Movies like I've Lived Before (1956)
The best movies like I've Lived Before (1956) are Donovan's Echo (2011), How Sarah Got Her Wings (2015) and A Dog's Purpose (2017). If I've Lived Before hooked you with its drama and fantasy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)8.4/10 from 24,948 votes
- NewestOshi no Ko -The Final Act- (2024)Released 2024
Donovan's Echo (2011)
A series of uncanny déjà vu events force a man to re-examine his tragic past, memory, instinct, and future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHow Sarah Got Her Wings (2015)
Good Samaritan Sarah Fitzpatrick has a fatal accident just before Christmas, and finds herself in the lobby before the gates of Heaven. Certain that she will be let in, she is shocked to find that her name is not on the reservation list. However, she is granted the chance to return to Earth as an "angel in training" with the requirement to help a soul in need. Sarah has the 12 days before Christmas to secure her place on the list leaving her in the race for her after-life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Dog's Purpose (2017)
A dog goes on quest to discover his purpose in life over the course of several lifetimes with multiple owners.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Canterville Ghost (1996)
When a teenaged girl moves to England, with her brothers and parents into the ancient Canterville Hall, she's not at all happy. Especially as there's a ghost and a mysterious re-appearing bloodstain on the hearth. She campaigns to go back home, and her dad, believing the ghost's pranks are Ginny's, is ready to send her back. But then Ginny actually meets the elusive 17th-century Sir Simon de Canterville (not to mention the cute teenaged duke next door), and she sets her hand to the task of freeing Sir Simon from his curse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNorthfork (2003)
The year is 1955, and a great flood is coming to Northfork, Montana. A new hydroelectric dam is about to be installed in the mountains above the town, ready to submerge the valley in the name of progress. It is the responsibility of a six-man Evacuation Committee to relocate the townsfolk to higher ground. Most have duly departed, but a few stubborn stragglers remain – among them a priest caring for a sickly orphan, a boy whose fevered visions are leading him to believe he is a member of a roaming band of lost angels desperately searching for a way home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFairyTale: A True Story (1997)
In 1917, two children take a photograph, which is soon believed by some to be the first scientific evidence of the existence of fairies. Based on the true story of the Cottingley Fairies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAvalon High (2011)
Elaine "Ellie" Harrison has just moved from Minnesota to Annapolis, Maryland while her parents take a year-long sabbatical to continue their medieval studies in nearby Washington D.C. Her new high school, Avalon High, seems like a typical high school with the stereotypical students: Lance the jock, Jennifer the cheerleader, Marco, the bad boy/desperado, and Will, the senior class president, quarterback, and all around good guy. But not everyone at Avalon High is who they appear to be, not even Ellie herself. Eventually, it becomes apparent that Avalon High is a situation where the ancient Arthurian legend is repeating itself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Deep End of the Ocean (1999)
A three-year-old boy disappears during his mother's high school reunion. Nine years later, by chance, he turns up in the town in which the family has just relocated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFluke (1995)
Workaholic Thomas Johnson dies in an auto accident and reincarnates as a dog. Remembering some of his previous being, he returns to his wife and son to protect them from the man who caused his accident. But, as time goes by, his memories return, and Thomas realizes he wasn't such a good husband and father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDoctor Who: A Christmas Carol (2010)
Amy Pond and Rory Williams are trapped on a crashing space liner, and the only way the Eleventh Doctor can rescue them is to save the soul of a lonely old miser. But is Kazran Sardick, the richest man in Sardicktown, beyond redemption? And what is lurking in the fogs of Christmas Eve?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
After a carnival troupe saves his life, a man agrees to help its immortal leader collect five souls and win a bet with the devil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDoctor Who: Dark Water / Death in Heaven (2014)
In this epic two-part finale, the Doctor comes face to face with the mysterious Missy, and an impossible choice is looming. With Cybermen on the streets of London, old friends unite against old enemies, and the Doctor takes to the air in a startling new role.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe High and the Mighty (1954)
Dan Roman is a veteran pilot haunted by a tragic past. Now relegated to second-in-command cockpit assignments he finds himself on a routine Honolulu-to-San Francisco flight that takes a terrifying turn when disaster strikes high above the Pacific Ocean after the point of no return.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisBrand Upon the Brain! (2007)
After returning home to his long-estranged mother upon a request from her deathbed, a man raised by his parents in an orphanage has to confront the childhood memories that have long haunted him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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
SnoozefestMovies 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 fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisFlicka (2006)
Katy McLaughlin desires to work on her family's mountainside horse ranch, although her father insists she finish boarding school. Katy finds a mustang in the hills near her ranch. The headstrong 16 year old then sets her mind to tame a mustang and prove to her father she can run the ranch. But when tragedy happens, it will take all the love and strength the family can muster to restore hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMarjorie Prime (2017)
A service which creates holographic projections of late family members allows an elderly woman to spend time with a younger version of her deceased husband.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAbigail (2019)
A young girl Abigail lives in a city whose borders were closed many years ago because of an epidemic of a mysterious disease. Abby's father was one of the sick - and he was taken when she was six years old. Going against the authorities to find his father, Abby learns that her city is actually full of magic. And she discovers in herself extraordinary magical abilities.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFour Kids and It (2020)
A group of kids on holiday in Cornwall meet a magical creature on the beach with the power to grant wishes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFausto (2024)
What if I told you the plot of Vertigo is true, but the story even more perversely rooted in the traumatic history of a dictatorship, in a nation’s obsession with a woman who became a goddess and a savior, and in the real-life attempt to reincarnate her in the body of her successor? Through supernatural means, Isabel Martínez de Perón attempts to extract from the embalmed body of Eva Perón the dose of charisma she lacks.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & fantasy
Ogun Óla: War is Coming (2022)
Follow Óla, a teenager who suddenly discovers that he is the reincarnation of a demigod, as he now needs to face his recently found destiny.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & fantasy
Oshi no Ko -The Final Act- (2024)
Goro is a gynecologist and idol fan who’s in shock after his favorite star, Ai, announces an impromptu hiatus. Little does Goro realize that he’s about to forge a bond with her that defies all common sense! Lies are an idol’s weapon!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & fantasy
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010)
Suffering from a kidney disease and sure of his death, Uncle Boonmee assembles his relatives in the countryside. He reminisces about his past lives and plans to visit a place before dying.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShe (1965)
The lost city of Kuma is ruled by the cruel, arrogant, beautiful queen, Ayesha, gifted with eternal life. She lures Leo Vincey into her world, seeing in him the reincarnation of the lover she long ago murdered in a fit of violent jealousy. Against all advice Leo is determined to stay and Ayesha persuades him to bathe in the flame of eternal youth... with disastrous consequences.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Golden Monk (2017)
The film tells the story of a monk who realizes he is the reincarnation of Golden Child / Taming Dragon Lohan who was cast down from heaven to experience life and death one hundred times as he broke a sacred rule by falling in love with another fairy, Jade. While Golden Child’s memories were erased, Jade refused to forget their love and accumulated goodwill over one hundred reincarnations…
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Frodo Baggins and the other members of the Fellowship continue on their sacred quest to destroy the One Ring--but on separate paths. Their destinies lie at two towers - Orthanc Tower in Isengard, where the corrupt wizard Saruman awaits, and Sauron's fortress at Barad-dur, deep within the dark lands of Mordor.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisKnights of the Zodiac (2023)
When a headstrong street orphan, Seiya, in search of his abducted sister unwittingly taps into hidden powers, he discovers he might be the only person alive who can protect a reincarnated goddess, sent to watch over humanity. Can he let his past go and embrace his destiny to become a Knight of the Zodiac?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Secret (2007)
Husband, wife, and daughter have moved from Boston to Williamstown. At 16, Samantha treats her mother shabbily, but when the two of them are in a horrific car crash, the mother wills Sam to live, somehow losing her own life while her spirit enters Sam.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Buddha (1993)
After the death of Lama Dorje, Tibetan Buddhist monks find three children — one American and two Nepalese — who may be the rebirth of their great teacher.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like I've Lived Before?
The closest matches to I've Lived Before are Donovan's Echo (2011), How Sarah Got Her Wings (2015) and A Dog's Purpose (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after I've Lived Before?
Start with Donovan's Echo (2011), the closest match to I've Lived Before.
What is the highest-rated movie like I've Lived Before?
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), rated 8.4/10 by 24,948 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like I've Lived Before?
Oshi no Ko -The Final Act- (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like I've Lived Before?
Yes: Donovan's Echo (2011), How Sarah Got Her Wings (2015) and A Dog's Purpose (2017).
How are movies similar to I've Lived Before chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside I've Lived Before, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.