Academy Award for Best Picture winners are often considered the greatest movies of all time. People watch these movies over and over again, because they are that good.
Many people would agree that choosing a good movie is harder than choosing a bad movie. A bad movie is easily recognized, but a good movie is something that takes time to discern.
Academy Award for Best Picture winning films range in genre and style, but they all have one thing in common: They are not G-rated.
There have been several Academy Award for Best Picture winners that were R-rated, or restricted, meaning only adults over the age of 18 can view it. These films contain content such as strong language or violence that make it inappropriate for younger viewers.
However, there has only been one film that was G-rated and won the Oscar for Best Picture. This film was The English Patient, which won in 1997.
Toy Story
In 1995, the first Toy Story movie was released, and it was an instant hit. Not only was it a box office success, but it received many awards, including Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Feature Animation.
Along with being a popular movie, the Toy Story franchise has tons of merchandise available for purchase. From clothes to toys to purses, you can find a variety of accessories featuring your favorite characters.
Since the first movie in the series, there have been two sequels: Toy Story 2 (1999) and Toy Story 3 (2010). A short film titled “Small Fry” was released in 2008 and followed a young fish trying to get his father’s attention. It was very well-received and got over nine million views on YouTube.
All three movies feature different characters as the main protagonists, but all three are centered around friendship and family-like bonds. These themes are very evident throughout all three movies.
Amadeus
In 1984, the Academy Awards gave the award for Best Picture to Amadeus. The drama was about the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his struggles with creativity, relationships, and his own ego.
The film takes some creative liberties with its portrayal of certain events in Mozart’s life, most notably his death. While it is unclear what caused his death, it is suspected that he had syphilis, a sexually transmitted infection.
This movie is one of the few G-rated films to win the award for Best Picture. Although many people enjoy this film, it features some heavy themes including mental illness and sexual identity. These are things many people struggle with but do not always talk about. This movie brings these issues to light in a way that is entertaining.
1984
The first Best Picture winner was awarded to Gone with the Wind. While this film is iconic and many people consider it the greatest movie of all time, it is not a family-friendly film.
There is a lot of sexual content, violence, and language in this movie that would not make it G-rated. Even if you edited out some of the more graphic content, it would not be family-friendly.
The Golden Globe Award for Best Picture has been given to both dramas and comedies. While there are some that are more family-friendly than others, none of them are G-rated. The same goes for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film. None of these films are G-rated either.
The only movie to win an Academy Award for Best Picture and be G-rated is Schindler’s List.
Ingmar Bergman
In 1994, the Academy Awards introduced a new category: Best Foreign Language Film. This was in response to the lack of foreign films being nominated for Best Picture.
In order to be eligible for the award, a film has to be non-American. This is due to the Academy Awards only considering films that are shown in American theaters when deciding which films are best.
Since the award was created in 1994, only five movies that won have been foreign. The first winner of the award was Indochine, a French film. Other winners include Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Life Is Beautiful; Il Postino: The Postman; and Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India.
Mary Poppins
The only other G-rated movie to win the Academy Award for Best Picture was Mary Poppins in 1964. Like Gigi, Mary Poppins is also based on a book.
Interestingly, one of the writers for Mary Poppins was Julian Fellowes, who went on to write The Phantom of the Opera and Gosford Park.
Both were nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and won him an Academy Award. He is also the brother-in-law of Kim Basinger! Small world, isn’t it?
Other notable nominees that year were My Fair Lady, Becket, Zorba the Greek, and Flahooley. My Fair Lady ended up taking home the award for Best Picture that year.
The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music is the only popular musical to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. This movie is filled with singing and dancing, love stories, and a message of inspiration.
The Sound of Music was first released in 1965 and then re-released in 1984. Both times, it was rated G. It was not until 1995 that it was rated PG for some mild language.
The Sound of Music has a very simple story line. Liesl, the daughter of the Baroness von Trapp, falls in love with young man named Joachim. They plan to get married, but then World War II breaks out and he goes to fight.
To keep her family safe, she agrees to travel with her sister and their mother to England on a boat. While there, she meets Captain von Trapp and they fall in love and get married.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
In 2005, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was awarded the Academy Award for Best Picture. While this is not the first chocolate movie to win this award, it is the only one that is G-rated.
The film was directed by Tim Burton and stars Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka. The rest of the cast includes Freddie Highmore as Charlie Bucket, David Kelly as Mr. Teavee, Helena Bonham Carter as Violet Beauregarde, among many other characters.
This adaption of the classic children’s novel follows Charlie Bucket on his quest to find a golden ticket that grants entrance to Willy Wonka’s famous chocolate factory. Along with him are many other characters that encounter various challenges within the factory.
Although this movie is not about chocolate specifically, it does contain a lot of references to it. For example, some of the characters are shaped like different types of chocolates and there are various items that resemble different types of confectionary items.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
In 2017, the Academy Awards awarded the Best Picture award to a science fiction movie: Star Wars: The Last Jedi. This makes it the only genre movie to win the highest award for movies.
Star Wars is a long-standing popular film franchise that is loved by many. It has many fans that are loyal and will go see any new film in the series, regardless of how good it is said to be.
Having such strong fans may have helped it win the award, but it was definitely well-made and had great Academy Award worthy acting. The plot was also very engaging and left you wanting more at the end!
If you are not a fan of Star Wars, I would still recommend watching it just to see how well done it is compared to other films in that genre. Even if you are not a fan of movies in general, take a look at how well done this one is.
