As much as Netflix continues to offer a wide range of genres on its streaming service, fantasy enthusiasts may find that there are considerably fewer feature-length fantasy films that are appetizing.
If anything, Netflix tends to embrace fantasy TV series more than individual movies (whether the shows take hold after a season or two is another matter entirely). Still, Netflix is littered with fantasy gems. Here are five Netflix fantasy movies you can stream right now.
With so many original films available on Netflix, many of the originals tend to disappear from people's consciousness soon after they are released. It's a shame for films like “Nimona” that are worth finding an audience for.
This animated film blends classic mythology in the vein of King Arthur with a futuristic aesthetic that infuses the storytelling with imagination and visual interest. Starring Chloe Grace Moretz as Nimona, a persecuted shapeshifter who teams up with a knight (Riz Ahmed) accused of murder. Together they fight to clear his name, but the task is unexpectedly difficult. Above all, Nimona is incredibly lovable and has a heart that is hard to hate.
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How many times have we heard the story of a princess saved from a fearsome dragon by a handsome prince? “Damsel,” starring Millie Bobby Brown of ‘Stranger Things’ fame, puts a new twist on this old legend. Brown's Princess Elodie, who is indeed killed by a dragon and married to a genuine prince charming (Nick Robinson), but things are not as 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 will participate in an ancient ritual to ensure their survival, a ritual that requires her to be sacrificed to a dragon. If you thought you were getting a docile princess, you were wrong.
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“Kubo and the Two Strings” has almost all the fantasy elements one would expect in an animated film: enchanted musical instruments, a young hero with a mysterious background, anthropomorphic animals, and a sacred quest. Kubo is a one-eyed boy who makes a living playing the shamisen in feudal Japan.
Soon, however, he is forced into an adventure that pits him against the Moon King. Designed to mimic the aesthetic of Japanese ink painting, “Kubo and the Two Strings” combines a thrilling action epic with gorgeous animation.
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Fantasy doesn't always mean warlocks, elves, and mystical lands. Field of Dreams is a prime example of the fantasy style, made all the more haunting by how faithfully it mimics the world we live in. The film stars Kevin Costner as a reluctant farmer who, after hearing a disembodied voice say, “If you build it, he will come,” makes the objectively poor decision to clear a cornfield and build a baseball diamond.
Everyone within a 10-mile radius thinks he has lost his mind, but it is safe to say he has the last laugh when ghostly figures of famous baseball stars begin to emerge from the cornfield, desperate to play on his field. A moving story of the great beyond, a leap of faith, and the unshakable bond between father and son, Field of Dreams is a sentimental favorite for many.
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When Guillermo del Toro announces that he is making a new version of the classic tale “Pinocchio,” you have to sit up and take notice. His adaptation, rendered in bewitching stop-motion animation, embraces the darker side of the fairy tale.
This “Pinocchio” lacks the smooth, methodical animation style of the Disney version. Del Toro's character is twisted, bent, and sharply angled because he was carved out of wood as a product of grief and anger. This diminutive wooden hero seems a bit more unfinished, as he suffers his fair share of setbacks.
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