Best movies like Race the Sun
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A bunch of high school misfits in Hawaii, introduced by their new teacher, attend a science fair in which they draw up inspiration to build their own solar car and win a trip to compete in the 1990 World Solar Challenge in Australia.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: light, entertaining, feel good, exciting, serious, realistic, parody, inspirational, romantic, sexy
Best tv shows and movies like Race the Sun (1996):
Similar in 80%
Gotta Kick It Up! (2002)
Plot Summary:
This was going to be the first year that Marshal Middle School was not going to have a dance team. All that changes when the new Biology teacher, Ms. Bartlett, agrees to be the coach. Now the girls need to prove that they are ready to compete and are able to win; not only to themselves, but to their parents and coach. Using the chant "si, se puede" or "yes, I can" the Dance team builds their confidence to perform.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: uplifting, serious, touching, realistic, teen
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Similar in 88%
Pass the Light (2015)
Plot Summary:
Pass the Light tells the story of Steve Bellafiore, an 17 year old high school senior who decides to run for Congress in order to protect the faith that he so loves.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 158
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: serious, uplifting, feel good, realistic
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Similar in 85%
The Program (1993)
Plot Summary:
Several players from different backgrounds try to cope with the pressures of playing football at a major university. Each deals with the pressure differently, some turn to drinking, others to drugs, and some to studying.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Action, Drama, Romance, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: talky, exciting, intense, captivating, realistic, semi serious, suspense, scary, hood, independent film
Similar in 78%
Airborne (1993)
Plot Summary:
Mitchell Goosen is sixteen/seventeen year old kid from California who loves to surf and roller blade. Yet, his parents, who are two zoologists were given a grant to work in Australia. The only problem was: Mitchell couldn't go with them. So, he gets sent to stay with his aunt, uncle, and cousin in Cincinnati, Ohio. When he arrives, he meets his cousin who is also his new roommate for the next six months: Wiley. Mitchell then goes to school and gets on the bad side the high school hockey players. Mitchell and Wiley end up enduring weeks of torture from the guys. Then, the big guys and Mitchell and Wiley have to learn to get along to try to beat the Central High School rivals in a competition down Devil's Backbone.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: epic, feel good, humorous, realistic, semi serious, vintage
Similar in 82%
The Toughest Man in the World (1984)
Plot Summary:
Mr. T's first starring made-for-TV movie role has him playing a tough and scowling, but softhearted, nightclub bouncer who finds himself involved with a bunch of kids after being conned into taking over a youth center.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 334
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 76%
Lower Learning (2008)
Plot Summary:
Barry Goldwater Elementary is on the brink of collapse: the lowest test scores in the state, teachers who are either drunk or having sex on school grounds, and a principal who extorts money from parents. It's up to Tom, the down-on-his-luck vice-principal, to rally the lazy teachers, expose the principal's corruption, and turn the school around before an end of the day board decision.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, witty, semi serious
Similar in 80%
Crash Course (1988)
Plot Summary:
Some students taking driver's ed during the summer. Among the students is Riko, a cocky guy; Chad, a guy from a privileged background, who's terrified to get behind the wheel; Vanessa, who's over protective mom who wouldn't allow her to take the course, who went behind her back; and Maria, a spoiled foreign student. Now the principal wants the students to pass so he tells the instructor, who's still not over his wife leaving and is not exactly up to the task, that it's important for the students to pass so he brought in a special instructor, who's very tough. And the principal also tells one of his teachers to let, one of the students Maslanski who's the school football star, pass the test he failed so that he can concentrate on driver's ed. But the teacher, seeing this as an opportunity to expose the principal as not doing his job and thus paving the way for him to be the new principal, makes Maslanski take a make up test.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 503
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: feel good, humorous, realistic, semi serious
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Similar in 75%
Sunset Park (1996)
Plot Summary:
A white school teacher takes over a talented, but undisciplined black high school basketball team and turns them into a winning team.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: hood, humorous, grim, sincere, touching, feel good, captivating, realistic, semi serious, funny
Similar in 78%
The Man from Left Field (1993)
Plot Summary:
After taking a job managing a little league team, a homeless man inspires the kids to reach for it all and they inspire him to reclaim his life.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 302
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: uplifting, touching, feel good, humorous, emotional, realistic, semi serious
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Similar in 76%
Hometown Legend (2002)
Plot Summary:
A teenage drifter finds an opportunity to turn his life around when he joins a high-school football program with a hard-nosed coach.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 797
Genere: Drama, Family, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, serious, realistic, independent film, sincere
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Similar in 76%
Bad Parents (2012)
Plot Summary:
A suburban mom relives her season with the soccer obsessed sports parents whose outrageous "win at all costs" behavior spirals out of control.
IMDB Rating: 3.4
IMDB Votes: 573
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: humorous, light, feel good, captivating, entertaining, dark comedy, exciting, realistic, witty, semi serious
Similar in 90%
Kart Racer (2003)
Plot Summary:
14-year-old Watts Davies is estranged from his dad, a former International Karting Federation (IKF) champion. Watts's resolve to race in the upcoming IKF Regional Championships rekindles their relationship as they pursue the dream together.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 652
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: Germany, Canada, USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, humorous, semi serious, realistic
Similar in 87%
Jump In! (2007)
Plot Summary:
Story revolves around a young boxer, Izzy Daniels, who trains to follow in his father's footsteps by winning the Golden Glove. When his friend, Mary, however, asks him to substitute for a team member in a Double Dutch tournament, the young man discovers a hidden passion for jump roping.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family, Romance, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: humorous, feel good, realistic, semi serious, teen
Similar in 87%
Matchups (2003)
Plot Summary:
Ian Willams -- who was born blind in one eye -- grew up undaunted to become an elite college basketball player. But his dream of winning a national championship and turning pro was sidetracked when a tragic accident left him completely blind. Triumphing over adversity, Williams recalibrated his ambition and went on to become college basketball's first blind coach. A truly inspiring story about the triumph of the human spirit.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 29
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, touching, independent film
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Similar in 89%
Shackles (2005)
Plot Summary:
An aspiring teacher (Hughley) takes the one job he's offered, a position at a school inside a prison.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, captivating, suspense, semi serious
Similar in 86%
The Derby Stallion (2005)
Plot Summary:
An alcoholic former horse-trainer perceives in a fifteen-year-old boy a unique gift of horsemanship and makes it possible for the boy to conceive his dream and pursue it.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, serious, realistic
Similar in 89%
Life of a King (2013)
Plot Summary:
Life of a King is the true story of one man's mission to give inner city kids of Washington DC something he never had - a future. After being incarcerated for eighteen years, Eugene Brown established the Big Chair Chess Club to get kids off the streets and working towards lives they never believed they were capable of. This is his inspirational story.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sincere, uplifting, rough, touching, psychological, thought provoking, captivating, spiritual, serious, realistic
Similar in 80%
Cheaters (2000)
Plot Summary:
In the fall of 1994, a teacher at Chicago's run-down Steinmetz High conspires with the school's academic decathlon team to cheat on an academic competition.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: sincere, clever, serious, realistic, offbeat
Similar in 85%
The Explosive Generation (1961)
Plot Summary:
Peter Gifford is a likable, dedicated schoolteacher that teaches a senior life skills class. When student Janet Sommers brings up the topic of sex and dating, he asks students to write questions on the topic, and will cover them in the next class. The parents get wind of what Gifford is about to do, notify the principal, and he warns Peter not to read the questions in class. Gifford decides to go against this and is suspended. The whole student body protests, and the administration gets worried on what to do.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 414
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, sexual, psychotronic, sexy
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Similar in 89%
Knights of the South Bronx (2005)
Plot Summary:
A business man decides that he wants to teach school in the inner city and chooses a tough school in the South Bronx. He teaches the children how to play the game of chess, and along the way they learn a lot about life.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: uplifting, touching, serious, realistic, spiritual
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Similar in 78%
Crooked Arrows (2012)
Plot Summary:
A native-American lacrosse team makes its way through a prep school league tournament.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: exciting, sincere, uplifting, feel good, serious, realistic, independent film, vintage
Similar in 90%
McFarland, USA (2015)
Plot Summary:
A track coach in a small California town transforms a team of athletes into championship contenders.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 41000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: inspirational, touching, uplifting, feel good, exciting, sentimental, serious, light, emotional, sweet
Similar in 85%
Out of It (1969)
Plot Summary:
An introverted nerd and a dumb, violent jock vie for the attentions of a cheerleader.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 174
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: independent film, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, sexual, sexy
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Similar in 84%
By Dawn's Early Light (2001)
Plot Summary:
When Mike Lewis leaves L.A. to stay with his grandfather in Colorado for the summer, he hates the old man's cowboy ways. When Mike demands to go home, the old man agrees and saddles up a couple of horses for a six week trip toward California, home, the Pacific and redemption.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 475
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, realistic, captivating, independent film
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Similar in 83%
Calvin Marshall (2009)
Plot Summary:
A college student is determined to become a Major League Baseball star, but finds his true calling instead.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 739
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, humorous, semi serious, sentimental, freeze frame, realistic, independent film
Similar in 75%
Chalk (2006)
Plot Summary:
Life in the trenches of that most honorable and frustrating profession...teaching. It's the start of a memorable new year at Harrison High. The self-conscious Mr. Stroope is convinced that his time has come - this year he will be furnished with the golden title of "Teacher of the Year," if only his smarter students would stop using words that he can't understand.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: mockumentary, humorous, semi documentary, psychological, captivating, clever, realistic, witty, semi serious, biting
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Similar in 75%
Queen Sized (2008)
Plot Summary:
An overweight girl, Maggie Baker, is elected Homecoming queen by the mean girls in the high school.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: feel good, uplifting, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, teen comedy
Similar in 88%
Alice Upside Down (2007)
Plot Summary:
Still mourning the death of her mother a few years back, ALICE McKINLEY finds her life seriously disrupted when her father BEN buys a store and moves her and her older brother LESTER to a new town. In the painful throes of adolescence, Alice has a rough time adjusting to her new school, especially after she gets the stern MRS. PLOTKIN as her core teacher. Feeling shy and isolated, Alice frequently escapes into a vivid fantasy life that occasionally gets her into hot water. But with a little unexpected help from Mrs. Plotkin, Alice learns not to judge by appearances or jump to conclusions. More importantly, she confronts her father over his inability to accept their loss and move on into the future.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: France, USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, humorous, realistic, semi serious, teen, silent, silent film
Similar in 90%
Conrack (1974)
Plot Summary:
A young, white teacher is assigned to an isolated island off the coast of South Carolina populated mostly by poor black families. He finds that the basically illiterate, neglected children there know so little of the world outside their island.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: deep, sincere, uplifting, thought provoking, touching, feel good, serious, realistic
Similar in 83%
Gippi (2013)
Plot Summary:
Gippi is a coming-of-age story of an ordinary, overweight girl, who, through the course of the film, learns to love herself for exactly who she is. It is also a tale of an underdog, who picks herself up from nothing and finds herself at the top of her own little world.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 887
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: India
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: humorous, captivating, light, inspirational, sentimental, feel good, realistic, semi serious