The Best Feel-Good Movies On Netflix Right Now

One of the great things about Netflix is that there's something for everyone in the streaming giant's vast library. Whether you're looking for original action movies to get your pulse racing, sci-fi movies that will transport you to another world, or hidden gems that you've never heard of, Netflix will have something to scratch your itch. However, as the winter months set in and the dark, cold nights arrive in full force, there's one type of movie that tends to draw viewers like no other: feel-good films. There's nothing quite like that warm, tingly feeling that movies designed to cheer you up provide, and Netflix has plenty to choose from. But what are the best feel-good films that are currently available to stream on Netflix? Don't worry — we've got you covered. From animated classics and beloved '90s movies to modern rom-coms and touching documentaries, these are the fuzziest feel-good films on Netflix right now.

"The Prince & Me" is a largely forgotten Julia Stiles rom-com that you can stream on Netflix right now. The premise probably doesn't seem all that unusual in an age where films about ordinary young women somehow ending up in a courtship with a dashing young royal aren't exactly rare, but the feel-good vibes are undeniable. Stiles plays Paige, a pre-med college student who eventually warms to a new classmate named Eddie (Luke Mably) despite their rocky start. Eddie, it turns out, is the crown prince of Denmark (that's how you know it's a classy film — they didn't make up a country for the prince!).

While Paige is initially hurt that he didn't tell her the truth about his royal status, she ultimately decides that she loves Eddie anyway. Their reunion after Paige resolves her feelings about his secret life is very sweet — and, rather surprisingly, is not the end of the movie. It turns out that Paige still wants to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor and decides to return to school. Eddie later attends her graduation, promising to put her first and wait for her to be ready for them to be together.

"Will & Harper" is a great option for Netflix subscribers who want to feel good and hopeful at the same time. It's a documentary that follows Will Ferrell and his dear friend Harper Steele, who has been a comedy writer for most of her adult life. She started working as a writer on "Saturday Night Live" in 1995, the very same week that Ferrell began his stint on the show. The pair have been good friends ever since, so when Harper sent out a group email telling those close to her that she was coming out as a trans woman, they arranged to go on a road trip together. This film documents that trip, with Will and Harper getting to know each other in a new way and attempting to understand their divided country.

Harper and Will drive to many places across the continental U.S., talking with people from all walks of life and experiencing new things. There's a particularly interesting moment where Will attempts to be funny and dress like Sherlock Holmes in a Texas steakhouse, only to draw negative attention to Harper. He comes to regret that decision, crying as Twitter is flooded with hateful comments about his friend. Watching a grown man of a certain age doing everything he can to understand and support someone he loves dearly is guaranteed to make you smile.

"Happiness for Beginners" is a sweet little movie that was released somewhat under-the-radar on Netflix in 2023. It follows a woman named Helen (Ellie Kemper) who has decided to attend a novice, immersive survival course on the Appalachian Trail following a muddled divorce with a man who still frequently contacts her. Much to her surprise, Helen finds that her brother's friend Jake (Luke Grimes) is also a participant in the course and demands that they pretend not to know each other. Jake and Helen embark on the hike along with a cast of wonderful characters — most of whom are seeking some kind of catharsis in their lives — and the experience is thoroughly life-changing.

While someone watching this movie won't be able to feel the satisfaction of surviving a ten-day hike on the Appalachian Trail, they will be able to relate to Helen's desire for change. "Happiness for Beginners" could be considered something like a romantic comedy, but it feels much more like a movie about how adults can find community in times of transition. Helen and Jake's romance is satisfying, thanks especially to Grimes' ability to quietly smolder, but so is the bond that they form with their group.

For many people, mystery stories are exactly the kind of comfort food for the soul that they need to get through long winter nights. The problem with a lot of movies that fall into the category of "mystery" is that they're rarely what someone would call "feel-good." If you are a mystery lover and Netflix subscriber, though, you can check quite a few boxes with "Enola Holmes." This delightful film follows the titular younger sister (Millie Bobby Brown) of Sherlock (Henry Cavill) and Mycroft Holmes (Sam Claflin) as she attempts to locate her mother (Helena Bonham Carter), help her recently acquired friend Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge), and avoid Mycroft as he intends to send her to a ghastly finishing school for girls. 

Not only does "Enola Holmes" include a number of compelling mysteries and a hopeful undertone, but it also features a refreshingly capable young female protagonist and a cast of talented actors across the board. Luckily for fans of the film, "Enola Holmes" is a full-fledged franchise now, with "Enola Holmes 2" having been released on Netflix in 2022 and a third film in the works. Even if you've already seen it, we recommend rewatching "Enola Holmes" to look for small details you may not have noticed before while enjoying the positive, zany energy the movie brings to any viewer.

Emma Stone is best known for the likes of "La La Land" and "Poor Things" nowadays, but her breakthrough film was a teen rom-com that you can currently stream on Netflix. "Easy A" stars Stone as a girl named Olive who manages to fade into the background of her high school's social world until a false rumor about her sexual activity spreads across the student body. All of a sudden she starts being treated very differently by nearly all of her peers, most notably being vilified by devout Christians like Marianne (Amanda Bynes) and sought for sexual experience by boys looking for more social capital.

Of course, Olive didn't actually hook up with anyone. However, she decides to make the best of a bad situation. She allows different boys to tell people they did it in exchange for gift cards and embraces the shaming she experiences by affixing a scarlet letter "A" to her clothes. There are some parts that actually feel pretty heavy, but, overall, "Easy A" is a witty and hilarious Emma Stone comedy about taking control of your own narrative that will leave you feeling good.

Mister Rogers is a singular figure in popular culture and U.S. history. He is known first and foremost to many as the creator and star of a PBS show called "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," on which he sought to teach viewers (who were mostly children) about the importance of values like kindness, compassion, and respect. "The world needs a sense of worth, and it will achieve it only by its people feeling that they are worthwhile," Mister Rogers once said. He was a good man who was the type of person to provide hope in moments where it seemed impossible to believe that things could get better. All of this and more can be learned from watching "Won't You Be My Neighbor?"

"Won't You Be My Neighbor?" is a 2018 documentary that explores the life and legacy of Fred Rogers. While it does provide some background into Mister Rogers' personal life before and during the production of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," the documentary mainly focuses on the way that Mister Rogers crafted a message and legacy of thought before action and kindness before cruelty. It's cathartic viewing for anyone who grew up watching Mister Rogers trade his jacket for a cardigan and teach heartfelt lessons about what human beings owe each other. 

If you want a writer to fall in love with you, a great start is to communicate with them via the written word before ever meeting in person. This is probably not what Dawsey Adams (Michiel Huisman) has in mind when he reaches out to Juliet Ashton (Lily James) about a book in his possession that once belonged to her, but it sets them off on an intimate foot when Juliet eventually makes her way to Dawsey's home, the British island of Guernsey. Juliet is a young writer hoping to learn more about Dawsey and his friends who make up the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and how their community helped them live through the island's German occupation during World War II. 

"The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" is a quiet, lovely movie about what it means to find community and love in times of strife and how to recover following a great trauma. Juliet is a young person trying to find what will make her happy and entirely by chance she discovers the person with whom she's meant to build a life with and the people who will be a part of it. Yes, this movie has an undercurrent of sadness, but it reminds us that loss is a part of life. If there's nothing at stake, then there's no meaning to it, and that's the message we're left with when the film reaches its beautiful ending.

"Matilda" is a quintessential '90s movie that's guaranteed to give you a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Based on the novel by Roald Dahl, it follows six-year-old child genius Matilda Wormwood (Mara Wilson) as she deals with neglectful parents and a truly awful school principal named Miss Trunchbull (Pam Ferris). It's not all doom and gloom, however: Matilda also meets a wonderful young teacher named Miss Honey (Embeth Davidtz) and makes friends with her classmates. Both the student body and Miss Honey are victims of Trunchbull's cruelty; she's a cartoonishly terrible person who throws kids out windows and forces them into an Iron Maiden that the children refer to as the "Chokey."

It doesn't sound like a feel-good film based on the setup, but, at its core, "Matilda" is about a young girl holding onto her spirit and her hope in the face of jaded cruelty. Matilda's psychokinetic powers represent a manifestation of the force that children would wield against a world that so often ignores and marginalizes them if they could. Matilda gets the happy ending that she sorely deserves, and your smile will be as wide as hers.

There are plenty of animated films available to stream on Netflix, but the best of the bunch has to be "Kung Fu Panda." This beloved movie from DreamWorks follows Po (Jack Black), a clumsy panda who desperately wants to learn how to fight with kung fu. Through a convoluted series of events, Po actually does find himself being trained in kung fu by Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) and befriending the Furious Five, a group of expert kung fu fighters who were passed over when Po was chosen to be the legendary Dragon Warrior. Po spends the film learning how to become someone he can be proud of and, in the end, he is able to understand that true power comes from within.

"Kung Fu Panda" was never going to win any awards for genius storytelling, but it's a beautifully animated film with a strong cast of voice actors led by an always-delightful Jack Black. More importantly, it's fun for the whole family — there are even plenty of things in "Kung Fu Panda" that only an adult would notice, which means it can be an engaging film for parents as well as kids. This is a funny, heartwarming movie, and there are even three sequels to watch in order to keep the fun going.

Ali Wong and Randall Park are both popular comedic actors who were deserving of a good career vehicle back in 2019. Lucky for audiences, that vehicle, "Always Be My Maybe," also happens to be a worthwhile movie in and of itself. It follows childhood best friends Sasha (Ali Wong) and Marcus (Randall Park) as they reunite and pick their friendship back up when Sasha's work as a world-famous chef brings her home to San Francisco. Marcus isn't nearly as successful as Sasha (who sings in a local band), but he's still the same funny, nice guy as he was when they were teens. It doesn't take long for Sasha and Marcus to become romantically involved after rekindling their friendship, and most of the movie is about their willingness to make something between them work. 

Park and Wong both shine in this film, and surprise cameos from people like Keanu Reeves keep viewers excited until the credits roll. People often wonder what might have happened had they stayed in touch with an old friend from school or pursued a romantic connection with someone they once knew, and this movie does a pretty good job of attempting to answer that question. "Always Be My Maybe" is the perfect movie for anyone looking to laugh and think back on younger days, and audiences can look forward to a romantic ending as well.

"Sing Street" follows a young man named Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) in 1980s Dublin as he attempts to navigate high school and a home life where his parents are going through tough financial times. When Conor must change schools, he becomes acquainted with a young woman named Raphina (Lucy Boynton) with whom he is immediately enamored. In what is initially meant as a ploy to engage her interest, Conor starts a band (one that embraces an aesthetic similar to musical acts of the time such as The Smiths and David Bowie) with some of his new classmates. Conor comes to love his time with the band and becomes a more confident, self-possessed young man. 

"Sing Street" doesn't shy away from showing the adversity Conor experiences in his daily life. Dublin in the 1980s wasn't an easy place to grow up in, and if not for the support and love of his older brother Brendan (Jack Reynor), Conor most likely would have struggled with that and the weight of what's happening to his parents. Conor moves past the legacy of his family by the end of the film and makes his way to a brighter, even more exciting future filled with love and music. "Sing Street" is a funny and touching coming-of-age film that will leave anyone feeling nostalgic for the dreams of their youth and hopeful about their dreams for the future.

"Love at First Sight" is the ultimate feel-good rom-com and a film that may have gone over your head given its direct Netflix release in 2023. The story begins with Hadley (Haley Lu Richardson) reluctantly making her way through JFK Airport in order to reach London, where her father is getting remarried. She encounters Oliver (Ben Hardy) soon after arriving at JFK and, after a few chance encounters, the two of them seem to admit to their mutual attraction and allow fate to push them together as they travel to the UK. Hadley and Oliver's connection is lovely to watch, but it's not the sole point of the film: "Love at First Sight" is a movie about love in all its forms and how strongly people are willing to fight for that love. 

After losing track of Hadley at JFK (where they failed to properly exchange numbers), Oliver must return home and participate in his mother's "funeral," an event celebrating her life and taking place before her passing. It's understandably a little confusing for Oliver to deal with, but he ultimately embraces the event out of love for his mother. Similarly, Hadley is not happy to be attending her father's wedding to a woman other than her mother, and it takes a day of prioritizing her search for Oliver for Hadley to come to terms with her parents' divorce and accept her father's attempt to move on.