Movies like Riel (2023)
The best movies like Riel (2023) are Sarafina! (1992), Step Up (2006) and The Jazz Singer (1927). If Riel hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBarbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses (2006)7.6/10 from 1,278 votes
- Newest40 Dates and 40 Nights (2026)Released 2026
Sarafina! (1992)
A Soweto schoolgirl named Sarafina is galvanized to protest apartheid after her teacher is arrested for her activism, leading her to join the student resistance movement.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStep Up (2006)
Delinquent Tyler Gage receives the opportunity of a lifetime after vandalizing a performing arts school, gaining him the chance to earn a scholarship and dance with up-and-coming dancer Nora.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Jazz Singer (1927)
A young Jewish man is torn between tradition and individuality when his old-fashioned family objects to his career as a jazz singer. This is the first full length feature film to use synchronized sound, and is the original film musical.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWasp (2003)
Zoë is a single mother who lives with her four children in Dartford. She is poor and can't afford to buy food. One day her old flame drives by and asks her to go on a date with him. Scared that he doesn't want to go out with her, she lies and tells him that she is just babysitting the kids. This will be her first date in years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMao’s Last Dancer (2009)
At the age of 11, Li was plucked from a poor Chinese village by Madame Mao's cultural delegates and taken to Beijing to study ballet. In 1979, during a cultural exchange to Texas, he falls in love with an American woman. Two years later, he managed to defect and went on to perform as a principal dancer for the Houston Ballet and as a principal artist with the Australian Ballet.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSkin (2009)
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnother Cinderella Story (2008)
A guy who danced with what could be the girl of his dreams at a costume ball only has one hint at her identity: the Zune she left behind as she rushed home in order to make her curfew. And with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in front of him, he sets out to find his masked beauty.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGrandma (2015)
Self-described misanthrope Elle Reid has her protective bubble burst when her 18-year-old granddaughter, Sage, shows up needing help. The two of them go on a day-long journey that causes Elle to come to terms with her past and Sage to confront her future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Cinderella Story: If the Shoe Fits (2016)
A contemporary musical version of the classic Cinderella story in which the servant step daughter hope to compete in a musical competition for a famous pop star.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlended (2014)
Recently divorced mom Lauren and widowed dad Jim let their friends push them into a blind date, which goes disastrously wrong. Unsurprisingly, neither wants to see the other ever again. However, fate intervenes when both Jim and Lauren, unbeknownst to each other, purchase one-half of the same vacation package at a South African resort for families, during spring break. They and their children are forced to share the same romantic suite and participate in a slew of family activities together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
Romance strikes when a vacationing millionairess and her daughter and son spend their vacation at a posh New England resort.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Farewell (2019)
A headstrong Chinese-American woman returns to China when her beloved grandmother is given a terminal diagnosis. Billi struggles with her family's decision to keep grandma in the dark about her own illness as they all stage an impromptu wedding to see grandma one last time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Whales of August (1987)
Two aged sisters reflect on life and the past during a late summer day in Maine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this40 Dates and 40 Nights (2026)
Ready to quit the dating scene altogether, burned-out Leah accepts her grandmother's outrageous challenge—40 dates in 40 nights in exchange for a year's rent—only to discover amidst the awkward dinners and unexpected sparks that her biggest obstacle to love is herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Gnome-Mobile (1967)
An eccentric millionaire and his grandchildren are embroiled in the plights of some forest gnomes who are searching for the rest of their tribe. While helping them, the millionaire is suspected of being crazy because he's seeing gnomes! He's committed, and the niece and nephew and the gnomes have to find him and free him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSalomé (2013)
After the lewd and frenetic Dance of the Seven Veils, and with the solemn pledge from the very lips of Herod himself that she could have whatever her heart desires up to half his kingdom, wanton and proud young Salomé comes before her king with an unreasonable demand. Beguiled by John the Baptist, and then scorned for the sake of his god, lascivious Salomé—encouraged by her mother, the vindictive, Herodias—commands that John be executed and his head delivered on a silver platter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTyler Perry's A Madea Homecoming (2022)
Madea's back - hallelujer! And she's not putting up with any nonsense as family drama erupts at her great-grandson's college graduation celebration.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCinderella (2021)
Cinderella, an orphaned girl with an evil stepmother, has big dreams and with the help of her Fabulous Godmother, she perseveres to make them come true.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDirty Dancing (1987)
Expecting the usual tedium that accompanies a summer in the Catskills with her family, 17-year-old Frances 'Baby' Houseman is surprised to find herself stepping into the shoes of a professional hoofer—and unexpectedly falling in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBarbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses (2006)
King Randolph sends for his cousin, Duchess Rowena, to help turn his daughters, Princess Genevieve and her eleven sisters, into royal material. But the Duchess strips the sisters of their fun, including their favorite pastime: dancing. When all hope may be lost, the sisters discover a secret passageway to a magical land where they can dance the night away.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Riel?
The closest matches to Riel are Sarafina! (1992), Step Up (2006) and The Jazz Singer (1927). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Riel?
Start with Sarafina! (1992), the closest match to Riel.
What is the highest-rated movie like Riel?
Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses (2006), rated 7.6/10 by 1,278 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Riel?
40 Dates and 40 Nights (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Riel?
Yes: Sarafina! (1992), Step Up (2006) and The Jazz Singer (1927).
How are movies similar to Riel chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Riel, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.