Movies like Children of Heaven (1997)
The best movies like Children of Heaven (1997) are Bridge to Terabithia (2007), Where the Red Fern Grows (2003) and Where the Red Fern Grows (1974). If Children of Heaven hooked you with its drama and family, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedAnne of Green Gables (1985)8.1/10 from 263 votes
- NewestLeila's Brothers (2022)Released 2022
Bridge 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhere the Red Fern Grows (2003)
Set in the Ozark Mountains during the Great Depression, Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for 2 years to achieve his dream of buying two coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in God as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with "Old Dan" and "Little Ann."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhere the Red Fern Grows (1974)
Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for two years to achieve his dream of buying two red-bone coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in life as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with his dogs, Old Dan and Little Ann.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRight on Track (2003)
Based a on a true story about two sisters who came out on top of a man's sport. The story is based on Erica and Courtney Enders, two sisters who get in to junior drag racing and make it all the way to the top. The two sisters fight a battle of fellow racers who are against having girls race with them therefore it pushes them harder to compete against their competition. Erica becomes stressed when her racing life becomes mixed with her social life and academic goals, and decided to quit racing, until she realizes racing is what she truly wants to do. Finally towards the end of their teen years the Enders sisters come out on top to win the junior drag racing national title. They continue to race throughout high school and college, and still do so today.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDreamer: Inspired By a True Story (2005)
Ben Crane believes that a severely injured racehorse deserves another chance. He and his daughter Cale adopt the mare and save it from being sacrificed by the owner.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFlicka: Country Pride (2012)
Flicka and Toby help out a struggling stable owner and her teenage daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSkater Girl (2021)
Prerna, a teenager growing up in rural India, comes of age when she’s introduced to the sport of skateboarding. As a result, she has to fight the odds to follow her dreams and compete in the national championship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Second Chance (2011)
A young girl and her coach overcome adversity to make their way into the National Australian Gymnastics Squad.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnne of Green Gables (1985)
Anne Shirley, an orphan, is fostered by farmer Matthew Cuthbert and his sister Marilla, who were expecting a boy to be sent them to help with their farm work. They accept Anne, who quickly endears herself to them and to the local villagers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisWild Hearts Can't Be Broken (1991)
A runaway orphan, young Sonora, persists in a menial job mucking stables in Doc Carver's travelling stunt show. Her great wish is to become a death-defying "diving girl," but Doc refuses her pleas. Undaunted, Sonora's gutsy resolve finally convinces him to give her a break. On the brink of stardom, however, a cruel twist of fate threatens to destroy her dream.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGreyfriars Bobby (1961)
In Scotland 1865, An old shepherd and his little Skye terrier go to Edinburgh. But when the shepherd dies of pneumonia, the dog remains faithful to his master, refuses to be adopted by anyone, and takes to sleeping on his master's grave in the Greyfriars kirkyard, despite a caretaker with a "no dogs" rule. And when Bobby is taken up for being unlicensed, it's up to the children of Edinburgh and the Lord Provost to decide what's to be done.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Second Chance: Rivals! (2019)
As Maddy takes on coaching a team of young twelve-year-old gymnasts, she faces up to intense city versus country rivalry, racism, cyberbullying and her own self-doubt but eventually takes the challenge head on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHeidi (2005)
Swiss girl Adelheid 'Heidi' is orphaned young. Aunt Detie brings her to grandpa Alp and his wife, who live isolated in the Alps since his murder charge. Heidi soon takes to the wild country, especially accompanying young goatherd Peter. Grandpa refuses to send her to school in the city, but aunt Detie returns and forces him to give in. She's sent to a posh lady in Frankfurt, where she'll be a companion for crippled daughter Clara after school hours.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFlicka (2006)
Katy McLaughlin desires to work on her family's mountainside horse ranch, although her father insists she finish boarding school. Katy finds a mustang in the hills near her ranch. The headstrong 16 year old then sets her mind to tame a mustang and prove to her father she can run the ranch. But when tragedy happens, it will take all the love and strength the family can muster to restore hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHorse Sense (1999)
After treating his rancher cousin shoddily in L.A. Michael Woods is sentenced by his parents to spending a month on the ranch with his cousin and aunt.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Greening of Whitney Brown (2011)
Whitney, a spoiled pre-teen from Philadelphia, is forced to move to the country when her parents feel the squeeze of economic hard times. A fish out of water, far from her comfort zone, she befriends an amazing horse, and undertakes a misguided journey back to her old life, only to discover that her family is her home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
SnoozefestMovies like thisDouble Teamed! (2002)
Heather and Heidi play volleyball for their school team, when their family decides that they need to go to a bigger school so that they will have a better chance for scholarships. But at the new school, the twins are discovered by the basketball coach. Inspired by the true story of Heather and Heidi Burge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLeila's Brothers (2022)
At the age of 40, Leila has spent her entire life caring for her parents and four brothers. A family that is constantly arguing and under pressure from various debts in the face of sanctions against Iran. While her brothers are struggling to make ends meet, Leila makes a plan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Last Mimzy (2007)
Two siblings begin to develop special talents after they find a mysterious box of toys, and soon their parents and even their teacher are drawn into a strange new world – and find a task ahead of them that is far more important than any of them could imagine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhere Is The Friend's House? (1987)
An 8-year-old boy must return his friend's notebook he took by mistake, lest his friend be punished by expulsion from school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisAlbino Alligator (1997)
While escaping from a foiled robbery attempt, three thieves find themselves surrounded by police at a New Orleans bar--only they're not the people the police are searching for.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Last Day (2004)
At Christmas time, 19-year-old Simon returns home to visit his dysfunctional family with Louise, a fearless girl he met during his train ride. While Simon struggles to cope with the growing distance between him and his parents, he starts to examine his feelings when Louise develop a liaison of her own with his childhood friend Mathieu.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Insider (1999)
A research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a 60 Minutes exposé on Big Tobacco.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Eye (2008)
Violinist Sydney Wells was accidentally blinded by her sister Helen when she was five years old. She submits to a cornea transplantation, and while recovering from the operation, she realizes that she is seeing dead people.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Tree of Life (2011)
The impressionistic story of a Texas family in the 1950s. The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father. Jack finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)
Upon moving into the run-down Spiderwick Estate with their mother, twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace, along with their sister Mallory, find themselves pulled into an alternate world full of faeries and other creatures.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI've Loved You So Long (2008)
A woman struggles to interact with her family and find her place in society after spending fifteen years in prison.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLinha de Passe (2008)
In the periphery of São Paulo, the pregnant single mother Cleuza works as maid in the apartment of a middle-class family. Each of her sons has a different unknown father: the oldest, Dênis, has a baby son that lives with his mother and he works as motorcycle courier.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRocco and His Brothers (1960)
When a impoverished widow’s family moves to the big city, two of her five sons become romantic rivals with deadly results.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Children of Heaven?
The closest matches to Children of Heaven are Bridge to Terabithia (2007), Where the Red Fern Grows (2003) and Where the Red Fern Grows (1974). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Children of Heaven?
Start with Bridge to Terabithia (2007), the closest match to Children of Heaven.
What is the highest-rated movie like Children of Heaven?
Anne of Green Gables (1985), rated 8.1/10 by 263 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Children of Heaven?
Leila's Brothers (2022) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Children of Heaven chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Children of Heaven, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.