Movies like What I See (2025)
The best movies like What I See (2025) are World of Tomorrow (2015), Canvas (2020) and Waking Life (2001). If What I See hooked you with its animation and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWhiplash (2014)8.4/10 from 17,385 votes
- NewestCanvas (2020)Released 2020
World of Tomorrow (2015)
A little girl is taken on a mind-bending tour of her distant future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCanvas (2020)
After a heartbreaking loss, a grandfather struggling to reclaim his passion for painting finds the inspiration to create again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWaking Life (2001)
Waking Life is about a young man in a persistent lucid dream-like state. The film follows its protagonist as he initially observes and later participates in philosophical discussions that weave together issues like reality, free will, our relationships with others, and the meaning of life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this$9.99 (2009)
Have you ever wondered "What is the meaning of life? Why do we exist?" The answer to this vexing question is now within your reach! You'll find it in a small yet amazing booklet, which will explain, in easy to follow, simple terms your reason for being! The booklet, printed on the finest paper, contains illuminating, exquisite colour pictures, and could be yours for a mere $9.99.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisDC Showcase: Death (2019)
Vincent, an artist with unresolved inner demons, meets a mysterious girl who helps him come to terms with his creative legacy… and eventual death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMatriculated (2003)
The human resistance works to convert a sentinel to their side. Part of the Animatrix collection of animated shorts set in the Matrix universe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPear Cider and Cigarettes (2016)
The brutally honest story of Robert's turbulent relationship with a self-destructive, yet charismatic friend from childhood, who cries out for help from a military hospital in China and sets Rob on a wild ride to get him home to Vancouver.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDestino (2003)
Short film to a song of love lost and rediscovered, a woman sees and undergoes surreal transformations. Her lover's face melts off, she dons a dress from the shadow of a bell and becomes a dandelion, ants crawl out of a hand and become Frenchmen riding bicycles. Not to mention the turtles with faces on their backs that collide to form a ballerina, or the bizarre baseball game.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer (1984)
In Prague, a professorial puppet, with metal pincers for hands and an open book for a hat, takes a boy as a pupil. First, the professor empties fluff and toys from the child's head, leaving him without the top of his head for most of the film. The professor then teaches the lad about illusions and perspectives, the pursuit of an object through exploring a bank of drawers, divining an object, and the migration of forms. The child then brings out a box with a tarantula in it: the professor puts his "hands" into the box and describes what he feels. The boy receives a final lesson about animation and film making; then the professor gives him a brain and his own open-book hat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Mirror (2011)
A nameless drifter navigates a barren landscape punctuated by satellite dishes, radio towers and droning airplanes. Stopping periodically in anonymous hotel rooms, she makes attempts to connect to an unidentified second party.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlue (1993)
Against a plain, unchanging blue screen, a densely interwoven soundtrack of voices, sound effects and music attempt to convey a portrait of Derek Jarman's experiences with AIDS, both literally and allegorically, together with an exploration of the meanings associated with the colour blue.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhiplash (2014)
Under the direction of a ruthless instructor, a talented young drummer begins to pursue perfection at any cost, even his humanity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisA Corner in Wheat (1909)
On a whim, a greedy tycoon decides to corner the world market in wheat. This doubles the price of bread, forcing grain producers into charity lines and others further into poverty. The film contrasts the differences between the lives of those who work to grow the wheat and the life of the man who dabbles in its sale for profit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReservoir Dogs (1991)
Short film made with the help of the Sundance Film Institute and serving as a proof-of-concept for the subsequent feature film.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFeeling Through (2019)
A late-night encounter on a New York City street leads to a profound connection between a teen-in-need and a DeafBlind man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIron Jawed Angels (2004)
Defiant young activists take the women's suffrage movement by storm, putting their lives at risk to help American women win the right to vote.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHello Sister, Goodbye Life (2006)
A college student must take care of her 7-year-old half sister after the death of their parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Miracle Worker (2000)
Devoted teacher Anne Sullivan leads deaf, blind and mute Helen Keller out of solitude and helps integrate her into the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCall Me Crazy: A Five Film (2013)
A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisInception: The Cobol Job (2010)
Cobb, Arthur and Nash are enlisted by Cobol Engineering.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFrancis (2013)
Francis is a short story written by american novelist Dave Eggers. This is the story of a young boy growing up in the suburbs of chicago. He spent his vacations in Quetico Provincial Park, up on the border of Minnesota and Canada. But he won't be going back any day soon, not after what happened to a girl called Francis Brandywine.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & drama
First Day in the Grave (2017)
A student movie loosely based on the short story by Sadegh Chubak
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
En Rang Par Deux (2020)
The idea for this film comes from the encounter with two African boys who live in Rome, and is based on their music. Tunisian Afif and Senegalese Aliou tell their different stories, talk about friendship, immigration, freedom and, above all, about the fundamental value of making music together.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Panda Syndrome (2004)
A young boy, Bjørn, discovers on his 17th birthday that his problems with the girls might not be self-inflicted.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
About the Hippopotamus Who Was Afraid of Inoculations (1966)
Fabulous animals bathed, rested and had fun on the summer beach of the southern town. Suddenly, the rest was interrupted by an urgent message on a hanging poster: "Everyone needs to vaccinate vaccinations from elephant to fly!". However, all the animals, having read the message, as if nothing had happened, began to rest, dance and sunbathe again. And only Behemoth, worried, began to ask everyone how scary and painful it was to vaccinate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Immaculate (2013)
A man lives isolated in his grandmother's country-house in an attempt to recover from a tragic event involving his family. His lonely and silent days are spent with an unnameable hope.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Alice in Not So Wonderland (2007)
The story of Alice in Wonderland, explored in the stop-motion world of the Quay brothers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Antoine and Colette (1962)
After indulging in much delinquency in his youth, seventeen-year-old Antoine Doinel is now an upstanding member of society working for Philips Records, which allows him to indulge in his love of music. At the Youth Concerts, he has noticed the same young woman at several performances. She is Colette, and the two begin to date. Colette treats Antoine like a buddy, while Antoine has fallen in love with her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Buffalo Boy and His Flute (1963)
A young boy who likes to play the flute dreams that he has lost his water buffalo.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Like What I See and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like What I See?
The closest matches to What I See are World of Tomorrow (2015), Canvas (2020) and Waking Life (2001). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after What I See?
Start with World of Tomorrow (2015), the closest match to What I See.
What is the highest-rated movie like What I See?
Whiplash (2014), rated 8.4/10 by 17,385 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like What I See?
Canvas (2020) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like What I See?
Yes: World of Tomorrow (2015), Canvas (2020) and Waking Life (2001).
How are movies similar to What I See chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside What I See, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.