If you’re looking for family movies to watch on Thanksgiving, Paramount+ has picks for you and yours, including the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, IF, the PAW Patrol: The Movie, and The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants. So once dinner’s done, the dishes can wait, and everyone at the table has an opinion about what to do next, you’ve got a smorgasbord of family viewing options.
Are any of these selections “Thanksgiving movies” exactly? Well, we’ll admit: Nobody carves a turkey on Cybertron. Still, between preschool-friendly rescues with the PAW Patrol pups and a Martin Scorsese mystery, there’s something for every age group at the table. For more ideas, browse our guide to family movies on Paramount+.
Family movies to stream on Thanksgiving
These 16 movies cover a lot of ground, from animated adventures for little kids to fantasy quests that teens will sit through without checking their phones.
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2
- Sonic the Hedgehog 3
- IF
- Transformers One
- Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
- PAW Patrol: The Movie
- PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie
- PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie (streaming starting Thursday, Nov. 12)
- The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants
- Clifford the Big Red Dog
- Dora and the Lost City of Gold
- Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado
- Hugo
- Snow Day (2000)
No. 1-3: Sonic the Hedgehog movies
Sonic (Ben Schwartz) is a blue hedgehog who runs faster than anything on Earth, and in Sonic the Hedgehog (2020), that speed draws Dr. Robotnik’s (Jim Carrey) attention. With help from small-town sheriff Tom Wachowski (James Marsden), Sonic races from Green Hills, Montana, to San Francisco to stay ahead of Robotnik’s drones.
Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) and Knuckles (Idris Elba) join the fight in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022), one as Sonic’s flying sidekick and the other as an Echidna warrior searching for the Master Emerald. In Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024), Sonic finally meets his match in Shadow (Keanu Reeves), and Carrey plays not one but two Robotniks. One movie a night gets you from Thanksgiving to Saturday.
MPA rating: All three Sonic the Hedgehog movies are rated PG.
WATCH NOW:
No. 4: IF
Bea (Cailey Fleming) is 12, and stays with her grandmother in New York City while her dad is in the hospital, and she starts seeing imaginary friends kids have outgrown. Her upstairs neighbor, Cal (Ryan Reynolds), sees them too, and the two team up to help the forgotten IFs before they fade away.
Writer-director John Krasinski fills the screen with creatures like Blue, a giant fuzzball (who is purple, not blue) voiced by Steve Carell. With Bea’s dad in the hospital, the story carries some weight, so keep tissues near the gravy boat.
MPA rating: PG
WATCH NOW: IF
No. 5: Transformers One
Long before they’re Optimus Prime and Megatron, Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry) are best friends working the mines on Cybertron, two bots who can’t transform and have never questioned the leaders running their world. Transformers One follows them as they uncover what those leaders have been hiding, and as the truth comes out, so do the cracks in their friendship. Keegan-Michael Key voices B-127, the fast-talking bot who later becomes Bumblebee, making this an easy one for families with older kids to roll out with.
MPA rating: PG
ETC: Hail from a family of Transformers fans? Get our guide to Every Transformers Movie You Can Stream Right Now On Paramount+.
WATCH NOW: Transformers One
No. 6: Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Edgin (Chris Pine) isn’t much of a planner, and Holga (Michelle Rodriguez) would rather punch first, but after breaking out of prison, the two have one goal: take back what Forge (Hugh Grant), their former partner in crime, stole from them, starting with Edgin’s daughter. The crew they assemble for the job includes a sorcerer who doubts his own magic (Justice Smith), a shapeshifter (Sophia Lillis), and Xenk (Regé-Jean Page), a paladin who doesn’t do metaphors, and their quest runs through a dragon’s lair and a graveyard where every corpse gets five questions, no more. With its PG-13 rating, the movie works best for families with tweens and teens.
MPA rating: PG-13
WATCH NOW: Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
No. 7: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu), Raphael (Brady Noon), Donatello (Micah Abbey), and Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr.) are 15, raised in the sewers by their rat dad, Splinter (Jackie Chan), and tired of watching New York City from the shadows. In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023), the animated brothers decide the way to earn the city’s acceptance is to become heroes, starting with a takedown of the crime boss Superfly (Ice Cube).
The animation looks like a teenager’s sketchbook come to life, and the teen voice actors make the brothers’ banter and loyalty feel real amid all the action. Families who love a superhero story will want this one in the Thanksgiving rotation.
MPA rating: PG
WATCH NOW: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
No. 8-10: PAW Patrol movies
Whether it’s Chase on the case or Marshall the Dalmatian on fire duty, every pup on the PAW Patrol has a job, and Ryder makes sure they all work as a team. In PAW Patrol: The Movie (2021), that teamwork faces its biggest test yet when Mayor Humdinger takes over Adventure City, and Chase must find the bravery to return to the city where he was once a stray.
In PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie (2023), a magical meteor crashes into Adventure City and gives the pups superpowers. Skye, the team’s smallest member, has the most to prove, especially once supervillain Victoria Vance (Taraji P. Henson) gets her hands on the crystal. Preschoolers can follow both movies from start to finish while parents watch along for this epic adventure.
And in PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie (2026), streaming starting Thursday, Nov. 12, Ryder and the PAW Patrol pups get caught in a mysterious storm, and crash-land on a tropical dinosaur island.
WATCH NOW:
- PAW Patrol: The Movie
- PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie
- PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie (streaming starting Thursday Nov. 12)
MPA ratings: PAW Patrol: The Movie is rated G; PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie and PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie are rated PG.
No. 11: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants
SpongeBob has finally grown tall enough to ride the big roller coaster, but his nerve hasn’t caught up yet. In The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants (2025), he sets out to prove his bravery to Mr. Krabs by following the Flying Dutchman (Mark Hamill), a ghost pirate with plans of his own, and he brings Patrick along for a trip to the underworld that neither of them is ready for.
Mr. Krabs, Squidward, and the rest of Bikini Bottom join the ride, with Tom Kenny and Bill Fagerbakke voicing SpongeBob and Patrick, the same duo parents grew up watching. The jokes are as silly as ever, which makes this an easy pick once the plates are cleared and everyone’s ready for something light.
MPA rating: PG
ETC: Now, if you’ve ever wished you could watch several movies and shows from the SpongeBob Universe, then you’re about to have a most magical holiday season. Right this way, mateys, for our guide to Where To Watch SpongeBob on Paramount+.
WATCH NOW: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants
No. 12: Clifford the Big Red Dog
Emily Elizabeth (Darby Camp) is the new kid at a Manhattan middle school when an animal rescuer, Mr. Bridwell (John Cleese), sends her home with a small red puppy. By morning, Clifford is 10 feet tall. With her Uncle Casey (Jack Whitehall) along for the ride, she has to hide him from the landlord and keep him away from a genetics company that wants him for itself. Animal-loving kids may want a dog of their own by the end credits. Fair warning.
MPA rating: PG
WATCH NOW: Clifford the Big Red Dog
Nos. 13-14: The Dora movies
In Dora and the Lost City of Gold, the 2019 live-action take on the Nickelodeon favorite, a teenage Dora (Isabela Merced) leaves high school behind to rescue her parents (Michael Peña and Eva Longoria) from the jungle, where they’ve vanished searching for the lost city of Parapata. Her cousin Diego (Jeff Wahlberg) and two classmates join her, and the reluctant crew learns to trust each other as they solve puzzles and dodge traps. It’s a fun step up for kids who grew up watching Dora, as well as newcomers.
Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado is the latest live-action Dora movie. The 2025 release finds a 16-year-old Dora (now played by Samantha Lorraine) in search of ancient treasure.
MPA rating: Dora and the Lost City of Gold is rated PG; Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado premiered on Nickelodeon and Paramount+, and there is no MPA rating.
WATCH NOW:
No. 15: Hugo
Hugo, Martin Scorsese’s 2011 adaptation of Brian Selznick’s novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret, follows Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield), an orphan living inside the walls of a 1930s Paris train station. Between winding the station’s clocks and dodging the Station Inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen), he works to repair a mechanical man his late father (Jude Law) left behind. This mission pulls him into a mystery with Isabelle (Chloë Grace Moretz) and her godfather (Ben Kingsley), a toy-shop owner with a past he refuses to discuss.
Clock towers, snowy rooftops, and rooms full of gears fill the screen, and the mystery leads all the way back to the early days of moviemaking, part of why the film won five Oscar® awards, including one for cinematography. It’s a thoughtful pick for later in the evening, when older kids who love a good mystery are ready to settle in.
MPA rating: PG
WATCH NOW: Hugo
No. 16: Snow Day (2000)
Ah, snow days. Even if you’re from a place where the climate doesn’t lend itself to such magical events, you can imagine the elation of waking up to a blanket of white, and knowing that, as a result, your school day would be replaced by hours of outdoor play and sibling roughhousing. Sounds a little like Thanksgiving weekend, huh?
The warm family comedy Snow Day follows siblings Hal (Mark Webber) and Natalie (Zena Grey) after an epic snowfall that’s shut down schools all across Syracuse, New York. Hal decides that this surprise day off from school is the perfect opportunity to woo his longtime crush, Claire (Emmanuelle Chriqui), and enlists the wooing help of his best friend, Lane (Schuyler Fisk). Meanwhile, Natalie declares war against Snowplowman (Chris Elliott), a local villain whose efficiency with his vehicle (a snowplow, natch) has ensured that there hasn’t been a second snow day in years. As the kids are going about their respective missions, their father, Tom Brandston (Chevy Chase), has his own snow day goal: to prove himself as the superior local weatherman when a rival takes credit for his work.
With Jean Smart as the Brandston family’s workaholic matriarch, Snow Day captures the excitement and fun of a little vacation. Its breezy humor, wintertime setting, and themes of camaraderie and adventure make it an enjoyable flick for all ages. Silly antics mixed with heartwarming moments? The ultimate winter weekend vibe. Pass the cocoa.
WATCH NOW: Snow Day (2000)
How to watch family movies on Paramount+
Every movie on this list streams on Paramount+, whether you’re on the Paramount+ Essential plan or the Paramount+ Premium plan. Search for a title by name, or head to the kids and family section for more holiday weekend picks. You can check which devices work with the service at the Paramount+ Help Center.
Watch family movies on Paramount+ this Thanksgiving
Whether your crew wants one movie after the pie or a marathon that lasts until Sunday, these picks cover everyone from preschoolers to grandparents. Thanksgiving is Thursday, Nov. 26, 2026, so start with a single favorite or work your way through all three Sonic movies over the long weekend, all on Paramount+.
FAQ
What are the best Thanksgiving weekend movie marathons for families?
For families with older kids, the three Sonic the Hedgehog movies stretch across the long weekend, one movie a night. For younger viewers, the two PAW Patrol movies make a shorter marathon that still keeps the pups busy from Thursday to Friday. Either way, sticking with one franchise means nobody has to debate what comes next.
What family movies are good for both kids and adults?
Sonic the Hedgehog, IF, and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves each offer something for kids and adults. In Sonic, Jim Carrey’s Dr. Robotnik gets as many laughs from adults as the action does from kids. IF plays to younger viewers with its creatures and to parents with its story about growing up, and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves works for teens and adults who like their fantasy with jokes.
What are some good Thanksgiving movies for toddlers and preschoolers?
The PAW Patrol movies and Clifford the Big Red Dog. Both feature familiar characters and simple stakes, but check ratings and your child’s sensitivities before pressing play.
Availability of titles is subject to change.
