Movies like Dreams (1990)
The best movies like Dreams (1990) are Hereafter (2010), The Boy and the Heron (2023) and Suzume (2022). If Dreams hooked you with its fantasy and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSpirited Away (2001)8.5/10 from 19,202 votes
- NewestThe Boy and the Heron (2023)Released 2023
- In JapaneseThe Boy and the Heron (2023)Also in Japanese
Hereafter (2010)
Three people — a blue-collar American, a French journalist and a London school boy — are touched by death in different ways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Boy and the Heron (2023)
While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother's tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the boy's mother. As he tries to adjust, this strange new world grows even stranger following the appearance of a persistent gray heron, who perplexes and bedevils Mahito, dubbing him the "long-awaited one."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSuzume (2022)
Suzume, 17, lost her mother as a little girl. On her way to school, she meets a mysterious young man. But her curiosity unleashes a calamity that endangers the entire population of Japan, and so Suzume embarks on a journey to set things right.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisPicnic (1996)
Believing that the world will end that very day, three mental patients Coco, Tsumuji, and Satoru set out upon a journey. Walking upon the tops of the walls of the city, they seek to find a picnic spot with the best vantage point to view the final event.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
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 · both fantasy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisModest Heroes (2018)
Two tiny, aquatic humanoids search for their missing father, a boy battles a lethal allergy to eggs, and an invisible salaryman tries to become a hero.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPom Poko (1994)
The Raccoons of the Tama Hills are being forced from their homes by the rapid development of houses and shopping malls. As it becomes harder to find food and shelter, they decide to band together and fight back. The Raccoons practice and perfect the ancient art of transformation until they are even able to appear as humans in hilarious circumstances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCardcaptor Sakura: The Movie (1999)
Sakura Kinomoto, a Card Captor, wins a game of chance and is awarded a trip to Hong Kong, along with her best friend Tomoyo and her rival, Syaoran Li. It turns out that the ancient rival of Clow Reed, the creator of the mysterious and powerful Clow Cards, summoned them, and she's out for revenge. A battle ensues, and secrets are revealed about Clow Reed's shady past and Sakura's connection to him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHowl's Moving Castle (2004)
Sophie, a young milliner, is turned into an elderly woman by a witch who enters her shop and curses her. She encounters a wizard named Howl and gets caught up in his resistance to fighting for the king.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDrifting Home (2022)
One fateful summer, a group of elementary school kids set adrift on an abandoned apartment building must look within themselves to find a way back home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMaborosi (1995)
A tragedy strikes a young woman's life without warning or reason. She continues living while searching for meaning in a lonely world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Wonderland (2019)
The story follows Akane, a girl with no self-confidence. On the day before her birthday, she meets a mysterious alchemist, Hippocrates, and his student, Pipo, who both tell her they're on a mission to save the world. Together, they set out from the basement for "Wonderland," and Akane finds herself labelled Wonderland's savior.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCast Away (2000)
Chuck Noland, a top international manager for FedEx, and Kelly, a Ph.D. student, are in love and heading towards marriage. Then Chuck's plane to Malaysia crashes at sea during a terrible storm. He's the only survivor, and finds himself marooned on a desolate island. With no way to escape, Chuck must find ways to survive in his new home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Dark Crystal (1982)
On another planet in the distant past, a Gelfling embarks on a quest to find the missing shard of a magical crystal and restore order to his world, before the grotesque race of Skeksis find and use the crystal for evil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSpirited Away (2001)
A young girl, Chihiro, becomes trapped in a strange new world of spirits. When her parents undergo a mysterious transformation, she must call upon the courage she never knew she had to free her family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMemories (1995)
Three back-to-back anime films by three different directors make up this sci-fi trilogy three years in the making.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBleach the Movie: Hell Verse (2010)
Hell – A place where beings that have committed mortal sins during their lifetime are sent. It is a realm where even Soul Reapers are forbidden to interfere. When a group of vicious Sinners plot to escape from this eternal prison, they discover that Substitute Soul Reaper Ichigo Kurosaki is the key to their freedom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAngel's Egg (1985)
In the ruins of a strange city, a young girl takes care of a large egg she holds carefully in her arms. She bonds with a boy who is searching for a bird he saw in a dream.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLittle Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1989)
A little boy whose dreams transcend reality is sucked into his own fantasy, which is everything he has dreamed of, until he unleashes an old secret that may not only destroy this perfect dream world but reality itself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThat Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Scarlet Bond (2022)
A long-running conspiracy is swirling over a mysterious power wielded by the Queen in Raja, a small country west of Tempest. When a slime who evolved into a Demon Lord named Rimuru Tempest crosses paths with Hiiro, a survivor of the Ogre race, an incredible adventure packed with new characters begins. The power of bonds will be put to the test!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMiracle in Milan (1951)
Once upon a time a wise and kind old woman discovers a baby in her cabbage patch. She brings up the child and, when she dies, the boy, Totò, enters an orphanage. Totò leaves the orphanage a happy young man, and looks for work in post-war Milan. He ends up with the homeless and organizes them to build a shanty town in a vacant lot. But when greedy developers threaten the community’s land, Totò will need all the help he can get in order to find an impossible way out.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAnatomy of a Murder (1959)
Semi-retired Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler takes the case of Army Lt. Manion, who murdered a local innkeeper after his wife claimed that he raped her. Over the course of an extensive trial, Biegler parries with District Attorney Lodwick and out-of-town prosecutor Claude Dancer to set his client free, but his case rests on the victim's mysterious business partner, who's hiding a dark secret.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAll About My Mother (1999)
Following the tragic death of her teenage son, Manuela travels from Madrid to Barcelona in an attempt to contact the long-estranged father the boy never knew. She reunites with an old friend, an outspoken transgender sex worker, and befriends a troubled actress and a pregnant, HIV-positive nun.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
As armies mass for a final battle that will decide the fate of the world--and powerful, ancient forces of Light and Dark compete to determine the outcome--one member of the Fellowship of the Ring is revealed as the noble heir to the throne of the Kings of Men. Yet, the sole hope for triumph over evil lies with a brave hobbit, Frodo, who, accompanied by his loyal friend Sam and the hideous, wretched Gollum, ventures deep into the very dark heart of Mordor on his seemingly impossible quest to destroy the Ring of Power.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSvenska livstycken (1981)
Eleven short films - by eleven different directors - edited together as a feature film.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963)
When an underhanded pharmaceutical company goes to a remote tropical island to steal King Kong for advertising purposes, they get more than they bargained for when the gigantic ape attacks an unsuspecting village and an enormous octopus.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Summer of Sangaile (2015)
Sangaile, a 17-year-old spending the summer at her parents’ lakeside villa, becomes drawn to a free-spirited girl she meets at a nearby aeronautical show. As they grow closer, she begins to confront her fears and embrace a connection that encourages her to pursue her passion for flight.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Birch Wood (1970)
A man suffering from tuberculosis returns from abroad to stay at his brother's farm, hoping to make amends, while also beginning a love affair with a farm girl.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Plaza Suite (1971)
Film version of the Neil Simon play has three separate acts set in the same hotel suite in New York's Plaza Hotel with Walter Matthau in a triple role. In the first, Karen Nash tries to get her inattentive husband Sam's attention and help save their failing marriage. In the second, brash film producer Jesse Kiplinger tries to seduce his former one-time flame Muriel. In the third, Roy Hubley and his wife Norma try and persuade their daughter, a bride to-be with cold feet, out of the bathroom before her approaching wedding ceremony.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe New Land (1972)
A Swedish immigrant family struggles to adapt to their new life on the American frontier during the second half of the 19th century amidst civil war, native uprising and the lure of gold in California.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
Like Dreams and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Dreams?
The closest matches to Dreams are Hereafter (2010), The Boy and the Heron (2023) and Suzume (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Dreams?
Start with Hereafter (2010), the closest match to Dreams.
What is the highest-rated movie like Dreams?
Spirited Away (2001), rated 8.5/10 by 19,202 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Dreams?
The Boy and the Heron (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Dreams?
Yes: The Boy and the Heron (2023), Suzume (2022) and Picnic (1996).
How are movies similar to Dreams chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Dreams, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.