A New Hope? Positive Movies for Uncertain Times

Movies are all about escapism from everyday life. And, unless you’ve been living as a hermit in a cave far away from society, everyday life has gotten pretty tumultuous lately. From economic uncertainty to political dramas, and fears for the planet’s future - it’s pretty rough being a human right now!

Thankfully, over the past year or so, there’s been a raft of movies that tap into humanity’s goodness and give us something to root for amid an increasingly scary world. Let’s take a look at three of them.

Project Hail Mary

2026, Director: Phil Lord Project Hail Mary is visually stunning and snappily paced, and serves as a career-defining turn for Ryan Gosling (alongside Barbie, let’s face it). Perhaps more importantly, however, it delivers a deeply positive message about the powers of communication and empathy across different cultures (and in this case, entire species).

The movie and the original book, written by Andy Weir, are also super-enthusiastic about never giving up hope - that science and creativity will always find a way, even when faced with extinction-level problems. No spoilers, but this is a warm, fuzzy sci-fi spectacle that might catch you unawares.

Hoppers

2026, Director: Daniel Chong On the face of things, Hoppers seems like just another animated, family-focused movie with an environmental message at its heart. However, it takes a few interesting little twists along the way that, despite its utterly bizarre premise, actually position its core messages with a dash of realism.

This is a movie, much like Project Hail Mary, that is passionate about pushing the values of co-operation and communication. It also carries a strong message that one person can create ripples and make a serious change to the world around them - an idea that can feel easy to cynically shrug off from day to day.

What I personally love about Hoppers, however, is how it treats the human antagonist - Jon Hamm’s sleazy developer who’s destroying habitats. Without spoiling too much, they actually give this character more dimensions than you might be expecting - and show just how human he actually is, and ultimately willing to communicate under certain circumstances.

The Wild Robot

2024, Director: Chris Sanders Sticking with animation for this last pick, The Wild Robot is another movie that could have gone a little too schmaltzy on its messages, but which really sticks the landing.

Based around the concept of an intelligent robot awakening and adapting to the wilderness (and eventually taking care of a gosling), while it has a few predictable character and story beats, it’s how the concept of change is delivered.

We’re shown that even the most rigid of us have the capacity to change - and that, while change is scary, it’s important to look within yourself to co-operate with others to create great things.

If that all sounds a bit cheesy, then so be it. When the world around you is doom and gloom, it’s nice to pick your spirits up with a movie that assures you that positive change is always a distinct possibility.