This Father’s Day we wanted to do something a little different and honor some movie fathers who go above and beyond for their children. Some of these fathers go through hell and back for their children, while others just stick to their guns and hope it all works out in the end.  Though, no matter what these fathers go through, they do it all for the love of their children.  Here they are in no particular order:

1.  Marlin – Finding Nemo

This super-protective father has to get out of his comfort zone to go into the deep blue sea to find his only son.  Fighting many different obstacles, like sharks, angler fish, and jelly fish, Marlin overcomes them with help from a blue tang fish named Dory.  This little guy travels a great distance just to save his son and I think a lot of us fathers would do the same.  Marlin learns that he can’t always be there for his son and must learn to let go every now and then.  A great lesson for any dad.

2.  George Banks – Father of the Bride

For any Fandads out there that have a little girl this movie is a must!  There is going to come that time when your little girl is going to find someone and get married and you have to come to terms with the fact that she is not your little girl anymore.  Now ask yourself this: Are you going to handle it well or are you going to go all George Banks on the situation.  This is a great movie about father-daughter relationships.

3.  Ray Kinsella – Field of Dreams

Ray does something that a lot of us fathers do everyday and that is fight for what we believe in to take care of our family.  Although many feel that Ray is crazy for building a baseball diamond on his land, he feels that there is a special purpose for doing this.  While facing foreclosure and pressure to sell his land, Ray sticks to his guns and knows that no matter what, things are going to work out.  Plus, who doesn’t get choked up when he asked his father to play catch with him.

4.  Darth Vader – Star Wars

The path of Darth Vader’s life is a long and strange one.  From little farm boy that is supposed to restore balance to the force, to becoming the face of the Empire and being feared by all.  The one thing about Vader is that there was still good in him.  Although it did take him losing his limbs and seeing his son being electrocuted in front of him to bring it out, Vader did eventually do the right thing by saving his son and bringing balance back to the force.

5. John Matrix – Commando

Former Elite unit special agent has his daughter kidnapped in order to do one last mission, umm, not the person to mess with.  Before Liam Neeson hunted down his daughter’s kidnappers in Taken, Matrix took the law into his own hands to save his daughter.  From the father and daughter montage at the beginning to the cheesy one-liners used throughout the movie, this movie has heart and shows that no matter how mean the father looks, he would gladly impale you with a steel pipe to save his daughter.

While this is only a short list, we know that there are many others that we might have missed.  Let us know who your favorite fathers are and let the discussion begin.

Thanks for reading.

PS – Honorary Mention – The Other F Word.

This is an amazing documentary about, in their words, a coming of MIDDLE age story. It’s a heartbreaking, inspiring, funny, and eye-opening film about what happens when rock stars become dads.