Movies like Return to Nim's Island (2013)
The best movies like Return to Nim's Island (2013) are Magic Island (1995), Dinosaur Island (2014) and Eye of the Dolphin (2007). If Return to Nim's Island hooked you with its family and adventure, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSpread Your Wings (2019)7.5/10 from 342 votes
- NewestCurious Tobi and the Secret Ruler of the Earth (2026)Released 2026
- Same seriesNim's Island (2008)Nim's Island
Magic Island (1995)
Jack Carlisle is a disillusioned 13-year old boy. His mother is always away at work since his father left. He decides to run away, as his mom won't miss him. As he is ready to leave, his nanny, convinces him to read this 'magic book'. The book is about a pirate adventure on Magic Island. As Jack reads the book, he is sucked into the world and goes on numerous adventures with Prince Morgan, while fleeing the evil Blackbeard the Pirate. He is even saved by Lily, a beautiful mermaid, whom he falls in love with.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & adventure
Dinosaur Island (2014)
The adventure begins when Lucas, a 13 year old boy, embarks on the vacation of a lifetime. When disaster strikes, Lucas finds himself stranded in a strange land littered with ghost ships and prehistoric creatures. While searching for other signs of life, Lucas hears a radio broadcast in the distance and is drawn into the jungle where he encounters a beautiful young girl who claims to have come from the 1950s. Together they set out on a quest to get home all the while uncovering secrets that will forever change the future.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
SnoozefestMovies like thisEye of the Dolphin (2007)
Alyssa is a troubled 14-year old, suspended from school a year after her mother has drowned. Her grandmother Lucy, at wit's end, decides to take Alyssa to her father, James, whom Alyssa thought was dead for years. He studies dolphin communication at Smith's Point, on the Grand Bahama Island. James has not known of Alyssa's existence and is clueless about parenthood. The women arrive at the same time that James may lose his research operation to a tourist attraction. Father, daughter, dolphins, and town are on a collision course. Alyssa and James get encouragement from James's girlfriend and her father. It's the dolphins who can teach, and Alyssa who discovers how to listen.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family
Nim's Island (2008)
A young girl inhabits an isolated island with her scientist father and communicates with a reclusive author of the novel she's reading.
Why it matches: Same series: Nim's Island · both adventure & family
SnoozefestMovies like thisReturn to the Blue Lagoon (1991)
In this sequel to the 1980 classic, two children are stranded on a beautiful island in the South Pacific. With no adults to guide them, the two make a simple life together and eventually become tanned teenagers in love.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Water Horse (2007)
A lonely boy discovers a mysterious egg that hatches a sea creature of Scottish legend.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Shine of Rainbows (2009)
An orphaned boy named Tomás is adopted by Maire O’Donnell to live on a whimsical Irish isle filled with new friends, secret caves and a lost baby pup seal stranded on the coast. But when Maire's reluctant husband Alec refuses to accept Tomás as his own son, the boy drifts down a fateful path of adventure and self-discovery, illuminating how rainbows can shine around - and within - us all.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJourney to the Center of the Earth (2008)
Set in the late 1870's - A woman hires an anthropologist/adventurer to track down her husband, who has disappeared while searching for an elusive passage to the center of the earth
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisBridge to Terabithia (2007)
Jesse Aarons trained all summer to become the fastest runner in school. So he's very upset when newcomer Leslie Burke outruns him and everyone else. Despite this and other differences including that she's rich, he's poor, she's a city girl, and he's a country boy the two become fast friends. Together they create Terabithia, a land of monsters, trolls, ogres, and giants where they rule as king and queen.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisScales (2017)
Siren has lived her life thinking she's an ordinary girl, in an ordinary town. On her 12th birthday, she learns that she's far from ordinary.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Dolphin Kick (2019)
On a tropical island vacation, a young boy's friendship with a playful and friendly dolphin helps him find the courage to get back in the water after the sudden loss of his mother.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Free Willy: Escape from Pirate's Cove (2010)
After young Kirra leaves her Australian home to summer with her grandfather in South Africa, she soon discovers a baby orca stranded in the lagoon near her grandfather’s rundown seaside amusement park. She names the lonely whale Willy--and embarks on a great quest to lead the little guy back to his anxious pod.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDolittle (2020)
After losing his wife seven years earlier, the eccentric Dr. John Dolittle, famed doctor and veterinarian of Queen Victoria’s England, hermits himself away behind the high walls of Dolittle Manor with only his menagerie of exotic animals for company. But when the young queen falls gravely ill, a reluctant Dolittle is forced to set sail on an epic adventure to a mythical island in search of a cure, regaining his wit and courage as he crosses old adversaries and discovers wondrous creatures.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMidnight Sun (2014)
In northern Canada, a young boy sets a goal for himself to to reunite an abandoned polar bear cub with its mother. Goran Visnjic joins the cast as Muktuk, a half Inuit and half Canadian, who knows the terrain where the polar bears live and who agrees to help the boy.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisFamous Five (2012)
The film recounts the adventures of Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy the dog on their first holiday together at the seaside. In an old smugglers' cave, the children happen to overhear a radio message that refers to the abduction of George’s father Quentin. The professor has set up a laboratory on Kirrin Island where he’s doing research on a new energy generation method. Someone has obviously taken great interest in the valuable research results. But neither the police nor George’s mother Fanny believe the children. They are now on their own and discover a conspiracy that almost takes their breath away.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & adventure
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: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLegends of the Hidden Temple (2016)
Three siblings who break away from a lackluster temple tour in a jungle finds themselves immersed in a real-life mission comprised of obstacles that they must complete in order to escape alive.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWindstorm (2013)
While spending the summer at her grandmother's farm, a girl discovers a talent for communicating with horses and tries to tame a fierce stallion.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Mermaid's Tale (2017)
12-year-old Ryan moves to the town where her father was born—a bleak, dying fishing town. However, exploring the coast, she discovers a cove that is home to a mysterious girl named Coral who reveals herself to be a mermaid.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family
SnoozefestMovies like thisWindstorm 3 (2017)
Ostwind and Mika have found a real home at the farm Kaltenbach with Mika's grandmother. In the hustle of running therapy center and due to Mika's fame as a horse-whisperer, she feels that she doesn't have enough freedom and time to ride. After a serious disagreement with her grandmother, Mika secretly sets off for the night in eastern Andalusia, Spain, where she suspects Ostwind's roots are.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBibi & Tina: Bewildered and Bewitched (2014)
When robbers hit Falkenstein castle, teen witch Bibi and pal Tina hunt for the crooks, then devise a plan to save the neighbors' failing ranch.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSwallows and Amazons (1974)
On holiday with their mother in the Lake District in 1929 four children are allowed to sail over to the nearby island in their boat Swallow and set up camp for a few days. They soon realise this has been the territory of two other girls who sail the Amazon, and the scene is set for serious rivalry.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Curious Tobi and the Secret Ruler of the Earth (2026)
Tobi revisits an old childhood riddle: Who leaves the deepest traces in the earth? His search takes him to places like Madagascar, Spitsbergen, and Mexico, where he uncovers what connects them and finds the answer he was missing as a child.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & adventure
Inkheart (2008)
The adventures of a father and his young daughter, in their search for a long lost book that will help reunite a missing, close relative.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe School of the Magical Animals (2021)
Ida Kronenberg must transfer to a new school, where she soon realizes the students are unkind to each other. However, that all changes when a new teacher, Miss Cornfield, begins to educate them on the value of friendship and magic.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMagic in the Water (1995)
Radio psychologist Jack Black takes his children Joshua and Ashley on a 'vacation' to a lake in British Columbia. While he grinds away at work the children discover that the famous local lake monster "Orky" may not be just a gimmick to attract tourists after all. In fact, Orky may enable them to get closer to their workaholic dad, and help stop local polluters who are dumping toxic waste.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Three Investigators in The Secret of Skeleton Island (2007)
The hobby detectives “The Three Investigators” want to take a little break. So they take advantage of an offer from Peter's father, who has accepted a job in South Africa and wants to take the detectives there. But Jupiter, Peter and Bob wouldn't be the three investigators marks feared by the criminal world if they just lounged around in the sun on their vacation. So it's no wonder that the clever boys soon have their next case to solve...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBibi & Tina (2014)
Bibi Blocksberg visits her friend Tina Martin at the riding stables during the summer vacation. This year there is to be a special horse race organized by Count Falko. However, the two friends run into trouble when Sophia von Gelenberg from an elite boarding school at Falkenstein Castle, a participant and close acquaintance of the house, arrives and tries to steal Tina's boyfriend Alexander. The shady businessman Hans Kakmann is also up to no good, and it's not just the foal Socrates, known as "Socke", he's after. Bibi tries to save Alex and Tina's relationship on the one hand and expose Kakmann's business practices on the other. But even witchcraft can't prevent her from turning everyone against her, Count Falko enrolling his son in boarding school and Kakman offering to buy the foal "Socke".
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSpread Your Wings (2019)
Christian, a visionary scientist, studies wild geese. For his son, a teenager obsessed with video games, the idea of spending a holiday with his father in the wilderness is a nightmare. However, father and son will get together around a crazy project: save a species endangered, thanks to the ultralight of Christian! Then begins an incredible and perilous journey ...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Legend of Johnny Lingo (2003)
When a storm washes a canoe bearing an infant boy ashore upon a small South Pacific island, he is at first well-received as a gift from the heavens, even to the point of the tribal chief adopting him as a successor. However, with time as hardships are blamed upon Tama (as he is named), he is finally outcast to live with the poorest people on the island, Mahana and her drunken father. Mahana is considered homely and undesirable, but Tama feels differently, so when he is old enough to build a craft to sail away, he vows to return for her one day. A lucky stroke brings him to land upon the island of the legendary Johnny Lingo, the wealthiest trader in the islands, and after years of service to him, Tama has learned much about life and himself as he dreams of honoring his pledge to Mahana.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Return to Nim's Island?
The closest matches to Return to Nim's Island are Magic Island (1995), Dinosaur Island (2014) and Eye of the Dolphin (2007). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Return to Nim's Island?
People who watched Return to Nim's Island most often go on to Magic Island (1995), Dinosaur Island (2014) and Eye of the Dolphin (2007).
What is the highest-rated movie like Return to Nim's Island?
Spread Your Wings (2019), rated 7.5/10 by 342 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Return to Nim's Island?
Curious Tobi and the Secret Ruler of the Earth (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Is Return to Nim's Island part of a series?
Yes. It belongs to Nim's Island, which includes Nim's Island (2008).
Are there English movies like Return to Nim's Island?
Yes: Magic Island (1995), Dinosaur Island (2014) and Eye of the Dolphin (2007).
How are movies similar to Return to Nim's Island chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Return to Nim's Island, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.