Feel-Good Movies to Watch When Feeling Down

When having a bad day there's nothing more relaxing than finding a perfect feel-good movie to cheer you up. These well-crafted stories have a special charm that takes you on an emotional roller-coaster, and to be honest, only some movies are truly worth watching.

Cinema should make you forget you are sitting in a theater — Roman Polanski

I started watching more movies during the pandemic and since I had a lot of time I explored more films that varied from many different genres and languages. There's a lot of great movies out there, but it’s a bit hard to find these hidden gems and I feel everyone deserves to watch these heartwarming movies at least once in their lives.

I will be featuring the 5 best feel-good movies all of you should give a watch, If you have seen it already, well watch it again. It gets better when you watch it again:)

1. The Pursuit of Happyness 

Pursuit of Happyness is a 2006 movie based on the real-life story of Chris Gardener. and this is one of the best films I’ve watched in all of my life. The plot of the movie is about a salesman who struggles to keep his family afloat as he makes an important career shift that will change their lives forever.

This movie was directed by Gabriele Muccino with Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith playing the main characters.

Will Smith who was previously known for his appearances in action flicks gave us one of his finest performances in an emotionally charged film and his son Jaden was quite impressive for a 7-year old appearing for the first time in life.

The film showcases the human spirit's ability to persevere in the darkest of times. It teaches us that whatever hardships life throws at us; if you have the grit and the mindset to face it, You can overcome even the most difficult hurdles in life.

One of my favorite quotes in the movie is as follows- “You got a dream, You gotta protect it, and you don’t let somebody tell you that you can’t do it. If you want something go get it, Period.”

2. Dead Poets Society

Let's now talk about the movie which is the most favorite one on the list. Dead Poets Society is a coming-of-age movie that was released in the year 1989 and still stays as one of the most iconic films in the whole cinematic history.

It’s a movie a lot of people hold close to their hearts and I think it's because the core of the film resonates with each one of us regardless of our age and our situations, as this movie talks about following your dreams and questioning the uneven rules and restrictions set by our society. Which limits our true potential and the ability to think for ourselves and our happiness rather than others' expectations towards us.

Robin Williams stars as John Keating a teacher who teaches the children to think out of the box and tells -” Dreams, Ideas and following your passion is what makes us complete and happy.” He teaches them the importance of literary works and how they reflect the human experience on a deeper level. It has a behemoth of quotes that are so beautiful that if I went into the details of this, It would become another article of its own.

This movie will inspire you to be a better person and a role model to the people around you. The dialogues in the movie are poetry condensed into lines. I highly recommend it if you haven’t watched it yet because I assure you, You will be a different person after watching this film.

3. Gifted

Gifted is an emotional drama directed by Marc Webb. The movie is about the life of Mary a 7-year old prodigy, and her uncle Frank. Even though the script and plot are just like any other, but the performance by Chris Evans and McKenna Grace is what makes the movie stand out. The two of them were captivating throughout the entire film.

The movie stars Chris Evans as Frank and apart from his common roles, this was one of the movies where he showcased his ability to be a versatile actor. Mckenna Grace is a promising young talent who already starred in several movies and TV shows. She truly embraces the role of a typical 7-year old in this movie that she even stole the show from Chris (sorry Cap). Other honorable mentions include Olivia Spencer as the neighbor and Mary’s favorite one-eyed cat “Fred”.

The movie is heartbreaking at times but quite satisfactory at the end. The movie is quite amazing and funny, I can’t really pinpoint what made this movie beautiful. It has a special charm of its own and I enjoyed watching this. Give it a watch, one of the good movies to watch.

4. Little Miss Sunshine

If you’re into more comedy when it comes to films then this is the one to go. Little Miss Sunshine is a 2006 comedic movie by the directorial debut of the husband-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. The movie is about a family’s road trip to California to attend Olivia’s (Abigail Breslin) beauty pageant contest that she is very excited about.

From the start of the journey, they’re faced with major setbacks and encounter problems from each of their lives but they all stick together determined they will get Olive to the contest no matter whatever happens. But as they reach the contest they realize that Olive’s losing her confidence and the whole family climbs up the stage to cheer her up.

It is an amazing movie as it tells us that we don’t have to be perfect to show our true selves to the world around us, that you can feel confident in your own skin as long as you don’t care about the standards set by others. and at the same time, they teach us that having the right people around is important as we need them to support us while going through we go through our bad phase.

5. Little Women

Have you heard of any book that has been adapted over and over again? Well, there may be some, but the book written by Louisa May Alcott named “Little Women” in the 19th century has been recreated 7 times, for seven freakin times!

I decided to watch the latest adaptation of this movie as this was getting much appreciation from the common audiences as the Oscars, and it became one of my personal favorite movies after the watch.

This film was the second movie directed by Greta Gerwig, and as a writer who has worked in the film industry for some time, the screenplay and the direction were on point throughout the entire movie. The cast included famous actors like Emma Watson, Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, Timothée Chalamet, and Laura Dern.

The story is based on the novel and the letters by Alcott, and therefore it became the best version out of all the adaptations that came before. It had all the little perks of the 'March family', and another thing I loved was- unlike the other movies Jo and Amy in this movie are unique in their own ways and not the other way around; as one being good and the other a bratty evil one.

This is an amazing feel-good movie for anyone because each sister in the movie represents us through their unique talents, behaviors, and experiences different struggles in life and growing up. There’s Love, Romance, family, ambitions, friendship, hardships, and the little joys that come along the way.

The Power of Stories

Do you know why telling stories always get us? It's because when a writer or any creator shares his or her story they're sharing a part of themselves, a glimpse into their own lives. Even though we don't realize it we're getting to see life from different points of view and as we learn to see the world from different perspectives, We get to see more of humanity and this makes good stories special and worthwhile.

So please check out these films I really loved watching these and I hope my readers will also enjoy these movies.

If you've liked this article please kindly share this with someone you know who is feeling down or with a loved one with who you’d love to watch movies along with.