Tubi

This web-based entertainment service offers an impressive number of titles, although not all of them are appropriate for younger viewers. Although you may not have heard of some of the shows and movies on Tubi, there's a good amount of foreign films and award-winning options, plus inspiring independent titles, music, and other selections that can broaden kids' horizons. You can't purchase a subscription or otherwise pay to avoid the occasional commercials that are shown, but they're not too intrusive -- you may, for example, only see one before and one during an hour and a half movie.

It's easy to watch things on the site; you can fast-forward or rewind movies and shows and save titles to a queue to watch later if you register. Determining which items would interest you most unfortunately isn't quite as straightforward. Users can type a title into a search field to see if it's available, and a section that lists items that are ranked highly on the Rotten Tomatoes rating site can help identify some potentially high-quality options. Separate sections list the site's most-watched movies and items that are currently trending -- but there's no easy way to filter the selections in a category to, for instance, see the most recent horror releases, or see all the items on a page that are rated PG-13. If you're willing to weed through the various sections, there are plenty of titles on hand to keep you and your family busy for a good while. But the several kids-focused categories are the only places to reliably avoid R-rated films and mature TV series. Generally, Tubi can be a worthwhile free entertainment resource for adults. But for kids under 17 who are viewing it independently, the potential for exposure to mature content probably isn't worth the gratis access to movies and shows.