Fantasy movies used to be all about grand quests, epic battles, and chosen ones—stories that felt like they needed a map in the front of the book just to keep track of everyone. But over the past decade and a half, the genre has quietly transformed. The best fantasy films now explore grief, memory, and the messy, beautiful complications of being human. They use ghosts, monsters, and impossible worlds not as escapism, but as mirrors to our own emotions.
These six films, ranked from good to unforgettable, share a common thread: none of them rely on a traditional villain or a world-saving mission. Instead, they invite us to feel deeply—whether it's a father saying goodbye to his life's work, a woman discovering her own identity, or a young man confronting his mortality. Here are the best fantasy movies since 2010, ranked.
6. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013)
Studio Ghibli's The Tale of the Princess Kaguya took eight years to make, and it shows in every frame. The animation deliberately looks like a pencil sketch, soft and unfinished, as if it were drawn from memory. Director Isao Takahata wanted that effect—to make the film feel like a recollection, not a polished storybook. The result is a visual poem about a girl who starts as a free-spirited child and is slowly molded into a noblewoman she never wanted to become.
One sequence stands out: Kaguya (voiced by Aki Asakura) flees her own coming-of-age ceremony, and the animation turns frantic, with thick charcoal scratches replacing clean lines. It's a raw, visceral depiction of anger that I've never seen in animation before or since. Takahata passed away five years after completing this film, and it's hard not to watch it now as a kind of farewell—a master's final gift to the world.
5. The Shape of Water (2017)
Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water is a love story between a mute woman and a captive amphibian creature—and it never once feels like a joke. Sally Hawkins delivers a tour-de-force performance as Elisa, communicating volumes without a single word. Doug Jones, in a full silicone suit, brings the creature to life with an underwater grace that CGI could never replicate.
Del Toro set out to make the monster movie he loved as a kid, but this time, the monster gets the girl. The film's teal-and-gold world is a visual feast, and its Best Picture win at the Oscars proved that even a story with a fish-man love scene can be cinematic poetry. It's a fantasy that celebrates connection across boundaries, and it remains one of the most romantic films of the century.
4. The Green Knight (2021)
David Lowery's The Green Knight is a fantasy film that moves like a painting—slow, deliberate, and breathtaking. Cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo captures every frame with a painterly eye, and the film trusts silence and mood to carry as much weight as dialogue. Dev Patel stars as Gawain, a young knight who accepts a challenge that will lead to his own beheading in a year's time. His journey is less about heroism and more about confronting his own fears and inadequacies.
Along the way, he's accompanied by a talking fox who may or may not be real, and the film's ambiguous ending leaves you pondering long after the credits roll. It's a rare fantasy that feels more like a meditation than an adventure, and it's all the more powerful for it. For those who love fantasy that challenges rather than comforts, this is a must-watch.
3. All of Us Strangers (2023)
Andrew Haigh's All of Us Strangers is a ghost story that feels achingly real. Adam (Andrew Scott) returns to his childhood home and finds his parents (Jamie Bell and Claire Foy) still there, exactly as they were the day they died in a car crash when he was twelve. They haven't aged, and neither has the house. Haigh directs this with a naturalism that makes the supernatural feel ordinary, which makes the emotional impact all the more devastating.
Adam comes out to his parents decades after they're gone, and they finally listen. Paul Mescal plays the neighbor who gives Adam a reason to choose the living world over the one he's built with ghosts. This film is a masterclass in grief and love, and it's impossible to describe without your voice catching. It's a fantasy that uses the impossible to explore the most human of emotions.
2. The Boy and the Heron (2023)
Hayao Miyazaki has announced his retirement multiple times, but The Boy and the Heron feels like a true farewell. The film follows Mahito, a boy grieving his mother and resentful of his new stepmother, who follows a talking heron into a strange tower world built from memory, war, and something close to the afterlife. The plot is looser than Miyazaki's earlier works, relying on dreamlike logic that only emerges when a filmmaker stops worrying about being understood.
The film won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, and it's easy to see why. Miyazaki's own childhood during the war and his complicated feelings about the studio he built are quietly woven into every frame. It's a deeply personal film that rewards multiple viewings, and it stands as a testament to the power of animation to convey the ineffable.
1. Poor Things (2023)
Topping our list is Yorgos Lanthimos's Poor Things, a film that redefines what fantasy can be. Emma Stone delivers a career-best performance as Bella Baxter, a woman brought back to life with the brain of her own unborn child. We watch her grow up in real time, inside an adult body, stumbling through a world that's both wondrous and cruel. Stone's physicality is astonishing—she moves from childlike awkwardness to confident grace with breathtaking precision.
The film is a visual feast, with its steampunk-inspired world and vibrant colors, but it's the emotional journey that makes it unforgettable. Bella's quest for self-discovery is both hilarious and heartbreaking, and the film's unflinching look at what it means to be human is both uncomfortable and liberating. Poor Things is a fantasy that doesn't just entertain—it challenges, provokes, and ultimately moves you. It's the best fantasy movie since 2010, and a testament to the genre's boundless potential.
These six films prove that fantasy doesn't need dragons or dark lords to be magical. Sometimes, the most powerful magic is found in the quiet moments—a father's goodbye, a daughter's rebellion, a woman's awakening. If you're looking for more fantasy that hooks you from the first page, check out our list of fantasy masterpieces that hook you in the first 10 pages. And for more cinematic excellence, don't miss our ranking of the greatest Best Picture winners.
