Movies like My Penguin Friend (2024)
The best movies like My Penguin Friend (2024) are Runt (2024), Blueback (2022) and Dolphin Tale (2011). If My Penguin Friend hooked you with its family and adventure, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedA Dog's Journey (2019)8.1/10 from 1,669 votes
- NewestMoon the Panda (2025)Released 2025
Runt (2024)
In the Australian town of Upson Downs, ten-year-old Annie and Runt, her stray dog, attempt to win the Agility Course Championship at the Krumpets Dog Show in London in order to save their family's farm from drought and misery.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & adventure
Blueback (2022)
Based on the best-selling novel by Tim Winton, Blueback is a timely tale about the ocean, a beautiful marine creature, and a young girl’s power to change the world.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDolphin Tale (2011)
A sea of animal rescuers — and a lonely boy in need of a friend – nurse an injured dolphin back to health after it loses its tail in a trap.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wolf and the Lion (2021)
After her grandfather's death, 20-year-old Alma decides to go back to her childhood home - a little island in the heart of the majestic Canadian forest. Whilst there, she rescues two helpless cubs: a wolf and a lion. They forge an inseparable bond, but their world soon collapses as the forest ranger discovers the animals and takes them away. The two cub brothers must now embark on a treacherous journey across Canada to be reunited with one another and Alma once more.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Dog's Way Home (2019)
The adventure of Bella, a dog who embarks on an epic 400-mile journey home after she is separated from her beloved human.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStorm Boy (2019)
Storm Boy lives a lonely life with his reclusive father on a desolate coastline, but when he forms a close bond with a pelican, Mr. Percival, his life takes a new and unexpected turn.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Call of the Wild (2020)
Buck is a big-hearted dog whose blissful domestic life is turned upside down when he is suddenly uprooted from his California home and transplanted to the exotic wilds of the Yukon during the Gold Rush of the 1890s. As the newest rookie on a mail delivery dog sled team—and later its leader—Buck experiences the adventure of a lifetime, ultimately finding his true place in the world and becoming his own master.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisArthur the King (2024)
Over the course of ten days and 435 miles, an unbreakable bond is forged between pro adventure racer Michael Light and a scrappy street dog companion dubbed Arthur. As the team is pushed to their outer limits of endurance in the race, Arthur redefines what victory, loyalty and friendship truly mean.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMia and the White Lion (2018)
A young girl from London moves to Africa with her parents where she befriends a lion cub.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDog Gone (2023)
When his beloved dog goes missing, a young man embarks on an incredible search with his parents to find him and give him life-saving medication.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Tiger Rising (2022)
When 12-year-old Rob Horton discovers a caged tiger in the woods near his home, his imagination runs wild and life begins to change in the most unexpected ways. With the help of a wise and mysterious maid, Willie May and the stubborn new girl in school, he must navigate through childhood memories, heartache, and wondrous adventures.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Dolphin Tale 2 (2014)
The team of people who saved Winter's life reassemble in the wake of her surrogate mother's passing in order to find her a companion so she can remain at the Clearwater Marine Hospital.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEight Below (2006)
In the Antarctic, after an expedition with Dr. Davis McClaren, the sled dog trainer Jerry Shepherd has to leave the polar base with his colleagues due to the proximity of a heavy snow storm. He ties his dogs to be rescued after, but the mission is called-off and the dogs are left alone at their own fortune. For six months, Jerry tries to find a sponsor for a rescue mission.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDakota (2022)
Dakota, an ex-service dog, joins single mum Kate and her daughter Alex to live on their small-town family farm. Dakota quickly adjusts to her new home and becomes somewhat of a local hero, soon becoming inseparable from Alex. But when the farm’s existence is threatened by the town’s rogue sheriff, Dakota must help the family band together and save the land.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & adventure
Life of Pi (2012)
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.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFree Willy: Escape from Pirate's Cove (2010)
After young Kirra leaves her Australian home to summer with her grandfather in South Africa, she soon discovers a baby orca stranded in the lagoon near her grandfather’s rundown seaside amusement park. She names the lonely whale Willy--and embarks on a great quest to lead the little guy back to his anxious pod.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVicky and Her Mystery (2021)
Stéphane decides to move to the beautiful mountains of Cantal in order to reconnect with his 8-year-old daughter, Victoria, who has been silent since her mother's disappearance. During a walk in the forest, a shepherd gives Victoria a puppy named "Mystery" who will gradually give her a taste for life. But very quickly, Stéphane discovers that the animal is in reality a wolf… Despite the warnings and the danger of this situation, he cannot bring himself to separate his daughter from this seemingly harmless ball of hair.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSaving Flora (2019)
Flora is a circus elephant who can no longer perform her tricks. The night before she's scheduled to be euthanized, the circus owner's 14-year old daughter, Dawn, sneaks Flora from the circus. All that stands between them and the safety of the elephant preserve is two hundred kilometers of woods, one raging river, two elephant hunters and the fear of not making it.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFree Willy (1993)
When maladjusted orphan Jesse vandalizes a theme park, he is placed with foster parents and must work at the park to make amends. There he meets Willy, a young Orca whale who has been separated from his family. Sensing kinship, they form a bond and, with the help of kindly whale trainer Rae Lindley, develop a routine of tricks. However, greedy park owner Dial soon catches wind of the duo and makes plans to profit from them.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Dog's Journey (2019)
A dog finds the meaning of his own existence through the lives of the humans he meets.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & adventure
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMoon the Panda (2025)
Due to his poor academic performance, twelve-year-old Tian is sent to live with his grandmother in the remote mountains of Sichuan. Far from the hustle and bustle of the city, he finds himself immersed in nature and secretly befriends a panda cub he names Moon. Together, Tian and Moon embark on a journey of discovery and overcoming challenges. The boy is forced to confront his fears and, in the process, learns valuable lessons about courage, respect, and the profound bond between humankind and nature. This experience profoundly transforms Tian's life and fosters an unexpected family reconciliation.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDuma (2005)
An orphaned cheetah becomes the best friend and pet of a young boy living in South Africa.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFly Away Home (1996)
Amy is only 13 years old when her mother is killed. She goes to Canada to live with her father, an eccentric inventor whom she barely knows. Amy is miserable in her new life... until she discovers a nest of goose eggs that were abandoned when a local forest was torn down. The eggs hatch and Amy becomes "Mama Goose". When winter comes, Amy and her dad must find a way to lead the birds South.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBrothers of the Wind (2015)
The way of the eagle is to raise two chicks. The stronger is destined always to throw the weaker from the nest. Man also has his ways, often to hurt those closest to him. Lukas suffers at the hands of a father who has withdrawn since the loss of his wife. Killed whilst rescuing the infant Lukas, the boy now carries the burden of her death. Our eagle’s story begins in the nest. The first-born chick pushes his weaker brother to a certain death on the forest floor. But fate intervenes and the chick is found by Lukas. Naming him Abel, Lukas cares for the creature in secret, finding a love and companionship denied to him at home. But when the day comes to release Abel back into the wild, will Lukas find his own release into a new life?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBookworm (2024)
Eleven-year-old Mildred’s life is turned upside down when her mother lands in hospital and estranged, American magician father, Strawn Wise, comes to look after her. Hoping to entertain the bookish tween, Strawn takes Mildred camping in the notoriously rugged New Zealand wilderness, and the pair embark on the ultimate test of family bonding – a quest to find the mythological beast known as the Canterbury Panther.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlipper (1996)
Sandy Ricks is sent by his mom to Coral Key, a rustic island in the Florida keys, to spend the summer with his uncle Porter Ricks. Sandy dislikes everything about his new environment until a new friend comes into his life, a dolphin named Flipper, that brings uncle and nephew together and leads Sandy on the summer adventure of a lifetime.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
SnoozefestMovies like thisAutumn and the Black Jaguar (2024)
Growing up in the Amazon rainforest gave Autumn the rarest of friendships – a lost jaguar cub she named Hope. When a tragic event forces her to leave Hope for New York City, she dreams of going back to the rainforest and her friend. That opportunity soon comes when Autumn decides to return to the Amazon to save her beloved jaguar from animal traffickers who threaten her childhood village.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFree Willy 3: The Rescue (1997)
Willy the whale is back, this time threatened by illegal whalers making money off sushi. Jesse, now 16, has taken a job on an orca-researching ship, along with old friend Randolph and a sarcastic scientist, Drew. On the whaler's ship is captain John Wesley and his son, Max, who isn't really pleased about his father's job, but doesn't have the gut to say so. Along the way, Willy reunites with Jesse.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSpread Your Wings (2019)
Christian, a visionary scientist, studies wild geese. For his son, a teenager obsessed with video games, the idea of spending a holiday with his father in the wilderness is a nightmare. However, father and son will get together around a crazy project: save a species endangered, thanks to the ultralight of Christian! Then begins an incredible and perilous journey ...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlue Miracle (2021)
To save their cash-strapped orphanage, a guardian and his kids partner with a washed-up boat captain for a chance to win a lucrative fishing competition.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like My Penguin Friend?
The closest matches to My Penguin Friend are Runt (2024), Blueback (2022) and Dolphin Tale (2011). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after My Penguin Friend?
People who watched My Penguin Friend most often go on to Runt (2024), Blueback (2022) and Dolphin Tale (2011).
What is the highest-rated movie like My Penguin Friend?
A Dog's Journey (2019), rated 8.1/10 by 1,669 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like My Penguin Friend?
Moon the Panda (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like My Penguin Friend?
Yes: Runt (2024), Blueback (2022) and Dolphin Tale (2011).
How are movies similar to My Penguin Friend chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside My Penguin Friend, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.