Only 7 Sci-Fi Movies on Netflix Have a Rotten Tomatoes Score of 90% or Higher

Of course, for a sci-fi story to be truly successful, it must have a compelling premise, a believable narrative, as well as engaging settings, characters, and environmental design. But if you look at a review aggregator like Rotten Tomatoes, sci-fi doesn't often get scores above 90%: even movies that changed the shape of pop culture and the genre forever, like The Matrix or Blade Runner, have only 83% and 88%, respectively.

And yet some sci-fi movies still manage to get rave reviews from critics. Netflix, in particular, has seven examples with scores of 90% or higher.

7. The Block Island Sound (2020)

Release Date (Netflix): March 11, 2021

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

The McManus brothers, responsible for the Netflix hits Cobra Kai and American Vandal, have delivered a great sci-fi horror film that plays with various conspiracy theories. Set on an island in the Outer Lands, the story follows a mysterious change in the behavior of the family's father as he takes his fishing boat out to sea each night. At the same time, the animals on the island begin to go crazy, and after the father goes missing, his son begins to exhibit similar behavior problems.

6. See You Yesterday (2019)

Release Date (Netflix): May 17, 2019

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

See You Yesterday may remind you at first of Rodriguez's Spy Kids, but unlike the goofy family story, this film has a much more dramatic premise that alludes to police brutality and anti-black racism. The plot centers on CJ, a child prodigy and ingenious inventor who, along with a friend, decides to travel back in time to save her brother from being killed by cops.

5. Snowpiercer ( 2013)

Release Date (Netflix): March 7, 2017

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%

Even 10 years after its release, Snowpiercer remains one of the best post-apocalyptic films, as Bong Joon-ho, adapting the graphic novel Le Transperceneige, delivered a profound story that addressed the climate crisis and class warfare.

4. They Cloned Tyrone (2023)

Release Date (Netflix): July 21, 2023

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%

Directed by Juel Taylor and co-written by Tony Rettenmaier, They Cloned Tyrone is about a young black man (John Boyega) who makes his living selling drugs and discovers that all the black residents of his neighborhood are subjects of cloning, mind control, and generational breeding. But is it true, or is it all the result of collective insanity?

3. A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (2019)

Release Date (Netflix): February 14, 2020

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

The work of Aardman Animations doesn't often make it onto sci-fi movie lists, and it's certainly unexpected to find the Shaun the Sheep franchise on one, but Farmageddon, which follows Shaun and the flock as they discover a fallen alien on a farm, is an endearing comedy that pokes fun at sci-fi tropes.

2. The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021)

Release Date (Netflix): April 30, 2021

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

The Mitchells vs. The Machines is another animated sci-fi film that has wowed critics with its chaotic, hilarious, and charming, if borderline clichéd, story. Created by Gravity Falls team members Mike Rianda and Jeff Rowe, the plot follows a dysfunctional family who become the heroes of the day by saving humanity from a robot uprising.

1. Awe (2018)

Release Date (Netflix): February 15, 2019

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%

The Telugu-language Awe is probably one of the most profound dramas, dealing with the psychological aspect of multiple personality disorder much better than Split, and is a surreal madness that transcends genres in the same way that Everything Everywhere All does.