Last fall, I was writing a review for a new Hallmark release called The Cases of Mystery Lane: Death Is Listening. I loved how weirdly fun and funny it was. I also came to the realization that my kids should have been watching it with me. The movie aired on Hallmark Mystery, an offshoot of the Hallmark Channel, and it made me realize that these networks are honestly showing some of the best family movies out there. Yet, I don’t think most parents looking for PG-rated entertainment consider Hallmark when scrolling for new stuff to watch with their kids.
It’s true that Hallmark is pigeonholed as a “cozy romance” brand — I’ve watched dozens upon dozens of Hallmark movies and a majority of them do fall into that category — but the company also produces great mystery-adventure movies. They’re perfect for kids who might be too young for more intense viewing.
Hallmark is famous for the unspoken rule that its films don’t include sex, drugs, politics or violence, and while that can lead to an occasionally bland movie or one that’s too cheerful for its own good, it also ensures that there’s nothing in there you wouldn’t want your kids to see or hear. No swears, no tearing other people down, no bad behavior — even when characters are in peril, the situations aren’t frightening and are always resolved by the next commercial break. As someone who exists on food, water and sarcasm, I can find the lack of cynicism in most Hallmark films to be jarring. But there’s nothing wrong with the next generation growing up without snark, I guess.
The Cases of Mystery Lane: Death Is Listening was a genuinely funny take on a serialized mystery, like Murder, She Wrote, but with even lower stakes and a higher quirky quotient. Death Is Listening is the second Cases of Mystery Lane movie, and it stars two of Hallmark’s regular actors, Paul Campbell and Aimee Garcia, as a husband and wife team — whose last name is Case, and they live on Mystery Lane — who are amateur sleuths who love to investigate local crimes. Unlike some Hallmark fare, this movie was filled with jokes and silliness, not always a given in all Hallmark movies, in addition to an actually fun mystery plot.
Paul Campbell and Aimee Garcia in The Cases of Mystery Lane: Death is Listening.
There are a lot more films like this one that make for great family viewing, too. I enjoyed the Mystery Island series, about a murder-mystery party on a private island where someone really does end up dead, and The Christmas Quest, a holiday adventure movie starring Hallmark queen Lacey Chabert. She plays an archaeologist in possession of a map that leads to a treasure that her mother spent her life trying to find.
Sure, these sound familiar, a little too Knives Out: Glass Onion or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, respectively, but that’s just it: If your kids are too young for the intensity, language or plot of a theatrical release like those, Hallmark has toned them down so they’re a suitable — and still fun — knockoff version that’s appropriate for all ages. (A few other favorites that are great fun for kids and are all currently streaming on Hallmark Plus and Hoopla: The Santa Class, Holiday Crashers, Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story and Sisterhood, Inc. While this is a purely subjective list, I have perfect taste in movies, so I can and should be trusted.)
I’ve spent hours of my life scrolling through platforms like Netflix and Disney Plus looking for something my kids might like (that I can also tolerate). While there’s a lot of great kids’ TV out there, movies can sometimes be harder to gauge. Older stuff can contain problematic content that maybe you don’t want to have to turn into a teachable moment, and some stuff is just too mature for younger kids. There are all kinds of reasons why a movie might not be appropriate or ideal for your family, but as a general rule, there’s not much to be offended by when it comes to Hallmark. Yeah, sometimes the term “Hallmark movie” comes with a stigma or preconceived notions — I get it, but trust me on this one. The suggestions on this list might change your mind and give you something your whole family can enjoy.
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