Movies like Saiyûki (1952)
The best movies like Saiyûki (1952) are The Water Man (2020), Odysseus & the Isle of Mists (2008) and Prince Charming (2001). If Saiyûki hooked you with its adventure and fantasy, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)7.6/10 from 14,802 votes
- NewestA Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025)Released 2025
The Water Man (2020)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOdysseus & the Isle of Mists (2008)
King Odysseus has been away from Ithaca for twenty years.The first ten he spent fighting the Trojan War the last ten he spent fighting to get home. Among his adventures is the tale Homer felt was too horrible to tell, the missing book of the Odyssey known as The Isle of the Mists. Here the Warrior King and his men face the Goddess of the Underworld and her winged horrific creatures.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrince Charming (2001)
After an extramarital indiscretion, a fairy-tale prince and his sidekick are turned into frogs for all eternity or until the prince can convince a maiden to kiss and then marry him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPinocchio (2009)
The enchanted story of Pinocchio.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMythica: A Quest for Heroes (2014)
Stuck in a life of indentured servitude, Marek dreams of becoming a wizard. When she meets the beautiful priestess Teela in need of help, she offers her assistance and provides a motley troupe. Together they go in search of Teela's sister, who was kidnapped by a wild ogre.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisCome Away (2020)
Before Alice went to Wonderland, and before Peter became Pan, they were brother and sister. When their eldest brother dies in a tragic accident, they each seek to save their parents from their downward spirals of despair until finally they are forced to choose between home and imagination, setting the stage for their iconic journeys into Wonderland and Neverland.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisJack the Giant Slayer (2013)
The story of an ancient war that is reignited when a young farmhand unwittingly opens a gateway between our world and a fearsome race of giants. Unleashed on the Earth for the first time in centuries, the giants strive to reclaim the land they once lost, forcing the young man, Jack into the battle of his life to stop them. Fighting for a kingdom, its people, and the love of a brave princess, he comes face to face with the unstoppable warriors he thought only existed in legend–and gets the chance to become a legend himself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisDragonheart: Vengeance (2021)
Lukas, a young farmer whose family is killed by savage raiders in the countryside, sets out on an epic quest for revenge, forming an unlikely trio with a majestic dragon and a swashbuckling, sword-fighting mercenary, Darius.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMythica: The Godslayer (2016)
As the Lich King's zombie legions ravage the world, a cursed young sorceress embarks on a quest to obtain a weapon from the gods. But when she joins her sworn enemy in a desperate attempt to save the world, she must recover the good in herself before her friends are all dead, and defeat the Lich King before the gods are destroyed and the world forever enslaved.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisRiddle of Fire (2024)
Three mischievous children embark on a woodland odyssey when their mother sends them on an errand.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWish Upon a Unicorn (2020)
Two children discover that their mother is gone. The youngest of the pair, adventurer and upcomming singer, Long Johnson forces his older sister, Lily Johnson, to hunt down a unicorn with magical blood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSlumberland (2022)
A young girl discovers a secret map to the dreamworld of Slumberland, and with the help of an eccentric outlaw, she traverses dreams and flees nightmares, with the hope that she will be able to see her late father again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Primevals (2023)
Deep in the Himalayas, a group of sherpas kills a gigantic humanoid creature. Convinced that it is the legendary Yeti, Dr. Claire Collier organizes an expedition with her former student Matt Connor and hunter Rondo Montana, among others, to search for more specimens. But what awaits them is something that none of them could have imagined. A colorful fusion of real image and stop-motion that is reminiscent of fantastic films from the 1980s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Fairy Tale After All (2022)
A stubborn teenage girl finds herself confronted by whimsical characters when she is transported into a world of fantasy and fairy tales while attending a school marionette show.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKings of the Sun (1963)
In order to flee from powerful enemies, young Mayan king Balam leads his people north across the Gulf of Mexico to the coast of what will become the United States. They build a home in the new land but come into conflict with a tribe of Native Americans led by their chief, Black Eagle, while both Balam and Black Eagle fall in love the beautiful Mayan princess Ixchel.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJack Hunter and the Quest for Akhenaten's Tomb (2008)
Adventurer Jack Hunter sets off in pursuit of a legendary tomb, meeting dangerous old adversaries, and even more dangerous old flames, along the way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025)
Sarah and David are single strangers who meet at a mutual friend’s wedding and soon, through a surprising twist of fate, find themselves on a funny, fantastical, sweeping adventure together where they get to re-live important moments from their respective pasts, illuminating how they got to where they are in the present... and possibly getting a chance to alter their futures.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTall Tale: The Unbelievable Adventure (1995)
A young boy draws on the inspiration of legendary western characters to find the strength to fight an evil land baron in the old west who wants to steal his family's farm and destroy their idyllic community. When Daniel Hackett sees his father Jonas gravely wounded by the villainous Stiles, his first urge is for his family to flee the danger, and give up their life on a farm which Daniel has come to despise anyway. Going alone to a lake to try to decide what to do, he falls asleep on a boat and wakes to find himself in the wild west, in the company of such "tall tale" legends as Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, John Henry and Calamity Jane. Together, they battle the same villains Daniel is facing in his "real" world, ending with a heroic confrontation in which the boy stands up to Stiles and his henchmen, and rallies his neighbors to fight back against land grabbers who want to destroy their town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJack Hunter and the Lost Treasure of Ugarit (2010)
Jack Hunter, an adventurous treasure seeker, goes to Syria after his mentor and father figure Professor Fredrick Shaffer is killed. Professor Frederick Shaffer believed that the people of Ugarit, a town in Syria that existed during the Pharoah’s reign, had buried a treasure before they were wiped out by the Pharoahs. Jack Hunter is one of the few archaeologists in the world who can interpret Ugarit writings
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Saiyûki?
The closest matches to Saiyûki are The Water Man (2020), Odysseus & the Isle of Mists (2008) and Prince Charming (2001). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Saiyûki?
Start with The Water Man (2020), the closest match to Saiyûki.
What is the highest-rated movie like Saiyûki?
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013), rated 7.6/10 by 14,802 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Saiyûki?
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Saiyûki?
The closest matches are in other languages.
How are movies similar to Saiyûki chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Saiyûki, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.