Paddington.
Photo: StudioCanal
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 it can be harder to sift through their movie library to find something that the whole family can watch. That’s why we’re here to help. From recent Netflix Originals like Orion and the Dark to timeless family hits like The Annie or Minions, these films offer a little something for everybody on family movie night.
Year: 1982
Runtime: 2h 7m
Director: John Huston
It’s a hard knock life in this beloved ‘80s original adaptation of the ‘70s musical of the same name. Aileen Quinn played little orphan Annie but it’s really Albert Finner, Carol Burnett, and Bernadette Peters who steal the show in the classic tale of the adorable redhead and her Daddy Warbucks. Teach your kids why the sun will come out tomorrow.
Year: 2022
Runtime: 1 hour, 38 minutes
Director: Richard Linklater
The great writer/director of Waking Life returned to his unique animated style with this charming, nostalgic coming-of-age story set in the days just before the Apollo 11 landing. A clearly personal piece for Linklater, this film tells the fictional story of a fourth grader who ends up actually being the first person to land on the moon. Charming and sweet, it will appeal to every family member, from grandparents to kids.
Year: 2017
Runtime: 1h 37m
Director: Tom McGrath
This goofy story of a talking, suit-wearing baby voiced by Alec Baldwin isn’t a modern animated masterpiece, but it is a thoroughly entertaining comedy for the whole family. It’s really a story of maintaining creativity and a good one for kids who may be struggling with a new sibling.
Year: 2017
Runtime: 1h 28m
Director: David Soren
Fox adapted the hit book series by Dav Pilkey into a film that underperformed enough at the box office to make it unlikely that we’ll 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: 2012
Runtime: 1h 31m
Director: Genndy Tartakovsky
The franchise about Count Dracula (Adam Sandler) and his troublemaking son-in-law (Andy Samberg) just ended in early 2022 with Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania, but it feels like this series won’t really go away. There will still be people who love these films, and the first two are now on Netflix, so you can see where it all began.
Year: 2019
Runtime: 1h 38m
Director: Sergio Pablos
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: 2023
Runtime: 1h 46m
Directors: Rob Marianetti, Robert Smigel, David Wachtenheim
Adam Sandler’s Netflix output has been steadily improving, including this 2023 animated Happy Madison venture, the Sandman’s first cartoon in over two decades. He voices the title character, a lizard who has lived a long life in a classroom. When he begins an existential crisis about his mortality, he ends up going home with different students to teach them lessons about life. It’s smarter than it needs to be, and genuinely sweet.
Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 30m
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Camp adapted his delightful short about a talking shell into an even-more-delightful feature film, one of the best kids movies of the current decade. It hasn’t been on streaming services before, so gather the family around for this wonderful story of a shell who is trying to find his family. It’s a beautiful, heartwarming, hysterical piece of work.
Year: 2015
Runtime: 1h 30m
Director: Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin
When the little yellow idiots stole Despicable Me, also on Netflix, it only seemed to be a matter of time before they got their own movie, which was such a hit that it’s already produced a sequel, also on Netflix. Put on your best yellow suit, practice your impression, and sit down for an origin story about the little dudes who stole so many scenes that they got their own franchise (most of which is on Netflix).
Year: 2021
Runtime: 1h 54m
Directors: Mike Rianda and Jeff Rowe
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: 2024
Runtime: 1h 32m
Director: Sean Charmatz
The great Charlie Kaufman wrote a kids movie! This new 2024 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.
Year: 2014
Runtime: 1h 35m
Director: Paul King
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
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: 2023
Runtime: 1h 42m
Director: Joel Crawford
No one would have predicted that the presumed-dead Shrek franchise had another spin-off sequel of this caliber yet to be released, but December 2022 saw the critical and commercial success of arguably the best film in the entire series. Using a style more reminiscent of Into the Spider-Verse than typical DreamWorks, The Last Wish is a gorgeous and surprisingly moving story of the title character dealing with something he never expected to face: mortality. It’s funny, clever, and memorable. (On Netflix July 13th.)
Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 55m
Director: Chris Williams
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: 2019
Runtime: 1h 27m
Directors: Richard Phelan and Will Becher
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: 2022
Runtime: 2h 2m
Director: Makoto Shinkai
The masterful director of Your Name and Weathering with You returned in 2022 with a gorgeous fantasy film about a 17-year-old named Suzume who finds a door in the middle of nowhere that could be the answer to solving world catastrophes. While the script is culturally powerful, Suzume is a reminder of Shinkai’s visual mastery, resulting in some of the best animated art of the 2020s to date.
Year: 2016
Runtime: 1h 32m
Director: Walt Dohrn, Mike Mitchell
The end of 2023 saw the release of Trolls: Band Together, so why not go back and watch the original? Take this chance to catch up with the lovable, singing trolls voiced by Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake while you can. The second film is often on streamers but not the first. Aren’t you lucky?
Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 46m
Director: Henry Selick
The director of A Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline finally returned this year with this clever and twisted tale co-written by Oscar winner Jordan Peele. The comedian also co-stars as one of the title characters, the literal demons for a girl who blames herself for the death of her parents. Selick is a master of stop-motion animation and this project allows him to stretch his visual prowess in new, gross ways. It’s a new Halloween classic (that can be watched any time, of course!)
Year: 2020
Runtime: 1h 32m
Director: Kris Pearn
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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