New Family Movies Worth Watching
If your family has worn out the classics, start here: the best family films released since 2020, with plenty from the last two years. Every pick is something adults can watch with real pleasure rather than just tolerate, and every note says roughly what age it suits.
The most useful distinction is originals versus franchise films. Sequels like Toy Story 5, Zootopia 2 and Paddington in Peru are safe and good, but rarely surprising. The originals are where the best recent work is: The Wild Robot, KPop Demon Hunters, Hoppers and the wordless Flow were all new to the screen, not sequels or remakes. If you want something nobody at school has seen, try Arco or Elio.
Ages vary widely. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and Luca suit preschoolers, while Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse are tense enough to wait for eight or nine. Turning Red is the one parents most often want to preview. For older favorites, see Family Movie Night Picks; for grown-up releases, see The Best New Movies.
The Wild Robot
Movie · 2024The strongest family film of the 2020s so far, adapted from Peter Brown's book rather than spun off a franchise: a service robot washes up on an island and becomes mother to an orphaned gosling. About seven and up. Expect predators, a brutal winter storm, other geese teasing the gosling and a good cry near the end.
KPop Demon Hunters
Movie · 2025Won the Oscars for best animated feature and best original song, for Golden, which makes it the rare hit that critics and eight-year-olds agree on. Three pop stars fight demons from the stage. About eight and up, for monster fights and some flirty boy-band numbers.
Hoppers
Movie · 2026From the creator of We Bare Bears: a college student hops her mind into a robot beaver and discovers that animal society runs on its own ridiculous rules. Very funny, with a real environmental point. About eight and up: animals get eaten and squashed along the way, and the final act is louder and scarier than the rest.
Toy Story 5
Movie · 2026Jessie takes the lead when Bonnie gets a tablet and stops playing with her toys, so the threat this time is screen time itself, which parents will enjoy more than kids. Reviews were good, if a notch below the earlier films. Gentle enough for five and up, though girls mocking Bonnie in a group chat may strike a nerve.
Coyote vs. Acme
Movie · 2026Will Forte plays the lawyer representing Wile E. Coyote in a lawsuit against Acme, mixing live action with Looney Tunes animation. Critics loved it, and adults raised on Looney Tunes catch jokes the kids miss. Fine from about seven: anvils, cliffs and a little mild language.
Zootopia 2
Movie · 2025Judy and Nick are police partners now, framed and on the run while they chase a mysterious pit viper voiced by Ke Huy Quan. A bigger, busier sequel that families loved and critics mostly liked. About eight and up: Judy nearly drowns, snake venom is used as a weapon, and villains torch a house to silence witnesses.
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Movie · 2024The first Wallace & Gromit feature in nearly two decades, and it brings back the penguin from The Wrong Trousers. Wallace builds a smart garden gnome, which goes about as well as his inventions usually do. About six and up, since the silent penguin and his gnome army can creep out preschoolers, and well under ninety minutes.
Flow
Movie · 2024The Oscar winner nobody expected: a small Latvian film about a cat riding out a great flood with a dog, a capybara and a lemur, without any dialogue. Mesmerizing for adults, and for kids from about six. Animals face real danger, a stranded whale seems to die, and the ending stays open.
Paddington in Peru
Movie · 2024The third Paddington takes the Browns to the Amazon to search for Aunt Lucy, with Emily Mortimer taking over as Mrs. Brown. Reviews were warm, if a notch below Paddington 2. Safe for six and up: some rapids, a jungle chase and nothing that lingers.
Inside Out 2
Movie · 2024Riley is thirteen and new emotions move in, led by Anxiety, and the film's picture of a panic spiral is accurate enough that parents of teens may find it hits harder than the first. Fine from about seven, though it lands best with kids nearing their own teenage years.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Movie · 2023Miles Morales tumbles through universes drawn in wildly different styles, in one of the most visually daring films of the decade. Know before you start that it's long and ends mid-story. Best from nine: long fight scenes, a flashback where a child disappears in her father's arms, and a story built on a parent's destined death.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Movie · 2022A Shrek spin-off sequel that became one of the most admired animated films of the 2020s, thanks to its fairy-tale painting style and a hero down to his last life. About eight and up: the wolf hunting Puss is genuinely scary, and a panic-attack scene is handled with care.
The Mitchells vs. the Machines
Movie · 2021A family that can barely survive a car trip together has to survive the robot apocalypse instead. Produced by the Spider-Verse team, with the same hyperactive invention. About seven and up; robot attacks and a horror-movie gag in a shopping mall are the only real scares.
Wonka
Movie · 2023A sunny origin story with Timothée Chalamet singing and Hugh Grant as a deadpan Oompa-Loompa. It's much sweeter and less cruel than earlier Wonka films, and the songs are better than they had any right to be. Fine from about seven, though Wonka mourns his mother and an orphan girl is mistreated by her guardian.
Matilda the Musical
Movie · 2022Dahl's story of a bookish girl and her tyrant headmistress, rebuilt around the stage musical's songs. Emma Thompson is unrecognizable as Miss Trunchbull. Good from about seven; the punishments are cartoonish but intense, Matilda's neglectful parents are a sore spot for some kids, and a story she tells ends with a mother dying.
Arco
Movie · 2025The pick most families have missed: a French animated film about a boy from the year 2932, when people live above the clouds, who crash-lands in 2075 and befriends a girl named Iris. Oscar-nominated and lovely to look at, with an English dub. About eight and up, for wildfires, pursuit and a wistful edge.
Elio
Movie · 2025Pixar's most overlooked recent film: a lonely boy, raised by his aunt after his parents' death, gets mistaken for Earth's leader by an alien council. Reviews were good even though it struggled in theaters. About six and up; bullies who beat him up, a menacing alien warlord and the grief are the heavy parts.
Wicked
Movie · 2024The big-screen version of the stage hit, showing how the witches of Oz became friends and then enemies. Musical-theater kids will be obsessed. It's very long and continues in Wicked: For Good, which reviewed less well. About ten and up, for bullying, the death of Elphaba's mother in childbirth, persecuted talking Animals and a frightening finale.
Turning Red
Movie · 2022A thirteen-year-old turns into a giant red panda whenever her emotions run high, which is puberty in a fur suit. Funny and honest about periods, crushes and hovering mothers. Best around nine to twelve; some parents find the defiance and period jokes more than they wanted.
Luca
Movie · 2021A gentle summer story about two sea-monster boys passing as human in an Italian seaside town. The lowest-stakes Pixar film of the decade, which makes it ideal for kids from about six. A town bully and fishermen hunting sea monsters provide the only peril.
How to Train Your Dragon (2025)
Movie · 2025The live-action remake follows the animated original almost scene for scene, with Gerard Butler back as Hiccup's father, now in the flesh. Critics split over whether that makes it faithful or pointless. Kids from about seven love it either way; battles are loud and some dragons are scary.
Still can't decide? Let us pick →
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Picks are editorial recommendations. Streaming availability changes by region and over time — the “where to stream” links check current availability on JustWatch.