Movies like The Invisible Hippo of Grief: An Adoption Story (2026)
The best movies like The Invisible Hippo of Grief: An Adoption Story (2026) are Lion (2016), December Boys (2007) and Three Identical Strangers (2018). If The Invisible Hippo of Grief: An Adoption Story hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
The Invisible Hippo of Grief: An Adoption Story
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLion (2016)8.0/10 from 7,129 votes
- NewestBlue Heron (2026)Released 2026
Lion (2016)
A five-year-old Indian boy gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia; 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDecember Boys (2007)
For many years, four teenage orphans at an Australian outback convent have watched their younger comrades find new parents, and realize that they may never be adopted. The Reverend Mother sends the four boys away on a seaside vacation, where they meet Teresa and Fearless, a couple who would make perfect parents. The youths compete with one another to be the one Teresa and Fearless decide to adopt.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThree Identical Strangers (2018)
New York, 1980. Three complete strangers accidentally discover that they're identical triplets, separated at birth. The 19-year-olds' joyous reunion catapults them to international fame, but also unlocks an extraordinary and disturbing secret that goes beyond their own lives – and could transform our understanding of human nature forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBed Rest (2023)
After struggling to start a family, Julie Rivers becomes pregnant and moves into a new home with her husband. She's ordered to mandatory bed rest, and begins seeing ghostly happenings throughout the house.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSomeone Like You (2024)
Shocking news hits after young architect Dawson loses his best friend London. In his heartbreak, Dawson is compelled to launch an impossible search for London’s secret sister, twins separated as embryos. But along the way, Dawson never planned to fall in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSee You on Venus (2023)
Mia and Kyle, two misfit American teens, travel to Spain in search of Mia's birth mother. As the pair road trip through the picturesque cities of Andalusia and fall in love, they discover that the most important question isn't who gave you life, but what you decide to do with it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNowhere Special (2020)
John, a 35-year-old window cleaner, has dedicated his life to bringing up his 4-year-old son, Michael, after the child's mother left them soon after giving birth. When John is given only a few months left to live, he attempts to find a new, perfect family for Michael, determined to shield him from the terrible reality of the situation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlue Heron (2026)
A family of six's fresh start on 1990s Vancouver Island unravels as their youngest child, Sasha, witnesses the increasingly dangerous behavior of her older brother, Jeremy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Man (2006)
After leaving prison, dwarf criminal Calvin Sims joins his moron brother Percy in stealing an expensive huge diamond from a jewelry store for the mobster Walken. They are chased by the police, and Calvin hides the stone in the purse of executive Vanessa Edwards, whose husband Darryl Edwards wants to have a baby. Percy convinces Calvin to dress like a baby and be left in front of the Edwards' house to get inside the house and retrieve the diamond. Darryl and Vanessa keep Calvin for the weekend and decide to adopt him, while Walken threatens Darryl to get the stone back.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisPieces of a Woman (2020)
When a young mother's home birth ends in unfathomable tragedy, she begins a year-long odyssey of mourning that fractures relationships with loved ones in this deeply personal story of a woman learning to live alongside her loss.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStrange but True (2019)
A woman surprises the family of her deceased boyfriend by telling them she's pregnant with his child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVersa (2025)
A young couple looking to start a family who experience emotions—from grief and loss to ultimate joy—as they embark on an ethereal, abstract, and imaginative cosmic dance of life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisEvelyn (2002)
Desmond Doyle is devastated when his wife abandons their family on the day after Christmas. His unemployment, and the fact that there is no woman in the house to care for the children—Evelyn, Dermot and Maurice—make it clear to the authorities this is an untenable situation. The Catholic Church and the Irish courts decide to put the Doyle children into Church-run orphanages.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBring Her Back (2025)
Following the death of their father, a brother and sister are sent to live with a foster mother, only to learn that she is hiding a terrifying secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMother and Child (2009)
Mother and Child is a 2009 drama film directed and written by Rodrigo García. It premiered on September 14, 2009, at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival and at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2010, and was the closing night selection in the 2010 Maryland Film Festival. It had a limited release in the United States beginning May 7, 2010
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTow (2026)
Amanda Ogle is a woman living in her aging Toyota Camry on the streets of Seattle. When her car is stolen and impounded, she’s thrust into a relentless legal battle against an indifferent system. What begins as a fight to reclaim her car evolves into a deeply human story of resilience, dignity, and the power of one woman’s voice in the face of systemic failure.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dollmaker (2017)
A grieving mother latches on to a magical surrogate for her lost child. But small miracles come with big consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Boys of St. Vincent (1994)
The true story of boys being sexually abused at their orphanage, run by a religious community in Newfoundland.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisInstant Family (2018)
When Pete and Ellie decide to start a family, they stumble into the world of foster care adoption. They hope to take in one small child but when they meet three siblings, including a rebellious 15 year old girl, they find themselves speeding from zero to three kids overnight.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Home of Our Own (1993)
In 1960s Los Angeles an energetic widow and her six children try to make a dream of theirs come true: to have a home of their own. They leave L.A. and head for the countryside, all the while facing numerous difficulties and obstacles during their journey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this
Like The Invisible Hippo of Grief: An Adoption Story and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Invisible Hippo of Grief: An Adoption Story?
The closest matches to The Invisible Hippo of Grief: An Adoption Story are Lion (2016), December Boys (2007) and Three Identical Strangers (2018). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Invisible Hippo of Grief: An Adoption Story?
Start with Lion (2016), the closest match to The Invisible Hippo of Grief: An Adoption Story.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Invisible Hippo of Grief: An Adoption Story?
Lion (2016), rated 8.0/10 by 7,129 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Invisible Hippo of Grief: An Adoption Story?
Blue Heron (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Invisible Hippo of Grief: An Adoption Story?
Yes: Lion (2016), December Boys (2007) and Three Identical Strangers (2018).
How are movies similar to The Invisible Hippo of Grief: An Adoption Story chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Invisible Hippo of Grief: An Adoption Story, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.