Best movies like Matilda
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
An extraordinarily intelligent young girl from a cruel and uncaring family discovers she possesses telekinetic powers and is sent off to a school headed by a tyrannical principal.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 170000
Genere: Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: feel good, fairy tale, humorous, sweet, touching, psychological, mystical, funny, inspirational, uplifting
Best tv shows and movies like Matilda (1996):
Similar in 86%
Madeline (1998)
Plot Summary:
The adventurous, young Madeline is very good at getting into trouble, but she's also fantastic at solving problems as well, and her school-mistress Miss Clavel is not too approving of her. The biggest problem comes up when Lord Covington decides to sell Madeline's school.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Comedy, Family
Country: France, USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: touching, melancholic, talky, feel good, humorous, surprise ending, semi serious, inspirational, sad, juvenile
Similar in 82%
Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996)
Plot Summary:
A girl, sent by her parents to live with her two eccentric aunts, finds out on her sixteenth birthday that she is a witch.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Country: USA, Canada, Hungary
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: not serious, feel good, humorous, touching, cult classic, teen, psychotronic, teen comedy, tv series pilot
Similar in 90%
Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical (2022)
Plot Summary:
An adaptation of Tim Minchin and Dennis Kelly's musical based on the Roald Dahl novel.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family, Fantasy, Music, Musical
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: powerful, urban fantasy
Similar in 83%
The Kid (2000)
Plot Summary:
Powerful businessman Russ Duritz is self-absorbed and immersed in his work. But by the magic of the moon, he meets Rusty, a chubby, charming 8-year-old version of himself who can't believe he could turn out so badly -- with no life and no dog. With Rusty's help, Russ is able to reconcile the person he used to dream of being with the man he's actually become.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 44000
Genere: Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: touching, inspirational, humorous, feel good, sweet, entertaining, melancholic, semi serious, funny, exciting
Similar in 75%
A Simple Wish (1997)
Plot Summary:
Murray is a male fairy godmother, and he is trying to help 8-year-old Anabel to fulfil her "simple wish" - that her father Oliver, who is a cab driver, would win the leading role in a Broadway musical. Unfortunately, Murray's magic wand is broken and the fairies convention is threatened by evil witches Claudia and Boots.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: feel good, fairy tale, funny, semi serious, humorous, mysterious, offbeat, light, romantic, clever
Similar in 88%
Little Monsters (1989)
Plot Summary:
A young boy is scared of the monster under his bed. He asks his 6th grade brother to swap rooms for the night as a bet that the monster really exists. Soon the brother becomes friends with the monster and discovers a whole new world of fun and games under his bed where pulling pranks on kids and other monsters is the main attraction.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: light, entertaining, melancholic, feel good, humorous, semi serious, epic, mysterious, visual, creepy
Similar in 76%
Twitches (2005)
Plot Summary:
Twins separated at birth, Camryn and Alex meet by chance for the first time on their 21st birthday and discover they're witches with the power to save their homeland of Coventry from the evil that threatens it. But when Camryn leaves Alex to face the darkness alone, will Coventry be doomed? Or will the sisters multiply their magic by standing together?.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: feel good, humorous, captivating, light, teen, colorful, spooky, offbeat, semi serious, colourful
Similar in 77%
Little Nicholas (2009)
Plot Summary:
Nicolas has a happy existence, parents who love him, a great group of friends with whom he has great fun, and all he wants is that nothing changes. However, one day, he overhears a conversation that leads him to believe that his life might change forever, his mother is pregnant! He panics and envisions the worst.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Comedy, Family
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, realistic, atmospheric, sexy, art film, warmhearted, cute, hilarious, touching
Similar in 81%
It Takes Two (1995)
Plot Summary:
Identical 9-year-olds from very different backgrounds: orphaned Amanda and wealthy Alyssa meet at summer camp and decide to switch places -- and play matchmaker between Alyssa's dad, Roger, and the kind social worker who cares for Amanda.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Comedy, Family, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: sweet, feel good, funny, humorous, touching, fairy tale, teen, semi serious, light, inspirational
Similar in 90%
The Borrowers (1997)
Plot Summary:
The four-inch-tall Clock family secretly share a house with the normal-sized Lender family, "borrowing" such items as thread, safety pins, batteries and scraps of food. However, their peaceful co-existence is disturbed when evil lawyer Ocious P. Potter steals the will granting title to the house, which he plans to demolish in order to build apartments. The Lenders are forced to move, and the Clocks face the risk of being exposed to the normal-sized world.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: light, entertaining, humorous, not serious, fairy tale, feel good, epic, slapstick comedy, touching, offbeat
Similar in 85%
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl (2005)
Plot Summary:
Everyone always knew that Max had a wild imagination, but no one believed that his wildest creations -- a boy raised by watchful great white sharks and a girl with the force of a volcano -- were real. Now, these two pint-sized action masters will show Max that even an ordinary kid has what it takes to be extraordinary.
IMDB Rating: 3.7
IMDB Votes: 41000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: surreal, feel good, entertaining, enigmatic, absurd, teen, touching, humorous, semi serious, surprise ending
Similar in 88%
Dennis the Menace (1993)
Plot Summary:
Mr. Wilson's ever-present annoyance comes in the form of one mischievous kid named Dennis. But he'll need Dennis's tricks to uncover a collection of gold coins that go missing when a shady drifter named Switchblade Sam comes to town.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 64000
Genere: Comedy, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: feel good, funny, humorous, not serious, sweet, hilarious, entertaining, light, epic, sad
Similar in 90%
Charlotte's Web (2006)
Plot Summary:
Wilbur the pig is scared of the end of the season, because he knows that come that time, he will end up on the dinner table. He hatches a plan with Charlotte, a spider that lives in his pen, to ensure that this will never happen.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 46000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Country: USA, Germany, Australia
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: fairy tale, inspirational, touching, light, sweet, emotional, melancholic, humorous, semi serious, sentimental
Similar in 78%
Hook (1991)
Plot Summary:
The boy who wasn't supposed to grow up—Peter Pan—did just that, becoming a soulless corporate lawyer whose workaholism could cost him his wife and kids. But a trip to see Granny Wendy in London, where the vengeful Capt. Hook kidnaps Peter's kids and forces Peter to return to Neverland, could lead to a chance at redemption, in this family-oriented fantasy from director Steven Spielberg.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 269000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 142 min
Plot tags: fairy tale, sweet, stylized, feel good, inspirational, touching, entertaining, sentimental, humorous, exciting
Similar in 87%
Yours, Mine & Ours (2005)
Plot Summary:
Admiral Frank Beardsley returns to New London to run the Coast Guard Academy, his last stop before a probable promotion to head the Guard. A widower with eight children, he runs a loving but tight ship, with charts and salutes. The kids long for a permanent home. Helen North is a free spirit, a designer whose ten children live in loving chaos, with occasional group hugs. Helen and Frank, high school sweethearts, reconnect at a reunion, and it's love at first re-sighting. They marry on the spot. Then the problems start as two sets of kids, the free spirits and the disciplined preppies, must live together. The warring factions agree to work together to end the marriage.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 30000
Genere: Comedy, Family, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: feel good, humorous, funny, romantic, entertaining, teen, scenic, happy, relaxing, realistic
Similar in 76%
Freaky Friday (2003)
Plot Summary:
Mother and daughter bicker over everything -- what Anna wears, whom she likes and what she wants to do when she's older. In turn, Anna detests Tess's fiancé. When a magical fortune cookie switches their personalities, they each get a peek at how the other person feels, thinks and lives.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 150000
Genere: Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Music, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: funny, teen, light, romantic comedy, humorous, romantic, cute, family comedy, sentimental, happy
Similar in 88%
Hocus Pocus (1993)
Plot Summary:
After 300 years of slumber, three sister witches are accidentally resurrected in Salem on Halloween night, and it us up to three kids and their newfound feline friend to put an end to the witches' reign of terror once and for all.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 154000
Genere: Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: fairy tale, sweet, scary, mystical, funny, gothic, dark comedy, spooky, offbeat, psychological
Similar in 85%
Mary Poppins (1964)
Plot Summary:
A magical nanny employs music and adventure to help two neglected children become closer to their father.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 183000
Genere: Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: feel good, touching, uplifting, sweet, fairy tale, colorful, humorous, romantic, entertaining, cute
Similar in 82%
Casper (1995)
Plot Summary:
Furious that her late father only willed her his gloomy-looking mansion rather than his millions, Carrigan Crittenden is ready to burn the place to the ground when she discovers a map to a treasure hidden in the house. But when she enters the rickety mansion to seek her claim, she is frightened away by a wicked wave of ghosts. Determined to get her hands on this hidden fortune, she hires afterlife therapist Dr. James Harvey to exorcise the ghosts from the mansion. Harvey and his daughter Kat move in, and soon Kat meets Casper, the ghost of a young boy who's "the friendliest ghost you know." But not so friendly are Casper's uncles--Stretch, Fatso and Stinkie--who are determined to drive all "fleshies" away.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 145000
Genere: Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: fairy tale, light, sweet, humorous, touching, slapstick, horror comedy, spooky, parody, gothic
Similar in 89%
The Witches (1990)
Plot Summary:
A young boy named Luke and his grandmother go on vacation only to discover their hotel is hosting an international witch convention, where the Grand High Witch is unveiling her master plan to turn all children into mice. Will Luke fall victim to the witches' plot before he can stop them?.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 54000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: fairy tale, humorous, dark fantasy, scary, stylized, atmospheric, funny, retro, feel good, epic
Similar in 86%
Peter Pan (2003)
Plot Summary:
In stifling Edwardian London, Wendy Darling mesmerizes her brothers every night with bedtime tales of swordplay, swashbuckling and the fearsome Captain Hook. But the children become the heroes of an even greater story, when Peter Pan flies into their nursery one night and leads them over moonlit rooftops through a galaxy of stars and to the lush jungles of Neverland.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 79000
Genere: Adventure, Family, Fantasy, Romance
Country: UK, USA, Australia
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: fairy tale, feel good, exciting, captivating, sweet, light, romantic, scenic, teen, colorful
Similar in 86%
My Girl (1991)
Plot Summary:
Vada Sultenfuss is obsessed with death. Her mother is dead, and her father runs a funeral parlor. She is also in love with her English teacher, and joins a poetry class over the summer just to impress him. Thomas J., her best friend, is "allergic to everything", and sticks with Vada despite her hangups. When Vada's father hires Shelly, and begins to fall for her, things take a turn to the worse.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 87000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, feel good, crying, emotional, sad, sweet, inspirational, tear jerker, heartbreaking
Similar in 83%
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
Plot Summary:
Harry Potter has lived under the stairs at his aunt and uncle's house his whole life. But on his 11th birthday, he learns he's a powerful wizard -- with a place waiting for him at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As he learns to harness his newfound powers with the help of the school's kindly headmaster, Harry uncovers the truth about his parents' deaths -- and about the villain who's to blame.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 837000
Genere: Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 152 min
Plot tags: fairy tale, entertaining, exciting, touching, scenic, teen, saga, mystic, visually appealing, fantasy adventure
Similar in 79%
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007)
Plot Summary:
Molly Mahoney is the awkward and insecure manager of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, the strangest, most fantastic, most wonderful toy store in the world. But when Mr. Magorium bequeaths the store to her, a dark and ominous change begins to take over the once remarkable Emporium.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 47000
Genere: Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: light, feel good, humorous, fairy tale, inspirational, motivational, touching, melancholic, semi serious, cute
Similar in 85%
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)
Plot Summary:
Three wealthy children's parents are killed in a fire. When they are sent to a distant relative, they find out that he is plotting to kill them and seize their fortune. This movie is extremely alarming, an expression which here means "a thrilling misadventure involving three ingenious orphans and a villainous actor named Count Olaf (Jim Carrey) who wants their enormous fortune." It includes a suspicious fire, delicious pasta, Jim Carrey, poorly behaved looches, Billy Connolly, an incredibly deadly viper, Meryl Streep, and the voice of an imposter named Jude Law.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 218000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: offbeat, fairy tale, atmospheric, gothic, dark comedy, enigmatic, clever, bleak, humorous, semi serious
Similar in 75%
Descendants (2015)
Plot Summary:
A present-day idyllic kingdom where the benevolent teenage son of King Adam and Queen Belle offers a chance of redemption for the troublemaking offspring of Disney's classic villains: Cruella De Vil (Carlos), Maleficent (Mal), the Evil Queen (Evvie) and Jafar (Jay).
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: fairy tale, exciting, feel good, entertaining, semi serious, humorous, teen, funny, crying, epic fantasy
Similar in 75%
Nanny McPhee (2005)
Plot Summary:
Widower Cedric Brown hires Nanny McPhee to care for his seven rambunctious children, who have chased away all previous nannies. Taunted by Simon and his siblings, Nanny McPhee uses mystical powers to instill discipline. And when the children's great-aunt and benefactor, Lady Adelaide Stitch, threatens to separate the kids, the family pulls together under the guidance of Nanny McPhee.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 84000
Genere: Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Country: USA, UK, France
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: fairy tale, sweet, feel good, touching, light, humorous, semi serious, offbeat, cute, inspirational
Similar in 89%
Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang (2010)
Plot Summary:
Nanny McPhee appears at the door of a harried young mother, Mrs. Isabel Green, who is trying to run the family farm while her husband is away at war. But once she’s arrived, Nanny McPhee discovers that the children are fighting a war of their own against two spoiled city cousins who have just moved in. Relying on everything from a flying motorcycle and a statue that comes to life to a tree-climbing piglet and a baby elephant, Nanny uses her magic to teach her mischievous charges five new lessons.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 36000
Genere: Comedy, Family, Fantasy, War
Country: UK, France, USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: captivating, fairy tale, entertaining, scenic, touching, humorous, surreal, colorful, witty, semi serious
Similar in 87%
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
Plot Summary:
A young boy wins a tour through the most magnificent chocolate factory in the world, led by the world's most unusual candy maker.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 513000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Musical
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: fairy tale, feel good, stylized, colorful, offbeat, visual, touching, visually stunning, funny, sweet
Similar in 86%
Paddington (2014)
Plot Summary:
After a deadly earthquake destroys his home in Peruvian rainforest, a young bear makes his way to England in search of a new home. The bear, dubbed "Paddington" for the london train station, finds shelter with the family of Henry and Mary Brown. Although Paddington's amazement at urban living soon endears him to the Browns, someone else has her eye on him: Taxidermist Millicent Clyde has designs on the rare bear and his hide.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 129000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Country: UK, France, USA, China
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, sweet, colorful, stylized, not serious, semi serious, funny, humorous, slapstick