Movies like The Big Adventure
The best movies like The Big Adventure are Paperhouse (1988), Where the Wild Things Are (2009) and Chupa (2023). If The Big Adventure hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBig Fish (2003)7.7/10 from 8,047 votes
- NewestMonkey’s Magic Merry Go Round (2026)Released 2026
Paperhouse (1988)
A young girl lost in the loneliness and boredom of reality finds solace in an ill boy, whom she can visit in a surreal dream world that she drew in her school composition book.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhere the Wild Things Are (2009)
Max imagines running away from his mom and sailing to a far-off land where large talking beasts—Ira, Carol, Douglas, the Bull, Judith and Alexander—crown him as their king, play rumpus, build forts and discover secret hideaways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChupa (2023)
While visiting family in Mexico, a lonely boy befriends a mythical creature hiding on his grandfather's ranch and embarks on the adventure of a lifetime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBefore I Wake (2016)
An orphaned child's dreams—and nightmares—manifest physically as he sleeps.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Maze Runner (2014)
A teenager with no memory of his past finds himself among a group of boys living in a walled enclosure surrounded by a massive, ever-changing maze. As he struggles to adapt to their rules and society, he begins to uncover clues that may lead to escape and the truth behind their confinement.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHerself (2020)
Struggling to provide her daughters with a safe, happy home, Sandra decides to build one - from scratch. Using all her ingenuity to make her ambitious dream a reality, Sandra draws together a community to lend a helping hand to build her house and ultimately recover her own sense of self.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBig Fish (2003)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNo One Gets Out Alive (2021)
An immigrant in search of the American dream is forced to take a room in a boarding house and soon finds herself in a nightmare from which she can't escape.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisMonkey’s Magic Merry Go Round (2026)
After a mysterious bout of amnesia, a beloved children’s television host struggles to piece together his fractured memories, only to find his once-cheerful puppet co-stars behaving with sinister intent. As reality unravels, the line between performance and nightmare begins to blur.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDora and the Search for Sol Dorado (2025)
Dora, Diego, and their new friends trek through the perilous dangers of the Amazonian jungle in search of the ancient and powerful treasure of Sol Dorado to keep it out of enemy hands.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Young One (1960)
A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCase 39 (2009)
In her many years as a social worker, Emily Jenkins believes she has seen it all, until she meets 10-year-old Lilith and the girl's cruel parents. Emily's worst fears are confirmed when the parents try to harm the child, and so Emily assumes custody of Lilith while she looks for a foster family. However, Emily soon finds that dark forces surround the seemingly innocent girl, and the more she tries to protect Lilith, the more horrors she encounters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDark Harvest (2023)
In a small Midwestern town, a deadly annual ritual unfolds when the mythical nightmare, Sawtooth Jack, rises from the cornfields and challenges the town’s teenage boys in a bloody battle of survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJourney 2: The Mysterious Island (2012)
Sean Anderson partners with his mom's boyfriend on a mission to find his grandfather, who is thought to be missing on a mythical island.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFatima (2020)
In 1917, outside the parish of Fátima, Portugal, a 10-year-old girl and her two younger cousins witness multiple visitations of the Virgin Mary, who tells them that only prayer and suffering will bring an end to World War I. As secularist government officials and Church leaders try to force the children to recant their story, word of the sighting spreads across the country, inspiring religious pilgrims to flock to the site in hopes of witnessing a miracle..
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Air Up There (1994)
Jimmy Dolan is a college basketball coach who wants a big promotion. To get it, he needs to make a dramatic find. He ends up deep in Africa, hoping to recruit Saleh, a huge basketball prodigy Jimmy glimpsed in a home movie. But Saleh is the chief's son and has responsibilities at home, since the tribe's land is threatened by a mining company with its own hotshot basketball team.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMirrorMask (2005)
In a fantasy world of opposing kingdoms, a 15-year old girl must find the fabled MirrorMask in order to save the kingdom and get home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDon't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010)
A young girl sent to live with her father and his new girlfriend discovers creatures in her new home who want to claim her as one of their own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisGeorgetown (2019)
Ulrich Mott is an eccentric and versatile social climber with grandiose plans to affect United States foreign policy. Encouraged in his attempts by his strategically chosen (and much older) wife, the well-connected journalist Elsa Brecht, Mott has a knack for making himself indispensable and impossible to ignore. The only one seemingly immune to his charms is Elsa's daughter Amanda, who might simply disapprove of her mother marrying a much younger man - or perhaps she senses something more sinister beneath the smooth-talking surface?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Mosquito Coast (1986)
An inventor spurns his city life and moves his family into the jungles of Central America to make a utopia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Big Adventure?
The closest matches to The Big Adventure are Paperhouse (1988), Where the Wild Things Are (2009) and Chupa (2023). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Big Adventure?
Start with Paperhouse (1988), the closest match to The Big Adventure.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Big Adventure?
Big Fish (2003), rated 7.7/10 by 8,047 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Big Adventure?
Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Big Adventure?
Yes: Paperhouse (1988), Where the Wild Things Are (2009) and Chupa (2023).
How are movies similar to The Big Adventure chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Big Adventure, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.