The best Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video and Apple TV movies to amuse the kids this Easter

(Image credit: Disney+)

published 16 April 2022

It's the Easter weekend and you know what that means: in your mind you imagine sunny days and Easter egg hunts in lush grass and rolling meadows, and in reality it's hail, raindrops that hit like stair rods and wind that'll cut the kids in half before they're even halfway out the door. Admittedly I live in Scotland so I'm a bit pessimistic about the weather, but for a lot of us the weather forecast for Easter Sunday and Monday isn't looking brilliant. Thank goodness for streaming services, which I think are the cure for weather-induced cabin fever: you can kick back, open the chocolate and have a lovely time with some fun family movies. Here are some of my favourites across all the major streaming services.

Great films to watch this Easter on Disney+

For older kids there’s everything from Star Wars to the many Avengers movies, but there are also some real delights for kids of all ages. Ron’s Gone Wrong, an ET-esque story of a boy and his slightly wonky robot, is often very funny and the magnificent Luca is warm, entertaining and often very exciting too. Encanto’s had brilliant reviews, though my youngest isn’t keen, and Pixar’s Turning Red is on our watch list for the Easter weekend.

Great films to watch this Easter on Netflix

For the love of God, don’t stream Watership Down – a mistake I made with my kids a few years ago. I vaguely remembered bunnies and the song Bright Eyes; what I’d forgotten is that it’s an absolute splatterfest and one of the bleakest movies ever made. If you want something more Easter-y that won’t mean years of therapy for your kids, Hop is animated fun and the first two Despicable Me movies are great too. But my absolute favourite here – and one of my very favourite films ever in any genre – is Megamind. My youngest loves it as much as I do and is now a firm fan of AC/DC. Add that and the glorious Mitchells vs The Machines to your to-watch list and you’re guaranteed a very happy Easter indeed.

Great shows to watch this Easter on Apple TV+

Apple TV+’s kids selection is much smaller than rival services, but there are still some gems here. Most are series rather than stand-alone films, so for example the daft dogs of Pretzel and the Puppies, the beautiful and warm Stillwater and Dreamworks’ Doug Unplugs and Pinecone & Pony are all episodes. If like me you like to revisit your childhood through your kids whether they like it or not, set your controls for the Snoopy Show and Fraggle Rock.

Great films to watch this Easter on Amazon Prime Video

Navigating Prime Video movies means spotting the difference between free and paid-for titles, so for example Paddington is free but Detective Pikachu is a paid rental. There are some great films here included in your subscription, though: classics such as ET, more modern animations such as Sing and the Lego Ninjago Movie, the fantastic Shaun The Sheep: Farmageddon and some really lovely Julia Donaldson adaptations including the Gruffalo. There’s also a ton of great kids’ shows including Paw Patrol and SpongeBob Squarepants, Pingu, Kung Fu Panda and much more.

Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).