Who doesn’t love family movie night? Disney+ might have the market cornered on family-friendly movies, but don’t think you have to subscribe to that service to find something the whole family will enjoy. Netflix has a great collection of family flicks, too, whether you’re in the mood to laugh or cry together. While Netflix’s library has plenty of options that will appeal to all ages, the lineup changes frequently, so we’ve scoured the ranks to find the best films for your family.
If you’re looking for more films suitable for the whole family, we’ve also rounded up the best family movies on Amazon Prime and the best family movies on Disney+.
The BFG (2016)
Roald Dahl’s beloved story about a little girl and her friendship with a giant gets the CGI Spielberg treatment in this family-friendly epic. Initially scared by the 24-foot behemoth (voiced by Mark Rylance) peeking through her window, 10-year-old Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) soon realizes that he’s actually a Big Friendly Giant. As their friendship grows, Sophie’s presence attracts the unwanted attention of nastier giants like Bloodbottler, Fleshlumpeater, and the like. As the threat becomes imminent, Sophie must travel to London with her new friend to convince Queen Victoria to rid the land of bad giants once and for all.
Rotten Tomatoes: 74%
Stars: Mark Rylance, Ruby Barnhill, Penelope Wilton
Director: Steven Spielberg
Rating: PG
Runtime: 115 minutes
The Princess and the Frog (2009)
One of the very few Disney options still available on Netflix, The Princess and the Frog is also one of the most underrated entries in the Disney Animation Vault. This New Orleans fairy tale inspired by the Queen of Creole Cuisine, Leah Chase, centers on Tiana (Anika Noni Rose), a hardworking woman who dreams of one day opening the finest restaurant New Orleans has ever seen. Her dream, however, hits a detour when she meets Prince Naveen (Bruno Campos), who has been turned into a frog by the evil Dr. Facilier. Mistaking her for a princess, Naveen kisses Tiana, accidentally turning her into a frog as well. Now, the pair must hop through the bayou to find a powerful voodoo priestess who might be able to help them break the curse.
Rotten Tomatoes: 85%
Stars: Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos, Keith David
Director: Ron Clements, John Musker
Rating: G
Runtime: 95 minutes
Good Burger (1997)
As Millennials are growing up and having their own kids, there are few family movies that check as many nostalgia and fun boxes as Good Burger. An absolute smash hit for ’90s babies, Good Burger still resonates with kids of all ages. Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell star as a couple of teen misfits working at a modest burger joint to earn a few bucks. But when the burger conglomerate Mondo Burger opens across the street, Good Burger is threatened with closure. Fortunately, dim-witted Ed (Mitchell) has an accidental ace-in-the-hole: His secret sauce.
Rotten Tomatoes: 32%
Stars: Kenan Thompson, Kel Mitchell, Sinbad
Director: Brian Robbins
Rating: PG
Runtime: 95 minutes
The Croods (2013)
The Croods has experienced a recent revival as a new sequel hit theaters and streamers in 2020. But don’t miss the original! The Croods are a prehistoric family living in a particularly dangerous time. Grug (Nic Cage) and Ugga (Catherine Keener) do their best to lead their clan to gather food by day and stay safe in a cave at night. But when a more evolved caveman called Guy (Ryan Reynolds) shows up, he starts implementing “technology” and “ideas” that frighten Grug and make him suspicious. Especially when it becomes clear that Guy’s apocalyptic theorizing proves to be correct.
Rotten Tomatoes: 72%
Stars: Nicolas Cage, Catherine Keener, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds
Director: Christopher Sanders, Kirk De Micco
Rating: PG
Runtime: 91 minutes
Benji (2018)
Netflix’s remake of the classic doggy hero tale is a heart-warming, fun adventure for the whole family. Siblings Carter (Gabriel Bateman) and Frankie (Darby Camp) are struggling with a family that’s falling apart at the seams. The only silver lining appears to be Benji, a stray dog that has struck up a special friendship with the children. But when they stumble into serious danger, Benji will have to save the day.
Rotten Tomatoes: 60%
Stars: Gabriel Bateman, Darby Camp, Jerod Haynes
Director: Brandon Camp
Rating: PG
Runtime: 114 minutes
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (2009)
Before winning over audiences with The Lego Movie and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, co-directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller adapted Judi and Ron Barrett’s Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Bill Hader voices Flint Lockwood, a young scientist who creates a “Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicator” that can turn water into food. However, Flint’s desire to use his device for good goes horribly awry and threatens the entire world. That’s why it’s on Flint, Samantha Sparks (Anna Faris), and their friends to save the day. (Plus, the second movie is on Netflix too!)
Rotten Tomatoes: 86%
Stars: Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Mr. T
Director: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Rating: PG
Runtime: 90 minutes
Hook (1991)
Film critics didn’t love Steven Spielberg’s Hook, but audiences embraced the story of a grown-up Peter Pan. Robin Williams stars as Peter’s older self, Peter Banning. After falling for and marrying Moira (Caroline Goodall), Peter has no idea that he was once the immortal boy. However, Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman) wants his revenge. That’s why he kidnaps Peter and Moira’s children, which forces Peter to return to Neverland and reclaim himself, as well as the Lost Boys who remained behind.
Rotten Tomatoes: 29%
Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams, Julia Roberts, Bob Hoskins
Director: Steven Spielberg
Rating: PG
Runtime: 142 minutes
Monster House (2006)
Monster House is a rare family-friendly horror story. Mitchel Musso voices as Dustin James “D.J.” Walters, a young boy who has a contentious relationship with his cranky neighbor, Horace Nebbercracker (Steve Buscemi). After Nebbercracker suffers a heart attack, D.J. and his friends, Chowder (Sam Lerner) and Jenny (Spencer Locke), learn that Nebbercracker’s house may be the true monster on the block. And they’re the only ones who can save the neighborhood from a dire fate.
Rotten Tomatoes: 75%
Stars: Mitchel Musso, Sam Lerner, Spencer Locke, Steve Buscemi
Director: Gil Kenan
Rating: PG
Runtime: 90 minutes
The Willoughbys (2020)
Will Forte, Maya Rudolph, Alessia Cara, Terry Crews, Martin Short, Jane Krakowski, Sean Cullen, and Ricky Gervais lend their voices to this computer-animated film based on the book of the same name by Lois Lowry. It’s about the Willoughbys, two neglectful parents, and their unique children who try to survive on their own until a mysterious nanny arrives. Despite the presumably sad subject matter about orphaned children with bad parents, critics loved the film and lauded its silliness that is “anchored in genuine emotion.”
Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
Stars: Will Forte, Maya Rudolph, Alessia Cara, Ricky Gervais
Director: Kris Pearn
Rating: PG
Runtime: 92 minutes
The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019)
What do your pets actually do when you’re not home all day? In the original The Secret Life of Pets, we learned that they get into a whole lot of trouble. Now, after narrowly avoiding becoming a stray, Max the terrier (Patton Oswalt) is back and ready for a fun family jaunt to the countryside. But when he mistakenly gets lost, he’ll have to deal with angry cows, hostile foxes, one mean turkey, and his own neuroses if he’s going to get back home. Thankfully, he has a little help.
Rotten Tomatoes: 60%
Stars: Kevin Hart, Jenny Slate, Patton Oswalt
Director: Chris Renaud
Rating: PG
Runtime: 86 minutes
Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus (2019)
While it may not be the same Invader Zim millennials grew up watching, the Netflix-adapted Enter the Florpus will still get the entire family reeling. The story tracks Zim (Richard Steven Horvitz) after the events of the original TV series, seeing the little alien in the throes of an existential dilemma. As he’s fighting for a chance to make a difference and attempting to unlock his true purpose on Earth, Zim’s arch-nemesis plots his downfall in the shadows. Can the little alien gain the confidence he needs to overcome his human rival, or will he only be a memory? With a critics review score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, no family can go wrong with Invader Zim and his Florpus adventures.
Rotten Tomatoes: 100%
Stars: Jhonen Vasquez, Richard Steven Horvitz
Directors: Hae Young Jung, Young Kyun Park, Jhonen Vasquez
Rating: TV-Y7
Runtime: 71 minutes
Hugo (2011)
Given the ample amount of time on everyone’s hands nowadays, Hugo is an unmissable family-friendly escape into a world that uniquely portrays this unstoppable temporal movement. Martin Scorsese’s steampunk adventure captures a 1931 Paris through the eyes of a 12-year-old and has an emotional weight unlike any of his previous films. Hugo’s (Asa Butterfield) adventures in the railway station are where the narrative and themes are expressed most boisterously, depicting a world made vibrant by its art, yet inundated with controlled abandon. Hugo is a tale of spellbinding woe and familial hardship, proving the necessity of creativity to thrive. It’s not an award winner for nothing, after all.
Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Stars: Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Ben Kingsley
Director: Martin Scorsese
Rating: PG
Runtime: 129 minutes
How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)
Like any franchise, it’s probably best to start with the first How to Train Your Dragon. But you won’t be completely lost if you jump in with the equally outstanding sequel. Five years since Hiccup and his dragon friend Toothless united the dragons and Vikings of Berk, the town is more intrepid and more peaceful than ever. However, when Hiccup and Toothless discover a secret cave out in the ocean that’s filled with hundreds of wild dragons, they begin to ask questions. Soon, they find that the dragons answer to a mysterious rider, and they’re just the first domino to fall as a power-hungry warlord closes in on Berk.
Rotten Tomatoes: 91%
Stars: Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler
Directors: Dean DeBlois
Rating: PG
Runtime: 102 minutes
Mary and the Witch’s Flower (2017)
For anime-enthusiast families and Studio Ghibli connoisseurs, here is an international Alice in Wonderland lookalike. Mary and the Witch’s Flower is as heartwarming as it is artistically expressive, namely due to the direction of Hiromasa Yonebayashi. This animated adventure is based on Mary Stewart’s The Little Broomstick. Mary (Hana Sugisaki) is a young girl with no friends, living in the northern English countryside with a deep-seated hunger for adventure. After chasing a cat into a forest, her whole life changes upon the discovery of a mysterious broom with enchanted abilities. Netflix may have an array of the best anime series, but it doesn’t often have the best selection of family-friendly animated movies. Mary and the Witch’s Flower is certainly a testament to its potential.
Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
Stars: Ruby Barnhill, Kate Winslet, Jim Broadbent
Director: Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Rating: PG
Runtime: 103 minutes
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001)
During the Golden Age of Nickelodeon, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius stood out for its unique premise and a heavy focus on science. Jimmy Neutron is an 11-year-old boy whose intellect is matched by none. Of course, his brain results in the arrival of an alien species who want to kidnap and sacrifice Earth’s parents to Poultra, the species’ god, who is incidentally a three-headed chicken. Smart and humorous, the movie was the launching pad for the franchise, which brought two different television shows to Nickelodeon over the following decade.
Rotten Tomatoes: 74%
Stars: Debi Derryberry, Rob Paulsen, Jeffrey Garcia
Director: John A. Davis
Rating: G
Runtime: 90 minutes
Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014)
The classic duo of Mr. Peabody and Sherman gets a modern update for a new generation in this 2014 animated hit. Mr. Peabody is the most accomplished dog in the world, and with his mischievous boy Sherman, they travel time and space together in their time machine, the WABAC. But when Sherman takes the WABAC out for a joyride to impress his friend Penny, they inadvertently tear a hole in the universe, wreaking havoc on history. Before past, present, and future are forever altered, Mr. Peabody must put everything back together again, simultaneously making the world right and becoming a parent.
Rotten Tomatoes: 81%
Stars: Ty Burrell, Ariel Winter, Max Charles
Directors: Rob Minkoff
Rating: PG
Runtime: 92 minutes
Pokémon Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution (2019)
This Pokémon movie is a CGI remake of the massively popular 1998 Pokémon film, Pokémon: The First Movie. It doesn’t quite meet the hype of the original movie, which many of today’s parents probably went bananas for as kids, but it’s nonetheless a fun trip down nostalgia lane for adults and an action-packed ride for kids. Starring all the characters from the original Pokémon series, the movie follows Ash, Brock, and Misty as they discover the enormously powerful psychic Pokémon Mewtwo and realize he’s not the villain he’s made out to be.
Rotten Tomatoes: 44%
Stars: Ikue Otani, Rica, Matsumoto
Directors: Kunihiko Yuyama, Tetsuo Yajima, Motonori Sakakibara
Rating: PG
Runtime: 98 minutes
The Little Prince (2015)
This original adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s beloved book somehow manages to pay homage to the original story while expanding it to beautiful new heights. Directed by Mark Osborne, this visually stunning extension features a young girl (Mackenzie Foy) who strikes up a friendship with an old pilot (Jeff Bridges). As they get to know one another, the pilot regales the girl about a friend from his past: a Little Prince from another planet. Read the book with your kids, then watch the movie, and you’ll build a lasting memory.
Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Stars: Mackenzie Foy, Rachel McAdams, Paul Rudd
Director: Mark Osborne
Rating: PG
Runtime: 110 minutes
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