40. The Princess Bride, 1987

Writer William Goldman wanted to make an old fashioned swashbuckler that his kids would actually enjoy and the result is suitably joyous. Cary Elwes has never been better as the master swordsman hero on the hunt for his lost princess in a fantasy land.

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39. Bugsy Malone, 1976

Kids play at being gangsters in this racketeering romp, where Fat Sam's Grand Slam takes a battering from the splurge guns and a very young Jodie Foster makes a huge impression as Tallullah.

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38. Bedknobs And Broomsticks, 1971

Angela Lansbury's white witch spirits us off to the Island of Naboomboo and still finds time to repel a Nazi invasion. Disney hoped for another Mary Poppins with this combination of live action and cartoon.

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37. It's A Wonderful Life, 1946

Frank Capra's evergreen (and often surprisingly dark) family favourite has a jaded George Bailey (James Stewart) close to suicide when the angel Clarence arrives to teach him a valuable lesson: that a world without him is a very grim place indeed.

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36. Edward Scissorhands, 1990

Tim Burton's gorgeously twisted fairytale made a bone fide star of Johnny Depp and created a modern day Frankenstein, with Vincent Price as the creator and white picket fences replacing the torch-wielding townsfolk.

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