The descriptor “science fiction and fantasy” serves as an umbrella term for fantastical stories all the time, but if you look closer, the two genres contain multitudes.
A sci-fi/fantasy movie might be an alien invasion blockbuster; a bloody sword-and-sorcery epic; or a quiet, reflective fable. What these 30 movies all have in common is the imagination to think outside of the world we can see from the window. Oh, and they are also all available on Netflix right now.
The Wild Robot (2024)
The plot of The Wild Robot, closely based on Peter Brown's bestselling novels, is (deceptively) uncomplicated: Personal robot Unit 7134 falls from a cargo ship and winds up on an island free from human habitation, where it has to learn to connect with the local wildlife, who initially see “Roz” as a monster, especially after she accidentally crushes a goose nest, destroying all but one egg. Raising the imprinted gosling with a bit of help from an unconventional found family of animals, Roz (voiced by Lupita Nyong'o) ultimately has to decide whether to commit to her strange circumstances, or return to her intended life. Gorgeously animated and oddly moving, this one earned three Oscar nominations. You can stream The Wild Robot here.
Pacific Rim (2013)
At least until the release of Godzilla Minus One, Pacific Rim was a contender for the best kaiju film of the milennium, Guillermo del Toro having proven (yet again) that there's no genre he can't simultaneously honor and elevate. When giant alien monsters begin to emerge from an interdimensional portal at the bottom of the ocean, humanity responds by building giant mechas to fight them, with a catch: They must be operated by two pilots who have to be in perfect sync. It's not so much the set-up that sells this one, but the execution: stylish, impressively humane, and nearly operatic in its scope: It's like the perfect live-action anime. You can stream Pacific Rim here.
Starship Troopers (1997)
Even in 1997, when digital effects were expensive and streaming services weren't desperate for genre content, this type of space-marines-fighting-aliens movie was still the kind of thing that we'd seen a million times. Or so it appears on the surface. Professional provocateur Paul Verhoeven clearly had little interest in something so straight-down-the-middle, opting for a film that satirizes the Robert Heinlein book that it's based on rather than adapting it. Casper Van Dien stars as Johnny Rico, a jock who joins up with the Mobile Infantry in order to protect the Earth from “bugs”—totally alien aliens that Earth's government has built up as the ultimate threat, convincing its people they need to be exterminated by any means necessary. But do they? You can stream Starship Troopers here.
The Old Guard 2 (2025)
The followup to the surprise COVID-era comic book hit opens six months after the first film ended, with a less-immortal Andy (Charlize Theron) leading Nile (KiKi Layne) and the rest of her team of mercenaries on a hunt for stolen weapons in Croatia before running afoul of Discord (Uma Thurman), the first immortal, who is now an arms dealer stealing secrets from Henry Golding's Tuah. If you're confused, trust it's mostly all an excuse for a series of over-the-top action set pieces starring characters who can't really be killed. While it's lacking much of the emotional heft of the first film (also streaming on Netflix), it's still fun to watch Theron and Thurman throw down. You can stream The Old Guard 2 here.
Awe (2018)
Kicking off with the invention of a time machine and quickly incorporating a talking goldfish, Awe assembles a large ensemble of characters who seemingly have nothing at all to do with one another, and then proceeds to connect their stories in entirely unexpected ways. There's same-sex couple Radha and her partner Krishnaveni, trying to convince Radha's parents to support their union. Nala is a man pretending he knows how to cook to get a chef job who starts talking to a tree. There's a strange little kid, a substance-addicted waitress, and a would-be mass murderer—and they're all bound to one restaurant, and that initial invention. It's a wildly clever (and stylish) sci-fi fantasy with an enormous heart. You can stream Awe here.
V for Vendetta (2005)
Though its politics are more muddled than those in the Alan Moore/David Lloyd graphic novel it's based on, V for Vendetta works as a superhero film with more going on under the hood than most (more than the book, popularized the Guy Fawkes mask as a catch-all anti-establishment symbol). Hugo Weaving gives a fine lead performance, despite mostly working from behind that iconic mask, as the terrorist and/or freedom fighter working against a fascist, totalitarian regime. As much as the British original was heavily influenced by Margaret Thatcher, this 2005 film speaks to the George W. Bush era. Natalie Portman co-stars Evey Hammond, an ordinary citizen radicalized by an attempted sexual assault by the police. You can stream V for Vendetta here.
Cities of Last Things (2018)
Not spoiler, but a major content warning: This gloomy sci-fi drama opens with a dramatic death by suicide in the year 2056, before we begin to explore the life of Zhang Dong-ling (Jack Kao, Lee Hong-chi, and Hsieh Chang-Ying) in reverse chronological order to see what led him there. This is, in many ways, pure noir, right down to the protagonist who we know is doomed, but the science fiction of it all isn't entirely in its visuals. The technological near-future dystopia finds Zhang increasingly boxed in by his past, suggesting that fantastical inventions like rejuvenation treatments and universal ID chips can do more to trap someone in their own troubled past. It's a futuristic take on classic noir symbolism. You can stream Cities of Last Things here.
Lost in Starlight (2025)
While Netflix has brought American audiences plenty of live-action imports from South Korea, Lost in Starlight is the first feature-length animated movie from the country—and it's a great one. Nan-young is a scientist hoping to realize her dream or traveling to Mars as part of the space program, held back only by concern that her mother's loss there two decades earlier might impact her objectivity. In the midst of this struggle to realize her dream, she meets musician Jay, who's similarly been held back by crushing stage fright. When Nan-young becomes involved in a thoroughly dangerous mission, the two have to face their anxieties about their own lives and their relationship while being, literally, worlds apart. The animation is stunningly detailed, but impressively down-to-earth in its emphasis on human expression and connectedness over sci-fi spectacle. You can stream Lost in Starlight here.
K-Pop Demon Hunters (2025)
From an authentic Korean animated film to one from a major Hollywood studio that carries all the pop culture trappings of the country's ascentdant music scene, this one follows a K-Pop girl group who are actually the reincarnation of an ancient group of warriors destined to keep the world safe from invading demon hordes through the power of song and kickass martial arts action. It's a over-the-top premise matched by the zany animation, from the same minds behind the Spider-Verse films, filled with endless sight gags and over-the-top reactions right out of manga and anime. Super fun, with a great K-Pop soundtrack to match the titular trio's chart-topping ambitions. You can stream K-Pop Demon Hunters here.
Dune (1984)
While it's possibly the least satisfying work of David Lynch's career, there are still peaks of genius in his weird, whispery, operatic adaptation of the Frank Herbert novel (since been made into a series of much more normal—but still pretty odd—Oscar-nominated mega-blockbusters). It's messy and often confusing, but full of absolutely indelible visuals unlike any seen on the screen before or since, and certainly no more inaccessible than many of Lynch's other challenging films. If it's not quite a forgotten masterpiece, it certainly plays better now than it did in 1984, when this kind of dense science fiction melodrama is a far more familiar presence on our screens. You can stream Dune here.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Though its sequel rather inexplicably tanked, that doesn't take a thing away from George Miller's dystopian feminist masterpiece. It's an action spectacle of the highest order, but one that packs a surprisingly dense narrative in and around the explosions. Miller stages an absolutely deranged western in a future climate apocalypse, with Tom Hardy as the title's Max, and Charlize Theron as the true lead: Imperator Furiosa, joining the ranks of cinema's all-time great badasses. You can stream Fury Road here.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)
I wasn't expecting much from this adaptation of a game with an impenetrable mythology, and which had previously garnered a string of fairly dismal adaptations. Happily, it turns out to be unexpectedly delightful: funny, action-packed, and respectful of the franchise without getting bogged down by decades of lore. Chris Pine stars as bard Edgin Darvis, imprisoned after a heist gone wrong but hoping to be reunited with the daughter, who's since come under the influence of ambitious con artist Forge (Hugh Grant). Luckily, he's got help from Holga (Michelle Rodriguez), a barbarian with a heart of gold, who cares as much about Edgin's daughter as he does. It makes the case that IP movies don't have to be soulless. You can stream Dungeons & Dragons here.
Damsel (2024)
Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things, Enola Holmes) is practically the face of Netflix these days. In this dark fantasy from director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later), she plays Elodie, the titular damsel, who's been offered into an arranged marriage by her family. It doesn't sound too terrible, until she learns that it's all been part of an elaborate ritual sacrifice intended to keep a dragon from destroying the kingdom. Lucky for her, she's far more resourceful than her in-laws give her credit for. First goal: get out. Second goal? Get even. You can stream Damsel here.
Paradise (2023)
Time is a literal commodity on this German sci-fi dystopia. Max (Kostja Ullmann) works for the appropriately named Aeon, a tech company that buys time (as in years) from the poor to extend the lives of its wealthy and powerful clients. He's great at his job, but it doesn't matter much when his condo burns down and he's liable for the loan backed by 40 years of his wife Elana's life. Suddenly married to a senior citizen, he's determined to get his wife's time back, whatever the cost. You can stream Paradise here.
Nimona (2023)
Based on the graphic novel from ND Stevenson, Nimona traveled a rocky road to the screen, surviving delays, company shut-downs, the pandemic, and pressure from Disney to tone down its queer themes. Luckily, none of that drama made it into the finished product (eventually brought to streaming by Netflix). It's a heartfelt, joyful, and funny fantasy set in a futuristic world full of medieval trappings. Ballister Boldheart, alongside his boyfriend Ambrosius Goldenloin, is about to be knighted by the queen, the first commoner ever to receive the honor. It's all good, until he's framed for the queen's murder and forced to flee, becoming the criminal that the snobs already took him for. Luckily (or not) he's joined by Nimona, a teenager outcast shunned for her shapeshifting powers. The two work together to clear Ballister's name, even as Nimona has things to teach Ballister about living authentically. You can stream Nimona here.
Circle (2015)
It's alien abduction for the Squid Game generation, this one picks up in the aftermath of a mass snatching. Circle opens on 50 people waking up in a dark room. They're on platforms from which they can't move on pain of laser-inflicted death, and they quickly realize they're trapped in a game with simple, specific rules: Via hand gestures, they're meant to vote on the next person to die (if not, someone is chose at random every two minutes). It's a sick scheme enacted by would-be invaders, but it's also a study of our species, and reaches some not-entirely-flattering conclusions about how quickly we'll throw each other under the bus (er, laser beam). You can stream Circle here.
Godzilla Minus One (2023)
Eschewing the more-is-more approach of the American Godzilla series, writer/director Takashi Yamazaki offers up this reminder that Japanese filmmakers really know their monster king. A prequel of sorts to the original 1954 film, this one finds kamikaze pilot Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) encountering Godzilla multiple times over the years following World War II. That wartime trauma, which harkens back to the original film, lends this one a kaiju-sized emotional weight. Nearly as important: the masterful, Oscar-winning visual effects make Godzilla scary again, and the action sequences have real weight and stakes. You can stream Godzilla Minus One here.
Reversi (2024)
Did I mention that I like my movies with a bit of time travel? This effective Malaysian import stars Beto Kusyairy as Akid, a police negotiator who loses his wife and son to tragedy—fortunately for Akid, though, he has a genetic propensity for time travel. But each trip to the past knocks a bit off of Akid's own lifespan, and he soon discovers that trying to rewrite history can be at least as traumatic as moving on from loss. You can stream Reversi here.
What do you think so far?
Ultraman: Rising (2024)
This Japanese-American co-production reboots the beloved half-century-plus franchise with help of director Shannon Tindle and co-writer Marc Haimes (both of the brilliant Kubo and the Two Strings). Professional baseball player Ken Sato returns home to Japan when he inherits the mantle of (you guessed it!) Ultraman from his retired father. The stylish animation is lovely and there plenty of family-friendly action, but it wouldn't work half as well without the emotional arc: egotistical sports star Sato needs to reconnect with his distant father, even as he becomes the unwilling parental figure to an orphaned kaiju child. You can stream Ultraman: Rising here.
See You Yesterday (2019)
See You Yesterday tricks you into thinking you're signing on for a sci-fi romp—an early cameo from Michael J. Fox seems to underline it. As it begins, young prodigies CJ Walker (Eden Duncan Smith) and Sebastian Thomas (Dante Crichlow) develop a time machine and plan to test it by traveling back one day and scrupulously avoiding making any changes. Shortly after, the Spike Lee-produced film takes a dark turn: CJ's older brother is shot and killed by an NYPD officer who mistakes a phone for a gun. CJ tries again and again to save him, but is frustrated as each attempt goes wrong in a new way. It's not an entirely downbeat movie, but, in the best sci-fi tradition, the high concept at its core has more down-to-earth relevance. You can stream See You Yesterday here.
The Platform (2019)
OK, the metaphor is a little heavy-handed: In a large tower, euphemistically referred to as the “Vertical Self-Management Center,” food is delivered in a shaft that stops on each floor from the top down: those near the top get to eat their fill; those at the bottom get scraps. The Spanish-language thriller is wildly violent, but inventive, and it's not as if real-life capitalism is particularly subtle in its deprivations. You can stream The Platform here.
Rebel Moon (2023)
Zack Snyder, late of the entire DC cinematic universe, inspires passionate opinions all around—but his science fiction Army of the Dead followup can't be faulted for lack of ambition. It's a multi-part (currently unclear how many parts that will be) space opera that blends Snyder's distinctive visual style with Star Wars-style action. Sofia Boutella stars as a former soldier who rallies warriors from across the galaxy to join in a revolt against the imperial Motherworld on the title's out-of-the-way farming moon. You can currently catch part one (aka A Child of Fire) and part two (The Scargiver), as well as an R-rated director's cut of the first movie. You can stream Rebel Moon: A Child of Fire here, or the Director's Cut (I say “cut,” but it's over an hour longer) here.
The Curse of Bridge Hollow (2022)
Halloween movies are valid at any time of year, so there's no reason to hold off on this family-friendly seasonal fantasy. The Howard family has moved to the town of Bridge Hollow just in time for the holiday, and daughter Sydney (Priah Ferguson of Stranger Things) couldn't be more exited about the town's holiday spirit. Dad (Marlon Wayans), on the other hand, is all about the science and hates the spooky nonsense—mom Kelly Rowland often left to referee. The family has to try to come together, though, when Sydney accidentally frees a ghost who makes an army out of the town's decorations. Whoops! You can stream The Curse of Bridge Hollow here.
Bubble (2022)
From Attack on Titan and Death Note director Tetsurô Araki and an all-star creative team, Bubble finds Tokyo cut off from the rest of the world when reality-bending bubbles rain down on the city (shades of Stephen King's Under the Dome, perhaps). Anime fans were almost certainly on the lookout for the gorgeous, parkour-infused love story, but anyone who loves animation (or great sci-fi films in general) should check it out. You can stream Bubble here.
My Father's Dragon (2022)
Based on Ruth Stiles Gannett's 1948 children's novel of the same name, and geared toward even younger audiences than the other all-ages animated movies on this list, My Father's Dragon still has plenty to recommend it to just about anyone—along with more emotional intelligence than many movies made for adults. In the film, a boy named Elmer (Jacob Tremblay) and his shopkeeper mother, Dela (Golshifteh Farahani) leave their tight-knit town in favor of a bigger city—though the promise of better circumstances doesn't quickly materialize. Elmer's patience is rewarded, though, when a talking cat invites him to take a beautiful, candy-colored adventure. The movie is from the director of the The Breadwinner, set in modern-day Afghanistan, and Cartoon Saloon, production company behind animated movies like the beautiful Irish folk tale, Wolfwalkers. You can stream My Father's Dragon here.
The Wandering Earth (2019)
The title isn't a metaphor: this Chinese blockbuster is literally about what happens when the Earth goes off-course, and the people who come together to keep it from smashing into Jupiter. The whole thing begins when a rogue red giant threatens to engulf the Earth within a century, leading the nations of the world to come together around building giant engines to shove us out of the way. It's bonkers in the best possible way, with special effects that easily outpace those of many American blockbusters. The human element here is also a plus, as the movie makes room for a broad ensemble of interesting characters, suggesting that great things (like not hitting Jupiter) happen when people work together. You can stream The Wandering Earth here.
Space Sweepers (2021)
It doesn't entirely reinvent the wheel, but there's a refreshing focus on the underclasses of the future, without edging too far into the dystopian. I'm not the first to make a comparison between Space Sweepers and Cowboy Bebop, but, given the recent and speedy failure of Netflix's live-action version of that cartoon, it's not going too far to say that you'll find a better encapsulation of Bebop's spirit of rag-tag found family and its outer space western milieu here then in the live-action show that bore its name. What this one lacks in originality, it makes up for in engaging characters and extravagant special effects. It's also nice to see a less American-centric perspective on the future. You can stream Space Sweepers here.
They Cloned Tyrone (2023)
This genre mashup from debut director Juel Taylor spins plenty of plates, and mostly manages to keep them from crashing down. John Bodega stars as Fontaine, a drug dealer in a Blaxsploitation-inspired world just this side of our own. Following a showdown with one-time Pimp of the Year Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx), Fontaine is shot dead, but awakens the next day in his own bed with nothing seemingly having changed. Teaming up with Slick Charles and sex worker Yo Yo (Teyonah Parris), he dives into an unlikely web of scientific conspiracy, the gist of which you can kinda get from the title. A sci-fi genre parody shouldn't work nearly so well, but the stellar cast and assured direction from Juel Taylor sell it. You can stream They Cloned Tyrone here.
Okja (2017)
A Korean-language sci-fi fantasy about a girl and her genetically modified pig might not sound like an easy sell, but the movie certainly attracted more much-deserved attention when its director, Bong Joon-Ho, won one of the best-justified Best Picture Oscars in recent memory for Parasite. The darkly whimsical film that challenges the norms of the American and South Korean meat industries is very much its own thing, but fans of Parasite will recognize Bong's mix of dark comedy, action, and hard-to-ignore social commentary. You can stream Okja here.
Blame! (2017)
In the future, The City grows like a virus, endlessly in all directions, humans long since having lost control of the automated systems designed to run things. Those same systems now see views humans as “illegals” to be purged, so flesh-and-blood survivors are caught between the city's murderous defense systems and the need to find food. One group of humans, though, is on the hunt for the existence of someone with a genetic marker that they believe will allow for access to the city's control systems—a hunt lead by Killy, a synthetic human who might have the key. You can stream Blame! here.
