Best new kids’ movies on Netflix

Initially buried by Disney – reportedly due to its LGBTQ+ themes, including a same-sex kiss – this medieval adventure was rescued by the triumvirate of Netflix, Annapurna Pictures and DNEG Animation, and thank goodness, because it’s one of the year’s best animated movies. Indeed, it’s something of a queer parable, involving a rebellious shapeshifter (Chloë Grace Moretz) who teams with the knight (Riz Ahmed) sworn to kill her to take down the system that oppresses them both.

Part road-trip comedy, part sci-fi action adventure and every bit hilarious, this hyperkinetic instant-classic from the Into the Spider-verse team – already one of the best animated films of all time – is wall-to-wall delightful. With an all-star voice cast and colorful action, the film – about a family whose cross-country trek is interrupted by a pesky machine uprising – is breathless in its joke-a-minute charm, but its greatest strength is its universal theme of family bonding. 

The Roald Dahl vibes are strong in this oddball animated feature about a group of kids seeking to become orphans to escape their selfish parents. It’s a slightly darker kids’ tale that ultimately reinforces the importance of family, with an all-star cast delivering hilarious lines as the Willoughby children navigate an increasingly big world with the help of a loving nanny and a wacky candy maker. 

No matter your age, prepare to be inspired by this true-life story of a young boy from Malawi attempting to build a windmill that may save his poor farming community from a terrible drought. Chiwetel Ejiofor directs and stars, but the true standout is Maxwell Simba as William Kamkwamba, the teenage wind-harnesser in question. It will make your heart swell – in a good, totally healthy way. 

Herman Melville meets How to Train Your Dragon in this swashbuckling tale of seafaring monster hunters tracking a legendary kaiju and the pint-sized stowaway who clandestinely joins them. Wonderfully animated, this Oscar nominee deals with some big themes – about morality, class and belief – but never lets them bog down the thrills and sense of adventure. 

Millennial parents are likely to start feeling sudden joint pain realising their youth is now period-piece fodder, but at least the end result is energetic and heartfelt. It’s 1999, and a young girl who lost her mom and dad in a car accident discovers a cassette tape belonging to her late parents. When it breaks before she can listen, she sets out on a mission to find the songs and maybe learn something about who she is and where she comes from. It’s a movie with genuine rock’n’roll spirit, and a legitimately rad soundtrack to match. 

Following in the heavy, ominous footsteps of Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, this anthology horror film is set to be a sleepover favourite for the new generation. Its linking scenes concern a kid being held against their will by an evil witch (Krysten Ritter) who demands to be told a scary story every night. If you’re worried about nightmares, don’t be – this is playful spookiness ideal for the tween set.

If there was ever any worry that Millie Bobby Brown would forever be typecast as a troubled child with psychic powers, this young adult-oriented crime caper erases all doubts, and confirms even bigger things are in store for the charismatic actor after Stranger Things wraps up. Brown plays the titular character, the little sister of Sherlock, who is forced to prove that super-sleuthing run in the family after their mother goes missing.

Babysitting is a notoriously high-stress gig, at least in the movies. But how could young Kelly Ferguson have known that taking a job on Halloween night would draw her into a confrontation with the literal boogeyman? Every generation deserves a lightly spooky adventure, a la Labyrinth or Hocus Pocus, to act as a gateway to bigger scares in the future. Here’s one for the zoomers. 

In this delightful animated adventure, young Fei Fei is so determined to prove that the stories she’s heard her whole life about an enigmatic space queen are real, she builds a spaceship and sets course for the moon – only for her plans to go haywire when her stepbrother smuggles himself aboard. With a talented all-Asian voice cast (including Margaret Cho, Ken Jeong and Sandra Oh), confectionary imagery and wonderful songs, this is a lesser-known gem to charm the entire family.