I used Scott pedals on my MTB for years... Multi release, easy release - i.e. I could yank my foot straight out and they would unclip, yet I never had an accidental unclip. Here's a set on Ebay. They are not in production anymore.

At some point I put Shimano PDM540's on my road bike, and found the cleats for those wouldn't work with the Scott's so I gave them to my brother. The Shimano pedals do not release as easily as the Scott's but they aren't bad. When you get cleats for the pedals, you can choose multi-directional release or single-directional release. SH56 and SH51, respectively. I tried the SH51 and promptly bought a replacement set of SH56; you can definitely tell the difference!

You can also loosen up the tension on the pedals; that will help some.