Seasonal picks
Thanksgiving Family Movies on Netflix
The family movies on Netflix in the United States for Thanksgiving 2026, the best of them first.
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Thanksgiving brings a house full of people and a stretch of time when a film can settle the room. A long weekend gives a film room to breathe, and the family titles on Netflix that suit the holiday lean toward animation, with adventure and fantasy running through many of them. Some are bright and comic, a few carry a quieter strain of drama, and one or two reach for mystery or music. What holds them together is a broad family pull, the sort of thing that can play to different ages without asking much of anyone.
The order runs from the best rated down, among seasonal family titles on Netflix in the United States.
Sergio Pablos directs Klaus, an animated family comedy with Jason Schwartzman, J.K. Simmons and Rashida Jones. A spoiled young man is sent to a northern island town with a single year to post a great many letters, and the task leads him to a reclusive toymaker.
Dorota Kobiela's Loving Vincent is an animated mystery with Douglas Booth and Robert Gulaczyk. A young man is handed a letter meant for a painter's brother and travels to Paris to deliver it in person.
How to Train Your Dragon comes from director Dean DeBlois, with Mason Thames, Nico Parker and Gerard Butler. On an island where Vikings and dragons are old enemies, a chief's son brings down a Night Fury and hesitates over what to do with the dragon.
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1. Klaus (2019)
1h 37m • Animation, Comedy, Family
- IMDb 8.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 95%
- Our score 4.4/5
Sent to the northern island town of Smeerensburg, spoiled Jesper Johansen must post 6,000 letters in a year or lose his inheritance. There he meets Klaus, a reclusive toymaker.
On Netflix US
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2. Loving Vincent (2017)
1h 34m • Animation, Biography, Crime, Drama, Family, Mystery
- IMDb 7.8/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 84%
- Our score 4.1/5
In the year after Vincent van Gogh's death, the postman Joseph Roulin gives his son Armand a letter to hand to the painter's brother, Theo. Armand sets out for Paris.
On Netflix US
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3. How to Train Your Dragon (2025)
2h 5m • Action, Adventure, Family, Fantasy
- IMDb 7.7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 78%
- Our score 3.9/5
Vikings and dragons have been enemies for generations on the Isle of Berk. Hiccup, son of chief Stoick the Vast, shoots down a Night Fury and cannot kill it.
On Netflix US
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4. Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)
1h 54m • Animation, Drama, Family
- IMDb 7.6/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 96%
- Our score 4.3/5
In Fascist Italy, grieving woodcarver Geppetto carves a puppet from the pine over his son's grave. A Wood Sprite brings it to life as Pinocchio, who must go to school.
On Netflix US
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5. Transformers One (2024)
1h 44m • Adventure, Animation, Family, Sci-Fi
- IMDb 7.6/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 89%
- Our score 4.1/5
On Cybertron, cogless miners Orion Pax and D-16 enter an illegal race to prove themselves. After losing, they meet B-127 and persuade Elita-1 to travel to the surface to find Alpha Trion.
On Netflix US
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6. Hilda and the Mountain King (2021)
1h 23m • Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Fantasy
- IMDb 7.7/10
- Our score 3.9/5
Hilda wakes in the body of a troll in the Stone Forest. A giant troll, Trundle, promises to make her human again if she carries out tasks for him.
On Netflix US
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7. Field of Dreams (1989)
1h 45m • Drama, Family, Fantasy
- IMDb 7.5/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 88%
- Our score 4.1/5
Ray Kinsella, an Iowa farmer, hears a voice in his cornfield and builds a baseball diamond there. His wife Annie supports the risk, and Shoeless Joe Jackson appears.
On Netflix US
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8. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024)
1h 19m • Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, Sci-Fi
- IMDb 7.5/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 100%
- Our score 4.4/5
Wallace invents a robotic garden gnome named Norbot and hires it out to work in gardens, while Gromit feels left out and worries about his owner's growing reliance on technology.
On Netflix US
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9. The Karate Kid (1984)
2h 7m • Action, Drama, Family
- IMDb 7.4/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 90%
- Our score 4.1/5
Daniel LaRusso moves from New Jersey to Los Angeles with his mother, and Johnny Lawrence's Cobra Kai friends bully him. The handyman Mr. Miyagi agrees to teach him karate.
On Netflix US
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10. KPop Demon Hunters (2025)
1h 36m • Action, Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Music, Musical
- IMDb 7.4/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 92%
- Our score 4.2/5
Rumi, Mira and Zoey perform as the K-pop group Huntrix and, offstage, use their powers against demons. Their rivals, the boy band Saja Boys, are demons in disguise pulling fans away.
On Netflix US
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11. Wish Dragon (2021)
1h 39m • Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Romance
- IMDb 7.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 68%
- Our score 3.5/5
Din Song, a Shanghai college student from a working-class family, wants his childhood friend Li Na back. A teapot releases Long, a wish-granting dragon, and hired goons come after Din.
On Netflix US
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12. Swapped (2026)
1h 42m • Adventure, Animation, Family, Fantasy
- IMDb 7.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 69%
- Our score 3.5/5
Ollie, an inventive young Pookoo, is curious about the valley's other creatures. A magical pod turns him into a Javan, and he and Ivy must travel together to switch back.
On Netflix US
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13. Rescued by Ruby (2022)
1h 30m • Biography, Drama, Family
- IMDb 7.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 88%
- Our score 4.0/5
State trooper Daniel O'Neil has been turned down seven times by the K-9 search and rescue team. At a shelter he meets Ruby, a half-border collie mix who was returned seven times.
On Netflix US
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14. John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch (2019)
1h 10m • Comedy, Family, Musical
- IMDb 7.3/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 96%
- Our score 4.2/5
A grown-up host leads a cast of children through songs, sketches and interviews about their fears. Guests include a tutor with an algebra number and a man making music from objects.
On Netflix US
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15. The Christmas Chronicles (2018)
1h 44m • Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy
- IMDb 7.0/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 68%
- Our score 3.5/5
Kate and Teddy want to prove Santa Claus is real. They climb into his sleigh and accidentally cause it to crash, so they have to help him deliver the presents.
On Netflix US
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16. The Sea Beast (2022)
1h 55m • Action, Adventure, Animation, Family, Fantasy
- IMDb 7.0/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 94%
- Our score 4.1/5
Sea beasts ravage the seas, and hunters sail out to fight them. Jacob Holland serves under Captain Crow, who hunts the Red Bluster. Orphan Maisie Brumble stows away to join the crew.
On Netflix US
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17. Leo (2023)
1h 42m • Animation, Comedy, Family
- IMDb 7.0/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 84%
- Our score 3.9/5
Leo, a 74-year-old tuatara, has been a fifth-grade class pet in Fort Myers for decades. Hearing his kind can live to 75, he longs for the Everglades as a strict substitute arrives.
On Netflix US
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18. Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical (2022)
1h 57m • Comedy, Drama, Family
- IMDb 7.0/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 92%
- Our score 4.1/5
Matilda Wormwood loves reading, and her parents chase money-making schemes and neglect her. At Crunchem Hall she meets Miss Honey, her teacher, and Miss Trunchbull, the cruel headmistress.
On Netflix US
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19. The Bad Guys 2 (2025)
1h 44m • Action, Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Crime, Family
- IMDb 7.0/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 88%
- Our score 4.0/5
Out of prison and reformed, Wolf and his crew try to fit into ordinary life. Wolf helps Commissioner Misty Luggins hunt the Phantom Bandit, a thief nobody can trace.
On Netflix US
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20. Ultraman: Rising (2024)
1h 57m • Action, Animation, Family, Sci-Fi
- IMDb 6.9/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 85%
- Our score 3.9/5
Baseball star Ken Sato returns to Japan to inherit his father's role as Ultraman, the giant who faces kaiju. A fight with the kaiju Gigantron leaves him guarding her egg.
On Netflix US
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21. Ballerina (2016)
1h 29m • Animation, Comedy, Family, Music
- IMDb 6.8/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 75%
- Our score 3.6/5
In 1880s France, orphan Félicie dreams of becoming a ballerina. She runs away to Paris with Victor and takes another girl's identity to enter the Opera Ballet school.
On Netflix US
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22. That Christmas (2024)
1h 31m • Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy
- IMDb 6.8/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 67%
- Our score 3.4/5
In Wellington-on-Sea, new boy Danny Williams and twins Sam and Charlie prepare for Christmas. Bernadette McNutt wants to shake up the holiday, and a record snowstorm is closing in.
On Netflix US
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23. A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (2019)
1h 27m • Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, Sci-Fi
- IMDb 6.8/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 96%
- Our score 4.1/5
A tentacled alien named Lu-La crash-lands near Mossy Bottom Farm, and Shaun the Sheep takes her in. She mimics sounds and lifts objects, and the Ministry of Alien Detection hunts her.
On Netflix US
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24. David (2025)
1h 49m • Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, History
- IMDb 6.8/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 80%
- Our score 3.7/5
David, a shepherd, tends his father Jesse's flock until the prophet Samuel anoints him as Israel's future king. Called to play his lyre for King Saul, he faces the Philistine champion Goliath.
On Netflix US
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25. Slumberland (2022)
1h 57m • Adventure, Comedy, Family
- IMDb 6.7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 38%
- Our score 2.6/5
When her father Peter is lost at sea, Nemo leaves the lighthouse for the city and her uncle Philip. A map draws her into Slumberland, where the outlaw Flip hunts wish-granting pearls.
On Netflix US
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26. A Boy Called Christmas (2021)
1h 46m • Adventure, Drama, Family
- IMDb 6.7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 84%
- Our score 3.8/5
Joel joins a hunt for the fabled village of Elfhelm and leaves his son Nikolas behind. Nikolas follows him north with a mouse named Miika and a reindeer called Blitzen.
On Netflix US
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27. Vivo (2021)
1h 36m • Animation, Comedy, Family, Music
- IMDb 6.7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 86%
- Our score 3.8/5
In Havana, the kinkajou Vivo makes music in the plaza with Andrés. When Andrés dies, Vivo sets out to carry the song he wrote for the singer Marta Sandoval to Miami.
On Netflix US
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28. The Long Game (2024)
1h 50m • Drama, Family
- IMDb 6.7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 82%
- Our score 3.7/5
In 1956 Del Rio, Texas, five Mexican-American teenagers caddie at a club that bars them from play. A stray ball breaks a car window, and the new superintendent proposes a golf team.
On Netflix US
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29. Skater Girl (2021)
1h 47m • Drama, Family
- IMDb 6.7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 88%
- Our score 3.9/5
Prerna, a teenage girl in rural India, is drawn to skateboarding when Jessica, a British-Indian woman, brings boards and teaches the children to ride. Her father forbids her from skating.
On Netflix US
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30. Where Hope Grows (2014)
1h 35m • Drama, Family
- IMDb 6.7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 50%
- Our score 2.9/5
Calvin Campbell, once a Detroit Tigers player, drinks his days away while his teenage daughter Katie waits for his attention. At the supermarket he meets Produce, a worker with Down syndrome.
On Netflix US
Streaming availability in this article was checked on 11 November 2026.
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