Whether it’s rainy outside and you’re snuggled up watching a DVD, or it’s hours on a long flight that you’re trying to pass, nothing beats a feel-good movie. We’re talking films that make us cry every time we watch them, even if it’s for the 37th time, scenes we used to act out as kids and stories we fantasized would happen to us.
MORE: 11 Classic Movies That Celebrate Friendship
Read on, then fire up your Netflix or hit the video store for hours of feel-good fun.
1. THE LION KING
MAKING US SMILE SINCE: 1994
FEEL-GOOD MOMENT: Simba and his childhood friend Nala haven’t seen each other for years, as Simba fled the pride riddled with guilt over his father’s death. Nala stumbles upon Simba and his happy friends Timon and Pumbaa while she’s out hunting. We love Simba and Nala’s reunion scene, to the beautiful “Can you feel the love tonight.”
LINE THAT MAKES THE MOVIE: “Hakuna matata – what a wonderful phrase!”
2. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
MAKING US SMILE SINCE: 2008
FEEL-GOOD MOMENT: The ending scene wins this one, hands down. After years of floating in and out of each other’s lives, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse, Jamal and Latika finally meet at the train station. What follows, as the movie credits are rolling, is an uplifting, toe-tapping, Bollywood-style dance scene.
LINE THAT MAKES THE MOVIE: “I’ll wait for you at the train station every day at five.”
3. SHREK
MAKING US SMILE SINCE: 2001
FEEL-GOOD MOMENT: Again, the ending takes the cake here. Our protagonist Shrek, a bitter and angry ogre, manages to show his vulnerability and fall in love with Princess Fiona. In the dramatic final scene he bursts into her wedding, her evil fiancé is swallowed up, and she kisses Shrek, which breaks “true love’s spell” and turns her into an ogre just like Shrek. And they live happily ever after, of course!
LINE THAT MAKES THE MOVIE: “For your information, there’s a lot more to ogres than people think.”
4. MARY POPPINS
MAKING US SMILE SINCE: Way back in 1964
FEEL-GOOD MOMENT: It’s a toss-up between Mary Poppins’ first visit to the nursery, when she sings “A Spoonful of Sugar” while cleaning up with the click of a finger, and her colorful “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” number at the horserace. In both scenes, Mary cheers up the children – Jane and Michael – in her own special Mary Poppins way.
LINE THAT MAKES THE MOVIE: “Never judge things by their appearance… even carpetbags. I’m sure I never do.”
5. FORREST GUMP
MAKING US SMILE SINCE: 1994
FEEL-GOOD MOMENT: Our favorite scene is when Forrest finds out he has a son with his long-time love interest, Jenny. The most heart-wrenching moment is when he asks if his son, also called Forrest, is “smart” – showing understanding of his own limited intelligence. Just beautiful.
LINE THAT MAKES THE MOVIE: “Life’s like a box of chocolates – you never know what you’re gonna get.”
6. FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF
MAKING US SMILE SINCE: 1986
FEEL-GOOD MOMENT: After various complicated plots to get himself, his friend and his girlfriend off school for the day, Ferris joins a Chicago parade, lip-syncing to The Beatles’ Twist and Shout. Another toe-tapping, big-scale scene that makes the movie.
LINE THAT MAKES THE MOVIE: “The question isn’t “what are we going to do,” the question is “what aren’t we going to do?”
7. PRETTY WOMAN
MAKING US SMILE SINCE: 1990
FEEL-GOOD MOMENT: While this movie is packed with feel-good moments, the prize goes to the end scene yet again. Vivian and Edward have said goodbye and gone their separate ways, though both are gloomy and already missing each other. At the last minute, Edward ends up making a big, romantic scene, coming honking down Vivian’s streets minutes before she’s about to leave the house, blasting classical music and waving flowers from the sunroof of his limousine. Vivian comes out to the balcony, Edward climbs up the fire escape… and the rest is history.
LINE THAT MAKES THE MOVIE: “Impossible relationships. My special gift is impossible relationships.”
