Whether you’ve got kids to entertain or you’re just looking to nurture your own inner child, there comes a time in everyone’s life when you just want to watch a good kids movie.
Fortunately for you there are streaming services like Netflix, which offer lots of entertainment at the push of a button. But sometimes it can be hard sifting through all the hastily produced rip-offs trying to find an established classic or hidden gem worth watching.
Fortunately, we’ve got you covered with our list of the best kids movies streaming on Netflix!
Don Bluth jumped ship from Disney and, for a while, created some of the most magical animated movies ever produced. An American Tail is one of the animator’s early, most impressive productions, an Oscar-nominated story about a Russian immigrant who gets separated from his family, and discovers that America isn’t as idyllic as his father claimed. And of course, he’s a mouse. An American Tail boasts beautiful animation and a classic story that’s equal parts hopeful and heartbreaking.
The first stop-motion animated fantasy from LAIKA is still, arguably, their best. This adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s beloved novella tells the story of a little girl who feels like her parents are ignoring her, and wanders into an alternate world in which she’s the center of attention. But of course there’s a downside to obsessive parenting, and what seems at first like a beautiful dream becomes a horrifying nightmare.
Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi fantasy is just as remarkable today as it was 35 years ago. E.T. isn’t just about kids — it’s told specifically from their perspective. Low camera angles mirror the physical viewpoint of children, and the story almost exclusively highlights their experiences befriending a lost alien, rather than being mired in the machinations of adults. It’s an overwhelming and exciting motion picture unlike anything that had ever come before it, and even though many movies have tried to recapture E.T.’s success, it still feels remarkable and unique.
It might seem unusual for a bear and a mouse to live together, but in Ernest & Celestine it’s actually illegal. This beautifully watercolored French animated film, based on a series of popular children’s books by Gabrielle Vincent, illustrates the struggles of two outsiders who make a home together and are forced to justify their friendship to not one, but two communities which are built on xenophobia. The message is potent, but imaginatively presented, with a playful animation style and two absolutely adorable protagonists kids (and adults) will love.
Walt Disney’s most experimental movie has no plot to speak of. It’s a collection of classical music performances, brought to life through animation, in funny and frightening narratives, and sometimes wholly abstract imagery. Aspects of Fantasia have entered the pantheon of iconic cinematic imagery, like Mickey Mouse enchanting brooms as The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, to the horrifying Chernobog commanding a demonic bacchanalia over the course of A Night on Bald Mountain. These images, set to this particular music, are some of the cornerstones of the cinematic art form, and are just as potent now as they were 77 years ago.
The follow-up to Pixar’s classic Finding Nemo had a tricky job to do, telling a familiar story with the exact same characters, in a completely different way. And although Finding Dory does play a lot like Finding Nemo on the surface — sending a few small fish across the great wide ocean to reunite with their families and befriend an ensemble cast of aquatic misfits — the message of Andrew Stanton’s sequel is distinctive and empowering. The majority of the new characters in Finding Dory are somehow disabled, from the protagonist’s missing memory to Hank the squid’s missing tentacle, and they achieve great things together, forming lovely new friendships and tackling seemingly impossible — but altogether thrilling — tasks.
R.L. Stine’s beloved, kinda scary children’s books come to life — all at the same time — in Goosebumps, a surprisingly sharp and funny contemporary kids movie that plays a lot like the classic spooky family flicks of the 1980s. Jack Black plays R.L. Stine, an author who keeps his horrifying creations locked up inside his manuscripts. When they all escape at the same time, he has to team up with a gaggle of teenagers to rescue the city and book the nightmares back where they belong, in the realm of fiction. Imaginative visual effects and a rollicking, playful tone make Goosebumps an underrated treat.
Martin Scorsese’s most family-friendly film stars Asa Butterfield as the child of an inventor who lives inside the walls of a train station. But what starts out as a Dickensian tale of urban fantasy gradually evolves into a mystery that might unlock the history of cinema itself. Hugo is a strangely grand story that teaches children about the beauty of film history, and might set them down a path to watch classic silent cinema and eventually become avid cinephiles of the highest order. It’s a “must watch" for movie lovers and their children.
It was hard enough keeping a child-sized alien a secret in E.T., but in Brad Bird’s incredible animated classic The Iron Giant, our heroes have to keep a humongous robot away from prying eyes. The Iron Giant takes place in the 1950s, a time of inspirational science fiction and intense political paranoia, and Brad Bird’s adaptation of Ted Hughes’ novel highlights that inherent contradiction: you can’t build a better tomorrow if you’re terrified of today. The Iron Giant was almost summarily ignored in its time, but the years have been kind: it’s now considered one of the great children’s movies, and with good cause.
Jon Favreau’s “live-action” remake of Disney’s The Jungle Book is barely live-action at all. The human protagonist, Neel Sethi, is one of the few live-action things about it, with all of the realistic environments and animal characters generated via CGI. It’s an impressive accomplishment, but it would all be for naught if the film wasn’t also telling a fantastic story, and to Jon Favreau’s credit the film plays — arguably — even better than the cel-animated original. The incredibly loose plotting of Disney’s first The Jungle Book, which was also adapted (of course) from Rudyard Kipling’s classic stories, has given way to a similar storyline with more drive, and a much more dramatically satisfying conclusion.
LAIKA’s latest fantasy is something most audiences had never seen before: a stop-motion animated action movie. Kubo and the Two Strings is the story of a boy whose mother is on the run from her terrifying father, who wants to corrupt Kubo for his own purposes. Kubo is forced to flee himself, and teams up with a stern monkey and an affable bug warrior to collect enchanted artifacts and heal wounds that have injured his family for many years. Some of the imagery in Kubo and the Two Strings is so astounding it must be seen to be believed, and the film’s emotionally overwhelming storyline — and its unusual conclusion — are equally incredible.
One of Disney’s most underappreciated animated films is Lilo & Stitch, a mischievous motion picture about a young Hawaiian girl whose dog happens to be an alien monster who likes destroying things. It’s a playful motion picture about misfit children of all kinds, smart kids with emotional problems who come together and create exactly the family they need… even if nobody else understands them. Gorgeously animated, and the Elvis Presley soundtrack is just perfect.
There’s a reason why My Little Pony has been enjoying a renewed popularity over the last few years: the latest version of the series is really, really good. It’s got charming characters, stories that acknowledge life’s complexities while still successfully promoting positive values, and extraordinarily catchy music. In the second Equestria Girls movie, which takes place in an alternate reality where the ponies are people (just go with it), all of those elements come together in a delightful Battle of the Bands. You’d have to be pretty darned cynical not to either love this movie, or at least admit it’s got a really great soundtrack.
An innocent heart and a whole lot of bear puns make Paddington an unexpected treasure. Paul King’s adaptation of Michael Bond’s beloved picture books finds the title bear invited to live with an incredibly British family, whose perfect life is upended by the sudden presence of an animal who has no idea how their culture works. Paddington is another lovely fable about the dangers of xenophobia, trussed up in a genuinely sweet storyline, silly jokes, and a hilarious performance by Nicole Kidman as the dastardly villain.
Another Disney remake that plays better than the original. David Lowery’s version of Pete’s Dragon strips away the weirder plot points and the (admittedly great) musical numbers, and finds at its heart the tale of a lost boy, raised by a creature who may or may not be a figment of his imagination. When Pete stumbles across other human beings for the first time in years he has to make the choice to either live in the woods with a dragon, or abandon his best friend and take another chance on humanity. Lowery’s film is earthy and alive, and as overwhelmingly emotional as any other film on this list of pretty darned emotional movies.
Disney’s first animated buddy cop movie takes place in an elaborately-realized world in which anthropomorphic animals all live together in tenuous harmony, until a series of mysterious attacks make all of the residents turn on each other, and cave in to their ugliest social paranoias. It’s a difficult subject to dramatize in any medium, but Zootopia dares to tackle it directly, making what could have been a disposable adventure into a potent and timely examination of society’s greatest ills. Children won’t just love the adorable animals, they’ll pick up on the film’s unassailable messages about overcoming racism in all of its forms.
What are your favorite kids movies streaming on Netflix? Let us know in the comments.
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