Movies like Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991)
The best movies like Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991) are Lord of the Flies (1963), Wildlike (2015) and The Secret of Roan Inish (1994). If Return to the Blue Lagoon hooked you with its adventure and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Kid (1921)8.1/10 from 2,486 votes
- NewestGreenland 2: Migration (2026)Released 2026
Lord of the Flies (1963)
Following a plane crash a group of schoolboys find themselves on a deserted island. They appoint a leader and attempt to create an organized society for the sake of their survival. Democracy and order soon begin to crumble when a breakaway faction regresses to savagery with horrifying consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWildlike (2015)
Fourteen-year-old Mackenzie is sent to live with her uncle in Juneau when her mother can’t care for her anymore. The living situation quickly takes a turn for the worse, and she runs away to rejoin her mother in Seattle. While on her dangerous journey of sleeping in cars and breaking into hotel rooms, she’s drawn to Rene, a lonesome backpacker looking for tranquility in the wilderness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Secret of Roan Inish (1994)
Ten-year-old Fiona is sent to live with her grandparents in a small fishing village in Donegal, Ireland. She soon learns the local legend that an ancestor of hers married a Selkie – a seal who can turn into a human. Years earlier, her baby brother was washed out to sea and never seen again, so when Fiona spies a naked little boy on the abandoned Isle of Roan Inish, she is compelled to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAbandoned (2016)
In 1989 the trimaran Rose Noelle set sail from Picton, New Zealand, bound for Tonga with four crew. After a freak wave capsized the yacht, they drifted for 119 days before landing on Great Barrier Island.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisGreystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984)
A shipping disaster in the 19th Century has stranded a man and woman in the wilds of Africa. The lady is pregnant, and gives birth to a son in their tree house. Soon after, a family of apes stumble across the house and in the ensuing panic, both parents are killed. A female ape takes the tiny boy as a replacement for her own dead infant, and raises him as her son. Twenty years later, Captain Phillippe D'Arnot discovers the man who thinks he is an ape. Evidence in the tree house leads him to believe that he is the direct descendant of the Earl of Greystoke, and thus takes it upon himself to return the man to civilization.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Emerald Forest (1985)
For ten years, engineer Bill Markham has searched tirelessly for his son Tommy who disappeared from the edge of the Brazilian rainforest. Miraculously, he finds the boy living among the reclusive Amazon tribe who adopted him. This is when Bill's adventure truly begins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Secret Life of Bees (2008)
Set in South Carolina in 1964, this is the tale of Lily Owens a 14 year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother. To escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father, Lily flees with Rosaleen, her caregiver and only friend, to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother's past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain (1995)
Two teen girls, one from the city, one from the country, try to find the hidden gold of Bear Mountain learning about friendship, loyalty and courage on the way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMutiny on the Bounty (1962)
The Bounty leaves Portsmouth in 1787. Its destination: to sail to Tahiti and load bread-fruit. Captain Bligh will do anything to get there as fast as possible, using any means to keep up a strict discipline. When they arrive at Tahiti, it is like a paradise for the crew, something completely different than the living hell aboard the ship. On the way back to England, officer Fletcher Christian becomes the leader of a mutiny.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMutiny on the Bounty (1935)
Fletcher Christian successfully leads a revolt against the ruthless Captain Bligh on the HMS Bounty. However, Bligh returns one year later, hell bent on revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA High Wind in Jamaica (1965)
In 1870, a Jamaican colonial family sends its children to Britain for proper schooling, but their ship is taken over by pirates, who become fond of the kids.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWalkabout (1971)
Under the pretense of having a picnic, a geologist takes his teenage daughter and 6-year-old son into the Australian outback and attempts to shoot them. When he fails, he turns the gun on himself, and the two city-bred children must contend with harsh wilderness alone. They are saved by a chance encounter with an Aboriginal boy who shows them how to survive, and in the process underscores the disharmony between nature and modern life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFrom Time to Time (2009)
A haunting ghost story spanning two worlds, two centuries apart. When 13 year old Tolly finds he can mysteriously travel between the two, he begins an adventure that unlocks family secrets laid buried for generations.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRapa Nui (1994)
Inter-tribal rivalry leads to a competition to erect a huge Maoi statue in record time before Make can take part in the race to retrieve the egg of a Sooty Tern. The reward for winning this race is to rule the island for one year.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTomb Raider (2018)
Lara Croft, the fiercely independent daughter of a missing adventurer, must push herself beyond her limits when she finds herself on the island where her father disappeared.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWish Upon a Unicorn (2020)
Two children discover that their mother is gone. The youngest of the pair, adventurer and upcomming singer, Long Johnson forces his older sister, Lily Johnson, to hunt down a unicorn with magical blood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInteriors (1978)
When Eve, an interior designer, is deserted by her husband of many years, Arthur, the emotionally glacial relationships of the three grown-up daughters are laid bare. Twisted by jealousy, insecurity and resentment, Renata, a successful writer; Joey, a woman crippled by indecision; and Flyn, a budding actress; struggle to communicate for the sake of their shattered mother. But when their father unexpectedly falls for another woman, his decision to remarry sets in motion a terrible twist of fate…
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHereafter (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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGreenland 2: Migration (2026)
Having found the safety of the Greenland bunker after the comet Clarke decimated the Earth, the Garrity family must now risk everything to embark on a perilous journey across the wasteland of Europe to find a new home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisBattle Royale (2000)
In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFriends (1971)
Paul, a rich English boy, and Michelle, an orphaned French girl, run away from home to a remote beach. Living on their own, their friendship grows into love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Spin (2003)
It’s the time of sexual awakening and everything is in a state of flux. A game of spin-the-bottle sets off a chain reaction and, afterwards, nothing is quite same again. An adrenaline-charged tale about what it’s like to be a teenager.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Mysterious Island (1941)
Based on Verne's book The Mysterious Island, five POWs escape from a camp in a balloon during the Civil War and crash-land on an uninhabited island in the Pacific. Trying to settle with their lives they find someone is helping them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
Just Like Arcadia (2015)
A melancholy, dreamy voyage back to cruel adolescence, which condemns us to live without the possibility of return.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Naked Island (1960)
A family of four are the sole inhabitants of a small island, where they struggle each day to irrigate their crops.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Kid (1921)
A tramp cares for a boy after he's abandoned as a newborn by his mother. Later the mother has a change of heart and aches to be reunited with her son.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisStick It (2006)
Haley is a naturally gifted athlete but, with her social behavior, the teen seems intent on squandering her abilities. After a final brush with the law, a judge sentences her to an elite gymnastics academy run by a legendary, hard-nosed coach. Once there, Haley's rebellious attitude wins her both friends and enemies.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMay We Chat (2014)
Three troubled young girls will do anything to escape their stifling lives - even if it means turning to drugs and prostitution. Set in the generation of smartphones and web 2.0, the technology may have made communication easier than ever, but cautionary tales of misunderstood youths remain as relevant as they were two decades ago.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Burning Plain (2008)
A trailer is burning in the middle of a plain. The bodies of two adulterous lovers are found. Scenes from both families, before and after the dramatic events, suggest an unusual connection between them. But what is their secret?
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 Return to the Blue Lagoon?
The closest matches to Return to the Blue Lagoon are Lord of the Flies (1963), Wildlike (2015) and The Secret of Roan Inish (1994). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Return to the Blue Lagoon?
Start with Lord of the Flies (1963), the closest match to Return to the Blue Lagoon.
What is the highest-rated movie like Return to the Blue Lagoon?
The Kid (1921), rated 8.1/10 by 2,486 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Return to the Blue Lagoon?
Greenland 2: Migration (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Return to the Blue Lagoon?
Yes: Lord of the Flies (1963), Wildlike (2015) and The Secret of Roan Inish (1994).
How are movies similar to Return to the Blue Lagoon chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Return to the Blue Lagoon, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.