The best fantasy movies on Netflix right now

Love and Monsters (2020) new

Genre Comedy, Action, Adventure, Science Fiction

Stars Dylan O'Brien, Jessica Henwick, Michael Rooker

Directed by Michael Matthews

The most refreshing thing about Joel (Dylan O’Brien) in Love and Monsters is that he’s neither a fighter nor a hardened survivor. He’s just a regular guy who lost everything in the Monster Apocalypse, including his bond with his girlfriend, Aimee (Jessica Henwick). Even discovering that Aimee is still alive can’t fill the hole in Joel’s heart, especially when they’re separated by a vast distance in a world overrun by monsters.

After resolving to start changing himself for the better, Joel sets out to make the dangerous journey to Aimee’s colony in the name of love. Along the way, a stray dog proves to be Joel’s best companion. Yet if he wants to survive in the new world, Joel needs to realize that he can’t just outfight the monsters. He has to understand them as well.

Jurassic Park (1993) new

Genre Adventure, Science Fiction

Stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum

Directed by Steven Spielberg

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At the height of his career, Steven Spielberg regularly directed blockbuster flicks. Jurassic Park was by far Spielberg’s most successful film, largely thanks to the very convincing mixture of animatronic and CGI dinosaurs. Sam Neill stars as Dr. Alan Grant, with Laura Dern as Alan’s girlfriend, Dr. Ellie Sattler, and Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm.

This unlikely trio have been invited to a remote island by Dr. John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), who reveals that he and his scientists have successfully cloned dinosaurs for his new theme park. But if Hammond wanted approval for his plans, he should have had tighter security. Because when the dinosaurs escape from captivity, the humans in the park become their prey.

Bruce Almighty (2003) new

Genre Fantasy, Comedy

Stars Jim Carrey, Morgan Freeman, Jennifer Aniston

Directed by Tom Shadyac

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Bruce Almighty is a comedy and a fantasy that features Jim Carrey as Bruce Nolan, a TV newsman who gains the power of God (Morgan Freeman). Bruce’s newfound divinity comes at a low point in his personal and professional lives, and he wastes little time using his powers to get himself his dream job and romancing his girlfriend, Grace Connelly (likable Friends star Jennifer Aniston), with grand gestures of love.

Although Bruce assumes that being God would be easy, he is soon overwhelmed by just a portion of the prayers the Lord receives daily. And when Bruce loses Grace’s trust, not even God’s powers can keep their relationship intact.

Hellboy (2004)

Genre Fantasy, Action

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Guillermo del Toro was so passionate about Mike Mignola’s Hellboy comic that he directed two different movies featuring the world’s greatest paranormal investigator. The first film is by far the best. Ron Perlman is impeccably well-cast as Hellboy, a demon from Hell who has been raised as a human by Professor Trevor Bruttenholm (John Hurt), the leader of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.

In the present, Hellboy is friends with his fellow agent, Abe Sapien (Doug Jones), and in love with Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), a pyrokinetic who fears her own powers. Hellboy feels threatened when a new BPRD agent, John Myers (Rupert Evans), starts getting close to her. However, the return of Grigori Rasputin (Karel Roden) is a much bigger problem because he intends to use Hellboy’s feelings for Liz to bring about the end of the world.

Goosebumps (2015)

Genre Adventure, Horror, Comedy

Stars Jack Black, Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush

Directed by Rob Letterman

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The first Goosebumps movie takes a unique approach to the adaptation of R.L. Stine’s novels by making Stine one of the central characters, as played by Jack Black. The film follows high school student Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette), who shares an attraction to Stine’s daughter, Hannah (Odeya Rush).

Eventually, Zach and his friend, Champ (Ryan Lee), realize who Stine really is and accidentally unleash his Goosebumps characters into the real world. That includes Slappy the Dummy (voiced by Black), the most evil creation of Stine, who wants his revenge.

Monster Run (2020)

Genre Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Stars Shawn Yue, Jessie Li, Kara Hui

Directed by Henri Wong

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Monsters are all too real in Monster Run, and that’s something that a young woman named Ji Mo (Jessie Li) has tried to deny for most of her life. After learning that she can see monsters, Ji Mo is only able to escape being imprisoned in an asylum by pretending that she can not. Instead, she simply tries to live an ordinary life until she runs into a monster hunter, Meng (Shawn Yue).

Once Ji Mo and Meng come together, she can no longer deny that monsters are real. Ji Mo also learns that she has a destiny to fulfill, if she can live long enough to make it happen.

Troll (2022)

Genre Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Thriller

Stars Ine Marie Wilmann, Kim S. Falck-Jørgensen, Mads Sjøgård Pettersen

Directed by Roar Uthaug

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Troll is a Norwegian fantasy that depicts an unusual emergence of a mythical creature in the modern world. As a young girl, Professor Nora Tidemann (Ine Marie Wilmann) was told by her father, Tobias Tidemann (Gard B. Eidsvold), that trolls may be real. Unfortunately, Tobias’ academic career was ended over these beliefs. But in the present, Tobias is vindicated when a gigantic troll is discovered in Norway before it goes on a rampage.

Since nothing the Norwegian army can throw at the troll manages to slow it down, it falls to Nora, Tobias, and their colleague, Andreas Isaksen (Kim Falck) to either find a way to communicate with the troll or to permanently end the threat that it represents.

Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical (2022)

Genre Family, Comedy, Fantasy

Stars Alisha Weir, Emma Thompson, Lashana Lynch

Directed by Matthew Warchus

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Roald Dahl’s beloved tale comes back to the screen in this live-action adaptation that casts Alisha Weir as the titular, precocious young girl whose intelligence and strange abilities are put to good use while trying to forge her own path and survive in a world of self-absorbed, naive, and downright evil adults. Lashana Lynch, Stephen Graham, and Emma Thompson play supporting roles in the film, helmed by director Matthew Warchus.

Wendell & Wild (2022)

Genre Animation, Comedy, Fantasy, Horror, Adventure

Stars Lyric Ross, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele

Directed by Henry Selick

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Visionary stop-motion filmmaker Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline) teams up with Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us) for this story of two demons who attempt to trick a teenage girl into bringing them into the mortal world. Peele and frequent collaborator Keegan-Michael Key voice the two, titular demons, while This Is Us actress Lyric Ross voices the young girl, Kat Elliot. The film is Selick’s first feature since 2009’s Coraline, and critics tend to agree that the film is worth the wait.

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)

Genre Animation, Fantasy, Drama

Stars Gregory Mann, Ewan McGregor, David Bradley

Directed by Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson

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Guillermo del Toro reimagined the story of Pinocchio, the wooden marionette who longs to become a real boy, in this gorgeous, stop-motion animated feature. Dark, beautiful, and poignant in equal measures, del Toro’s Pinocchio sets the tale during the rise of fascism in Italy, and explores Pinocchio’s journey from one end of the country to the other as he attempts to make his woodcutter father proud. The film earned multiple Academy Award nominations across various categories, and delivers a story both fascinating and deeply moving.

The School for Good and Evil (2022)

Genre Fantasy, Action, Drama

Stars Sofia Wylie, Sophia Anne Caruso, Kerry Washington

Directed by Paul Feig

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In one of Netflix’s biggest original fantasy films to date, The School for Good and Evil is the story of two girls: Sophie (Sophia Anne Caruso) and Agatha (Sofia Wylie). They also happen to be close friends before they were spirited away to the titular School for Good and Evil. Once they arrive, Sophie is shocked when she is placed in the evil school, while Agatha finds herself out of place in the good school. Regardless, Agatha soon discovers that she may be the most natural princess in ages, while Sophie is manipulated into embracing evil until it literally transforms her into something unrecognizable. Despite their differences, Sophie and Agatha’s destinies are still intertwined.

The School for Good and Evil | Official Trailer | Netflix

Slumberland (2022)

Genre Family, Fantasy, Adventure, Drama

Stars Jason Momoa, Marlow Barkley, Chris O'Dowd

Directed by Francis Lawrence

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Winsor McCay’s comic strip, Little Nemo in Slumberland, has largely been forgotten since its conclusion nearly 100 years ago. But it serves as the basis for Netflix’s Slumberland, which takes some liberties with the original comic. For example, Nemo (Marlow Barkley) is a girl in this incarnation, and her waking life is very difficult without her late father, Peter (Kyle Chandler). In her dreams, Nemo meets an enigmatic con artist, Flip (Jason Momoa), who offers her a chance to reunite with her father if she helps him on his quest. From there, a magical journey begins.

Slumberland | Official Teaser | Jason Momoa | Netflix

Nightbooks (2021)

Genre Fantasy, Family, Horror

Cast Winslow Fegley, Lidya Jewett, Krysten Ritter

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Don’t fancy yourself a storyteller? Well, as the saying goes, necessity can very well be the mother of invention as the young Alex (Winslow Fegley) learns in Netflix’s new dark fantasy film Nightbooks. Based on the 2018 novel by J.A. White, Nightbooks stars Krysten Ritter as a terrifying witch who imprisons Alex. In order to escape certain death at her hands, Alex must tell her a scary story every night to entertain her. Knowing his death is inevitable otherwise, Alex befriends the witch’s servant, Yazmin (Lidya Jewett), and together they try to outwit the evil sorceress to escape her mystical home. Scheduled to start streaming in the middle of September, Nightbooks promises to be both scary and family-friendly while giving Ritter a wonderful chance to play against type./dt_media]

Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil (2018)

Genre Drama, Fantasy, Horror

Cast Kandido Uranga, Uma Bracaglia, Eneko Sagardoy

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Some of the best fantasy stories are the oldest. Case in point — Errementari: The Black Smith and the Devil, based on a Basque reimagining of the fairy tale The Smith and the Devil. In 19th-century Spain, the supposed government investigator Alfredo Ortiz (Ramón Agirre) arrives in a small village looking for lost treasure. His search leads him to a forge in the nearby woods where the blacksmith Paxti (Kandido Uranga) lives in solitude. When Ortiz hires men to help him raid the forge, a young girl named Usue (Uma Bracaglia) sneaks in to recover a lost doll — and makes a terrifying discovery. Errementari is a wonderful fusion of fantasy and bone-chilling horror that still captures the sense of fascination children have for fairy tales and folklore.

Nightbooks | Official Trailer | Netflix

Super Me (2019)

Genre Adventure, Drama, Fantasy

Cast Darren Wang, Song Jia, Cao Bingkun

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Sang Yu (Darren Wang) isn’t doing very well. Struggling to make it as a screenwriter, he becomes plagued by nightmares in which he’s pursued by a demon. He becomes disturbed enough by his dreams that he does everything he can to avoid sleep, but decades of Freddy Krueger movies have taught us how well that’s going to work out. After one of his frightful dreams, he discovers something that changes his life — he has the ability to bring objects out of his dreams and into the real world. Sang uses his newfound power to go from rags to riches practically overnight, but when a ruthless gangster discovers the secret of his success, things get even more complicated.

Super Me | Official Trailer | Netflix

Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018)

Genre Adventure, Drama

Stars Rohan Chand, Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Naomie Harris

Directed by Andy Serkis

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Oddly enough, two major takes on The Jungle Book were released within two years of one another. The first, Disney’s The Jungle Book, got better reviews, but Netflix’s Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle has more stunning special effects and a far more faithful retelling of Rudyard Kipling’s classic tales. Director Andy Serkis — a master of VFX — goes above and beyond in this jungle fantasy that is genuinely terrifying at times. Mowgli tells the classic tale of a human child raised by a wolf pack in the jungles of India under the tutelage of the panther Bagheera and bear Baloo. But what Disney’s version overlooks is the sheer sadism and megalomania of the tiger Shere Khan. This version doesn’t.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

Genre Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy

Stars Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Michael Palin

Directed by Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

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What is the airspeed of an unladen swallow? How do you tell if someone is a witch? And if you come across a rabbit at the entrance of a cave, how fast do you run and why aren’t you running already? All of these questions and more can be at least partially answered only with the 1975 comedy classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The second feature film made by the legendary cast of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Holy Grail is absolutely mandatory for any fan of swords and sorcery fantasy, comedy, or any kind of movie that keeps you laughing so hard from start to finish that you’ll never stop to consider whether or not it makes any sense (SPOILER: it does not).

I Lost My Body (2019)

Genre Animation, Drama, Fantasy

Stars Victoire Du Bois, Hakim Faris, Victoire Du Bois, Patrick d'Assumçao

Directed by Jérémy Clapin

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Winner of the 2020 César Award for Best Animated Film, I Lost My Body is a genre-bending fever dream, propelled by gorgeous art and an appropriately bizarre premise. The star of the film? A severed hand. When the hand gains consciousness in a dissection lab, it has one primary purpose: To return to its body. The hand must scramble through Paris to find its way back to the pizza delivery man who is missing him, all the while remembering the glory days when it was still attached. That is, until they met Gabrielle.

I Lost My Body | Official Trailer | Netflix

Bright (2017)

Genre Fantasy, Action, Thriller

Cast Will Smith, Joel Edgerton, Lucy Fry

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Bright wasn’t well-received when it arrived on Netflix, but since its premiere in 2017, it has become one of the most-streamed films on the platform. That’s because, while the movie is flawed, it does have a unique world, impressive practical effects, and a timely story about crime and discrimination. In Bright, humans coexist with a variety of fantasy races. The film follows Ward (Will Smith) and his partner Jakoby (Joel Edgerton), the first orc police officer. The two have a strained relationship because Ward was previously injured by an orc robber, and it is believed that Jakoby let the robber go on purpose. The film tries to juggle complex issues of race, identity, and loyalty while also telling a larger-than-life fantasy story. It doesn’t always juggle those topics particularly well, but it remains one of the most ambitious fantasy films of the last several years.

Bright | Official Trailer | Netflix

Fullmetal Alchemist (2017)

Genre Action, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Stars Ryosuke Yamada, Tsubasa Honda, Dean Fujioka

Directed by Fumihiko Sori

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Fullmetal Alchemist is a live-action film based on the popular manga and anime of the same name. The film, like the subsequent versions, follows brothers Edric and Alphonse. The brothers live with their ill mother in the countryside, where they study alchemy. After their mother dies, however, they try to bring her back to life with a forbidden Human Transmutation. The alchemy fails and has severe consequences: Edric loses his arm and leg, while Alphonse loses his entire body and his spirit possesses an empty suit of armor. The two brothers grow up to become state alchemists while continuing to hide their taboo act and pursue a stone that has the power to restore their bodies. The film received mixed reviews, but it does feature some pretty advanced film techniques and high production value, rendering it worth the watch, especially for fans of the show and manga.

Fullmetal Alchemist Live Action Trailer (Netflix)

Okja (2017)

Genre Adventure, Drama, Science Fiction, Action

Cast Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Seo-hyun Ahn, Jake Gyllenhaal, Devon Bostick, Lily Collins, Steven Yuen

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From Oscar-winning writer-director Bong Joon Ho, Okja is a brilliant mesh of animal rights versus big business, both operating in the body of a beautifully crazy film. The story follows Mija (Seo-hyun Ahn), a South Korean farm girl and owner of a genetically modified super-pig named Okja. Developed by the multinational Mirando Corporation, several prototypes of these genetically modified pigs were sent out into the world. After 10 years of growing to maturity, the company announces that Okja has been awarded the honor of “best super-pig.”

It’s all a ruse, though, and the company wants to move Okja from Mija’s farm to New York for (unbeknownst to the world) experimentation and eventual slaughter. Mirando’s CEO Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton) arranges for Mija to travel to New York to be with Okja. However, the plot thickens when the ALF (Animal Liberation Front) kidnaps Okja to expose Mirando, sending the film down a path of much greater moral weight.

Okja | Official Trailer [HD] | Netflix

A Whisker Away (2020)

Genre Animation, Drama, Romance, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Stars Mirai Shida, Natsuki Hanae, Koichi Yamadera

Directed by Junichi Sato, Tomotaka Shibayama

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Have you ever wanted to be a cat? A Whisker Away explores this wish come true and the consequences the transformation presents. Our story is led by Miyo Sasaki, a teenager living in Tokoname, dealing with her adolescence and pining for her school crush, Kento Hinode. Much to Miyo’s dismay, Kento is always turning down her advances. But love conquers all, especially when Miyo receives a magic Noh mask that turns her into a cat named Tarō. As a feline, Miyo begins making visits to Kento’s residence, where he immediately takes to his new whiskered visitor. Over the course of the film, we learn more about Miyo and Kento’s families, livelihoods, fears, and secrets. As Miyo wears the mask more and more, she risks never being able to return to human form again and must decide if life as a cat is worth losing her humanity for. Directed by Junichi Sato and Tomotaka Shibayama, from a script by Mari Okada, A Whisker Away is an electrifying panorama of emotion like no other.

A Whisker Away | Official Trailer | Netflix

Love and Monsters (2020) new

Jurassic Park (1993) new

Bruce Almighty (2003) new

Hellboy (2004)

Goosebumps (2015)

Monster Run (2020)

Troll (2022)

Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical (2022)

Wendell & Wild (2022)

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)

The School for Good and Evil (2022)

Slumberland (2022)

Nightbooks (2021)

Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil (2018)

Super Me (2019)

Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018)

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

I Lost My Body (2019)

Bright (2017)

Fullmetal Alchemist (2017)

Okja (2017)

A Whisker Away (2020)

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