Movies like Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)
The best movies like Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) are The Water Horse (2007), The Island at the Top of the World (1974) and Scooby-Doo! and the Loch Ness Monster (2004). If Journey to the Center of the Earth hooked you with its adventure and fantasy, these 30 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 14,808 votes
- NewestPrincess Principal Crown Handler: Chapter 4 (2025)Released 2025
The Water Horse (2007)
A lonely boy discovers a mysterious egg that hatches a sea creature of Scottish legend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Island at the Top of the World (1974)
A Victorian gentleman hopes to find his long-lost son, who vanished while searching for a mysterious Viking community in a volcanic valley somewhere in uncharted Arctic regions. The gentleman puts together an expedition team to go on the search, but when they reach their destination they must escape from some Viking descendants who will kill to keep their existence a secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisScooby-Doo! and the Loch Ness Monster (2004)
While the gang travel to Scotland to visit Daphne's cousin and witness the annual Highland Games, they find themselves terrorized by the legendary Loch Ness Monster.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisReturn to Oz (1985)
Dorothy, saved from a psychiatric experiment by a mysterious girl, finds herself back in the land of her dreams, and makes delightful new friends, and dangerous new enemies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJack the Giant Killer (1962)
Desiring control of the kingdom, evil wizard Pendragon devises a cunning machination to usurp the throne. By abducting and forcing Princess Elaine to marry him, Pendragon will coerce the king into abdicating his power. When Pendragon sends a giant to kidnap Elaine, a simple farmer named Jack witnesses the abduction, and bravely slays the beast. Undeterred, Pendragon has more power and creatures at his disposal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInkheart (2008)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnastasia: Once Upon a Time (2020)
Anastasia Romanov escapes through a portal when her family is threatened by Vladimir Lenin, and she finds herself in the year 1988, befriended by a young American girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisDolittle (2020)
After losing his wife seven years earlier, the eccentric Dr. John Dolittle, famed doctor and veterinarian of Queen Victoria’s England, hermits himself away behind the high walls of Dolittle Manor with only his menagerie of exotic animals for company. But when the young queen falls gravely ill, a reluctant Dolittle is forced to set sail on an epic adventure to a mythical island in search of a cure, regaining his wit and courage as he crosses old adversaries and discovers wondrous creatures.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJourney to the Center of the Earth (2008)
On a quest to find out what happened to his missing brother, a scientist, his nephew and their mountain guide discover a fantastic and dangerous lost world in the center of the earth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lost World (1960)
Professor Challenger leads an expedition of scientists and adventurers to a remote plateau deep in the Amazonian jungle to verify his claim that dinosaurs still live there.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Lost World (2001)
This Lost World is a splendid BBC TV dramatisation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous adventure story. Bob Hoskins makes an unusually genial Professor Challenger, far less of a bully than Doyle's character, but his slightly stereotyped companions are nicely filled out by a solid cast. James Fox is Challenger's more timid but still covertly adventurous rival, Tom Ward is the moustachioed big game hunter who faces an Allosaurus with an elephant gun, and Matthew Rhys plays the tagalong reporter hoping to impress his faithless fiancée.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Secret of Kells (2009)
Adventure awaits 12 year old Brendan who must fight Vikings and a serpent god to find a crystal and complete the legendary Book of Kells. In order to finish Brother Aiden's book, Brendan must overcome his deepest fears on a secret quest that will take him beyond the abbey walls and into the enchanted forest where dangerous mythical creatures hide. Will Brendan succeed in his quest?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisExtinct (2021)
Op and Ed, two adorable donut-shaped animals - flummels - accidentally time-travel from 1835 to modern-day Shanghai. There they discover traffic, trans fats, and worst of all, that flummels are now extinct. It's up to this bumbling pair to save themselves and their species...and, just maybe, change the course of history.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Land Before Time XIV: Journey of the Brave (2016)
On a day known to the dinosaurs as "Treasure Day", Bron becomes stuck in the Mysterious Beyond. This event urges the young Longneck Littlefoot to take his friends on a quest to the Fire Mountain to save his father. Along the way, they befriend a Flyer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Adventures of Jurassic Pet (2019)
An adventurous teenager summons the courage to help a friendly dinosaur to escape from the clutches of a mad scientist that wants to use him for experimentations.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island (1997)
The Great Valley turns barren and herds of dinosaurs have to find another place to inhabit. Cera, Littlefoot and Petrie, all kids, leave to find food and get stranded on a lush unknown island.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDino Time (2012)
Young daredevil Ernie, his sister Julia, and his best friend Max accidentally trip a time-machine into operation and find themselves transported back in time 65 million years, where they meet a T-rex named Tyra and her rambunctious son Dodger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMissing Link (2019)
The charismatic Sir Lionel Frost considers himself to be the world's foremost investigator of myths and monsters. Trouble is, none of his small-minded, high-society peers seems to recognize this. Hoping to finally gain acceptance from these fellow adventurers, Sir Lionel travels to the Pacific Northwest to prove the existence of a legendary creature known as the missing link.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & 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 thisLady and the Tramp (1955)
Lady, a golden cocker spaniel, meets up with a mongrel dog who calls himself the Tramp. He is obviously from the wrong side of town, but happenings at Lady's home make her decide to travel with him for a while.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both family & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAtlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
A young linguist named Milo Thatch joins an intrepid group of explorers to find the mysterious lost continent of Atlantis.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both family & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Lost Valley (2017)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & fantasy
The Secret Garden (2017)
Steampunk update of the classic tale by Frances Hodgson Burnett, with orphaned teen Mary Lennox discovering the magic and mystery of the secret garden.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both family & fantasy
The Phantom Empire (1987)
When a man-eating cave creature appears with a fortune in uncut diamonds around his neck, Dr Chambers' daughter Denae hires adventurers C and C Salvage to find the underground source of the gems.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & fantasy
The Adventures of Jurassic Pet 2: The Lost Secret (2023)
There's a new baby T. Rex in town – and his name is Junior! When Junior escapes into our world from the Land of the Dinosaurs, teenager Wendy and her friend, Curtis, must return him safely before anyone finds him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both family & adventure
Princess Principal Crown Handler: Chapter 4 (2025)
After a failed attempt to defect Princess Mary, Team White Pigeon is captured by the Kingdom's Home Office. When the Duke of Normandy discovers that the girls are spies for the Commonwealth, he orders them to become double agents for the Kingdom. Princesses is placed under the control of the Duke of Normandy, and the other four spies are temporarily released while remaining under constant surveillance. Meanwhile on Control's side, this incident leads to suspicions that the members of Team White Pigeon have become double agents for the Kingdom. In order to investigate the matter, Control assigns the team a new mission.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
Around the World in 80 Days (2004)
A bet pits a British inventor, a Chinese thief and a French artist on a worldwide adventure that they can circle the globe in 80 days.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHoward the Duck (1986)
A scientific experiment unknowingly brings extraterrestrial life forms to the Earth through a laser beam. First is the cigar-smoking drake, Howard, from the duck's planet. A few kids try to keep him from the greedy scientists and help him back to his planet, but then a much less friendly being arrives through the beam...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisDeep Rising (1998)
A group of heavily armed hijackers board a luxury ocean liner in the South Pacific Ocean to loot it, only to do battle with a series of large-sized, tentacled, man-eating sea creatures who have taken over the ship first.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Journey to the Center of the Earth?
The closest matches to Journey to the Center of the Earth are The Water Horse (2007), The Island at the Top of the World (1974) and Scooby-Doo! and the Loch Ness Monster (2004). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Journey to the Center of the Earth?
Start with The Water Horse (2007), the closest match to Journey to the Center of the Earth.
What is the highest-rated movie like Journey to the Center of the Earth?
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013), rated 7.6/10 by 14,808 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Journey to the Center of the Earth?
Princess Principal Crown Handler: Chapter 4 (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Journey to the Center of the Earth?
Yes: The Water Horse (2007), The Island at the Top of the World (1974) and Scooby-Doo! and the Loch Ness Monster (2004).
How are movies similar to Journey to the Center of the Earth chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Journey to the Center of the Earth, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.