Best Back to School Movies

Judy Elizabeth, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Aug 11, 2009 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."

It is impossible to ignore all of the back-to-school supplies in all of the stores, or the sales ads that blast the message each week. It seems they start stocking the shelves as soon as you lay your number two pencil down during your last exam.

If you are forced to think about how quickly the first day of school is coming, you might as well take some time to prepare yourself for the upcoming year by kicking back and enjoying a movie about someone else's misadventures in school.

For a list like this, I have to go back to my teenage years and include some of the classic 80s teen movies by writer/director/producer John Hughes, who passed away just last week. At the top of this list has to be the ultimate 'skip school' movie from 1986, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Starring Matthew Broderick and Jeffrey Jones, this PG-13 rated comedy revolves around high school senior, Ferris Bueller (Broderick) whose motive to cut school for the day can be summed up by his line, "Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." Ferris, his girlfriend (Mia Sara) and his best friend Cameron (Alan Ruck), spend the day in Chicago, and find themselves in outrageous situations, as all the while, Dean of Students (Jones) tries to prove Ferris is faking his illness and skipping school.

Another John Hughes movie that you simply have to see is 1984's Sixteen Candles. A common theme in your typical teen movie often revolves around a crush of some sort, and this movie does not disappoint. Sam (Molly Ringwald) suffers through her sixteenth birthday as her house is invaded with grandparents who have arrived for her sister's wedding the following day. Her family forgets her birthday, her panties are displayed for all the freshmen boys to see (for a one dollar fee), and she pines after sexy senior Jake Ryan (Michael Schoeffling). Anthony Michael Hall is great as the geeky freshmen following Sam around like a puppy dog. Released prior to the PG-13 rating, this movie (after appeal to the MPAA) was rated PG.

Pretty in Pink, my favorite movie by John Hughes, is another must see movie from the 80s staring Molly Ringwald. Andie (Molly Ringwald) lives in the wrong neighborhood, her father is unemployed, and she has a crush on Blane (Andrew McCarthy), one of the preppy kids. As Blane and Andie are drawn to each other, they face resistance from their respective friends and pressure to break off the relationship. Jon Cryer, an unknown at the time, was perfect in the role of Andie's friend Duckie. Rated PG-13.

Going back just a little further to 1978 is a movie that will forever be a classic, Grease. With an all-star cast including John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Jeff Conaway, and Eve Arden, this musical about a good girl falling for the ultimate greaser will live on in our hearts forever. Set in the late 1950's, Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) meets Danny (Travolta) at the beach during the summer. After Sandy's plans change, they end up reunited at school, and Sandy discovers that Danny isn't the sweet guy she met over the summer. A wonderfully fun movie - watch as Danny tries to retain his cool image with the T-Birds, and the Pink Ladies try to corrupt Sandy. Rated PG.

Time to move into the present decade! Let's stick with the musical theme for just a little while longer though. Disney's High School Musical was a smashing success when it was released in 2006. Troy (Zac Efron) meets Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens) at a New Year's Eve party, where they are forced to do karaoke together. Both Troy and Gabriella are surprised at how well they did and how good they sounded together. Similar to Grease, Gabriella shows up at Troy's school after the break, and the shy and intelligent, Gabriella, and captain of the basketball team, Troy, find that their friends are their biggest obstacles. Rated TV-G.

A movie that is much better at its core than on its surface is the 2001 comedy, Legally Blonde. Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) is beautiful and sweet. On the night she expects her boyfriend Warner to propose, he dumps her instead, because she is not serious enough. To win him back Elle gets accepted to Harvard Law School. Somewhere along the way Elle realizes she has more to give than she thought, and this flighty girl is destined for success. Rated PG-13.

For the younger crowd, we have Sky High, the 2005 family action/comedy from Disney. Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano) the son of the famous superhero couple struggles as he begins his schooling at Sky High (the school of Superheroes) when his power fails to be revealed and he declared a sidekick (hero support). Once his powers are revealed, Will must deal with something even more scary than villains ...teenage dating!

The next movie on my list started out as a popular Disney Channel Original show. In The Lizzie McGuire Movie, Lizzie (Hilary Duff) and Gordo (Adam Lamberg) head to Rome for a summer field trip. As it turns out, Lizzie is a dead ringer for a European pop star, Isabella. Taken in by the sweet talking Paolo, Isabella's former singing partner, Lizzie pretends to be sick and works with him to impersonate the missing pop star. Rated PG, this 2003 movie is a fun, light-hearted comedy with good music!

Another cute romantic comedy starring Hilary Duff is the 2004 movie, A Cinderella Story, rated PG. An updated version of the classic, this PG movie does away with the fairy godmother, and replaces her with Rhonda (Regina King), the closed thing Sam has to a mother. Rhonda runs the diner that Sam's (Duff) father had owned when he was alive. Add in football, Princeton and cellphones, and you have a new classic.

The final must see movie for back to school has to be the Harry Potter series, first in theaters in 2001, with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Who hasn't dreamed of having magical powers? How cool would it be to take a class on magical creatures with the lovable giant Hagrid? The first movie held so many surprises...the moving staircases, the talking paintings, and the floating candles in the main dining hall. But, it also introduced us to Voldemort and the trouble that awaited poor Harry. If you only have time to fit one movie in before heading back to school, this is the one to watch!

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Published by Judy Elizabeth