If you are looking for family movies on Netflix suitable for viewers of all ages, you are in the right place.
It’s not always easy to find good movies to watch on weekends or holidays with kids of all ages, and especially movies that are entertaining enough to grab their attention from start to finish, but also thought-provoking enough to offer some educational experience. In this movie list, you can find those two important elements at different levels.
From endearing classics like Paddington to some of the best movies Netflix has released in the last few years like The Mitchells vs The Machines, here are some family-movie recommendations that are preferably enjoyed with popcorn and sweets of all kinds. Take your pick!
1. The Bad Guys (2022) – DreamWorks
Can the bad guys become the good guys? This great movie by DreamWorks Animation tries to answer the question with a group of endearing characters and lots of action and comedy.
The story follows a criminal crew of anthropomorphic animals who promise to become model citizens in order to stay out of jail. Pickpocket Mr Wolf, safecracker Mr Snake, master-of-disguise Mr Shark, muscular Mr Piranha and expert hacker Ms Tarantula will do their best to fool the world, but maybe they learn a thing or two in the meantime. After a lifetime of legendary heists, notorious criminals Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Mr. Piranha, Mr. Shark and Ms. Tarantula are finally caught.
To avoid a prison sentence, the animal outlaws must pull off their most challenging con yet – becoming model citizens. Under the tutelage of their mentor, Professor Marmalade, the dubious gang sets out to fool the world that they’re turning good.
The Bad Guys is a classic tale that blends high-energy entertainment with some universal life lessons.
2. Orion and the Dark (2024) – Netflix
Who hasn’t been afraid of the dark as a child? Orion and the Dark explores that fear and other types of anxieties in a gorgeous family-friendly adventure, now available on Netflix.
The story follows Orion, a kid who is afraid of the dark and the monsters that might live in it. Sensing his suffering, Dark itself invites him to spend 24 hours with it, hoping that by understanding how Dark works he won’t be that scared anymore.
Orion (voiced by Jacob Tremblay), is afraid of pretty much everything: putting his hand up in class, being bullied, causing the toilet to overflow with an immoderate bowel movement, talking to the girl he is secretly in love with – and especially the dark.
But one night, the Dark himself (voiced by Paul Walter Hauser) swoops grumpily into his bedroom: a vast, cloaked figure with face shrouded under a hood.
The Dark insists on taking Orion on a magical night-flight across Stygian landscapes to prove that it isn’t so bad, and introduces him to five Pixar-abstract-type personae pals including Insomnia (Nat Faxon), in charge of keeping people awake with insidious little thoughts, and Unexplained Noises (Golda Rosheuvel) doing the same thing with sudden banging and thumping.
On the other hand Quiet (Aparna Nancherla), Sweet Dreams (Angela Bassett) and Sleep (Natasia Demetriou) are committed to helping you doze off.
Charlie Kaufman, the mind behind classics like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, freely adapts Emma Yarlett’s picture book, adding many layers to the story and its meanings.
3. We Have a Ghost (2023) – Netflix
ET: The Extra-Terrestrial meets Casper in this hilarious and endearing family movie, starring Stranger Things’s David Harbour and Marvel star Anthony Mackie.
We Have a Ghost follows a family that moves into a new house in the Illinois suburbs, only to discover there is a ghost living in the attic. Ernest (Harbour) is a harmless ghost suffering from amnesia, but there is a dark secret regarding his past, and his death.
The discovery that their house is haunted by a ghost named Ernest makes Kevin’s family a social media sensation. But when Kevin and Ernest get to the bottom of the mystery of Ernest’s past, they become targets of the CIA.
With Jennifer Coolidge being once again a scene-stealer as a TV medium and plenty of emotional moments to make you cry, this Netflix movie is an underrated gem that feels like a classic family watch.
4. Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (2023) – Netflix
Here’s an amazing double-feature for a family movie day — both Chicken Run (2000) and Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (2023) are available to watch on Netflix. The Aardman classic and its recent sequel (which, despite the controversial voice recastings, is also fantastic) are perfect family movies with equal parts comedy, adventures and important life lessons.
Reunite with Ginger, Rocky and the rest of the residents of a British chicken farm as they fight for freedom. The movie tells the story of Rocky and Ginger who lead a rescue mission when their daughter has been abducted to a highly-advanced poultry farm run by their old enemy Mrs. Tweedy.
5. Paddington 2 (2017) – StudioCanal
Looking for another double-feature family movie night? Paddington and Paddington 2 are the loveliest movies you will ever watch, and they are perfect to watch with kids. And soon we’ll have to add Paddington 3 as well! Now, while both movies are exceptional and endearing, Paddington 2 is on a different level. If you have to choose only one to watch, go for the sequel.
The story follows Paddington bear as he saves money to buy the perfect gift for his aunt on her 100th birthday. Paddington takes up a job to accumulate enough money to buy a beautiful antique book for dear Aunt Lucy’s birthday on her 100th birthday, but it gets stolen!
6. The Mitchells vs The Machines (2021) – Netflix
As one of the best animated movies on Netflix, The Mitchells vs The Machines is an absolute joy to watch. The whole family will have a blast with this one. It’s no surprise to find out it’s produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, since their brand of meta humour and animation style is all over it — you’ll quickly see the similarities with other Lord-Miller productions like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and The Lego Movie.
The Mitchells vs The Machines centres on an ordinary family who become humanity’s last hope when the world is enslaved by a robot uprising, led by virtual assistant PAL (Olivia Colman).
It all starts when creative outsider Katie Mitchell is accepted into the film school of her dreams and is eager to leave home and find “her people,”. Her nature-loving dad then insists on having the whole family drive her to school and bond during one last totally-not-awkward-or-forced road trip.
But just when the trip can’t get any worse, the family suddenly finds itself in the middle of the robot uprising! Everything from smart phones, to roombas, to evil Furbys are employed to capture every human on the planet. Now it’s up to the Mitchells, including upbeat mom Linda, quirky little brother Aaron, their squishy pug, Monchi, and two friendly, but simple-minded robots to save humanity.
7. Clifford the Big Red Dog (2021)
Where can you go wrong with a movie featuring a massive-sized red dog that causes havoc around New York City? The beloved children’s book series by Norman Bridwell got a sweet adaptation in 2021’s Clifford the Big Red Dog, starring Jack Whitehall, Darby Camp, Tony Hale and John Cleese.
After a magical animal rescuer gifts her a cute red puppy, the life of Emily Elizabeth is never the same. Particularly when the puppy grows to be a ten-foot-tall dog. When Emily discovers her little red puppy named Clifford has grown 10-feet overnight, she’ll enlist the help of the entire neighborhood to keep the big playful puppy from causing havoc.
8. We Can Be Heroes – Netflix
This Netflix movie is both a standalone and legacy sequel to 2005’s The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D, so don’t worry if you don’t remember what that was about.
We Can Be Heroes introduces a new group of young superheroes that need to rise to the occasion when their parents, the actual professional superheroes, are kidnapped by alien invaders.
When alien invaders kidnap Earth’s superheroes, their kids are whisked away to a government safe house. But whip-smart tween Missy (Yaya Gosselin) will stop at nothing to rescue her superhero dad, Marcus Moreno (Pedro Pascal). She teams up with the rest of the superkids to escape their mysterious government babysitter, Ms. Granada (Priyanka Chopra Jonas).
If they’re going to save their parents, they’ll have to work together by using their individual powers — from elasticity to time control to predicting the future — and form an out-of-this-world team.
Pedro Pascal, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Christian Slater and Boyd Holbrook lead the cast of this enjoyable family movie with lots of action and comedy.
9. Leo (2023) – Netflix
Adam Sandler plays a 74-year-old lizard in Netflix’s Leo, and that’s probably the only piece of information you need to start watching.
Who could forget their class pet from school? Maybe it was the furry hamster that everyone wanted to hold or the snake that escaped its tank and is probably still slithering through the school vents to this day.
The story follows Leo, a lizard that has been stuck in the same Florida school for decades.
Quickly approaching his final year of life, Leo has a midlife crisis at the ripe old age of 74. After deciding to leave his cage for good, he unexpectedly falls into a different calling — acting as therapist to the peculiar fifth-grade students in his classroom. Leo also has to rescue his class from their horribly mean substitute teacher who doesn’t seem to like the ‘ancient lizard’.
Adam Sandler stars in and co-wrote the animated comedy Leo, which encompasses the formative final year of elementary school — as seen through the eyes of a lizard.
Let’s also just say that household appliances are not Leo’s friends…
The movie also stars Saturday Night Live’s Cecily Strong, Everything Everywhere All at Once’s Stephanie Hsu, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel’s Jason Alexander and regular Sandler collaborator Rob Schneider, Leo is a fun movie for a family movie night.
10. Fox and Hare Save the Forest
Fox and Hare Save the Forest is a 2024 animated adventure drama film directed by Mascha Halberstad and written by Fabie Hulsebos.
Beaver, a small and arrogant creature, proudly unveils his huge dam in a big clearing in the woods. He and two Rats have stopped the river from flowing. The water quickly fills up the area and creates a massive lake. Beaver is very pleased with himself, but he is sad that no one is there to praise his work.
Meanwhile, Fox and Hare have been having fun with their friends at a party. Owl goes back to his home after the party and sees weird water currents near his tree. He gets scared and runs away into the forest.
The next day, Fox and Hare notice that Owl is gone. They and their friends go looking for him, but they only find the strange lake. How did the water get there? As they keep looking for Owl, the water level keeps rising, putting the forest in danger. Their mission to rescue the forest will challenge their friendship like never before!
Grab your popcorn, kick off your slippers, and snuggle in with the family for a fun-filled family cinematic experience!