Best movies like Vanishing Time: A Boy Who Returned

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The Water Man (2020)

Plot Summary:

Hoping to save his sick mother, a boy named Gunner and his friend Jo venture into the remote Wild Horse forest to search for a mythical figure who possesses the secret to immortality. When they go missing, Gunner's father Amos must immerse himself in his son's world to find them.

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The Strange Case of Angelica (2010)

Plot Summary:

A magical tale about a young photographer who falls madly in love with a woman he can never have, except in his dreams. Late one night, Isaac is summoned by a wealthy family to take the last photograph of a young bride, Angelica, who mysteriously passed away. Arriving at their estate, Isaac is struck by Angelica's beauty, but when he looks through his lens, something strange happens - the young woman appears to come to life. From that moment, Isaac will be haunted by Angelica day and night.

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Wendy (2020)

Plot Summary:

A re-imagining of "Peter Pan" from the point of view of Wendy Darling, who finds herself lost on a mysterious island where aging and time have come unglued. She must fight to save her family, her freedom and the joyous spirit of youth.

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Prospero's Books (1991)

Plot Summary:

An exiled magician finds an opportunity for revenge against his enemies muted when his daughter and the son of his chief enemy fall in love in this uniquely structured retelling of the 'The Tempest'.

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The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)

Plot Summary:

In the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, Ana, a sensitive seven-year-old girl in a rural Spanish hamlet is traumatized after a traveling projectionist screens a print of James Whale's 1931 "Frankenstein" for the village. The youngster is profoundly disturbed by the scenes in which the monster murders the little girl and is later killed himself by the villagers. She questions her sister about the profundities of life and death and believes her older sibling when she tells her that the monster is not dead, but exists as a spirit inhabiting a nearby barn. When a Loyalist soldier, a fugitive from Franco's victorious army, hides out in the barn, Ana crosses from reality into a fantasy world of her own.

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Starry Starry Night (2011)

Plot Summary:

There was once a young girl named May who felt alienated from everyone around her. May is worried about her mother and father, whose marriage is on the rocks, and she yearns to return to the woods where her grandfather lives. One day, May befriends a boy as lonely as she is. When reality catches up, they run away to a beautiful world that belongs only to them. Both imaginatively escapist and heartbreakingly realistic, their journey speaks to kids and adults alike with the pain of solitude, the sorrow of loss, and the warmth of hope.

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Another Trip to the Moon (2015)

Plot Summary:

The magical surrealist journey of Asa, daughter of a shaman, who confronts her own mother, fighting for her own life and freedom.

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The Secret of Roan Inish (1994)

Plot Summary:

10-year-old Fiona is sent to live with her grandparents in a small fishing village in Donegal, Ireland. She soon learns the local legend that an ancestor of hers married a Selkie - a seal who can turn into a human. Years earlier, her baby brother was washed out to sea and never seen again, so when Fiona spies a naked little boy on the abandoned Isle of Roan Inish, she is compelled to investigate.

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Sleeping Beauty (2014)

Plot Summary:

The beautiful Aurora is cursed into everlasting sleep by an evil witch for a crime she didn't commit. The brave Commander of the Guard, William, embarks on a quest inspired by both love and loyalty to free the doomed princess. He travels into the dark forest where he encounters a friendly elf that helps him on his quest, a dangerous wizard with no love for royalty or evil, a deadly assassin, and a ravenous creature that preys on human flesh before the final confrontation that will determine Aurora's fate.

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I Kill Giants (2017)

Plot Summary:

Sophia, a new high school student, tries to make friends with Barbara, who tells her that “she kills giants,” protecting this way her hometown and its inhabitants, who do not understand her strange behavior.

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Lady in the Water (2006)

Plot Summary:

Apartment building superintendent Cleveland Heep rescues what he thinks is a young woman from the pool he maintains. When he discovers that she is actually a character from a bedtime story who is trying to make the journey back to her home, he works with his tenants to protect his new friend from the creatures that are determined to keep her in our world.

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Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

Plot Summary:

Hushpuppy, an intrepid six-year-old girl, lives with her father, Wink in 'the Bathtub', a southern Delta community at the edge of the world. Wink’s tough love prepares her for the unraveling of the universe – for a time when he’s no longer there to protect her. When Wink contracts a mysterious illness, nature flies out of whack – temperatures rise, and the ice caps melt, unleashing an army of prehistoric creatures called aurochs. With the waters rising, the aurochs coming, and Wink’s health fading, Hushpuppy goes in search of her lost mother.

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Paperhouse (1988)

Plot Summary:

Anna is becoming lost in the loneliness of her own world when she discovers she can visit another, a house she has drawn herself and occupied by a young disabled boy. But as she discovers more of the links between her fantasy world and the mundane present, she is drawn only deeper into a dream turning into a nightmare.

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Mirrormask (2005)

Plot Summary:

In a fantasy world of opposing kingdoms, a 15-year old girl must find the fabled MirrorMask in order to save the kingdom and get home.

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The Fall (2006)

Plot Summary:

In a hospital on the outskirts of 1920s Los Angeles, an injured stuntman begins to tell a fellow patient, a little girl with a broken arm, a fantastic story about 5 mythical heroes. Thanks to his fractured state of mind and her vivid imagination, the line between fiction and reality starts to blur as the tale advances.

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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.

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Big Fish (2003)

Plot Summary:

Throughout his life Edward Bloom has always been a man of big appetites, enormous passions and tall tales. In his later years, he remains a huge mystery to his son, William. Now, to get to know the real man, Will begins piecing together a true picture of his father from flashbacks of his amazing adventures.

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Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

Plot Summary:

Living with her tyrannical stepfather in a new home with her pregnant mother, 10-year-old Ofelia feels alone until she explores a decaying labyrinth guarded by a mysterious faun who claims to know her destiny. If she wishes to return to her real father, Ofelia must complete three terrifying tasks.