There are thrillers and rom-coms galore on Netflix, but feel-good movies are a little harder to pin down to a single genre. That’s because almost anything, from a drama or a comedy to a documentary, can be a feel-good movie. It has more to do with the response that the film gets from viewers than it does with the subject matter. And it often means more than just promising a happy ending because, in life, we have too few of those.
Our latest roundup of the best feel-good movies on Netflix includes the independently produced animation/live-action flick Marcel the Shell With Shoes On, the rom-coms Love At First Sight and Mamma Mia!, as well as a documentary that lives up to its title: The Greatest Night In Pop. And we have even more options for you below.
If this isn’t what you’re looking for, check out our other feel-good lists, including the best comedies on Netflix, the best stand-up comedy on Netflix, and the best romantic comedies on Netflix.
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Love at First Sight2023
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Mamma Mia!2008
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Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2022) new
There’s something inspiring about the way that Dean Fleischer Camp and Jenny Slate turned their viral videos about Marcel the Shell with Shoes On into one of the rare independently produced animated films. Although this movie does have some live-action characters, including Fleischer Camp’s Dean, a filmmaker who moves into an Airbnb only to discover a childlike talking shell named Marcel (Slate) and his grandmother, Nana Connie (Isabella Rossellini).
Marcel and Dean quickly bond and the latter’s videos of Marcel make him famous in a very short period of time. That’s not something that Marcel is entirely on board with, but he does really want to reunite with his shell family after years of missing them. Now, Marcel will get a chance to have that reunion.
Love at First Sight (2023) new
Do you believe in love at first sight? It’s hard enough to find any person who will return your love, much less make an instant connection. But it does make for some fun romantic comedies. Netflix’s Love At First Sight centers on Hadley Sullivan (The White Lotus‘ Haley Lu Richardson) and Oliver Jones (Ben Hardy), a pair of strangers who meet at an airport and spend time together before getting on a long flight to London.
Fate steps in to give the two a push towards love by moving Oliver into the vacant seat next to Hadley during the flight. From there, it’s pure love right until the duo lose track of each other in customs. Hadley realizes that they may have had something special, and the only question is simple: How far will she go to find Oliver again?
Mamma Mia! (2008) new
If you just want to sing along with the songs of ABBA, don’t let us stop you. That’s kind of the point of Mamma Mia!, a musical that was inspired by ABBA’s music and incorporates several of the band’s most famous songs. The story revolves around Sophie Sheridan (Amanda Seyfried), a young woman who is getting married to Sky Rymand (Dominic Cooper).
More than anything, Sophie wants her father to walk her down the aisle. The problem is that not even Sophie’s mother, Donna Sheridan (Meryl Streep), knows for sure who that is. It could be Sam Carmichael (Pierce Brosnan), Harry Bright (Colin Firth), or Bill Anderson (Stellan Skarsgård). Sophie has invited all three men to her wedding, and almost as soon as they meet her, each of the three is convinced that Sophie is their daughter. It might take a lot of singing and dancing to sort this out.
The Greatest Night in Pop (2024) new
There’s something almost quaint about the idea of the biggest music stars in the world coming together to record a charity song to combat a famine in Africa. But it really happened in 1985 with the recording of We Are the World. Some of those superstars, including Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Ray Charles, Kenny Rogers, and Harry Belafonte, are no longer with us.
The Greatest Night in Pop features an intimate look at the chaotic recording session that brought all these acts into the same room. Some participants, including Bruce Springsteen and Lionel Richie, participate in new interviews as they share their memories of the night they spent together almost 40 years ago.
Family Switch (2023)
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (2023)
The Speed Cubers (2020)
Your Place or Mine (2023)
The Redeem Team (2022)
Hustle (2022)
The Harder They Fall (2021)
Wine Country (2019)
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (2019)
The Half of It (2020)
Dumplin' (2018)
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020)
Concrete Cowboy (2020)
The Fundamentals of Caring (2016)
Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)
Set It Up (2018)
Work It (2020)
The Princess Switch (2018)
Always Be My Maybe (2019)
To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2018)
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