Best movies like Like Stars on Earth
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Ishaan Awasthi is an eight-year-old whose world is filled with wonders that no one else seems to appreciate. Colours, fish, dogs, and kites don't seem important to the adults, who are much more interested in things like homework, marks, and neatness. Ishaan cannot seem to get anything right in class; he is then sent to boarding school, where his life changes forever.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 203000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: India
Duration: 162 min
Plot tags: motivational, touching, inspirational, captivating, emotional, educational, sad, realistic, feel good, entertaining
Best tv shows and movies like Like Stars on Earth (2007):
Similar in 88%
Alabama Moon (2009)
Plot Summary:
After the unexpected death of his survivalist father, an eleven year old boy raised in the Alabama wilderness must learn how to make a home in the modern world.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, exciting, serious, inspirational, feel good
Similar in 90%
Chak De! India (2007)
Plot Summary:
A team of rag-tag girls with their own agenda form Team India competing for international fame in field hockey. Their coach, the ex-men's Indian National team captain, returns from a life of shame after being unjustly accused of match fixing in his last match. Can he give the girls the motivation required to win, while dealing with the shadows of his own past?.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 84000
Genere: Drama, Family, Sport
Country: India, USA, UK, Australia
Duration: 153 min
Plot tags: feel good, realistic, inspirational, patriotic, exciting, sentimental, touching, uplifting, entertaining, motivational
Similar in 87%
The Color of Paradise (1999)
Plot Summary:
The story revolves around a blind boy named Mohammed who is released from his special school in Tehran for summer vacation. His father, shamed and burdened by Mohammed's blindness, arrives late to pick him up and then tries to convince the headmaster to keep Mohammed over the summer. The headmaster refuses, so Mohammed's father eventually takes him home.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Iran
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, dramatic, depressing, sentimental, realistic, inspirational, spiritual, educational, art house
Similar in 89%
Kes (1969)
Plot Summary:
A young, English working-class boy spends his free time caring for and training his pet falcon.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: UK
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: independent film, bleak, depressing, realistic, emotional, social, sad, serious, heartbreaking, bad ending
Similar in 77%
Where is the Friend's Home? (1987)
Plot Summary:
An 8 year old boy must return his friend's notebook he took by mistake, lest his friend be punished by expulsion from school.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Iran
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: social, art house, inspirational, road movie, thought provoking, independent film, islamic, touching, feel good, serious
Similar in 87%
We Shall Overcome (2006)
Plot Summary:
A drama about a boy who's inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and challenges repressive school authority in 1969 Denmark.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Denmark
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, captivating, realistic, uplifting
Similar in 75%
Bee Season (2005)
Plot Summary:
11-year-old Eliza is the invisible element of her family unit: her parents are both consumed with work and her brother is wrapped up in his own adolescent life. Eliza ignites not only a spark that makes her visible but one that sets into motion a revolution in her family dynamic when she wins a spelling bee. Finding an emotional outlet in the power of words and in the spiritual mysticism that he sees at work in her unparalleled gift, Eliza's father pours all of his energy into helping his daughter become spelling bee champion. A religious studies professor, he sees the opportunity as not only a distraction from his life but as an answer to his own crisis of faith. His vicarious path to God, real or imagined, leads to an obsession with Eliza's success and he begins teaching her secrets of the Kabbalah. Now preparing for the National Spelling Bee, Eliza looks on as a new secret of her family's hidden turmoil seems to be revealed with each new word she spells.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, depressing, realistic, psychological, sincere, thought provoking, serious, spiritual, anamorphic
Similar in 84%
Finn (2013)
Plot Summary:
Nine year old Finn lives with his father in a small town. Together with his best friend Erik he plays football, but he prefers to play music. His dad wants him to play football, just like every other kid his age. Finn does not understand why, but his father doesn't want to talk about it. When Finn meets a mysterious old man, who plays the violin beautifully, he decides to learn how to play the violin as well. The old man teaches him, while Finn's dad thinks he is playing football... Is Finn the only one who sees the magic of music? What does his father hide?.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 356
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, twisted
Similar in 75%
The Karate Kid (2010)
Plot Summary:
12-year-old Dre Parker could have been the most popular kid in Detroit, but his mother's latest career move has landed him in China. Dre immediately falls for his classmate Mei Ying but the cultural differences make such a friendship impossible. Even worse, Dre's feelings make him an enemy of the class bully, Cheng. With no friends in a strange land, Dre has nowhere to turn but maintenance man Mr. Han, who is a kung fu master. As Han teaches Dre that kung fu is not about punches and parries, but maturity and calm, Dre realizes that facing down the bullies will be the fight of his life.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 201000
Genere: Action, Drama, Family, Sport
Country: USA, China
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: inspirational, uplifting, feel good, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, entertaining, teen, stylized
Similar in 76%
Children of Heaven (1997)
Plot Summary:
Zohre's shoes are gone; her older brother Ali lost them. They are poor, there are no shoes for Zohre until they come up with an idea: they will share one pair of shoes, Ali's. School awaits.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 79000
Genere: Drama, Family, Sport
Country: Iran
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, emotional, sincere, sentimental, compassionate, sad, inspirational, feel good, dramatic
Similar in 76%
Bridge to Terabithia (2007)
Plot Summary:
Jesse Aarons trained all summer to become the fastest runner in school, so he's very upset when newcomer Leslie Burke outruns him and everyone else. Despite this and other differences, including that she's rich, he's poor, and she's a city girl, he's a country boy, the two become fast friends. Together, they create Terabithia, a land of monsters, trolls, ogres, and giants and rule as king and queen.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 169000
Genere: Drama, Family, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: emotional, tear jerker, sad, touching, heartbreaking, fairy tale, sentimental, teen, captivating, melancholic
Similar in 76%
Wonder (2017)
Plot Summary:
The story of August Pullman – a boy with facial differences – who enters fifth grade, attending a mainstream elementary school for the first time.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 175000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA, Hong Kong, Canada
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: inspirational, uplifting, touching, sincere, thought provoking, motivational, sad, feel good, tear jerker, cute
Similar in 80%
Pollyanna (2003)
Plot Summary:
Pollyanna Whittier goes to live with her wealthy but bitter aunt after the tragic death of her father. Pollyanna shares a game her father taught her -- the 'Glad Game' -- in which everyone can find a silver lining in even the darkest cloud, and her sunny nature, good humor and determination to look on the bright side of life prove to have an astonishing effect on those around her. With the help of her orphaned friend, Jimmy Bean, she casts her spell on the grumpiest townsfolk of Beldingsville -- including the cynical shut-in Mrs. Snow, the morose millionaire Mr. Pendleton and the enigmatic Dr. Chilton. And Pollyanna masterminds the romance between her Aunt's maid, Nancy, and the handyman, Tim. It is only Aunt Polly, who cannot bring herself to embrace Pollyanna's innocence and joy. But all is not straightforward in Pollyanna's war against pessimism, since she must overcome a personal tragedy that threatens to banish "glad" from her vocabulary forever.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: UK
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, uplifting, sentimental, realistic, semi serious, humorous, tear jerker, period drama, tearjerker
Similar in 84%
Akeelah and the Bee (2006)
Plot Summary:
Eleven year-old Akeelah Anderson's life is not easy: her father is dead, her mom ignores her, her brother runs with the local gangbangers. She's smart, but her environment threatens to strangle her aspirations. Responding to a threat by her school's principal, Akeelah participates in a spelling bee to avoid detention for her many absences. Much to her surprise and embarrassment, she wins. Her principal asks her to seek coaching from an English professor named Dr. Larabee for the more prestigious regional bee. As the possibility of making it all the way to the Scripps National Spelling Bee looms, Akeelah could provide her community with someone to rally around and be proud of -- but only if she can overcome her insecurities and her distracting home life. She also must get past Dr. Larabee's demons, and a field of more experienced and privileged fellow spellers.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: touching, uplifting, emotional, sentimental, realistic, sweet, serious, inspirational, feel good, sincere
Similar in 88%
A Little Princess (1995)
Plot Summary:
When her father enlists to fight for the British in WWI, young Sara Crewe goes to New York to attend the same boarding school her late mother attended. She soon clashes with the severe headmistress, Miss Minchin, who attempts to stifle Sara's creativity and sense of self- worth.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 36000
Genere: Drama, Family, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, fairy tale, heartbreaking, serious, humorous, realistic, semi serious, sweet, sad
Similar in 82%
Gifted (2017)
Plot Summary:
Frank, a single man raising his child prodigy niece Mary, is drawn into a custody battle with his mother.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 127000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: touching, inspirational, emotional, sweet, light, entertaining, scenic, sad, motivational, offbeat
Similar in 89%
Chillar Party (2011)
Plot Summary:
A gang of innocent but feisty kids who lead carefree lives in Chandan Nagar colony take own the big bad world of politics when one of their friend's life is endangered.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: India
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: feel good, humorous, captivating, light, parody, sentimental, realistic, not serious, slapstick
Similar in 84%
Stanley Ka Dabba (2011)
Plot Summary:
Stanley studies in the all-boys Holy Family High School in Andheri East, Mumbai. While his class-mates bring their own tiffin-boxes, Stanley does not do so on the pretext that his mother is away. His friends share their food with him, much to the chagrin of the Hindi Teacher: Babubhai Verma, who not only cajoles fellow-teachers, but also virtually forces the children to share their food with him. With extra classes being imposed on both students and teachers, and the recess-breaks being doubled, parents are also forced to pack more food in their children's lunch-boxes. The students continue to share their food with Stanley. Babubhai then warns Stanley that he must get a lunch box if he wants to attend school.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: India
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: realistic, sentimental, humorous, semi serious, inspirational, touching, feel good, cult classic
Similar in 89%
October Sky (1999)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the first Sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his father's wishes, and eventually became a NASA scientist.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 97000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: inspirational, touching, realistic, feel good, sentimental, emotional, uplifting, period piece, exciting, motivational
Similar in 90%
My Name Is Khan (2010)
Plot Summary:
Rizwan Khan, a Muslim from the Borivali section of Mumbai, has Asperger's syndrome. He marries a Hindu single mother, Mandira, in San Francisco. After 9/11, Rizwan is detained by authorities at LAX who treat him as a terrorist because of his condition and his race.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 114000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Romance
Country: India, United Arab Emirates, USA, China
Duration: 165 min
Plot tags: touching, inspirational, romantic, uplifting, sad, sentimental, thought provoking, intellectual, emotional, compassionate
Similar in 90%
The Chorus (2004)
Plot Summary:
Set in 1940's France, a new teacher at a school for disruptive boys gives hope and inspiration.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 66000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: France, Switzerland, Germany
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: touching, inspirational, uplifting, emotional, sentimental, feel good, educational, realistic, epic, art house
Similar in 88%
Front of the Class (2008)
Plot Summary:
"Front of the Class" is based on the true story of Brad Cohen -- played in the movie by Jimmy Wolk -- who, "after being challenged by Tourette's syndrome from a very young age, defies all odds to become a gifted teacher.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: inspirational, touching, realistic, sentimental, emotional, sweet, talky, sincere, thought provoking, spiritual
Similar in 87%
Pay It Forward (2000)
Plot Summary:
Like some other kids, 12-year-old Trevor McKinney believed in the goodness of human nature. Like many other kids, he was determined to change the world for the better. Unlike most other kids, he succeeded.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 123000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, inspirational, motivational, sentimental, sincere, uplifting, tear jerker, sad, thought provoking
Similar in 81%
The Emperor's Club (2002)
Plot Summary:
William Hundert is a passionate and principled Classics professor who finds his tightly-controlled world shaken and inexorably altered when a new student, Sedgewick Bell, walks into his classroom. What begins as a fierce battle of wills gives way to a close student-teacher relationship, but results in a life lesson for Hundert that will still haunt him a quarter of a century later.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, inspirational, emotional, contemplative, sincere, serious, educational, philosophical, feel good
Similar in 76%
Dead Poets Society (1989)
Plot Summary:
At an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize the potential of every day, courting the disdain of the stern headmaster.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 530000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: philosophical, inspirational, sentimental, emotional, uplifting, intellectual, touching, motivational, sad, tear jerker
Similar in 83%
Flight (2010)
Plot Summary:
After being abandoned for eight straight years in boarding school, Rohan returns to the small industrial town of Jamshedpur and finds himself closeted with an authoritarian father and a younger half brother who he didn't even know existed. Forced to work in his father's steel factory and study engineering against his wishes, he strives to forge his own life out of his given circumstances and pursue his dream of being a writer.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 47000
Genere: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: sincere, sentimental, touching, captivating, inspirational, offbeat, realistic, light, intellectual, social
Similar in 82%
Colour It Yellow (2006)
Plot Summary:
A young idealistic English filmmaker, Sue, arrives in India to make a film on Indian revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad and their contemporaries and their fight for freedom from the British Raj. Owing to a lack of funds, she recruits students from Delhi University to act in her docu-drama. She finds DJ, who passed out five years back but still wants to be a part of the University because he doesn't think there's too much out there in the real world to look forward to. Karan, the son of Industrialist Rajnath Singhania, who shares an uncomfortable relationship with his father, but continues to live off him, albeit very grudgingly. Aslam, is a middle class Muslim boy, who lives in the by-lanes near Jama Masjid, poet, philosopher and guide to his friends. Sukhi, the group's baby, innocent, vulnerable and with a weakness for only one thing - girls. Laxman Pandey.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 122000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: India
Duration: 167 min
Plot tags: inspirational, serious, patriotic, entertaining, cult classic, sincere, exciting, crying, sentimental, philosophical
Similar in 85%
PK (2014)
Plot Summary:
This experimental satire is a comedy of ideas about an alien in the city, who asks questions that no one has asked before. They are innocent, child-like questions, but they bring about catastrophic answers. People who are set in their ways for generations, are forced to reappraise their world when they see it from PK's innocent eyes. In the process PK makes loyal friends and powerful foes, mends broken lives and angers the establishment. PK's childlike curiosity transforms into a spiritual odyssey for him and millions of others. This offbeat, experimental drama is an ambitious and uniquely original exploration of complex philosophies. It is also a simple and humane tale of love, laughter and letting-go. Finally, it is a moving saga about a friendship between strangers from worlds apart.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 198000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: India
Duration: 153 min
Plot tags: funny, sentimental, touching, inspirational, humorous, emotional, entertaining, satirical, sad, thought provoking
Similar in 83%
English Vinglish (2012)
Plot Summary:
ENGLISH VINGLISH is the story of a woman who does not know English and is made to feel insecure by her family and society at large. Circumstances make her determined to overcome this insecurity, master the language, and teach the world a lesson on the way to becoming a self assured and confident woman.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 39000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: India
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: feel good, touching, humorous, semi serious, motivational, parody, funny, inspirational, comedy drama, captivating
Similar in 86%
3 Idiots (2009)
Plot Summary:
In the tradition of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” comes this refreshing comedy about a rebellious prankster with a crafty mind and a heart of gold. Rascal. Joker. Dreamer. Genius... You've never met a college student quite like "Rancho." From the moment he arrives at India's most prestigious university, Rancho's outlandish schemes turn the campus upside down—along with the lives of his two newfound best friends. Together, they make life miserable for "Virus," the school’s uptight and heartless dean. But when Rancho catches the eye of the dean's sexy daughter, Virus sets his sights on flunking out the "3 idiots" once and for all.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 423000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: India
Duration: 170 min
Plot tags: inspirational, entertaining, touching, funny, educational, feel good, semi serious, light, hilarious, motivational