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Best kids' movies to watch on Netflix - from K-Pop Demon Hunters to Wallace & Gromit
Enjoy time at home with the children with our pick of family films available to watch on Netflix.
Netflix
- Patrick Cremona
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The summer holidays are almost here – and the chances are you might be looking for a new film to keep the kids occupied or perhaps for something you can watch with them that works for the whole family.
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The good news is that Netflix has no shortage of options to choose from, including everything from 2025 mega-hit K-Pop Demon Hunters to virtually the entire library of films from the exceptional Studio Ghibli catalogue.
If you're after some classic blockbusters that are also suitable for younger audiences, the likes of Jurassic Park should fit the bill – provided your kids can withstand a few frights – while if you're looking to introduce a few more macabre themes, Guillermo del Toro's spellbinding adaptation of Pinocchio is a great place to start.
We've compiled a lit consisting of 20 varied options currently available on the streamer below – scroll down for our picks alongside reviews from the Radio Times archive.
Check out our list of the best family films on Netflix below.
1. K-Pop Demon Hunters
A star rating of 4 out of 5.
You don't have to know a thing about the South Korean K-pop phenomenon to enjoy this deliriously silly English-language animated musical. It introduces us to delightful three-piece girl band Huntr/x (voiced by Arden Cho, Ji-young Yoo and May Hong). As global superstars, they wow huge crowds on stage – but also secretly fight demons to save the world. Now the baddies have a plan: they've created an equally talented boy band, Saja Boys, to steal Huntr/x's fans.
Led by the evil, yet attractive, Jinu (Ahn Hyo-seop), Saja Boys aim to gain in popularity until they're ready to unleash their demon armies. This is a dazzling watch, with animation reminiscent of the kinetic, colourful Spider-Verse movies but with a bold Korean twist. The jokes are universal but K-pop fans can also enjoy cheeky nods to real-life bands (Saja Boys's six-pack-flaunting member "Abs" could well be San from Ateez, for example). As for the music: there's a reason lead track Golden hit number one across the world, including in the UK. – Jayne Nelson
2. My Neighbour Totoro – and more Studio Ghibli films
My Neighbour Totoro. Studio Ghibli
A star rating of 4 out of 5.
Set in the 1950s, this charming tale draws on the childhood experiences of director Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away). Left alone while their father frets over the condition of their mother in a nearby hospital, Satsuki and her younger sister Mei begin exploring their new house in the country and are soon having fantastical adventures with soot balls known as "dustbunnies", a 12-legged cat bus and furry giant Totoro. Everything sings of the innocence and wonderment of youth and, while some may bemoan the minimalist storyline, the graphics are an utter delight. – David Parkinson
NOTE: We could have populated this list entirely with Studio Ghibli films – there are a huge range of wonderful options from the beloved animation studio currently streaming, with Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service and Howl's Moving Castle among others, which are well worth checking out.
3. Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio
A star rating of 4 out of 5.
Mexican auteur Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water) brings his distinctive style to this wondrous stop-motion adaptation of Carlo Collodi's timeless fable. Ingeniously transposing the story to Benito Mussolini's fascist Italy in the 1930s, the film sees anguished woodcarver Geppetto (voiced by David Bradley) crafting the titular puppet (Gregory Mann) following a tragic incident.
Ewan McGregor turns in a delightful performance as the talking cricket who serves as narrator. The animation is stunning, especially in the sequences where the director leans into the source novel's surrealism, while Alexandre Desplat's atmospheric score is spellbinding. Del Toro has spoken at length about Pinocchio's influence on his life and career, and this intricate film is a clear passion project made with love and care. With sensitivity and heart, it explores grief, war, and the question of what it truly means to be human. – Patrick Cremona
4. Shrek
A star rating of 4 out of 5.
This irreverent, occasionally scatological fantasy from DreamWorks launched a hit franchise to rival Pixar’s Toy Story. Shrek is an ugly, antisocial green ogre (voiced in a variable Scottish accent by Mike Myers), who must rescue a human princess (Cameron Diaz) in order to appease evil Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow) and rid his swamp of an infestation of traditional fairy-tale characters: three little pigs, a Pinocchio-style character and so on.
The animation was cutting edge for its day, but it’s the characters that carry this beauty-and-the-beast story. The only problem, and it’s very minor, is the degree to which Eddie Murphy’s Donkey – a partly improvised vocal turn to match Robin Williams’s in Aladdin – steals the film. However, kids will love it, while adults can enjoy the relentless Disney-mocking. – Andrew Collins
5. Mary and the Witch's Flower
A star rating of 4 out of 5.
A curious girl finds a magic flower and is whisked away to a land of witches in this vivid animated adventure. It's directed by Studio Ghibli alumnus Hiromasa Yonebayashi (Arriety, When Marnie Was There), who takes us on a colourful ride filled with fantastic creatures and dastardly villains, brought to life by an excellent English voice cast including Kate Winslet and Jim Broadbent.
This sweet and simple story may lack the emotional heft of classic Japanese anime, but it gets the basics right. And, in Mary, the film also has a different kind of hero, one whose journey is as much about self-acceptance as it is saving the day. – Victoria Luxford
6. IF
A star rating of 3 out of 5.
Writer/director and actor John Krasinski follows his A Quiet Place films with a gentler, if saggy and derivative, take on family trauma in this child-friendly fantasy. Cailey Fleming plays 12-year-old Bea, whose mother has died and whose father (Krasinski) awaits an operation. Living with her grandma (Fiona Shaw) in New York, Bea begins seeing cutesy "IFs" (imaginary friends) and helps neighbour Cal (Ryan Reynolds) find these affable creatures' childhood pals.
Krasinski seems set on making a live-action Pixar equivalent – echoes of Monsters, Inc and more mount up - but the animation studio's precision-honed plotting and comedy elude him as IF meanders through Bea's healing arc. The huge cast of A-listers voicing the CG IFs proves indulgent, diluting the focus further, though Fleming and Reynolds's measured leads provide anchoring charm.
A visit to the IFs' magical world adds flashes of invention, too, before the finale's inevitable tug on the heartstrings. Amid hazily defined homilies about remembering lost loved ones, Krasinski's warm-hearted muddle slips rather too readily from the memory. – Kevin Harley
7. Nimona
A star rating of 4 out of 5.
This animated adaptation of ND Stevenson's graphic novel fuses medievalism with neon-bright futurism. Ballister Boldheart (voiced by Riz Ahmed) is made a knight, one of many who've vowed to protect his city from an ancient monster beyond its walls. Just moments later, however, he's framed for murder and goes on the run - pursued by fellow knight Ambrosius Goldenloin (Eugene Lee Yang), who's also his boyfriend.
Boldheart's plight attracts the attention of the peculiar Nimona (Chloë Grace Moretz), a shapeshifting pink weirdo who enjoys a fight. A tentative bond forms between the rogue knight and the homicidal "monster" in a film that successfully explores the themes of friendship, diversity and acceptance.
Visually, Nimona is stunning, its inventive 2D animation blending with eye-popping 3D design. The action set pieces are thrilling, too, although possibly a little intense for very young audiences. While some of the plot twists are easy to guess, it doesn't spoil what is an otherwise fresh and exhilarating adventure. – Jayne Nelson
8. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Feathers McGraw: penguin or chicken? Courtesy of Netflix
A star rating of 4 out of 5.
West Wallaby Street's dynamic duo return for their first major adventure since 2008's A Matter of Loaf and Death, and find themselves pitted against an old foe. All is well with Wallace's latest invention, a super-efficient automated garden gnome called Norbot, until it comes to the attention of their old nemesis from The Wrong Trousers, the dastardly Feathers McGraw.
Hacking into the cheese-loving pals' computer system from his prison cell in the zoo, McGraw takes control of the bot, mass-replicates it and triggers a crime wave, framing Wallace in the process. Consequently, it's up to Gromit to clear his owner's name and bring the bad guy to book, with the help of a plucky policewoman. Laughs, jeopardy and outrageous physical comedy ensue, with the result significantly better paced than the only previous feature-length instalment in the franchise, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
Creator and co-director Nick Park ensures the expected elements are in place: a gag-packed script, magnificent set design and a healthy helping of bonkers gadgetry. Taking over from the late Peter Sallis, Ben Whitehead ticks all the right boxes as the voice of Wallace, ensuring a smooth transition that sustains the fun millions of fans have come to expect. – Terry Staunton
9. Bridge to Terabithia
A star rating of 4 out of 5.
Two young outsiders find sanctuary in a world of imagination in this charming fantasy. Based on Katherine Paterson's children's novel, it's an emotionally rich testament to the life-changing power of friendship. Josh Hutcherson and AnnaSophia Robb are wonderful as ten-year-old misfits Jess and Leslie, who are drawn together by their mutual alienation and delightful creativity.
After an awkward introduction, they become inseparable, inventing a magical imaginary kingdom known as Terabithia (a homage to CS Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia) in their local woods. This attractive realm and its fantastical creatures provide a showcase for a wealth of enjoyable digital effects.
Yet, ironically, it's the duo's mundane daily experiences and the way their secret exploits gradually empower them at school that are the story's greatest strengths. In his debut movie as director, former Rugrats animator Gabor Csupo tackles pre-teen issues with both wit and sensitivity, while the film's unexpectedly tragic turn makes the final segment particularly affecting. – Sloan Freer
10. Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
A star rating of 4 out of 5.
More than 20 years after Chicken Run became a claymation classic, Ginger, Rocky and co return in this joyous sequel. We rejoin the flock in a more comfortable place than last time, with their audacious escape from Mrs Tweedy having led to the establishment of a utopian island base.
But when Ginger (voiced by Thandiwe Newton) and Rocky (Zachary Levi) discover that their intrepid daughter Molly (Bella Ramsey) has set off on her own adventure, old enemies rear their heads and only an expertly orchestrated heist can avert a calamity.
The more ambitious plot can’t quite match the genius simplicity of the original, but the increased scale offers director Sam Fell plenty of opportunities to showcase a number of highly innovative and intricately designed set pieces.
As ever with Aardman there’s also a terrific assortment of verbal and visual gags to delight audiences, while the film crucially retains the handcrafted, eccentric charm that has become synonymous with the studio. – Patrick Cremona
11. The Mitchells vs the Machines
A star rating of 4 out of 5.
With its eye-popping animation, gleefully anarchic humour and heartfelt father-daughter narrative, this dazzling comedy is every bit the kind of film you'd expect from the producers of The Lego Movie and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Movie-loving teenager Katie (voiced by Broad City's Abbi Jacobson) can't wait to go to university, not least to get away from her overprotective dad (Danny McBride).
A fraught situation is made worse when he packs the whole family into the car to take Katie to college, only for their road trip to be thrown off course by a robot uprising. Can the Mitchells set aside their differences and save the planet?
Though it's stuffed with visual gags and outrageously funny set pieces (many involving pet pug Doug), the film never loses sight of its human characters. They imbue this kaleidoscopic feast for the eyes with real heart, ensuring that while The Mitchells vs the Machines is a nonstop gag-fest, it's also a warm and witty celebration of family. And pugs. – Josh Winning
12. The Sea Beast
A star rating of 4 out of 5.
Imagine if Moby Dick's Captain Ahab wasn't on a mission of revenge against a white whale. Instead, his life's quest was to kill a gigantic red sea monster that looked like Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon. That's the premise of this hugely entertaining animated film that follows the crew of a hunting ship, the Inevitable, as they seek out murderous sea beasts to destroy.
Captain Crow (Jared Harris) and Jacob (Karl Urban) have fought hundreds of watery battles with tentacled monsters. However, it isn't until the arrival on board of a child named Maisie (Zaris-Angel Hator) that things start to go wrong.
Directed and co-written by Moana's Chris Williams, The Sea Beast has a lot of fun smashing together genres (pirates vs King Kong, anyone?). The film is given extra punch thanks to a witty script, inventive animation and a spirited performance from Hator, who previously played the lead in the West End production of Matilda. – Jayne Nelson
13. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
A star rating of 4 out of 5.
Chiwetel Ejiofor won the best actor BAFTA for 12 Years a Slave and has chosen a similarly stirring, against-the-odds true story for his directorial debut. The star has also adapted William Kamkwamba's memoir that's set in a small village in Malawi in 2001 when the 13-year-old William overcame school expulsion and parental mistrust to create a crop-saving wind turbine with the aid of a library book and a bicycle dynamo.
Maxwell Simba (in his debut) carries the focal role of William with conviction and some aplomb, while Ejiofor gives a supporting performance of controlled power as the boy's embattled father, Trywell. The film adopts an episodic narrative structure - using the chapter titles of sowing, growing, harvest, hunger and wind - to illustrate the arduous agrarian existence experienced by Trywell and his fellow villagers. Constantly at the mercy of a climate that can parch or flood the land at any given moment, the farmers are also hamstrung by corrupt government officials (who are not shy at handing out beatings) and rapacious capitalism (tobacco industry-induced deforestation).
It's sensitively directed and Ejiofor strives to keep things real with much of the dialogue in Chichewa. It's no bad thing to have Mike Leigh's regular cameraman Dick Pope (Mr Turner, Peterloo) on board to provide a vivid and visceral authenticity. Meanwhile, Antonio Pinto's subtle score gently underpins a story that avoids lazy lapses into sentimentality. The result is a genuinely life-affirming tale that displays a refreshingly unpatronising view of the challenges facing communities in 21st-century Africa and acts as a ringing endorsement of the importance of education. – Jeremy Aspinall
14. The Witches
Anne Hathaway stars in The Witches. YouTube/HBO Max
A star rating of 4 out of 5.
A young boy tussles with child-hating witches in this CGI-assisted take on Roald Dahl’s classic tale, previously filmed in 1990 by Nicolas Roeg. Setting the action in 1968, director Robert Zemeckis and co-screenwriter Guillermo Del Toro oversee the story of an African-American schoolboy and his kindly grandma (a marvellous Octavia Spencer), who visit a swanky seaside hotel, unaware that witches are in attendance and posing as a child welfare charity organisation.
While Anne Hathaway struggles somewhat to match Anjelica Huston's iconic portrayal of the Grand High Witch in Roeg's film, the digital effects make her and her acolytes even more of a threat. That does mean the film is possibly too intense for younger viewers, but grown-ups should relish Stanley Tucci’s witty turn as the hassled hotel manager and, while the ending stumbles slightly, this is overall a grandly entertaining affair. – Trevor Johnston
15. School of Rock
A star rating of 4 out of 5.
The School of Rock is that rare thing: a kid's film that doesn't patronise or pander to its target audience and has enough wit to also entertain adults. Jack Black is outstanding as Dewey Finn, an unemployed rock musician who passes himself off as a supply teacher and enlightens the sheltered pupils of a posh private school with the joys of rock 'n' roll.
Joan Cusack provides excellent comic support as the school's headmistress who is twitchily uptight but by no means unsympathetic. Director Richard Linklater (the indie darling best known for Slacker and Dazed and Confused) deftly avoids the saccharine schmaltz and pre-programmed plotlines that can easily ruin these kind of films.
He miraculously manages to extract not one, but more than half a dozen enjoyable, natural performances from his precocious young cast. Rock 'n' roll purists may lament the inevitable absence of the sex 'n' drugs components, but this is expertly crafted escapism and a near perfect family movie. – Adam Smith
16. Orion and the Dark
A star rating of 3 out of 5.
A writer with great form in dissecting adult neuroses, Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich) turns to childhood anxieties with this endearing if derivative DreamWorks animation. Young Orion (voiced by Jacob Tremblay) is scared of everything from "murder clowns" to mosquitoes, but mostly fears the dark. Duly, the benign embodiment of darkness (Paul Walter Hauser) visits, intent on soothing Orion's fears.
A brisk, bright buddy movie follows, as Orion and the Dark join other playfully realised "night entities" - Insomnia, Quiet, Unexplained Noises etc - as they carry out their work. Adapting Emma Yarlett's picture book alongside first-time feature director Sean Charmatz, Kaufman teases dry humour from Orion's hang-ups and the night crew's spiky banter.
Further fresh touches include Werner Herzog's voice cameo, a spry song by The Flaming Lips and a nightmarish cucumber dentist, which help to offset distracting echoes of manifold Pixar films elsewhere. Orion and the Dark may be dramatically lightweight and heavy on homilies, but Kaufman's surreal imagination and empathy for the awkward make for a vivid, winning and wryly relatable charmer. – Kevin Harley
17. Enola Holmes
A star rating of 3 out of 5.
Sherlock's little sister proves to be no mean sleuth herself in this fun adventure, based on the popular novels by Nancy Springer and starring a headstrong Millie Bobby Brown in the title role. Free-spirited Enola awakes on her 16th birthday to find her mother (Helena Bonham Carter) missing, leaving behind an odd assortment of gifts but no apparent clue as to where she's gone or why.
Against the wishes of her elder brothers (Henry Cavill as the famous detective, Sam Claflin as the stuffy Mycroft), she absconds from her uptight finishing school and sets out to solve the mystery. It's a knockabout yarn that never takes itself too seriously, blessed with a witty script and taut action.
There's so much to enjoy in Brown's captivating central performance, especially her numerous asides to camera that take the viewer along for the ride. The plot may be a little sticky in places, but the occasional hiccups don't hang around, and as the opening salvo in a potential franchise it'll do just nicely. – Terry Staunton
18. Jurassic Park
A star rating of 5 out of 5.
Steven Spielberg soared to new heights with this massively successful adventure that spawned a monster-sized franchise. The world's ultimate theme park, featuring genetically re-created dinosaurs, is about to open and owner Richard Attenborough decides to give a sneak preview to a select few, including scientists Sam Neill and Laura Dern.
However, all is not well in this new Garden of Eden and, in the jungle, the creatures are restless. (When movie scientists tamper with nature, you just know something will go wrong!) T rex and her chums may be the stars of the show, but Spielberg orchestrates the action with such effortless verve that, even today, it's hard not to be transfixed by the thrilling spectacle and the sheer scale of the director's vision. – John Ferguson
19. Wonka
A star rating of 4 out of 5.
Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory receives its third screen adaptation, although this origin story paints a lighter picture of the young Willy Wonka. Timothée Chalamet stars as the bright-eyed Wonka, whose inventive, attention-grabbing recipes were passed down to him by his mother (Sally Hawkins).
However, they leave a nasty taste in the mouths of a consortium of more established chocolatiers (led by Patterson Joseph), who set out to thwart the Johnny-come-lately flavour of the month. Paddington director Paul King and co-writer Simon Farnaby imbue proceedings with a warm-hearted sense of fun, with none of the edge of previous iterations.
Nonetheless, Chalamet’s candy man is lovably eccentric, and his adventures are cosily soundtracked by songs courtesy of the Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon. There's stellar support, too, in the form of a scene-stealing Hugh Grant as a wisecracking Oompa-Loompa, plus Rowan Atkinson as a stereotypically awkward clergyman. It all adds up to a magical thrill ride that has only a few forgivable bumps along the way. – Terry Staunton
20. Little Women
A star rating of 4 out of 5.
Told with abundant affection, the eighth adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel reaches the screen courtesy of Lady Bird's Greta Gerwig. Evoking the ramshackle loveliness of Meet Me in St Louis, it's the story of the March sisters – including Saoirse Ronan's trailblazing tomboy Jo and Florence Pugh's petulant aspiring artist Amy – who are coming of age in 1860s New England.
The giddy promise of girlhood and the triumphs and disappointments that follow are captured in a honey glow, accompanied by a vigorous Alexandre Desplat score that explodes with joy and sorrow. While keeping largely faithful to the text, Gerwig tweaks the structure and draws out the girls' strengths, freshening it up with some fluid camerawork and outbreaks of uninhibited laughter.
Timothée Chalamet does some anguished pouting as love interest Laurie, while Meryl Streep appears as Aunt March and Laura Dern as Marmee – quite the acting ensemble. For a film-maker so in tune with contemporary concerns, it's surprising how emphatically Gerwig embraces the essence of the material; those expecting a radical reinvention may have to settle for being bowled over by charm. – Emma Simmonds
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Authors
Patrick CremonaSenior Film Writer
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
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