Best movies like The Great Gilly Hopkins

Similar in 75%

My Bodyguard (1980)

Plot Summary:

Clifford Peach (Chris Makepeace), an easygoing teenager, is finding less than easy to fit in at his new high school, where a tough-talking bully (Matt Dillon) terrorizes his classmates and extorts their lunch money. Refusing to pay up, Clifford enlist the aid of an overgrown misfit whose mere presence intimidates students and teachers alike. But their "business relationship" soon turns personal as Clifford and the troubled loner forge a winning alliance against their intimidators - and a very special friendship with each other. Ruth Gordon, Martin Mull, Joan Cusack and John Houseman round out "a truly remarkable cast" (Variety) in this delightful coming-of-age comedy and triumphant tribute to the underdog.

Similar in 86%

Wide Awake (1998)

Plot Summary:

A feel-good comedy about the laughter, excitement and fun that come with being a kid! Joshua is a thoughtful 10-year-old looking for some simple answers to life's eternal questions. The problem is that no one - including his concerned parents and his 5th grade teacher - seems to be making any sense!.

Similar in 77%

Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010)

Plot Summary:

Greg Heffley is headed for big things, but first he has to survive the scariest, most humiliating experience of any kid’s life – middle school! That won’t be easy, considering he’s surrounded by hairy-freckled morons, wedgie-loving bullies and a moldy slice of cheese with nuclear cooties!.

Similar in 88%

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.

Similar in 75%

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?.

Similar in 89%

Thunder Road (2018)

Plot Summary:

Officer Arnaud raises his daughter as a love letter to his late Mom.

Similar in 88%

My Dog Skip (2000)

Plot Summary:

A shy boy is unable to make friends in Yazoo City, Mississippi in 1942, until his parents give him a terrier puppy for his ninth birthday. The dog, which he names Skip, becomes well known and loved throughout the community and enriches the life of the boy, Willie, as he grows into manhood. Based on the best-selling Mississippi memoir by the late Willie Morris.

Similar in 82%

The Dynamiter (2011)

Plot Summary:

All fourteen-year-old Robbie Hendrick ever wanted was a family. Yet as another Mississippi summer begins, his wayward mother has run off again fearing a breakdown and he's left to burn the days caring for his half brother, Fess. As the deep days and nights pass without her return and with older brother Lucas dangerously in their lives again, Robbie must face the fact that his dream of a family may only be a dream and he might just lose the only family he's ever had: Fess.

Similar in 87%

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.

Similar in 80%

Eighth Grade (2018)

Plot Summary:

Thirteen-year-old Kayla endures the tidal wave of contemporary suburban adolescence as she makes her way through the last week of middle school — the end of her thus far disastrous eighth grade year — before she begins high school.

Similar in 81%

Flower (2017)

Plot Summary:

Rebellious, quick-witted Erica Vandross is a 17-year-old firecracker living with her single mom, Laurie, and her mom's new boyfriend, Bob, in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley. When Bob's mentally unbalanced son, Luke, arrives from rehab to live with the family, Erica finds her domestic and personal life overwhelmed. With Luke and her sidekicks Kala and Claudine in tow, Erica acts out by exposing a high school teacher's dark secret.

Similar in 81%

Annie (2014)

Plot Summary:

Ever since her parents left her as a baby, little Annie has led a hard-knock life with her calculating foster mother, Miss Hannigan. However, all that changes when hard-nosed billionaire and mayoral candidate Will Stacks takes her in on the recommendation of his advisers. Stacks believes that he's Annie's guardian angel, but the plucky youngster's confidence and sunny outlook may mean that Annie will save Will instead.

Similar in 87%

Because of Winn-Dixie (2005)

Plot Summary:

A girl, abandoned by her mother when she was three, moves to a small town in Florida with her father. There, she adopts an orphaned dog she names Winn-Dixie. The bond between the girl and her special companion brings together the people in a small Florida town and heals her own troubled relationship with her father.

Similar in 86%

A Man Called Otto (2022)

Plot Summary:

A cranky retired man strikes up an unlikely friendship with his boisterous new neighbors. A remake of the 2015 Swedish film.

Similar in 79%

St. Vincent (2014)

Plot Summary:

A young boy whose parents just divorced finds an unlikely friend and mentor in the misanthropic, bawdy, hedonistic, war veteran who lives next door.

Similar in 84%

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.

Similar in 88%

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.

Similar in 75%

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.

Similar in 82%

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.

Similar in 78%

Gifted (2017)

Plot Summary:

Frank, a single man raising his child prodigy niece Mary, is drawn into a custody battle with his mother.

Similar in 87%

The Baby-Sitters Club (1995)

Plot Summary:

It's the story about seven very different best friends, and one summer that will bring them together like never before.

Similar in 75%

Mr. Church (2016)

Plot Summary:

A unique friendship develops when a little girl and her dying mother inherit a cook - Mr. Church. What begins as an arrangement that should only last six months, instead spans fifteen years.

Similar in 88%

We Bought a Zoo (2011)

Plot Summary:

Benjamin has lost his wife and, in a bid to start his life over, purchases a large house that has a zoo – welcome news for his daughter, but his son is not happy about it. The zoo is in need of renovation and Benjamin sets about the work with the head keeper and the rest of the staff, but, the zoo soon runs into financial trouble.

Similar in 78%

Instant Family (2018)

Plot Summary:

When Pete and Ellie decide to start a family, they stumble into the world of foster care adoption. They hope to take in one small child but when they meet three siblings, including a rebellious 15 year old girl, they find themselves speeding from zero to three kids overnight.

Similar in 78%

Like Stars on Earth (2007)

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.