Look at the rating of the movies that you are thinking about watching with your family. Whether you are renting a movie or buying one to add to your home collection, it is important to look at the movie rating.
Find the reason for the rating. Next to the movie rating will be a box that lists the reasons for the rating. You want to look to make sure that the following is not listed: violence, sexual situations, language, adult situations. How much or how little will depend on your rules in your family. For smaller children, you want to look for movies that say "For General Audiences."
Choose the movies that you think best meet the standards that you have set for you family. Now you want to head to the computer. There are a number of sites that help parents verify and give greater detail on what to expect when you actually watch the movie. They include scene descriptions, so that you can avoid that awkward, "Cover your eyes children while Daddy finds the remote!" moment.
Head to a family-friendly store that is known for carrying family-edited movies. An organization called the Dove Foundation supplies these types of movies to retailers and grocery stores. All of their movies, regardless of rating, have been edited to show less gratuitous violence and sexual situations. The rating system includes a label that states: family filtered, family edited, or family approved.
Turn on network television. If you want to spend the night at home, network tv is a great resource for finding family-edited programming. Your local channels, as well as FX Networks and TNT, use voice over, added clothing, and completely cutting scenes to rid movies of inappropriate material. Staying at home makes finding a family friendly movie much more convenient and hassle free.