Best movies like Where the Wild Things Are

Similar in 80%

The Water Horse (2007)

Plot Summary:

A lonely boy discovers a mysterious egg that hatches a sea creature of Scottish legend.

Similar in 88%

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.

Similar in 88%

The Legend of Timm Thaler or The Boy Who Sold His Laughter (2017)

Plot Summary:

Timm Thyler is poor, but he laughs a lot and he looks so charming. One day, the world’s richest man makes the boy a dubious offer: if Timm agrees to sell him his laugh, he’ll win every bet he ever makes in the future.

Similar in 90%

The Indian in the Cupboard (1995)

Plot Summary:

A nine-year-old boy gets a plastic Indian and a cupboard for his birthday and finds himself involved in adventure when the Indian comes to life and befriends him.

Similar in 90%

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019)

Plot Summary:

Return to the world of Thra, where three Gelfling discover the horrifying secret behind the Skeksis' power and set out to ignite the fires of rebellion and save their world.

Similar in 81%

The Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter (1990)

Plot Summary:

Once again, Bastian is transported to the world of Fantasia which he recently managed to save from destruction. However, the land is now being destroyed by an evil sorceress, Xayide, so he must join up with Atreyu and face the Emptiness once more.

Similar in 87%

A Monster Calls (2016)

Plot Summary:

A boy imagines a monster that helps him deal with his difficult life and see the world in a different way.

Similar in 82%

Nim's Island (2008)

Plot Summary:

A young girl inhabits an isolated island with her scientist father and communicates with a reclusive author of the novel she's reading.

Similar in 87%

The Secret of Moonacre (2008)

Plot Summary:

When 13 year old Maria Merryweather's father dies, leaving her orphaned and homeless, she is forced to leave her luxurious London life to go and live with Sir Benjamin, an eccentric uncle she didn't know she had, at the mysterious Moonacre Manor.

Similar in 84%

Hugo (2011)

Plot Summary:

Orphaned and alone except for an uncle, Hugo Cabret lives in the walls of a train station in 1930s Paris. Hugo's job is to oil and maintain the station's clocks, but to him, his more important task is to protect a broken automaton and notebook left to him by his late father. Accompanied by the goddaughter of an embittered toy merchant, Hugo embarks on a quest to solve the mystery of the automaton and find a place he can call home.

Similar in 79%

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.

Similar in 84%

Inkheart (2008)

Plot Summary:

The adventures of a father and his young daughter, in their search for a long lost book that will help reunite a missing, close relative.

Similar in 75%

The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)

Plot Summary:

Upon moving into the run-down Spiderwick Estate with their mother, twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace, along with their sister Mallory, find themselves pulled into an alternate world full of faeries and other creatures.

Similar in 89%

The Golden Compass (2007)

Plot Summary:

After overhearing a shocking secret, precocious orphan Lyra Belacqua trades her carefree existence roaming the halls of Jordan College for an otherworldly adventure in the far North, unaware that it's part of her destiny.

Similar in 81%

Labyrinth (1986)

Plot Summary:

Frustrated with babysitting on yet another weekend night, Sarah - a teenager with an active imagination - summons the Goblins from her favourite book, "Labyrinth", to take the baby stepbrother away. When little Toby actually disappears, Sarah must follow him into the world of the fairytale to rescue him from the Goblin King!.

Similar in 90%

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.

Similar in 81%

The Secret Garden (1993)

Plot Summary:

A young British girl born and reared in India loses her neglectful parents in an earthquake. She is returned to England to live at her uncle's castle. Her uncle is very distant due to the loss of his wife ten years before. Neglected once again, she begins exploring the estate and discovers a garden that has been locked and neglected. Aided by one of the servants' boys, she begins restoring the garden, and eventually discovers some other secrets of the manor.

Similar in 75%

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

Plot Summary:

Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, Moonrise Kingdom tells the story of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore – and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in more ways than anyone can handle.

Similar in 80%

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 77%

Life of Pi (2012)

Plot Summary:

The story of an Indian boy named Pi, a zookeeper's son who finds himself in the company of a hyena, zebra, orangutan, and a Bengal tiger after a shipwreck sets them adrift in the Pacific Ocean.

Similar in 87%

The NeverEnding Story (1984)

Plot Summary:

While hiding from bullies in his school's attic, a young boy discovers the extraordinary land of Fantasia, through a magical book called The Neverending Story. The book tells the tale of Atreyu, a young warrior who, with the help of a luck dragon named Falkor, must save Fantasia from the destruction of The Nothing.

Similar in 78%

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.

Similar in 79%

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.

Similar in 85%

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

Plot Summary:

The Dwarves, Bilbo and Gandalf have successfully escaped the Misty Mountains, and Bilbo has gained the One Ring. They all continue their journey to get their gold back from the Dragon, Smaug.

Similar in 88%

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.

Similar in 76%

Jumanji (1995)

Plot Summary:

When siblings Judy and Peter discover an enchanted board game that opens the door to a magical world, they unwittingly invite Alan -- an adult who's been trapped inside the game for 26 years -- into their living room. Alan's only hope for freedom is to finish the game, which proves risky as all three find themselves running from giant rhinoceroses, evil monkeys and other terrifying creatures.

Similar in 88%

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)

Plot Summary:

Siblings Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter step through a magical wardrobe and find the land of Narnia. There, the they discover a charming, once peaceful kingdom that has been plunged into eternal winter by the evil White Witch, Jadis. Aided by the wise and magnificent lion, Aslan, the children lead Narnia into a spectacular, climactic battle to be free of the Witch's glacial powers forever.

Similar in 86%

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.

Similar in 85%

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.

Similar in 77%

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

Plot Summary:

Frodo and Sam are trekking to Mordor to destroy the One Ring of Power while Gimli, Legolas and Aragorn search for the orc-captured Merry and Pippin. All along, nefarious wizard Saruman awaits the Fellowship members at the Orthanc Tower in Isengard.