Best movies like From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Two runaway kids hide in a museum. Once they are locked inside overnight, they try to solve a mystery about a statue supposedly carved by Michaelangelo, known as "The Angel". Will they solve the mystery in time?.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 299
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1995):
Similar in 83%
Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets (2021)
Plot Summary:
In the emotionally charged, wild and humorous world of sixteen year old James Whitman, his struggle to overcome anxiety and depression involve seeking advice from Dr. Bird - a giant imaginary pigeon therapist.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 947
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: psychological, teen, melancholic, dramatic, surreal
Similar in 79%
Runaway (1989)
Plot Summary:
After witnessing the accidental death of a friend who was attempting to rescue him from bullies, an African-American boy blames himself and, stricken with guilt, hides out among underground street people in New York.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 61
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 58 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
Two and a Half Heroes (2011)
Plot Summary:
It is the story of the unusual friendship that develops between Luka and Umut, two very different boys who meet by chance on the streets of Stuttgart. While Luka, the mute, communicates only through a bizarre hand puppet, the talkative Umut barely pauses for breath as he strives to grow up to be a policeman, a secret agent or perhaps a bodyguard. At first, Umut shows little more than mild curiosity for strange boy he names 'Psycho'. When the Turkish boy discovers Luka's dark secret, he suddenly learns much more about him. At the end of the most exhilarating day of their lives, they are both a whole lot more grown up.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 29
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: Germany
Duration: 52 min
Plot tags: light, captivating, entertaining
Similar in 80%
Necessary Parties (1988)
Plot Summary:
Fourteen-year-old Chris Mills goes to court to prevent his parents from ending their marriage.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 107
Genere: Family, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
The Treasure Seekers (1996)
Plot Summary:
Adaptation of the E. Nesbit novel set in turn of the century England. Widower and father of five, Richard Bastable has only days to save his family home and stave off financial ruin. While he is desperately hoping his latest invention - a refrigeration machine - will be his salvation, his children set about finding their own solutions to the family's impending disaster.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 310
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: UK
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 83%
Secrets (1995)
Plot Summary:
Etta Berter is a doctor's wife in 1905 who has been unable to have children. The couple has one adopted daughter but she has always wanted more children. Julie Harris's character is the family's cook and close companion to their daughter. Her granddaughter is the family's maid. When a visiting friend of Etta's arrives for a visit both she and the maid are attracted to him. When he seems to prefer the younger woman (the maid) the other woman is very jealous and when the maid becomes pregnant by him the older woman vows to make that child her own.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 93
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
What's Wrong with My Family? (2022)
Plot Summary:
Céline and Mathieu, a couple in their thirties who are farmers, are fighting relentlessly to adopt a child without any progress in their file. One day, they meet Darius and Julien, a homosexual couple who have started the process of GPA in Canada. The idea made its way, why not them? They ask themselves many questions, they hesitate. But despite their family's hostility to surrogate motherhood, they decided to go ahead.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 31
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: France
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
The Family Fang (2015)
Plot Summary:
A brother and sister return to their family home in search of their world famous parents who have disappeared.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: captivating, light, sincere, humorous, entertaining, dark comedy, anamorphic, cult classic, aesthetic, whimsical
Similar in 80%
The Ballad of Lucy Whipple (2001)
Plot Summary:
The adventures of a family who head west to the California gold fields in the 1850s.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 579
Genere: Drama, Family, Mystery, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, captivating, suspenseful
Similar in 78%
Mr. North (1988)
Plot Summary:
Mr. North, a stranger to a small, but wealthy, Rhode Island town, quickly has rumors started about him that he has the power to heal people's ailments.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: offbeat, independent film, humorous, semi serious
Similar in 81%
The Cay (1974)
Plot Summary:
When Young Phillip is separated form his mother and found by a black man named Timothy and his cat Stewcat, Phillip becomes blind and they all end up on an island. Will they survive or will they die?.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 178
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
An American Summer (1990)
Plot Summary:
In this youthful drama, Tom, a 14- year-old who's parents have just divorced, is abruptly uprooted from his wealthy Chicago home and sent to the strange land of LA to live in the far-out beach bungalow of his aunt, an aging hippie still stuck in a by-gone era. He is unhappy with the new arrangement and finds his new bohemian lifestyle strange and the activities of his new peers, stupid. His life begins to change a bit when he befriends a young surfer named Fin. At first he thinks of the fun-loving Fin as a real dolt, but later he admits he was wrong. Like the Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn characters on which they are loosely based, the two new friends soon find themselves having a series of adventures, some of them dangerous; by the summer's end, Tom finds himself wiser, accustomed to California, and a lot more grown up.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 274
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: independent film, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 88%
Little Crumb (1999)
Plot Summary:
The film is based on the popular Dutch childrens book by Chris van Abkoude. In a Dutch port in 1921 lives a 10-year-old orphan boy known to everyone simply as Little Crumb (Ruud Feltkamp). His poverty-stricken mother Lize van Dien (Thekla Reuten) filled with shame was forced to turn him over to Mrs. Koster (Sacha Bulthuis) soon after he was born. Foster mother Mrs. Koster, who has cared for him since he was a baby, is very poor too, unable to support him by herself and proves to be a cruel taskmaster who insists Crumb bring her money before shell feed him. Somehow he must earn his keep out on the streets and can only go home after he has earned enough money. Crumb becomes an urchin stealing from the streets barrows and the shops to stay alive, sleeping in churches or huddled in doorways. Sometimes he has to run off from the police and he has earned the enmity of the most grownups around him.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
Hugo and Josephine (1967)
Plot Summary:
Josefin is a six year old girl who lives isolated in the countryside, where her father is a priest. She has no friends until she meets Hugo. He is a carefree boy who rather walk in the forest than goes to school. Together with the gardener they make up fun things to do.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 500
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: Sweden
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
Charley and the Angel (1973)
Plot Summary:
Charley is a workaholic family man that finds out from an angel that his "number's up" and he will be dying soon so he tries to change his ways and be a better husband and father with the time he has left.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 630
Genere: Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, offbeat, feel good, humorous, semi serious
Similar in 82%
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1973)
Plot Summary:
Precocious Claudia and her brother run away from home and hide in the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 796
Genere: Family, Drama, Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: independent film, touching, feel good, humorous, semi serious
Similar in 88%
The Marsh King's Daughter (2023)
Plot Summary:
Helena, a woman living a seemingly ordinary life, hides a dark secret: her father is the infamous “Marsh King,” the man who kept her and her mother captive in the wilderness for years. After a lifetime of trying to escape her past, Helena is forced to face her demons when her father unexpectedly escapes from prison.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: psychological thriller
Similar in 78%
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (2023)
Plot Summary:
When her family moves from the city to the suburbs, 11-year-old Margaret navigates new friends, feelings, and the beginning of adolescence.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: existential, comedy drama
Similar in 78%
Finding Kelly (2000)
Plot Summary:
The surprisingly intricate, nimble plot is about a couple of kids who play amateur detectives one summer in the hopes of collecting a $5,000 reward offered to anyone able to find a missing 17 year old girl. The girl and boy are best friends who have a great, unforced camaraderie with each other. None of the tiresome sniping and bickering that goes on in so many other films of this ilk. And they are given some wonderfully smart, observant dialogue, tons of it. In fact, the film is overflowing with it, much of it tricky and the two actors handle it all like a couple of seasoned pros.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 220
Genere: Comedy, Family, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, captivating, feel good, tense, suspenseful, tension, suspense
Similar in 89%
The Yearling (1994)
Plot Summary:
In 1870s Florida, a rural family struggles to survive. A lonely twelve-year-old son, Jody (Wil Horneff), the lone surviving child, against his mother's better judgment eventually persuades his parents to allow him a pet fawn, which Jody grows to love deeply. Tragic conflict arises when the fawn begins eating the family's food crops.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 332
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 80%
True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet (2008)
Plot Summary:
A teen movie star attempts to overcome her addition to alcohol and salvage what's left of her career after passing out on the red carpet at her big Hollywood premiere and being sent to recover with her upbeat aunt in Indiana. Morgan Carter (Jo Jo) is only seventeen years old, but she's already on top of the world. But so much fame so early in life can yield unpredictable consequences, and when Morgan is sent to the hospital with alcohol poisoning, it's clear that she isn't ready to deal with the pressures of stardom. Whisked away to rehab as the paparazzi clamors for a picture and the press predicts her downfall, Morgan is sent by her mother and concerned manager to Indiana, far away from the temptations of Hollywood. Once there, the troubled starlet reluctantly starts to reconnect with her quirky Aunt Trudy (Valerie Bertinelli), who offers just the kind of unconditional support that the young girl needs to get her life - and career - back on track.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, light, feel good, teen, realistic, teen comedy
Similar in 86%
The Great Gilly Hopkins (2015)
Plot Summary:
Wisecracking, gum-chewing 12-year-old Gilly is well known in the foster system. Totally unmanageable, she has stayed with more families than she can remember and has outwitted them all. After all, how can she settle down when her real mother, the beautiful and glamourous Courtney, might be out there waiting for her? When Gilly is sent to live with the Trotters, the weirdest family yet, she isn’t planning to stick around. But cheerful, affectionate Maime Trotter isn’t giving up on Gilly just yet.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sincere, feel good, captivating, entertaining, light, emotional, sad, happy
Similar in 80%
Simon Birch (1998)
Plot Summary:
Simon Birch tells the story of Joe and Simon's heart-warming journey of friendship. Simon Birch was born with a condition that makes him much smaller than all the other kids in town. Now, due to his condition, Simon thinks God made him this way for a reason and highly believes in God. Together, Joe and Simon go on a journey of trust and friendship to find the answers to many things. Their friendship is put to the test when some unfortunate events happen.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: sentimental, feel good, inspirational, sad, emotional, touching, light, sweet, compassionate, humorous
Similar in 83%
Wishin' and Hopin' (2014)
Plot Summary:
Based on the New York Times best-selling novel by award winning author Wally Lamb. A vivid slice of 1960s life, Wishin' and Hopin' is a wise-and-witty holiday tale that celebrates where we've been-and how far we've come. In the small town of Three Rivers, Connecticut, we go straight into the halls of St. Aloysius Gonzaga Parochial School with Felix Funicello, a Catholic school fifth-grader in 1964, whose claim to fame is his cousin Annette Funicello, the famous Mouseketeer and teen movie queen. But grammar and arithmetic move to the back burner this holiday season with the sudden arrivals of substitute teacher Madame Frechette and feisty Russian student Zhenya Kabakova. While Felix learns the meaning of French kissing, cultural misunderstanding, and tableaux vivants, Wishin' and Hopin' barrels toward one outrageous Christmas!.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 794
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, light, sincere, captivating, entertaining, sentimental, touching, realistic
Similar in 78%
Tru Confessions (2002)
Plot Summary:
Trudy Walker hated her life. She thought it was totally messed up until she found out about a contest that could change everything.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: emotional, sincere, sentimental, touching, heartfelt, serious, realistic, tear jerker, tearjerker
Similar in 87%
Harriet the Spy (1996)
Plot Summary:
When the secret notebook of a young girl who fancies herself a spy is found by her friends, her speculations make her very unpopular! Can she win her friends back?.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: intense, enigmatic, entertaining, epic, children's program, touching, feel good, humorous, semi serious, crying
Similar in 87%
The Disappearance of Finbar (1996)
Plot Summary:
A dissatisfied teen disappears from his small town, leaving friends to wonder about his whereabouts.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 652
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: Ireland, Sweden, UK
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: offbeat, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 78%
Martian Child (2007)
Plot Summary:
A recently-widowed, science fiction writer considers whether to adopt a hyper-imaginative 6-year-old abandoned and socially-rejected boy who says he's really from Mars.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, sentimental, sweet, feel good, humorous, uplifting, spiritual, happy, realistic
Similar in 80%
When Zachary Beaver Came to Town (2003)
Plot Summary:
Zachary Beaver, a sideshow attraction also known as the world's fattest boy, arrives in the sleepy town of Granger, Texas.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 850
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: feel good, sentimental, humorous, semi serious, touching
Similar in 85%
Angels Sing (2013)
Plot Summary:
As a child, Michael Walker wished every day could be Christmas. That is, until a tragic accident crushed his holiday spirit. Thirty years later, Michael still can't muster any joy for the holidays, despite encouragement from his playful wife and well-intentioned parents. But when his young son faces a tragedy, Michael needs to make amends with his past. A mysterious man named Nick gives Michael a gift and instills in him the courage to find the joy that he lost.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, semi serious, realistic