Best movies like Runaway
Last updated March 2024
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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:
Best tv shows and movies like Runaway (1989):
Similar in 76%
Never Heard (2018)
Plot Summary:
After Aaron is charged with murder, he uses the power of prayer to help prove his innocence turning his life around and saving his son Jalen from the street life before it is too late.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 545
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: inspirational, thought provoking, touching, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 85%
Life! Camera Action... (2012)
Plot Summary:
A young girl in pursuit of her dreams of becoming a filmmaker against all odds.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 126
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, sincere, touching, realistic, suspenseful, surprise ending, underground film, crying, independent film, silent
Similar in 86%
A Girl of the Limberlost (1990)
Plot Summary:
A teenage girl living in 1908 rural Indiana attends high school despite her mother's fierce opposition of her life, the friendship of a free-spirted older woman helps her stick to her goals.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 246
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: retro
Similar in 75%
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1995)
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:
Similar in 79%
The Price of Love (1995)
Plot Summary:
16 year old Bret lives with his indifferent father and a stepmother who abhors him. After yet another fight he leaves home. He meets two guys and a girl who are drifting around. He feels attracted to Roxanne and they decide to continue together to LA. Unfortunately Roxanne gets busted by the police, so Bret is on his own again. In LA he meets some nice guys who offer him lodging. However they are involved with (male) prostitution.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 164
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
Silver Bells (2005)
Plot Summary:
Manhattanite Catherine O'Mara (Heche) bonds with a young man who has run away from his father. When the father returns to New York a year later to sell his Christmas trees, he and Catherine cross paths.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 79%
And the Children Shall Lead (1985)
Plot Summary:
Mississippi in the early '60s is the setting for this story of a 12-year-old African-American girl who, along with her white friends, tries to ease increasing racial tensions.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 97
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 58 min
Plot tags: cult film
Similar in 90%
A Piggy Tale (1991)
Plot Summary:
Dolly, a lovely, adorable little girl from the mountain region. Due to the death of her parents, she was sent to her parents' friend, Mrs. Chu's care. When Dolly and her mini pig playmate, Guava, first came to Taipei, they brought a great change in the life of the Chu family and created a series of thrilling amusing incidents. One day, Papa Chu brought Guava to the office but negligently lost it. When Dolly heard that Guava got lost, she was very sad and decided to leave home to search for Guava. In order to help Dolly, Chu Pi, Papa Chu's son, called his buddies to join Dolly in the search of Guava. An interesting, worrying search journey by a group of children began.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 20
Genere: Family, Drama
Country: Taiwan
Duration:
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
Lily in Winter (1994)
Plot Summary:
Lily Covington, a Manhattan housekeeper, embarks on a trip to the rural Alabama town of her youth. To Lily's surprise, her employer's nine-year-old son Michael stows away for the ride. Together, Lily and Michael realize just how alike and how different their worlds really are. Michael explores a way of life he never knew existed, while Lily discovers some tender truths about the family she left behind.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 151
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: sentimental, uplifting, touching, feel good, emotional, realistic
Similar in 80%
Someone Was Watching (2003)
Plot Summary:
When Chris falls asleep whilst supposed to be watching his little sister, Molly, she goes missing. Finding her colouring book by the river, everyone believes she drowned there and try and move on with their life. But when Chris and his best friend, Pat watch over a tape of the day she went missing some things just don't match up and Chris believes his sister was kidnapped and is still alive. Chris and Pat go on an adventure to New Mexico to prove to everyone that Molly is really still alive.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 143
Genere: Drama, Family, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious
Similar in 83%
Homecoming (1996)
Plot Summary:
When their mother disappears, a group of siblings are forced to fend for themselves, and make their way on their own. They eventually meet their grandmother, a loner who is reluctant to take them in. Based on the novel by Cynthia Voigt.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: sentimental, uplifting, touching, feel good, serious, realistic, crying
Similar in 82%
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 76%
Only Clouds Move the Stars (1998)
Plot Summary:
Eleven year old Maria has lost her little brother to cancer. Having disappeared into herself, her mother is no longer there for Maria and her father struggles to keep the family together. Maria meets Jacob, who is the same age as she, but with a completely different attitude. Jacob is outgoing, exciting, funny and has wisdom way beyond his tender years. He gradually pulls Maria out of her shell and enables her to come to decisions which will affect her entire life.Only Clouds Move the Stars tackles a serious subject with humour and wit. With its strong emotional content, the film leaves no one untouched. Based on an award-winning novel, this film shares the sensibilities of the Swedish hit, My Life as a Dog.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 711
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Norway
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 83%
Sally Marshall Is Not an Alien (1999)
Plot Summary:
A young girl obsessed with watching the heavens bets her telescope with the local bully that their oddly acting new neighbours are not aliens from outer space.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 169
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Australia, Canada
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 80%
Orphan Horse (2018)
Plot Summary:
A retired horse trainer finds a young runaway girl in his barn. Skeptic at first, he let's her stay and a friendship develops while he discovers her heart and talent for horses.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 602
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, disturbing, inspirational, touching
Similar in 84%
Rubber Tarzan (1981)
Plot Summary:
Ivan is a very lonely 8 year boy who is bullied almost every day in school. Even his father taunts him because Ivan litteraly is a weakling (That should explain the title Rubber Tarzan). As a result of this Ivan spends a lot of his time on daydreaming until he meets a kind of kindred spirit - the friendly and lonely crane driver Ole.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Denmark
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
Black Beauty (2020)
Plot Summary:
Born free in the American West, Black Beauty is a horse rounded up and brought to Birtwick Stables, where she meets spirited teenager Jo Green. The two forge a bond that carries Beauty through the different chapters, challenges and adventures.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA, UK, South Africa, Germany, France
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: sexy, sincere, psychological, unusual plot structure, captivating, cult classic
Similar in 81%
About Scout (2015)
Plot Summary:
A rebellious Goth girl embarks on a road trip across Texas with a suicidal young man in an effort to find her little sister.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 829
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 86%
The Letter Writer (2011)
Plot Summary:
When a teenager receives a mysterious letter in the mail, she sets out to find the author. It's a journey that will change her life forever.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, inspirational, road movie
Similar in 90%
Christmas in Canaan (2009)
Plot Summary:
Set in the 1960s, Christmas in Canaan is a drama about a black family and a white family that learn to love each other out of their Christian beliefs.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 629
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: light, atmospheric, sentimental, captivating
Similar in 85%
White Mama (1980)
Plot Summary:
A poor, elderly white woman living in a tenement in a black ghetto is befriended by a neighborhood boy, and the two of them form a mutually beneficial relationship: he provides her companionship and protection, and she becomes the mother he never had.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 783
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: sincere, uplifting, thought provoking, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 84%
The Christmas Tree (1996)
Plot Summary:
A story about a forming friendship between an elderly nun, Sister Anthony, and New York's Rockefeller Center's head gardener Richard Reilly, who wants to fell a tree she's been growing for decades and move it to New York for Christmas display.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 438
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: christmas special
Similar in 75%
The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry (2008)
Plot Summary:
The lives of three 12-year-old buddies -- sharing a carefree existence in the summer of 1970 -- suddenly change when one of them, Dustin, makes an unexpected friend after cutting the lawn of 75-year-old Jonathan Sperry. As Jonathan shares lessons in faith with Dustin and his pals, a spiritual transformation occurs in this Christian drama.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: christian film, thought provoking, sincere, serious, realistic, contemplative, biblical, uplifting
Similar in 87%
Truth or Dare (1997)
Plot Summary:
Summer holiday is over. Nora begins sixth grade and is drawn to intrigues and doesn't really know what side she's on. Or wants to be on. On one hand she feels sorry for the bullied Karin, one the other hand she wants to be friends with tough Fanny and Sabina.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 758
Genere: Family, Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 77 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 80%
Bridge to Terabithia (1985)
Plot Summary:
Jess Aarons and new girl Leslie Burke create a world of their own and call it Terabithia and pretend to be the king and queen. They return to their magical kingdom every day after school.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 730
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Canada
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: crying, independent film
Similar in 87%
Alan & Naomi (1992)
Plot Summary:
When Naomi, a young refugee from Nazi-occupied Paris, moves into Alan Silverman’s building in New York, he does his best to avoid her. But despite Naomi's strange behavior and the language barrier, they slowly develop a deep and touching friendship.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 475
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: independent film, psychological, sentimental, sincere, uplifting, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, crying
Similar in 89%
Where the Red Fern Grows (2003)
Plot Summary:
Set in the Ozark Mountains during the Great Depression, Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for 2 years to achieve his dream of buying two coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in God as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with "Old Dan" and "Little Ann.".
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, semi serious, gothic, sad, independent film
Similar in 88%
An American Girl Holiday (2004)
Plot Summary:
Kindhearted Samantha Parkington's world starts to change the day Nellie O'Malley walks into her life. Nellie, her father, and her two little sisters have moved in next door to be servants for the Ryland family. Though they come from completely different backgrounds, Samantha and Nellie become fast friends. The girls turn to each other in happiness and sorrow, adventure and danger.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: touching, fairy tale, feel good, sweet, inspirational, sentimental, period piece, realistic, serious
Similar in 75%
Sounder (1972)
Plot Summary:
The Morgans, a loving and strong family of Black sharecroppers in Louisiana in 1933, face a serious family crisis when the husband and father, Nathan Lee Morgan, is convicted of a petty crime and sent to a prison camp. After some weeks or months, the wife and mother, Rebecca Morgan, sends the oldest son, who is about 11 years old, to visit his father at the camp. The trip becomes something of an odyssey for the boy. During the journey he stays a little while with a dedicated Black schoolteacher.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: emotional, sentimental, touching, realistic, thought provoking, gothic, social, southern gothic, sincere, uplifting
Similar in 83%
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