Seven months into 2026, and the genre of family movies has already given the world of cinema some amazing gems. This year promises to be even more spectacular, with films such as Steps, The Lost Island, Wildwood, Narnia, and Jumanji 3 still to come. With so much already happening, now is a good time to pause and recognize the kids’ and family movies released this year that have stood out among the rest.
A streaming underdog that came out of nowhere, a winning addition to an established canon, and a murder mystery with brilliant bovidae are only some of the triumphs 2026 has produced. As the year moves on and more projects will be released, it will be interesting to see which of these early bloomers will hold up, and which will be overshadowed by the newcomers in the latter half of the year. However, as of now, these five titles are exemplary and are the best family movies that have come out in 2026.
5
‘Toy Story 5’
Jesse peeks around a corner with other toys behind her in Toy Story 5Image via Walt Disney Studios
Buzz (Tim Allen), Woody (Tom Hanks), Jesse (Joan Cusack). These names are so familiar to audiences that they feel like childhood friends. In a saga that has spanned three decades, many viewers have literally grown up watching the Toy Story franchise. In the fifth and newest installment, the toys that once belonged to Andy settle into their new roles in young Bonnie’s (Scarlett Spears) life. As if that transition weren’t significant enough, they are faced with an extremely formidable foe that they have never encountered before: technology. A poignant moment-in-time examination of what childhood is, Toy Story 5 is immediately relevant and poses several interesting theories about screen time versus play time.
As sequels of a well-loved IP tend to do, there is going to be some overlap and unavoidable comparison to earlier films. Luckily, Toy Story 5 has been a crowd-pleaser from the beginning and has outstanding reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. It is nearing the prestigious $1 billion box office mark and is expected to achieve the accolade with ease. It is difficult to continue the momentum of any movie series that goes past a trilogy, and Toy Story is doing so with flying colors.
A very interesting and major shift in Toy Story 5 is the relationship kids have with toys. With the emergence of tech, it is suggested that kids build relationships with each othervia their shared interests (like toys)rather than bonding to the toys themselves. This could mark a significant change of focus for future movies in the series, and it is a fascinating observation of a change in the Zeitgeist at large.
4
‘Minions & Monsters’
Another well-established movie franchise to get a sequel this year is Illumination’s Minions series. Part of the larger Despicable Me canon, Minions & Monsters is the seventh film to feature the adorable, gibberish-speaking yellow people. Minions & Monsters features Old Hollywood tropes, creature feature moments, and plenty of slapstick humor. There are gags about LEGOs, filmmaking Easter eggs, and more. It is a fun and self-aware flick where the characters switch from being the subject of a movie to wanting to make a movie themselves.
Although Minions & Monsters has high ratings by both critics and audiences alike, that success is failing to translate at the box office. The poor financial performance could be a timing issue with many families going to summer camps and sporting events. Or it could be that audience fatigue is starting to set in. While Minions & Monsters is undoubtedly one of the best installments to the lore, it is hard to win viewers back after they’ve been disappointed by earlier movies. Hopefully, the admiration for this fun and quirky movie will only continue to grow, and more viewers will get a chance to see what devotees love about it. It could be poised to be a massive streaming hit once its run in theaters is over.
3
‘The Sheep Detectives’
Hugh Jackman as George the shepherd petting one of his sheep in The Sheep DetectivesImage via Amazon MGM Studios
After a run in theaters, The Sheep Detectives stampeded onto streaming. The murder mystery movie starring Hugh Jackman has reached the #1 spot on Prime. The plot follows a herd of sheep who attempt to solve their shepherd, George’s (Jackman), murder. Cozy murder mysteries are all the rage right now, and it was only inevitable that the winning format found its way to the family movie category.
The Sheep Detectives is stacked with voice talent. Bryan Cranston, Patrick Stewart, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bella Ramsey, and Chris O’Dowd are just some of the names on the illustrious roster. Not to mention the onscreen performances of Emma Thompson and Nicholas Braun. It has become the family movie to watch on streaming and can entertain both the young and the young at heart.
Although the movie presents as being quaint and charming, there are some morbid and bleak elements included in the plotline, like the sheep discovering their own mortality and the fact that humans chop them up for meat. There is also the inherent premise of a person murdering another in cold blood. While The Sheep Detective delivers for fans of whodunits, it may not be the best for younger children. For older kids and teens, The Sheep Detectives is a great introduction to the mystery genre.
Collider Exclusive · Oscar Best Picture Quiz Which Oscar Best Picture Is Your Perfect Movie? Parasite · Everything Everywhere · Oppenheimer · Birdman · No Country
Five Oscar Best Picture winners. Five completely different visions of what cinema can be — and what it can do to you. One of them is the film that was made for the way your mind works. Ten questions will figure out which one.
🪜Parasite
🌀Everything Everywhere
☢️Oppenheimer
🐦Birdman
🪙No Country for Old Men
01
What kind of film experience do you actually want? The best movies don’t just entertain — they leave something behind.
02
Which idea grabs you most in a film? Great films are driven by a central obsession. What’s yours?
03
How do you like your story told? Form is content. The way a story is shaped changes what it means.
04
What makes a truly great antagonist? The opposition defines the protagonist. What kind of opposition fascinates you?
05
What do you want from a film’s ending? The final note is the one that lingers. What do you want it to sound like?
06
Which setting pulls you in most? Where a film takes place shapes everything — mood, stakes, what’s even possible.
07
What cinematic craft impresses you most? Every great film has a signature — a technical or artistic element that makes it unmistakable.
08
What kind of main character do you root for? The protagonist is the lens. Who you choose to follow says something about you.
09
How do you feel about a film that takes its time? Pace is a choice. Some films sprint; others let tension accumulate slowly, deliberately.
10
What do you want to feel walking out of the cinema? The best films leave a mark. What kind of mark do you want?
The Academy Has Decided Your Perfect Film Is…
Your answers have pointed to one Oscar Best Picture winner above all others. This is the film that was made for the way your mind works.
Parasite
You are drawn to films that operate on multiple levels simultaneously — that begin in one genre and quietly, brilliantly migrate into another. Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite is a film about class, desire, and the architecture of inequality that manages to be darkly funny, deeply suspenseful, and genuinely shocking across a single extraordinary running time. Your instinct is for cinema that hides its true intentions until the moment it’s ready to reveal them. Parasite is exactly that — a film that rewards close attention and punishes assumptions, right up to its devastating final image.
Everything Everywhere All at Once
You want it all — and this film gives you all of it. The Daniels’ Everything Everywhere All at Once is one of the most maximalist films ever made: action comedy, multiverse sci-fi, family drama, existential crisis, and a genuinely earned emotional core that sneaks up on you amid the chaos. You are someone who responds to ambition, who doesn’t want cinema to choose between being entertaining and being meaningful. This film refuses that choice entirely. It is overwhelming by design, and its overwhelming nature is precisely the point — because the feeling of being crushed by infinite possibility is exactly what it’s about.
Oppenheimer
You are drawn to cinema on a grand scale — films that understand history not as a backdrop but as a force, and that place their characters inside that force and watch what happens. Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is a film about the terrifying gap between what we can do and what we should do, told with the full weight of one of the most consequential moments in human history behind it. You want your films to feel important without feeling self-important — to earn their ambition through sheer craft and the gravity of their subject. Oppenheimer does exactly that. It is enormous, complicated, and refuses easy comfort.
Birdman
You are drawn to films that foreground their own construction — that make the how of the filmmaking part of the what it’s about. Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman, shot to appear as a single continuous take, is cinema examining itself through the cracked mirror of a fading actor’s ego. You respond to formal daring, to the feeling that a film is doing something that probably shouldn’t be possible. Michael Keaton’s performance and Emmanuel Lubezki’s restless camera create something genuinely unlike anything else — a film that is simultaneously about creativity, relevance, self-destruction, and the impossibility of ever truly knowing if your work means anything at all.
No Country for Old Men
You are drawn to cinema that trusts silence, that refuses to explain itself, and that treats dread as a form of meaning. The Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men is a film about the arrival of a new kind of evil — implacable, arbitrary, and utterly indifferent to the moral frameworks we use to make sense of the world. It is one of the most formally controlled films ever made, and its controlled restraint is what makes it so terrifying. You want your films to haunt you, not comfort you. You are not interested in resolution if resolution would be dishonest. No Country for Old Men is honest in a way that most cinema never dares to be.
2
‘Hoppers’
Mabel as a robot beaver smiles next to King George, a real beaver, who is holding a stick and wearing a crown in HoppersImage via Disney
One of the best animated movies of the year, Hoppers attempts to answer the age-old question of what is going on in the minds of animals. Mabel Tanaka (Piper Curda) is an animal lover and headstrong wildlife enthusiast. When an area of land that holds sentimental value to her is under threat of industrial development, she stops at nothing to protect it.
When Mabel finds out that Dr. Sam Fairfax (Kathy Najimy) has invented a realistic animal robot that allows humans to transfer their consciousness into it, she hijacks the technology, convinced she can use the Hopper program to halt construction at the important site. When Mabel goes undercover and infiltrates the animal kingdom, she learns about life from an entirely different perspective and discovers that there is often not a clear, easy solution to a problem. Hoppers is undoubtedly one of this year’s best. It is funny, thought-provoking, and refreshingly original when studios like Pixar seem to be more focused on cranking out replicas than ideating any new IPs. Hoppers is one of the best, most original Pixar movies in a long time, and it makes an ideal choice for wildlife and sci-fi fans.
1
‘Swapped’
Ollie the Pookoo and Ivy the Javan smiling in SwappedImage via Netflix
When it comes to being the best family movie of the year so far, there is still nothing that can touch Swapped. It is more visually pleasing than Hoppers, carries a better message than Toy Story 5, and has undeniable appeal. Unlike Minions & Monsters or The Sheep Detectives, which have more adult references than childlike ones, Swapped is a perfect movie for all ages. The story follows two animals that swap species and get to experience life from each other’s point of view. Michael B. Jordan, Juno Temple, Tracy Morgan, and Cedric The Entertainer make up the extremely talented cast, and there are several interesting plot twists along the way.
The character design in Swapped is flawless. Each species is a blend of both plant and animal, and the worldbuilding is enchanting, feeling like a place anyone would want to visit. There are adorable Pinecone Hedgehogs, majestic Dzo who seem like Ents mixed with elephants, and the misunderstood Treewolves. The textures and graphics in Swapped are stunning, and the animation is bar none.
Swapped is shaping up to be the big hit of the year that no one saw coming. Much like KPop Demon Hunters, Netflix is quietly positioning itself to totally dominate when it comes to animated kids and family movies. Swapped set a new record for viewership and clocked 38.7 million views in seven days, the highest weekly total ever for an animated movie on the channel. Swapped’s important themes of empathy, conflict resolution, collaboration, and harmony are essential and have never been more relevant. If you are not one of the 38.7 million viewers who have taken the time to enjoy this absolute triumph, now is the time. This year is not slowing down when it comes to awesome kids and family movies, and the hits will only keep coming.
