This Sunday, Hollywood’s elite are walking the red carpet at the Dolby Theatre for the biggest awards show of the year: the Academy Awards.
Oh yes, we’ll see which actors and actresses put on the best performances (Jessie Buckley seems to be a favorite for her role in Hamnet). We’ll see whether the R-rated Sinners—which is nominated for a record 16 awards—can take home a record number of Oscar statuettes. And we’ll see a new award category, too, Best Casting.
But today, we at Plugged In are unveiling our much smaller (but much more family friendly) awards: the Plugged In Movie Awards.
That’s right. In February, we nominated five films each in Best Movie for Kids, Best Movie for Teens, Best Movie for Adults and Best Christian Movie. You voted for your favorites. We privately deliberated our own. And now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for has arrived.
It’s time to announce the winners of the 2026 Plugged In Movie Awards. The envelope, please …
Best Movie for Kids
The nominees: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw; Dog Man; Paddington in Peru; Sketch; Zootopia 2
And the Pluggy Goes to … Paddington in Peru
Audience pick: Zootopia 2
Kids’ movies in 2025 stood out for messages about family. But we just couldn’t resist the polite bear with the “hard stare,” which is why we chose Paddington in Peru as our winner. Zootopia 2 found favor, too, though. In addition to winning over Plugged In readers, it took home more than $1.8 billion and it’s up for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film.
Best Movie for Teens
The nominees: Audrey’s Children; The Fantastic Four: First Steps; KPop Demon Hunters; The Legend of Ochi; Thunderbolts*
And the Pluggy Goes to … The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Audience pick: The Fantastic Four: First Steps
We’ve seen a lot of Marvel movies throughout the years with great messages about “found” families. But the superheroes of The Fantastic Four: First Steps aren’t just super-close friends—they’re actual relatives navigating some very (ahem) relatable family dynamics.
Best Movie for Adults
The nominees: The Ballad of Wallis Island; Hamnet; Nuremberg; Rental Family; Train Dreams
And the Pluggy Goes to … The Ballad of Wallis Island
Audience pick: Nuremberg
Proof that the Oscars aren’t the end-all be-all of good films, neither Plugged In’s choice of The Ballad of Wallis Island nor our audience’s pick of Nuremberg are up for Best Picture. Wallis Island told a touching and heartwarming story about grief—whether it be the loss of a loved one, a relationship or even a career—encouraging us to sympathize with those around us, no matter how different they may seem. Whereas Nuremberg, set during the Nuremberg Trials that followed World War II, asked us to look inward and consider exactly what makes us different—and indeed, whether we’re really that different at all.
Best Christian Movie
The nominees: Between Borders; Dot Conner: Webtective; The King of Kings; Light of the World; Soul on Fire
And the Pluggy Goes to … The King of Kings
Audience pick: Dot Conner: Webtective
I feel like we say this every year, but Christian movies just keep getting better and better—and 2025 was no different. But we couldn’t nominate every great Christian movie (well, we could—we make the rules, after all—we just thought that might be a bit silly), and we wanted to provide you, our readers, with a good variety to choose from. In the end, The King of Kings (based on Charles Dickens’ The Life of Our Lord) was our favorite; and Dot Conner: Webtective was yours. (Though I’ll also give honorable mention to David, which had a significant audience write-in—just not enough to actually win.)
Thanks again for joining us this year—for watching, reading and voting! Read our reviews of all these titles and more at pluggedin.com. Let us know what you think right here in the comments (or on Facebook, Instagram or YouTube). You can also write to us at letters@pluggedin.com. We look forward to hearing from you throughout the year, and we hope you’ll join us again in 2027 for the next Plugged In Movie Awards.