creation from four lively boys, the sons of widow Sylvia Llewelyn Davies. Though the friendship threatens his already dwindling marriage, Barrie spends endless hours with the boys, pretending to be pirates or Indians--and gradually the elements of Peter Pan take shape in his mind...
 

Fly Away Home or VHS (PG)

A teenager becomes "mother" to a flock of geese and then must learn to fly to lead them on their migration to the south
 

Gattaca or VHS (PG-13)

A genetically inferior man tries to pose as a perfect human being in a future where a person's genetic makeup determines their social class and future
 

Good Will Hunting or VHS (R)

A therapist (Robin Williams) tries to help a brilliant, but troubled young man (Matt Damon) overcome his personal problems and realize his potential (crude language)
 

Harriet the Spy or VHS (PG)

An 11-year-old wannabe journalist (Michelle Trachtenberg) who writes all her observations about friends in a diary. When the book is stolen and read by her peers...
 

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (FS) or DVD (WS) or VHS (PG)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (FS) or DVD (WS) or VHS (PG)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (FS) or DVD (WS) or VHS (PG)

Adapted from the wildly popular books by J.K. Rowling, stunningly brings to life Harry Potter's world of Hogwarts, the school for young witches and wizards...
 

High School Musical or Audio CD (PG)

While on a family New Year's vacation, shy brainiac Gabriella meets high-school basketball star Troy. During a karaoke contest at the teen party, they discover their love for singing... and an interest in each other. But will they be able to break out of their "expected" cliques and discover new interests and talents within themselves?
 

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (WS)  (PG)

Don't panic! Everyman Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) wakes up one morning to discover that his house is set to be demolished to make room for a bypass. Little does he know the entire planet Earth is also set to be destroyed for an interplanetary bypass by the Vogons, a hideous and bureaucratic race of aliens... (fun cult film)
 

Holes or VHS (PG)

A great movie about team work and honoring differences, friendship, tolerance and justice...
 

The Incredibles (FS) or DVD (WS) or VHS (PG)

A family of "supers," a brood of five with special powers are desperately trying to fit in with the 9-to-5 suburban lifestyle. Of course, in a more innocent world, Bob and Helen Parr were superheroes, Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl. But blasted lawsuits and public disapproval forced them and other supers to go incognito, making it even tougher for their school-age kids, the shy Violet and the aptly named Dash... (Disney & Pixar)
 

Infinity or VHS (PG)

Story of the early life of genius and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman (Matthew Broderick)
 

An Innocent Love

Made for TV-movie about the early entrance program (EEP) at the University of Washington
 

The Iron Giant or VHS (PG)

Hogarth, a young boy, befriends a giant robot. The iron giant is a misunderstood outsider who becomes a child's best friend, and Hogarth does his best to hide the massive figure from his mom and the local scrap-yard beatnik (animated)
 

Kiki's Delivery Service or VHS (G)

Japanese anime. A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service
Disney has acquired the rights for 20 of the films by director Hayao Miyazaki and will be releasing them on video through their Buena Vista label. Disney can do whatever they want with the soundtrack. So, they have used "big name" voices, but the gorgeous animation is unaltered.  Titles include:
Spirited Away or VHS

Princess Mononoke (DVD only)

Castle in the Sky or VHS

The Castle of Cagliostro or VHS

My Neighbor Totoro or VHS
 

The Last Starfighter or VHS (PG)

A video-gaming boy, seemingly doomed to stay at his trailer park home all his life, finds himself recruited as a gunner for an alien defense force
 

Little Buddha or VHS (PG)

A perfect introduction to Buddhism for anyone with his child's eye still intact. Where the film really succeeds is showing the nature of impermanence
 

Little Man Tate or VHS (PG)

The difference is the little boy is human, and not just a brain. He worries about people dying, envies the popular athletic boy, all the while plays music in competition form and forms math problems in his head
 

A Little Romance or VHS (PG)

A young girl is studying in France and meets a street wise kid; a movie about the innocence of childhood loves
 

Matilda or VHS (PG)

Based on the Roald Dahl classic book; cursed with a cretinous family and a witch of a school principal, a bright young girl (Mara Wilson) learns self-reliance--and develops unusual powers
 

Ma Vie en Rose or VHS (R)

An innocent little boy, Ludovic (Georges Du Fresne), who wants to be a girl. Convinced that he's the product of misplaced chromosomes, he sets about righting the mistake... Language: French 
 

Mean Girls (PG-13)

Based on Queen Bees and Wannabes, it's funny, but right on target and a great starting point for conversations with our daughters...
 

The Mighty or VHS (PG)

A presumably dimwitted giant of a seventh-grader and an intelligent, but diminutive boy suffering from a degenerative disease combine their best assets to forge a friendship that allows them to cope with the world in which they live
 

Mr. Holland's Opus or VHS (PG)

Being a true musician is about leaving your legacy for future generations, and by inspiring his students, Mr. Holland is ensuring that his passion will live forever, through them
 

My Father's Glory (DVD only) (G)

Language: French. "My Father's Glory," and its sequel "My Mother's Castle," tell the story of a young boy’s "wonder years" growing up in a family with an adored father, a lovely but frail mother, and assorted eccentric relatives and friends
 

My Left Foot or VHS (R)

Don't feel sorry for this character! 
 

My Neighbor Totoro or VHS (G)

Japanese anime. See Kiki's Delivery Service
 

October Sky or VHS (PG)

A West Virginia teenager hopes to break free from his predetermined coal miner's life by winning a national science fair competition with his rocket building designs
 

The Power of One or VHS (PG-13)

The theme is Apartheid and personal responsibility
 

The Princess Bride or VHS (PG)

Gently satirical, hyperbolic spin on swashbuckled adventure...
 

Pump Up the Volume or VHS (R)

Definitely highly gifted, frustrated high school student, embarrassingly accurate portrayals of school officials. (crude language and behavior, brief partial nudity)
 

Rain Main or VHS (R)

Raymond, an autistic savant whose late father has left him $3 million in a trust. This gets the attention of his materialistic younger brother, a hot-shot LA car dealer named Charlie.  Charlie picks up Raymond and takes him on a cross-country journey that becomes a voyage of discovery for Charlie, and, perhaps, for Raymond, too (a different kind of gifted, but gifted none the less...)
 

Real Genius or VHS (PG)

The freshman year of a nerdy kid who enters college at a young age, with a subplot involving computers and military secrets
 

Reduced Shakespeare Company DVDs...

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged with the help of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, not only can you catch all of Shakespeare's plays at once, but you can have a riotous good time doing so.  Three men performing 37 plays in less than two hours may seem a bit of a stretch...
The Complete Word of God, Abridged the hilarious interpretations, the tongue-in-cheek humor, and the jokes that you have to know about to understand, this is a must-have for anybody with even the slightest sense of humor and self...z
The Reduced Shakespeare Company Christmas  Chase those Yuletide blues away with this hilarious spoof of Hanukkah, Kwanza, and an obscure little holiday called Christmas.
 

Remember the Titans or VHS (PG)

Fact-based story begins with the integration of black and white students at T. C. Williams High School. This effort to improve race relations is most keenly felt on the school's football team, the Titans, and bigoted tempers flare when a black head coach is appointed and his victorious predecessor reluctantly stays on as his assistant...
 

Robots (WS) or full screen or VHS (R)

Even in a world populated entirely by mechanical beings Rodney Copperbottom (McGregor) is considered a genius inventor. Rodney dreams of two things, making the world a better place and meeting his idol, the master inventor Bigweld...
 

Rushmore or VHS (R)

The story of Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman ), a 10th grader at Rushmore Academy, editor of the school newspaper and yearbook; president of the French club, German club, chess club, and astronomy club; captain of the fencing and debate teams; founder of the Double-Team Dodgeball Society; and director of the Max Fischer Players, for whom he writes and produces plays about police corruption, inner-city violence, and war. He is applying for early admission to Oxford. (Harvard is his safety.) He is also one of the worst students in the school and has been placed on sudden-death academic probation
 

RV or full screen (PG)

Stereotypes turned upside down.  Robin Williams stars as a man who's been working too hard and hasn't been spending much time with his family. Ostensibly as an attempt to bring everybody together, he cancels their planned Hawaii vacation and instead rents an RV and takes them to Colorado...
 

Searching for Bobby Fischer or VHS (PG)

The chess prodigy (Max Pomeranc) who refuses to become ruthless despite the prodding of his father (Joe Mantegna) and his surrogate-father / chess champion (Ben Kingsley)
 

The Secret of Roan Inish or VHS (PG)

Quiet story about a girl, her grandparents, and legend. The story belongs in Ireland and makes you want to go and capture a bit of the magic it spins
 

The Shaggy Dog or VHS (PG-13)

Family friendly old film that deals in good part with the travails of an under-achieving over-achiever... (note: this is the original)
 

Short Circuit or VHS (PG)

Number 5 of a group of experimental robots in a lab is electrocuted, suddenly becomes intelligent, and escapes
 

Sky High or Widescreen (PG)

Young Will Stronghold, the son of the Commander and Jetstream, tries to find a balance between being a normal teenager and an extraordinary being...
 

Snow Cake (unrated, teen or adult)

(Alan Rickman) Alex, a morose, laconic ex-con just released from prison. A tragic twist of fate brings him to a Canadian small town and the doorstep of Linda, a functional autistic woman with a decidedly anti-social personality. (Sigourney Weaver) Linda is a wonder in a fiercely committed, vanity-free performance. "I don't like normal people," Linda states...
 

Spellbound or VHS (G)

Follows eight teenagers on their quest to win the 1999 National Spelling Bee...
 

Stand and Deliver or VHS (PG)

A dedicated teacher inspires his dropout prone students to learn calculus to build up their self-esteem, and they do so well that they are accused of cheating
 

The Tic Code or VHS (R)

A musically gifted child with Tourette's. Either must-see or must-avoid for the family of gifted kids with Tourette's Syndrome - parents preview recommended, teens only
 

Truman or VHS (PG)

From his roots as a Missouri farmer to his tenure in the White House, and as the man who made the decision to drop the first atomic bomb, this HBO production traces the storied career of U.S. President Harry S. Truman (some war footage)
 

UHF (PG-13)

"Weird Al" Yankovic stars in this comedy about an offbeat guy who turns a deadbeat TV station into a raging success! Broadcasting Weird Al's uniquely strange brand of humor, UHF's Channel 62 is a place you'll want to visit...with increasing frequency!
 

Vitus or UnBox Download (PG)

Young Vitus is a virtual genius and a prodigy at the piano. From an early age, his parents push him to succeed and live up to their ambitions for him. But as Vitus grows older, he decides on a different path, one that leads to an ordinary childhood. This heartfelt tale won the Swiss Film Prize for Best Film of 2007
 

War Games or VHS (PG)

A young man (Matthew Broderick) finds a back door into a military central computer in which reality is confused with game-playing, possibly starting World War III
 

Whalerider or VHS (PG-13)

One of the most charming and critically acclaimed films of 2003, the New Zealand hit Whale Rider effectively combines Maori tribal tradition with the timely "girl power" of a vibrant new millennium. Despite the discouragement of her gruff and disapproving grandfather (Rawiri Paratene), who nearly disowns her because she is female and therefore traditionally disqualified from tribal leadership, 12-year-old Pai (Keisha Castle-Hughes) is convinced that she is a tribal leader, and sets about to prove it...
 

What t?e ßleep D? ?S (?)pow!? or VHS (R)

Science and spirituality come together in this mind-bending trip down the rabbit hole. The unlikeliest cult hit of 2004, a lecture on mysticism and science mixed into a sort-of narrative...
 

Willow or VHS (PG)

Willow attempts to save the world from evil by protecting a baby. Not about a child, per se, but about the development of gifts and self
 

Word Wars - Tiles and Tribulations on the Scrabble Game Circuit (unrated documentary, some language)

Follow four "word nerds" through their fastidious preparations and smaller tournaments that lead to the national championship Scrabble tournament in San Diego in 2002. These men are highly motivated (obsessed, even) and are not above uttering a few four-letter words when the going gets tough...
 

Young Einstein or VHS (PG) 

A tender coming of age story... (comedy!)
 

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