What's on · Netflix · US · September 18, 2026
Netflix dumped a stack of DreamWorks titles on September 1, then added the actually-good new ones later: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish on the 10th and Dog Man on the 13th. Tonight, pick from what landed this month — not the stale kids row.
Updated September 18, 2026.
Play tonight
The Dav Pilkey / DreamWorks movie finally hit the US Netflix kids row this week. Half-dog, half-cop, all slapstick. Your kid already knows the books; the film is the same energy — loud, goofy, slightly potty, never mean.
Watch for
Preview first
The best thing DreamWorks has made in years — and the one parents underestimate. The wolf is Death. He is persistent, quiet, and designed to scare. Fine for most 8–10s who already do Shrek; a hard pass for sensitive six-year-olds.
Watch for
Preschool pick
Sesame Street’s Grover-vs-the-last-page special. The whole joke is that the monster is him. Short, musical, and the only September Netflix add that is actually for toddlers.
Watch for
Play tonight
The 2001 Clara-as-Barbie ballet movie, not a new theatrical. Mouse King, Sugarplum Fairy, no innuendo. A calm Sunday-afternoon watch if Dog Man is too shouty.
Watch for
New this week
Blue Sky’s scrapyard adventure landed Wednesday. Ewan McGregor, Robin Williams, a kid inventor who leaves home. Milder than Antz, funnier than the trailer suggested in 2005.
Watch for
Play tonight
Aardman rats in a London sewer. Toilet humor is the premise, not a side gag. The Toad is a cartoon tyrant; nothing here is meaner than a Saturday-morning chase.
Watch for
Preview first
Will Smith as a hustler fish in a mob parody. Fine as a silly underwater cartoon; the Godfather riffs and a few adult asides are why it isn’t the preschool pick.
Watch for
Preview first
Woody Allen’s neurotic worker ant vs. a genocidal general. The war termite battle is louder and darker than the insect-cute poster. Not A Bug’s Life.
Watch for
Preview first
The one September DreamWorks title that is actually great — and not a cozy kids movie. Slavery, plagues, the death of the firstborn. Watch it with them if you want the conversation. Do not dump it on a five-year-old because it is animated.
Watch for
Preview first
Live-action John Goodman / Rick Moranis. Cartoon violence, workplace scheming, and 90s innuendo. A nostalgia play for you, not a default for little kids.
Watch for
New series
Today’s drop. New episodes, not a movie. If they still want the original series, we rated Pokémon: Indigo League episode by episode — almost entirely mild.
New series
Preschool cat-and-now-puppy playdate season. Fine in the background while you cook. Not a movie night.
New series
Animated Hawkins is milder than the live-action show, but it is still the Upside Down. We rated Stranger Things as mostly too much for younger kids — don’t assume the cartoon is a free pass.
Already on
Still the Netflix original everyone is asking for. We scored the film from the transcript as mild overall — demon battles and shame/fear themes are the reason to preview if your kid startles easily.
Already on
79 episodes rated: almost all mild. Start here if Horizons feels too new.
September 23
Reality competition in a chocolate factory — not a kids movie.
September 24
Sylvain Chomet adult animation about a filmmaker. Do not confuse with a family cartoon.
September 29
Two-part animated special. Milder pirate cartoon than the live-action.
September 30
Preschool movie for the train kids.
Catalog is US Netflix as of September 18, 2026. Titles move by country and can vanish without notice. Informal parent guidance — not an official ratings board. Your kids — your rules.
As of September 18, 2026: Dog Man for elementary, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish for 8+, and Monster at the End of This Story for preschool.
Often, yes, for under-8s. The wolf is a personification of Death. Older elementary kids who already watch Shrek usually handle it.
No. Antz is a war movie with insects. The Prince of Egypt includes slavery and the death of firstborn children. Both are PG for a reason.
We rate shows and films we have transcripts for — including KPop Demon Hunters and Pokémon: Indigo League. This What’s on list is a weekly parent pass over newly added titles.