5 great Hulu movies to watch on Thanksgiving

By Blair Marnell Published November 28, 2024

If you’re fortunate enough to be spending Thanksgiving among family and friends, then you may be able to share more than just a turkey dinner. For the movie lovers among us, Hulu has a terrific selection of films to choose from. And while we’re refraining from picking any Thanksgiving or Christmas movies for this list, these are are all family-friendly choices.

Our picks for the five great Hulu movies to watch on Thanksgiving include one of the best modern musicals, an over-the-top adventure, the reinvention of a classic tale, a rousing pirate flick, and a comedy that would be almost impossible to remake without its leading man.

Need more Thanksgiving recommendations? Then try 10 great movies to watch on Thanksgiving, the 5 great Netflix thrillers to watch on Thanksgiving, the 10 great Amazon Prime Video movies to watch on Thanksgiving, and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 2024: all confirmed performers.

Not every dream comes true in La La Land, but it’s one of the most dazzling live-action movie musicals in recent memory. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are absolutely charming as Mia Dolan and Sebastian “Seb” Wilder, even though their characters don’t see eye-to-eye at first. She’s a struggling actress and he’s a musician whose ambitions far outweigh what he can achieve right now.

Their courtship goes relatively smoothly after a few catchy songs and dance numbers. Staying together proves to be more of a challenge, as Seb feels the weight of having to actually have some success while Mia’s splashy bet on herself may come up short. And if these lovebirds don’t have their dreams to fall back on, what do they really have?

Watch La La Land on Hulu.

Is it really Thanksgiving if Nicolas Cage isn’t stealing the Declaration of Independence? You may scoff at that, but National Treasure was released 20 years ago this month, and that’s good enough for us to call it a Thanksgiving tradition.

Benjamin Franklin Gates (Cage) has been searching for a legendary lost treasure for his entire life. But when he finally realizes the clue that he needs is on the back of the Declaration of Independence, Gates discovers that his friend, Ian Howe (Sean Bean), is actually a dangerous criminal who will do anything to get there first. That’s why Gates and his more trustworthy pal, Riley Poole (Justin Bartha), have to take matters into their own hands. It’s a wild ride, but still one of our favorite Nicolas Cage movies.

Watch National Treasure on Hulu.

Director and screenwriter Armando Iannucci takes Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield out for a spin in The Personal History of David Copperfield. It’s largely true to Dickens’ story, but it definitely feels lighter and more comedic at times. Monkey Man‘s Dev Patel stars as David, a young man who is having a hard time making his way in the 19th century.

Despite his own misfortunes, David meets and befriends other outcasts and misfits like Mr. Micawber (Doctor Who‘s Peter Capaldi) and Mr. Dick (Hugh Laurie). David has an idea of what he wants out of life, but he’s not sure if he loves Dora Spenlow (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power‘s Morfydd Clark) — who greatly resembles his mother (Clark) — or Agnes Wickfield (Rosalind Eleazar), who loved him from the start.

Watch The Personal History of David Copperfield on Hulu.

Not even Johnny Depp could have guessed that his zany performance as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl would earn him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor and launch a franchise. It was also a dream come true for Disney, as the studio finally turned a theme park attraction into a genuinely great movie.

Jack is largely a comedic figure throughout, but he also genuinely wants revenge on Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and his cursed pirate crew. In Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Jack sees an opportunity to realize his desire if he helps Will rescue his one true love, Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley). But if they don’t find Elizabeth soon, she may be the victim of a bad case of mistaken identity.

Watch Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl on Hulu.

Even in 2024, the late Robin Williams is probably the only actor who can pull off a movie like Mrs. Doubtfire and turn it into a blockbuster comedy. Williams plays Daniel Hillard, an actor who has fallen on hard times since his wife, Miranda (Sally Field), filed for divorce and kept him away from his kids.

To get around that court order, Daniel dresses up in an elaborate drag to become Mrs. Doubtfire, the kids’ new nanny. It’s the role of a lifetime for Daniel, and his kids come around to his fictional character. But even Daniel can only keep this deception going for so long before it blows up in his face.

Watch Mrs. Doubtfire on Hulu.

Need more recommendations? We also have guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+.