While some directors get criticized for making the same type of movie over and over again, others are known for their variance. That malleability can come in the form of filmmaking style, genre, or even target audience.
These unique filmmakers can show off their versatility by juxtaposing their more serious endeavors with less grim projects. One of these is David Lowery who, although he made his name with adult dramas like A Ghost Story and The Green Knight, is slated for the upcoming Peter Pan and Wendy. However, there are many other mature directors who have directed kid movies.
10 David Lowery – ‘Peter Pan and Wendy’ (2023)
Let’s start with Lowery who, ever since his directorial breakout film Ain’t Them Bodies Saints 10 years ago, has become one of the most interesting young directors working today. After the melancholic crime drama, Lowery shifted focus to a new demographic, writing and directing Pete’s Dragon for Disney.
Since that film, Lowery had been slowly building up his filmography, culminating in the A24 medieval epic The Green Knight. Praised for his original visions, Lowery has proven himself adept as an art-house filmmaker as well as one that can work with a big studio. It’s yet to be seen whether Lowery can keep his streak alive with Peter Pan and Wendy, but fans will be crossing their fingers.
9 Francis Ford Coppola – ‘Jack’ (1996)
A 5 time Oscar winner, Francis Ford Coppola is one of the greatest directors ever, and his 1972 to 1979 run may never be topped. However, while that stretch is iconic, Coppola has faced many ups and downs in his still-continuing career. Proficient in numerous genres, usually mature ones, one film stands out in Coppola’s resume, 1996’s Jack.
Starring the late Robin Williams as a child with an exaggerated form of Werner syndrome, critics detested the film. Nominated for Worst Picture at the 1996 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, Coppola has defended the picture, saying he finds it “sweet and amusing”. On the idea of a ‘serious’ director making a kid’s movie, Coppola justified the notion, commenting that he’s “always happy to do any type of film”.
8 Joe Wright – ‘Pan’ (2015)
A directorial classicist of sorts, English filmmaker Joe Wright is likely most associated with his romantic literary adaptations such as Pride and Prejudice, Atonement, and Anna Karenina. Following his adaptation of Tolstoy’s formidable novel, Wright decided to shift gears by directing Pan.
Not the first director to tackle J.M. Barrie’s beloved character, Wright is evidently not the last. However, his Pan was a box office bomb and was, no pun intended, panned by critics. Wright bounced back from the disaster with the war drama Churchill, which was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. Following that in 2021, Wright directed both the well-received Cyrano and the catastrophic The Woman in the Window.
7 Guy Ritchie – ‘Aladdin’ (2019)
Perhaps no director is more associated with the British gangster genre than Guy Ritchie. Visually punchy, action-packed, and endlessly quotable, Ritchie’s most admired films include Snatch, The Gentlemen, and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. The same year as The Gentlemen, Ritchie expanded his range by directing a live-action Aladdin film.
Grossing over $1 billion, it was the ninth-highest-grossing movie of 2019. Despite enormous financial success, the film was met with mixed reviews, with some critics being condemnatory of Ritchie’s direction. The Associated Press’s Mark Kennedy summarized the consensus by calling Ritchie “an odd choice to helm a big Disney romantic musical”, and ultimately, “utterly the wrong guy” for the job.
6 Guillermo Del Toro – ‘Pinocchio’ (2022)
With such a focus on fairy tales and monsters throughout his work, it is no surprise that Guillermo Del Toro would one day choose to make a kid’s movie. In some ways, from his work in TV, creating the animated show Trollhunters, Del Toro has been working towards a children’s film his whole career. Succeeding Nightmare Alley, one of his grizzliest projects, Del Toro directed the stop-motion fantasy musical Pinocchio.
Released the same year as Robert Zemeckis’sPinocchio, Del Toro’s wipes the floor with the other inferior adaptation. A long-time passion project for Del Toro, the film was stuck in development hell for many years. Thematically dark and visually splendid, Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio should satisfy fans of the eminent director and source material alike.
5 Spike Jonze – ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ (2009)
Surprisingly, Spike Jonze has become as known for his paucity as the quality of his films in recent years. His last narrative film Her was one of the best of 2013, but that was a decade ago, and fans yearn to see another Jonze picture. Until then, they can rewatch Jonze’s other movies, including Where the Wild Things Are.
Known best for his unconventional, introspective films, Where the Wild Things Are is bursting with the same creative juice that keeps Jonze’s other movies alive. Unfortunately, although well received, the movie barely made more money than its budget. While there was some debate over the film’s suitability for children, the film’s tenderness and awe-inspiration put those concerns to bed.
4 Penelope Spheeris – ‘The Little Rascals’ (1994)
Penelope Spheeris’s feature film career and documentary film career are so at odds with each other, it’s hard to believe they belong to the same person. On one side is her documentaries, most notably her The Decline of Western Civilization trilogy which covers Los Angeles underground culture. On another is her film career, bloated largely with critically underperforming comedies as well as one kids movie, The Little Rascals.
Spheeris’s 80s movies, mostly interesting low-budget indies such as Suburbia, received some notoriety. However, her big break came when she directed Wayne’s World in 1992. Juxtaposing her documentary work, her film career then became best associated with a string of comedies, barring her 1994 family comedy The Little Rascals, which also was slammed by critics.
3 Tom McCarthy – ‘Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made’ (2020)
Tom McCarthy’s career has gone through many iterations. Starting off as an actor, McCarthy broke out with his fantastic comedy-drama film The Station Agent, which he followed up with two other strong indies, The Visitor and Win Win. McCarthy then won Best Picture at the 2016 Oscars for Spotlight.
Covering widespread cases of sexual abuse in the Boston area by Roman Catholic priests, McCarthy succeeded Spotlight by writing Christopher Robin and writing and directing the Disney movie Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made. Perhaps he needed to give his brain a break from all the heinousness that Spotlight brought, but the contrast between Spotlight and his next couple of credits is so stark it’s almost comic.
2 George Miller – ‘Happy Feet’ (2006)
There have been four stages in George Miller’s illustrious career to this point. Stage 1 was his inception where he directed his first 3 Mad Max movies, all of which were critically lauded. Stage 2 was the Hollywood stage where he directed the star-studded The Witches of Eastwick and Lorenzo’s Oil. Stage 3 was his family-friendly stage, which saw him develop the Babe and Happy Feet duologies. Stage 4 is his most ambitious one yet, and includes the epics Mad Max: Fury Road and Three Thousand Years of Longing.
While the Babe and Happy Feet movies are considered some of the better kid’s franchises of the past 30 years, they cannot compare to Miller’s masterpieces, including Mad Max 2 and Mad Max: Fury Road. It seems as though Miller will extend the Mad Max franchise and Stage 4 of his career with the highly anticipated prequel Furiosa, slated for a 2024 release.
1 Martin Scorsese – ‘Hugo’ (2011)
Probably the most important American filmmaker alive, Martin Scorsese is likely most associated by casual moviegoers with the crime or gangster genre. This is not meant as a limiting description, as some of Scorsese’s crime or gangster films, including Mean Streets and Goodfellas, are regarded as some of the best American movies of the last 50 years.
One movie that stands out among Scorsese’s others is his family adventure film, Hugo. Nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, the film is a love letter to the wonder of the cinema and the craft of movie making, not dissimilar to Steven Spielberg’s recent The Fabelmans. Scorsese would not follow up Hugo with another sweet picture as he would instead direct The Wolf of Wall Street, one of his most lurid, vulgar, and profane films ever.
