5 Children’s Movies to Stream Now

‘Ultraman: Rising’

Stream it on Netflix.

One night inside their home in Japan, Professor Sato (voiced by Gedde Watanabe) tells his young, baseball-loving son Kenji (Hiro Nakamura) that “Ultraman’s most important task is finding balance.” Moments later, Sato receives a message that the kaiju monster Gigantron is coming. Sato heads outside and transforms into Ultraman, a giant superhero who fights such monsters. Cut to 20 years later, and Kenji is now a professional baseball player who goes by Ken (Christopher Sean). When he moves from the Los Angeles Dodgers to Japan’s Yomiuri Giants, he takes on his father’s role as the monster-fighter Ultraman.

Since 1966, this superhero creation from Eiji Tsuburaya has garnered its fair share of spinoffs, and this Netflix version focuses on themes of family, parenthood and finding balance in life. That might sound a little lofty for young viewers, and the life-lesson sequences did bore my 6-year-old a bit, but there were enough action scenes to ultimately hold his attention.

Ken is up against his own ego, rampaging monsters and Dr. Onda (Keone Young), the head of the Kaiju Defense Force. The parenthood theme kicks into high gear when Ken adopts a cutesy kaiju baby named Ami (Julia Harriman). Shannon Tindle directs this film, which he co-wrote with Marc Haimes.

‘No Time To Spy: A Loud House Movie’

Stream it on Paramount+.

Lincoln Loud (Bentley Griffin), a spy-loving kid, is beyond excited to have a spy for a new grandmother when his grandfather Pop Pop (Piotr Michael) becomes engaged to Myrtle (Alex Cazares), a former professional sleuth. As Lincoln and his 10 sisters prepare to head to their tropical wedding, he assures his Gran Gran-to-be that if any enemies from her past show up, he’ll help her save the day. Of course, an old nemesis does crash the wedding.