As much as Netflix continues to offer a broad range of genres on its streaming service, fantasy enthusiasts may notice that there’s fairly slim pickings in terms of feature-length fantasy movies for them to sink their teeth into.
If anything, Netflix has a tendency to embrace fantasy TV series rather than individual films (although whether the shows stick around after a season or two is another question entirely). Still, there are a few fantasy gems scattered around on Netflix for your viewing pleasure — you just have to know where to look. Here are five Netflix fantasy movies you can stream right now.
'Nimona'
With so many original releases on Netflix, many of their original movies have a tendency to disappear from public consciousness fairly quickly after they come out. Which is a shame for titles like "Nimona," which really deserve to find an audience.
This animated film combines classic mythology in the vein of King Arthur with a futuristic aesthetic, imbuing its storytelling with imagination and visual interest. It stars Chloe Grace Moretz as Nimona, a persecuted shapeshifter who teams up with a knight (Riz Ahmed) wrongly accused of murder. Together, they’ll fight to clear his name — a task that may be harder than it seems. More than anything, Nimona is incredibly endearing, with such a tremendous amount of heart that it’s impossible to dislike.
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'Damsel'
How many times have we heard the story about the princess saved from the fearsome dragon by the handsome prince? "Damsel," starring Millie Bobby Brown of "Stranger Things" fame, puts a new twist on the old legend. Brown’s Princess Elodie is indeed imperiled by a dragon, and married off to a veritable prince charming (Nick Robinson), but things aren’t exactly what they seem. After all, every marriage has its secrets.
But in the case of Elodie and her beloved, the secret is that her new in-laws take part in an ancient ritual to ensure their continued survival, one that requires her to be given up to the dragon as a sacrifice. If they thought they had a meek little princess on their hands, though, they miscalculated — Elodie’s not going down without a fight.
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'Kubo and the Two Strings'
"Kubo and the Two Strings" has just about all the fantasy elements you could want in an animated film: an enchanted musical instrument, a young hero with a mysterious backstory, anthropomorphic animals, and a sacred quest. Kubo is a young boy with one eye who makes a living in feudal Japan playing the shamisen, which he uses to magically move origami into storytelling configurations.
But before long, he is forced on an adventure that will see him go up against the Moon King himself. Lavishly designed to mimic the aesthetic of Japanese ink wash painting, "Kubo and the Two Strings" combines a thrilling action epic with gorgeous animation.
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'Field of Dreams'
Fantasy doesn’t always mean warlocks and elves and mystical lands. "Field of Dreams" represents a style of fantasy that is all the more stirring because of how closely it mimics the world that we live in. It stars Kevin Costner as a reluctant farmer who makes the objectively poor decision to clear his cornfields and build a baseball diamond after hearing a disembodied voice say, “If you build it, he will come.”
Everyone within a 10-mile radius thinks he’s lost his mind, but when the ghostly figures of famous baseball stars begin to emerge from the cornfields desperate to play on his field, it’s safe to say that he has the last laugh. A moving story about the great beyond, taking leaps of faith, and the unshakeable bond between father and son, "Field of Dreams" is a sentimental favorite for many.
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'Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio'
When Guillermo del Toro announces that he’s going to make a new version of the classic story of Pinocchio, you kind of have to sit up and take notice. His adaptation, done in bewitching stop-motion animation, embraces the darker side of the fairy tale.
This Pinocchio lacks the smooth, tidy animation style of the Disney version. Del Toro's characters are twisted and bent, all sharp edges, as they were all carved out of wood themselves as the product of grief and rage. Our pint-sized wooden hero is seemingly a little more of a work in progress, as he gets into more than his fair share of scrapes.
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