Better Nate Than Ever

Better Nate Than Ever (2022) is a Disney+ family musical you can watch online on iFILM. Thirteen-year-old Nate Foster lives and breathes Broadway, yet the best the school play offers him is a non-speaking tree in the chorus. Huge dream, zero opportunity.

So when his parents head out of town for the weekend, Nate and his loyal best friend Libby hop a bus to New York to crash an open audition for a Lilo & Stitch stage musical. The city hits him with crowds, casting lines and rules nobody warned him about. Then a chance run-in with his long-lost Aunt Heidi — a former Broadway hopeful herself — flips the whole runaway plan on its head. Newcomer Rueby Wood plays Nate; Lisa Kudrow is the aunt.

Writer-director Tim Federle adapts his own novel and clearly knows the theater world from the inside. The result is a warm, un-sugary ode to kids who don't fit the school mold, stacked with real musical numbers. It's an easy pick for families and stage-struck tweens alike. Stream Better Nate Than Ever (2022) online on iFILM.