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Quiz: Can You Name the 2000s Movie From the Parent(s)?

There have been so many memorable parents in movie history. How well do you remember the ones of the 2000s?
ByAlexandria Ingham
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Alexa Vega, Carla Gugino, Antonia Banderas, Daryl Sabara, and director Robert Rodriguez promoting ‘Spy Kids’
Alexa Vega, Carla Gugino, Antonia Banderas, Daryl Sabara, and director Robert Rodriguez promoting ‘Spy Kids’ | William Conran - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images

Throughout the years, we’ve seen a variety of different types parents on our movie screens. By the 2000s, things were able to take a turn, slightly. We got to see parents with a few skeletons in their closets, single parents fighting for their children, and emotional openness not typically shown onscreen before. Can you name movies from the 2000s based on the parents? We’ve got a quiz for you.

If you scored 8/8, then we’re impressed. Not all fictional parents of the 2000s got surnames, which made it a little harder to keep track of which movie they belonged to. This is a great excuse to set up a movie night and look back on the millennial fun we had watching these titles.

How Movie Parents Changed in the 2000s

The early 2000s helped to pave the way for new types of parenting on our screens. With movies like Meet the Parents, we got the hyper-protective fathers, who were also deeply intimidating. This usually came from a good place, and it set the tone for the type of fathers many daughters wanted at the time.

 Beneath the comedic polygraph test was a father who wanted to shield his daughter from the dangers of the world. Of course, that isn’t always possible, and there is a lesson in letting go and allowing children to live.

Meet the Parents wasn’t the only movie to offer that outlook. Finding Nemo was another, and this time, it was a single father looking out for his one remaining child after a vicious attack on his family. While there are many who will point out the incorrect nature of clownfish, the heart of the story is of a father who isn’t ready to take the reins off his son.

Eventually, he learns that he has to. That’s not without its issues, as Nemo is taken away and has to find his own way back home.

By the mid-2000s, there was another new wave of parenting. We got to see the unconventional parents, such as Regina’s mom in Mean Girls and Juno’s parents in Juno. They wanted to fit in with their children, or they wanted to simply be there for their children. Mac and Brenda MacGuff didn’t react with total outrage when their teenage daughter told them she was pregnant, showing that support can go a long way.

How much of a movie buff are you, really? We have daily challenges on the Mental Floss quiz page to put your knowledge to the test.

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