Heading into summer, Netflix‘s fantasy lineup could really use a touch of magic. When the 2021 remake of Mortal Kombat is one of the top suggestions in fantasy, then Netflix has a real problem on its hands with this category. The latest fantasy additions, The Great Wall, Hellboy, and Conan the Destroyer, aren’t masterpieces themselves. But they’re better than nothing.
Aside from a handful of originals like Damsel and The School for Good and Evil, fantasy is just not getting a lot of love from Netflix. We really want to see this genre flourish on Netflix, but that’s going to require a lot more effort from the streamer. In the meantime, these are the best fantasy movies on Netflix right now.
We’ve also rounded up the best fantasy movies on Amazon Prime, and the best fantasy movies on Hulu if Netflix doesn’t have what you’re looking for.
-
The Great Wall2016 - Hellboy2019
- Conan the Destroyer1984
The Great Wall (2016) new
The Great Wall was hit with a lot of critical barbs for casting Matt Damon as the lead in a film set in China during the 11th century. But this is a Chinese movie that needed an American star to get top billing to play better internationally, and that’s what Damon brought to the table. Damon and his co-star, The Last of Us’ Pedro Pascal, play William Garin and Pero Tovar, respectively, a pair of mercenaries who encounter an alien monster while attempting to find and smuggle gunpowder out of Japan.
Instead of finding the path to riches, the mercenaries discover that they’ve walked into a war between Commander Lin Mae (Jing Tian) and his defenders as they face an onslaught of aliens at the Great Wall of China. Willem Dafoe plays Sir Ballard, another European who has been trapped in China for years. Now, this unlikely trio has to decide whether to aid the Chinese in their fight, or flee while they still can.
Hellboy (2019) new
Guillermo del Toro directed two really charming Hellboy movies, both of which are better than Neil Marshall’s 2019 Hellboy reboot. But this film is a little closer in spirit to the Hellboy comics by Mike Mignola. Stranger Things’ David Harbour steps into the role of Hellboy, a demon who was raised to be a force for good by his adoptive father, Professor Trevor Bruttenholm (Ian McShane).
While on a mission in England for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, Hellboy discovers a conspiracy to revive Vivienne Nimue (Milla Jovovich), the Blood Queen, an evil sorceress from the time of King Arthur. And once Vivienne returns, she realizes that Hellboy himself may hold the key to her ultimate revenge on humanity if she can make him unleash the apocalypse.
Conan the Destroyer (1984) new
This year marks the 40th anniversary of Conan the Destroyer, and the last time that Arnold Schwarzenegger played the title character. After the events of Conan the Barbarian, the only thing that can convince Conan to work for Queen Taramis (Sarah Douglas) is the impossible promise that she can resurrect Conan’s lost love, Valeria.
To restore Valeria to life, Conan has to rescue Taramis’ niece, Princess Jehnna (Olivia d’Abo), alongside a group of companions including Zula (Grace Jones), Bombaata (Wilt Chamberlain), Akiro (Mako), and Malak (Tracey Walter). The quest may be doomed from the start by a hidden agenda and a planned betrayal, but it’s never a good idea to cross Conan. That’s often a fatal mistake.
Damsel (2024)
What if Stranger Things’ Eleven had to fight a dragon without her powers. Princess Elodie (Millie Bobby Brown) doesn’t have to imagine that scenario in Damsel, as it’s actually happening to her because she believed in love out of a fairy tale. As soon as she was offered the chance to marry Prince Henry (Nick Robinson), Elodie thought she was getting a happily ever after.
Perhaps Elodie would have been happy with some other prince. As for Henry, he and his mother, Queen Isabelle (Robin Wright), set up the marriage just to use Elodie as a sacrifice to a dragon. Elodie may be a bit naïve, but she’s not taking this lightly. She may not be a warrior, but Elodie is willing to pick up a sword and do whatever it takes to survive.
Monster Run (2020)
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)
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)
Wendell & Wild (2022)
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)
The School for Good and Evil (2022)
Slumberland (2022)
Nightbooks (2021)
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]
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.
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)
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.
A Whisker Away (2020)
Related topics: Netflix | Hulu | Amazon Prime | More streaming services
Editors' Recommendations
- 5 Netflix shows we can’t wait to see this summer, ranked
- The best kids movies on Netflix right now
- The best anime on Netflix right now
- Best new movies to stream on Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, Max (HBO), and more
- The best new shows to stream on Netflix, Hulu, Max (HBO), and more
