KPop Demon Hunters.
Photo: Netflix
This article is updated frequently as titles leave and enter Netflix. *New additions are indicated with an asterisk.
Netflix has massive catalogs of TV shows aimed at children, but parsing their library of movies for kids (or, ideally, titles the whole family can enjoy) can be pretty challenging. That’s why we’re here to help. From Netflix Originals like The Sea Beast or Orion and the Dark, to timeless family hits like Matilda or The Lego Movie, these films below offer a little something for everybody on family movie night. We’ve also included a rating alongside each one.
Year: 2017
Runtime: 1h 28m
Director: David Soren
Rating: PG
Fox adapted the hit book series by Dav Pilkey into a film that underperformed enough at the box office to make it unlikely we will see another. That’s too bad because David Soren’s family flick is clever and funny. It’s a sweet study of friendship, creativity, and a different kind of heroism. And it features a villain named Professor Poopypants.
Year: 2013
Runtime: 1h 34m
Directors: Cody Cameron, Kris Pearn
Rating: PG
A rare animated sequel that’s just about as funny as the first film, this 2013 sequel built on the visual wit and sharp characters from the 2009 movie. Bill Hader and Anna Faris lead a stellar voice work as Flint Lockwood are forced to return to Swallow Falls to save the day. It’s inventive and very fun.
Year: 2010
Runtime: 1h 34m
Directors: Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud
Rating: PG
Who could have guessed that the tale of an awkward supervillain named Gru (Steve Carell) who has his heart melted by three orphaned girls would launch one of the biggest franchises in the world? Since this film was released, there have been three direct sequels and two Minions movies, along with tons of toys, specials, video games, and even a theme park attraction. It’s Gru’s world.
Year: 1982
Runtime: 1h 54m
Director: Steven Spielberg
Rating: PG
Steven Spielberg’s 1982 sci-fi classic has held up masterfully, now speaking to a new generation just as much as it did to their parents and grandparents. Henry Thomas plays Elliott, a boy who becomes friends with an alien who he dubs E.T., who just wants to go home. It’s a beautiful, heartwarming masterpiece.
Year: 2019
Runtime: 1h 38m
Director: Sergio Pablos
Rating: PG
A little movie that could, this animated Christmas adventure was so critically beloved that it competed with giants like Pixar and DreamWorks for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. It’s a delightful little fable about a postman who ends up stationed so far to the north that he meets a reclusive toymaker there named Klaus. Yes, it’s a Santa Claus origin story. With lovely, old-fashioned style, this is the kind of joyous film that the whole family can watch any time of year.
Year: 2025
Runtime: 1h 39m
Directors: Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans
One of the most impressive pop culture phenomena of 2025 has been the unreal success of this Netflix original about a K-pop girl group called Hunter/x that also happens to fight demons between #1 hits. Songs like “Golden” have become huge pop hits outside of the flick, one that people are obsessively rewatching for a reason — it’s fun, relatable, and catchy as hell.
Year: 2016
Runtime: 1h 42m
Director: Travis Knight
Rating: PG
Great Laika films drop in and out of the streamers, but this masterpiece has actually been one of the hardest to see. Revisit the story of a young boy on a journey to defeat his evil aunts with the power of his strings, and the partnership of a snow monkey and a beetle. Yeah, it’s crazy, but it’s also gorgeous and deeply moving, one of the best family films of the 2010s.
Year: 2021
Runtime: 1h 54m
Directors: Mike Rianda, Jeff Rowe
Rating: PG
Originally planned for a theatrical release by Sony (with the much-worse title Connected), the studio sold this off to Netflix during the pandemic…and probably regretted that decision. One of the most critically and commercially beloved animated films of 2021, this is an incredibly smart and sweet family vacation movie, a comedy that’s as much about a tender relationship between a father and daughter as it is the fact that they end up having to save the world together.
Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 39m
Directors: Nick Bruno, Troy Quane
Rating: PG
Based on the comic by ND Stevenson, Nimona is a queer parable about a shape-shifter who refuses to adhere to society’s rules for what she should look like or whom she should present as. When Nimona (Chloë Grace Moretz) meets a knight, Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed), who is falsely accused of killing the queen, the two team up against the repressive regime. Nimona’s action is staged in a stylized blend of 2-D and 3-D animation and crescendos toward a kaiju-size climax. But the way the film foregrounds their friendship is what makes it beautiful. —Eric Vilas-Boas
Year: 2024
Runtime: 1h 32m
Director: Sean Charmatz
Rating: PG
The great Charlie Kaufman wrote a kids movie! This new animated Netflix original owes such a debt to Pixar films like Toy Story and Inside Out, but it carves out its own personality too. It’s about a kid (Jacob Tremblay) who’s afraid of just about everything, and how he overcomes his fear one night on a journey with the literal dark (Paul Walter Hauser). The story wraps in on itself in a way that one would expect from Kaufman, but never gets too complicated for the little ones too. Honestly, it’s better at doing the Pixar Thing than most recent Pixar movies.
Year: 2014
Runtime: 1h 35m
Director: Paul King
Rating: PG
One of the sweetest family films ever made adapts the classic talking bear to modern London when Paddington (Ben Whishaw) finds his way there from “Darkest Peru,” looking for a new home. He finds one with an average family led by Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins, but crosses paths with a nefarious taxidermist (a wonderful Nicole Kidman) who tries to take him down. This is such a gently funny and likable movie. You kind of have to be a jerk to hate it.
Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 56m
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Rating: PG
The Oscar-winning director took his visionary skills to stop-motion animation with this instant classic, a retelling of the beloved fairy tale about the wooden boy who longed to be real. With spectacular voice work, this version reimagines Pinocchio during the period before World War II, allowing him to explore his themes of innocence and violence again. It’s a deeply personal, beautiful film.
Year: 2012
Runtime: 1h 37m
Director: Peter Ramsey
Rating: PG
Based on the book series The Guardians of Childhood, this imperfect but fun film was the directorial debut of the man who would go on to helm one of the best animated features ever made in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin, Jude Law, Isla Fisher, and Hugh Jackman lead a high-powered voice cast in the story of how imaginary children’s characters like The Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny have to save the world.
Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 55m
Director: Chris Williams
Rating: PG
One of 2022’s most surprising hits for Netflix has been this film from one of the creators of Bolt and Big Hero 6. It’s a blend of a lot of things that have been done before with echoes of How to Train Your Dragon, Moana, and Pirates of the Caribbean (with a little Kaiju too) but this is a detailed adventure film that really plays to everyone in the family.
Year: 2016
Runtime: 1h 26m
Directors: Chris Renaud, Yarrow Cheney
Rating: PG
It may not be as big as the little yellow guys, but this is an essential building block in the history of Illumination. A pre-cancellation Louis C.K. voices a spoiled house pet whose life is turned upside down when a new dog joins the family, voiced exuberantly by Eric Stonestreet. Their conflict spills into the streets and brings in an ensemble of fun vocal performances, especially Kevin Hart and Jenny Slate.
Year: 2019
Runtime: 1h 27m
Directors: Richard Phelan, Will Becher
Rating: G
Shaun the Sheep is an international treasure. The silent comedy star leads one of the most consistently hilarious franchises of all time in his own TV episodes and feature films. This one is a brilliant Netflix original from Aardman Animations about how everyone’s favorite ovine helps a stranded alien return to his own kind.
Year: 2001
Runtime: 1h 30m
Directors: Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson
How culturally seismic was this skewering of fairy tales? It was announced in 2020 that it would be inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. That’s how big. It’s the first non-Disney film to get that recognition. As for the movie itself, it’s held up remarkably well, a modern classic with great voice work and clever writing.
Year: 2016
Runtime: 1h 48m
Director: Garth Jennings
Rating: PG
A charming little jukebox musical, Sing stars Matthew McConaughey as a koala who needs to put on a show to save his theater. It’s a simple but charming film with great tunes sung by an excellent voice cast, especially a movie-stealing Taron Egerton.
Year: 2025
Runtime: 1h 22m
Directors: Nick Park, Merlin Crossingham
Rating: PG
It’s been 21 years since a proper Wallace & Gromit movie but it turns out that the cheese-loving inventor and his trusty sidekick are as funny and clever as ever. This excellent family comedy sees Wallace invent a robot gnome (named Norbot) to help Gromit with duties around the house, but the villainous Feathers McGraw hacks the android and chaos ensues. There’s something extra-wonderful about a stop-motion film, one that requires so much hands-on work, being one of our best anti-AI movies.
Year: 2024
Runtime: 1h 41m
Director: Chris Sanders
Rating: PG
This award-winning adaptation of the novel of the same name by Peter Brown is a gift to viewers of all ages. A blend of Monet and Miyazaki, it stars Lupita Nyong’o as Roz, a service robot who ends up mothering a goose named Brightbill (Kit Connor). It’s a beautiful, moving piece of family filmmaking.
Year: 2020
Runtime: 1h 32m
Director: Kris Pearn
Rating: PG
Remember when Tim Burton made weird, slightly disturbing kids movies? This truly inventive 2020 comedy feels inspired by those flicks as four kids decide that they’re going to replace their apathetic parents with ones that actually care. Based on the book of the same name by Lois Lowry, this flick includes voice work by Will Forte, Maya Rudolph, Terry Crews, and Ricky Gervais, and it’s probably the best family movie on Netflix that you probably haven’t seen.
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Brian Tallerico
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