While gifts, poems, and wishes might conquer the heart of your mother, Mother’s Day movies will occupy her mind for an hour or two. Since movies have a purpose in mind, only a select few seem to fit the motherly theme. A Mother’s Day movie can touch upon many different themes, from long-lasting friendships to the hardships of motherhood. However, plenty of the best Mother’s Day movies have similar elements.
This type of movie should firstly be heartwarming and somewhat optimistic. When looking for great movies to watch with your mom, it’s hard to beat the 1993 classic Mrs. Doubtfire. The film grabs the heart, pulls all the emotional strings, and highlights the beauty of how powerful of a figure a mother is. However, Away We Go is a mother movie that shows the hardships of motherhood. It explores the struggles that the parents face before the child is even born. Both are some of the best Mother’s Day films you should watch with your mother.
Unlike the best movies we have compiled before, these touch upon the theme of motherhood. So, instead of searching the whole web for them, we have compiled a list below that might be what you are looking for. With so many motherly movies, be sure to upvote the ones that seemed most interesting to you. On the other hand, if you have anything to share about it, do so in the comments below.
#1 Mrs. Doubtfire
1993 | 2h 05m | Directed by Chris Columbus
Starring Robin Williams, Sally Field and Pierce Brosnan
Robin Williams might have portrayed one of the best motherly figures, and this movie proves it. Everybody wants a controlling, nurturing mother figure like Mrs. Doubtfire. This timeless comedy demonstrates that anybody with a large heart and some comedic skills can play a brilliant mother.
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8points
#2 Brave
2012 | 1h 33m | Directed by Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman and Steve Purcell
Starring Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly and Emma Thompson
Nothing says family like risking your life to save your mother. This movie, which can be watched with children and mothers, focuses on the tale of Merida. She is a princess who must use her bravery and archery to save her mother, Queen Elinor, from a horrible curse. As far as Disney and Pixar movies go, this one is the most filled with motherly love.
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7points
#3 Thelma & Louise
1991 | 2h 10m | Directed by Ridley Scott
Starring Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis and Harvey Keitel
Friendship and motherhood are closely linked, so it’s not a wonder why Thelma and Louise's duo is perfect for any mother to enjoy. If your mother is looking for a partner in crime, you should watch this movie with her. Let’s hope that if the film inspires you to go on a road trip, it won’t end on the same note.
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6points
#4 Little Miss Sunshine
2006 | 1h 41m | Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
Starring Steve Carell, Toni Collette and Greg Kinnear
Going on a road trip across the country so the youngest member can attend a beauty pageant is a task any family would take up. This movie, full of brilliant comedic and drama actors, focuses on a problem-riddled family and their cross-country journey to reach a beauty pageant so that Olive can compete.
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6points
#5 Forrest Gump
1994 | 2h 22m | Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and Gary Sinise
Forrest Gump was a strange child and adult who might have had a mental disability, but this situation didn’t deter his mother from loving him. She took care of him as he grew up in Alabama and suffered from bullying. Their relationship was open and beneficial for both of them — a true example of motherhood.
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6points
#6 Turning Red
2022 | 1h 40m | Directed by Domee Shi
Starring Rosalie Chiang, Sandra Oh and Ava Morse
Here at BoredPanda, we know how wonderful and magnificent pandas are, so it's not a wonder why this movie is on this list. This touching movie is about a teen who, when the emotions inside her reach their peak, becomes a giant red panda. It also revolves around the close bonds that mothers and daughters share.
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5points
#7 The Guilt Trip
2012 | 1h 35m | Directed by Anne Fletcher
Starring Barbra Streisand, Seth Rogen and Julene Renee
There is nothing better in the world than going on an unplanned road trip with your mother, cause after all, she took care of you when you were a baby, so how bad can several days with her in a car be? This movie’s plot centers on that premise as Andrew Brewster starts his unplanned road trip from New Jersey with his mom.
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5points
#8 Steel Magnolias
1989 | 1h 57m | Directed by Herbert Ross
Starring Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis and Sally Field
A group of women living in a small Southern town band together and deal with the passing of one of their own in this emotional 1989 Herbert Ross movie. This movie explores the themes of motherhood, womanhood, and friendship by focusing on these women and looking into their problems and relationships.
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5points
#9 Freaky Friday
2003 | 1h 37m | Directed by Mark Waters
Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan and Mark Harmon
Mothers and daughters might not always have the best relationships, as it’s hard to understand how the other goes through their days. So what would happen if they switched bodies? This premise gets explored in this movie, which sees Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan’s characters switch their bodies and both see how much the other struggles.
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5points
#10 The Parent Trap
1998 | 2h 08m | Directed by Nancy Meyers
Starring Lindsay Lohan, Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson
There are two versions of this movie, but we believe the newer one is more relatable to our understanding of motherhood. After all, who wouldn’t want to see Natasha Richardson acting as the mother of Lindsey Lohan’s character? As far as twin films go, this one is full of motherly and fatherly love.
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5points
#11 Little Women
2019 | 2h 15m | Directed by Greta Gerwig
Starring Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson and Florence Pugh
Motherhood has been a subject of many works of literature before movies were a thing, and one of the best works out there inspired this film. The movie is a semi-biographical take on four women living in the mid-1800s and touches upon the journey that a woman in that period had to endure from childhood to adulthood.
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4points
#12 Bad Moms
2016 | 1h 40m | Directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore
Starring Mila Kunism, Kathryn Hahn and Kristen Bell
Even the best moms can break from time to time due to taking care of themselves, the house, and the children. This movie of true motherhood focuses on three overworked and under-respected mothers who get pushed just a bit over their limits. This event leads to them ditching their responsibilities and enjoying the forgotten freedom.
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4points
#13 Akeelah And The Bee
2006 | 1h 52m | Directed by Doug Atchison
Starring Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne and Keke Palmer
When you have Angela Bassett in the movie, you know that the motherhood journey portrayed will be a heartwarming one. In the film, she portrays the mother of Akeelah, played by Keke Palmer, as the duo tries their best to live in their current situation while also preparing for a national spelling bee.
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4points
#14 Mamma Mia! The Movie
2008 | 1h 48m | Directed by Phyllida Lloyd
Starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Amanda Seyfried
When you have ABBA involved, you can be sure your mom will love the movie. This star-studded musical movie, led by Meryl Streep, depicts a daughter's search for her father. Featuring the best tunes of ABBA as the soundtrack, you can be sure that the movie will strike a happy note in you.
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4points
#15 The Sound Of Music
1965 | 2h 52m | Directed by Robert Wise
Starring Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer and Eleanor Parker
Music is the best way of capturing the overflow of emotions, good or bad, that might come from unexpected motherhood. The film follows a young Austrian postulant that, in 1938, is assigned to the home of a former naval officer and widower to serve as the mother figure to his seven children.
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4points
#16 20th Century Women
2016 | 1h 59m | Directed by Mike Mills
Starring Annette Bening, Elle Fanning and Greta Gerwig
Some mothers in this world have to struggle alone to raise a child, but luckily, Dorothea Fields, played by Annette Bening, had some close friends by her side. An adolescent boy's connection with the people who nurture him, especially his free-spirited single mother, is explored in this odd, Oscar-nominated movie.
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4points
#17 Otherhood
2019 | 1h 40m | Directed by Cindy Chupack
Starring Angela Bassett, Patricia Arquette and Felicity Huffman
Nothing shows a maternal bond more like surprising your children with a sudden and unannounced appearance. Three moms and their adult sons are the subjects of the grounded, heartfelt, and joyful comedy Otherhood. The movie focuses on the later stage of life, which might interfere with motherhood.
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3points
#18 Riding In Cars With Boys
2001 | 2h 12m | Directed by Penny Marshall
Starring Drew Barrymore, Steve Zahn and Adam Garcia
Motherhood isn’t always full of sunshine and positive feelings, and sometimes it can ruin the plan you created for your life. This movie touches upon this aspect of motherhood in the best way possible. Starring Drew Barrymore as a 15-year-old girl, she planned to go to New York City but soon had to change that after getting pregnant.
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3points
#19 Bird Box
2018 | 2h 04m | Directed by Susanne Bier
Starring Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes and John Malkovich
A mother will do everything to secure the safety of her children, even in an apocalyptic world filled with dangerous “creatures.” This movie focuses on a mother and her two kids as they attempt to go to a safer place five years after an evil invisible force causes a big part of society to do horrific things to themselves.
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3points
#20 Life As We Know It
2010 | 1h 54m | Directed by Greg Berlanti
Starring Katherine Heigl, Josh Duhamel and Josh Lucas
Some of us are blessed to have two sets of parents — biological and religion-based ones. Eric Messer and Holly Berenson, who can't stand one another, are the main characters in this film. However, after one of their friends passes away due to a car accident, the unusual duo must work collaboratively to look after their goddaughter.
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3points