25 Best Family Movies On Hulu

Endlessly scrolling through a streaming service, looking for something to watch, is a tedious bore. It can be hard to decide on any particular choice, particularly if you aren't watching alone and instead are sharing the TV screen with a family full of kids of various ages. And with that, the movie doesn't have to just strike the grown-up's fancy, it has to appeal to everyone while also being appropriate, content-wise, and thoroughly entertaining for all those disparate ages.

Well, fortunately, streaming giant Hulu has a wide array of movies, particularly films of the family-friendly variety. Here are the best all-ages movies currently available on the site, ones that parents can enjoy just as much as the kids.

Updated on January 3, 2022: As Hulu's catalog of films changes on a monthly basis, we'll keep this list updated to reflect those comings and goings. Check back each month to find the latest and best family-friendly flicks on Hulu.

Time-travel movies are almost always a blast, what with the characters discovering the technology that makes them able to manipulate physics and their wide-eyed wonder when they put it to use ... and sheer panic when it inevitably messes up the chronology of history. "Clockstoppers" puts the story in the hands of Zak Gibbs, a likable teen character, who, amongst the gadgets devised by his wacky inventor father, finds a watch that doesn't so much tell time as it does slow it down, by allowing him to move about at tremendous speeds. Suddenly, his life isn't about high school problems and dreaming about his own car but all about messing with time, impressing his friends, and outrunning a government conspiracy.

• Starring: Jesse Bradford, French Stewart, Paula Garces
• Director: Jonathan Frakes
• Year: 2002
• Runtime: 94 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 29%

The first iteration of "The Croods" found a prehistoric family hunting and gathering and staying alive, their world turned upside-down when literally evolved caveman Guy joins the clan and falls in love with the Croods' teenage daughter. In "The Croods: A New Age," the family contends with immense personal and societal change in the face of the next step of human development. They come across a walled city where all needs are met and technology advances, but they bristle at living amongst the inhabitants, the snooty and pretentious Bettermans.

• Starring: Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds
• Director: Joel Crawford
• Year: 2020
• Runtime: 95 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 77%

"Dog Days" is a romantic comedy driven by dogs, so there's a twisty, multifaceted plot for the adults in the room to enjoy while the animals and jaunty pace will keep the kids interested too. In the vein of "Love Actually" or "Valentine's Day," romance is all around for a handful of loosely connected citizens of Los Angeles, whose lives all seem to intersect in unexpected, endearing, and wholesome ways. For example, there's Tara, who leaves her pet at a doggy day care center, whose operator, Garrett, is in love with her, but she's in love with veterinarian Mike. Meanwhile, man-child Dax learns some responsibility taking care of his sister's dog, and pizza delivery guy Tyler helps lonely old man Walter find his missing pooch. Eventually, everyone winds up with who they're supposed to be with — romantic interest and canine. "Dog Days" plays like a grown-ups movie but one made for children.

• Starring: Nina Dobrev, Vanessa Hudgens, Adam Pally
• Director: Ken Marino
• Year: 2018
• Runtime: 113 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 62%

Intrigued kids (and their wary parents) might well recognize Dora from "Dora the Explorer," the long-running Nickelodeon cartoon that encourages assertiveness and bilingualism. But this movie isn't about a barely animated character loudly and slowly asking young viewers at home to answer questions about Swiper and Backpack — it's a live-action "Indiana Jones"-style adventure featuring familiar "Dora the Explorer" characters with lots of good jokes and self-deprecating humor that all ages can appreciate. This time, the now-teenaged explorer doesn't solve preschool-level word problems but the truth about a lost Incan civilization while also trying to locate her missing parents with the help of some new friends and Boots the monkey.

• Starring: Isabela Merced, Eugenio Derbez, Michael Peña
• Director: James Bobin
• Year: 2019
• Runtime: 102 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

Jonathan Swift wrote "Gulliver's Travels" in the 1720s, and all of the caustic satire he included is no longer relevant, so modern filmmakers might as well update it to the 21st century and play up the many fantastical elements. Most kids love Jack Black, who plays Gulliver, a low-level mailroom employee at a big city newspaper who gets a chance for promotion with an assignment in the Bermuda Triangle. Of course, that's where odd forces zap him to the land of Lilliput, which is basically medieval and full of tiny people. They enlist Gulliver, a hulking giant to them, to defend their home from enemies. While its Rotten Tomatoes score is less than impressive, Jack Black is always one charming comedian.

• Starring: Jack Black, Jason Segel, Emily Blunt
• Director: Rob Letterman
• Year: 2010
• Runtime: 81 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 20%

"Hugo," based on Brian Selznick's popular historical adventure novel, is a movie for kids and about kids, but older viewers will find it highly watchable as well. That's because it was made with extreme care, detail, and skill by legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese. Self-sufficient and scrappy young orphan Hugo Cabret secretly lives inside a Parisian train station, where he maintains clocks and looks after his deceased father's busted automaton. Eventually, Hugo befriends a sad toy merchant's goddaughter. Together, they try to fix the automaton and unlock its magical secrets.

• Starring: Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Sacha Baron Cohen
• Director: Martin Scorsese
• Year: 2011
• Runtime: 126 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

The story of Snow White is a familiar one, if not entrenched in the minds of even the youngest moviegoers. That should give them a frame of reference to jump into "Mirror Mirror," a live-action, updated, and imaginative retelling of the story made famous by the Brothers Grimm and Walt Disney. "Mirror Mirror" focuses more on the evil Queen than most other versions of the tale, with Julia Roberts playing against type as the villain who pulls every nasty trick to get control of the kingdom to which orphan princess Snow White is entitled, including throwing the young and earnest ruler into the forest to be eaten by a monster. Instead, Snow White is saved by seven rogue criminals of small stature who help her exact revenge against the Queen and claim what's rightfully hers.

• Starring: Julia Roberts, Lily Collins, Nathan Lane
• Director: Tarsem Singh
• Year: 2012
• Runtime: 106 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 50%

"Mr. Holland's Opus" is one of those "inspirational teacher makes a difference" movies, with a major twist: It takes place over three decades, and the instructor at its center never really wanted to be a teacher in the first place. Rather, Glenn Holland fancies himself a composer. He takes a job as a Portland high school band teacher and director after getting married and starting a family. Though he starts out grumbly and grouchy, Holland learns to find deep satisfaction in sharing the music he loves with others. After 30 years on the job, he realizes his real masterpiece is his educational legacy.

• Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Glenne Headly, William H. Macy
• Director: Stephen Herek
• Year: 1995
• Runtime: 142 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 75%

Who doesn't love adorable, fluffy, telegenic puppies? Answer: Nobody. And that means most everybody in the family will find something to enjoy in "Pick of the Litter," a sweet, fascinating, and subtlety educational film about how special young dogs are selected and trained to be assistance pets for the visually impaired. Documentarians Dana Nachman and Don Hardy Jr. track two years in the lives of five dogs, from their birth at Guide Dogs for the Blind's headquarters through their puppy growing pains and into their varied and extensive training. And finally, we watch them as they're placed in their forever homes. "Pick of the Litter" is more than just 81 minutes of excellent and wonderful puppy footage — it's a behind-the-scenes look into a seldom-explored aspect of modern life.

• Director: Dana Nachman and Don Hardy Jr.
• Year: 2018
• Runtime: 81 minutes
• Rating: NR
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

Out of sadness, anguish, and all manner of darkness, beauty and surprises can emerge. That's the message of "The Secret Garden," the 19th century-set novel adapted into film multiple times, perhaps never more cinematically lovely than the 2020 version. 

After her parents die of cholera, bratty rich kid Mary is sent to live on an English estate with her distant and despondent uncle. Left to her own devices, she learns she has a chronically ill cousin, and soon after, she finds a key that leads to a mysterious garden. Through a change of heart and some effort, Mary just may improve the health of both the garden and her cousin. Several generations have read the original novel in school, and this marks the first movie take where the pleasures of the hidden, walled botanical paradise can match a reader's imagination.

• Starring: Colin Firth, Julie Walters, Dixie Egerickx
• Director: Marc Munden
• Year: 2020
• Runtime: 100 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 67%

Following the success of "A Boy Named Charlie Brown," the "Peanuts" brain trust reconvened for another feature film, this time focusing on the comic strip's breakout star and universally beloved cartoon beagle, Snoopy. The dog gets his chance to shine in a film that's essentially non-stop and delightful Snoopy antics, along with a thoughtful examination of the psyche of this remarkable pooch. 

After growing miffed after a tiff with owner Charlie Brown, Snoopy gets a letter from his old master, Lila, who's fallen ill and is being hospitalized. Snoopy figures this is the ideal time to leave Charlie Brown and go visit her, and so he treks across America, Woodstock and bindle in tow, encountering friends and "no dogs allowed signs" almost everywhere. And it really feels like, at least for a while, that Snoopy may never come home again, leaving Charlie Brown even more upset than usual.

• Starring: Chad Webber, Robin Kohn, Stephen Shea
• Director: Bill Melendez
• Year: 1972
• Runtime: 81 minutes
• Rating: G
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

The fourth feature-length entry in the "Stark Trek" franchise, "The Voyage Home" is without a doubt the most fun and family-friendly installment in the series. There are no Ceti eels in sight. Instead, we've got humpback whales.

So what do these large aquatic mammals have to do with "Star Trek?" Well, Admiral James T. Kirk would like to know the same thing. After all, there's a mysterious object hovering near Earth, causing quite a bit of destruction and trying to contact humpback whales in the ocean below.

The problem is that, in the 23rd century, humpback whales are extinct. So Kirk and company have to travel back in time, get themselves a whale, head back to the future, and introduce the big guy to these mysterious aliens. The result is a whole lot of fun, as the Starfleet officers make their way through 1980s San Francisco.

Granted, you might need to catch up on the previous films to understand everything that's happening here — especially with Spock — but never fear, Hulu has them all (including the original TV series).

• Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Catherine Hicks
• Director: Leonard Nimoy
• Year: 1986
• Runtime: 119 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 82%