Movies like Short Circuit (1986)
The best movies like Short Circuit (1986) are A.R.C.H.I.E. (2016), The Cat from Outer Space (1978) and Hoppers (2026). If Short Circuit hooked you with its science fiction and comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHoppers (2026)8.1/10 from 2,525 votes
- Newest4 Minutes Before Forever (2026)Released 2026
A.R.C.H.I.E. (2016)
A recently orphaned 15-year-old who has moved to a small town to live with her uncle befriends a robotic canine with super strength, x-ray vision and the ability to talk and the pair take on a military complex, bullies, kidnappers, romance and the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Cat from Outer Space (1978)
A UFO is stranded on earth and impounded by the US government. Its pilot, a cat with a collar that gives it special powers, including the ability to communicate with humans, has eluded the authorities and seeks the help of a scientist in order to reclaim and repair his ship and get back home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHoppers (2026)
Scientists have discovered how to 'hop' human consciousness into lifelike robotic animals, allowing people to communicate with animals as animals. Animal lover Mabel seizes an opportunity to use the technology, uncovering mysteries within the animal world beyond anything she could have imagined.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & family
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisRon's Gone Wrong (2021)
In a world where walking, talking, digitally connected bots have become children's best friends, an 11-year-old finds that his robot buddy doesn't quite work the same as the others do.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSecret Headquarters (2022)
While hanging out after school, Charlie and his friends discover the headquarters of the world’s most powerful superhero hidden beneath his home. When villains attack, they must team up to defend the headquarters and save the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisProject: ALF (1996)
Six years ago, the lovable intergalactic fugitive Gordon Shumway, best known as ALF, was on his way back to his new home when the Alien Task Force finally caught up with him. Now, he is being studied at a top-secret military base where he finds allies who feel that ALF's existence should be announced to the world to ensure his safety... especially when they learn that the abrasive Colonel Milfoil wants ALF, and all Alien Life-Forms, destroyed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSmart House (1999)
Ben Cooper and his family are struggling to get a grip on household chores, school and work. So when Ben sees that a Smart House is being given away, he enters the competition as often as he can, until they eventually win the house (named Pat). After moving in, Pat's personality radically begins to change, turning the Coopers against her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisD.A.R.Y.L. (1985)
Daryl is a normal 10-year-old boy in many ways. However, unbeknown to his foster parents and friends, Daryl is actually a government-created robot with superhuman reflexes and mental abilities. Even his name has a hidden meaning -- it's actually an acronym for Data Analyzing Robot Youth Life-form. When the organization that created him deems the "super soldier" experiment a failure and schedules Daryl to be disassembled, it is up to a few rogue scientists to help him escape.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRobot & Frank (2012)
Curmudgeonly old Frank lives by himself. His routine involves daily visits to his local library, where he has a twinkle in his eye for the librarian. His grown children are concerned about their father’s well-being and buy him a caretaker robot. Initially resistant to the idea, Frank soon appreciates the benefits of robotic support – like nutritious meals and a clean house – and eventually begins to treat his robot like a true companion. With his robot’s assistance, Frank’s passion for his old, unlawful profession is reignited, for better or worse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA-X-L (2018)
The life of a teenage boy is forever altered by a chance encounter with cutting edge military technology.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisF.R.E.D.I. (2018)
An intelligent, lovable robot known as "F.R.E.D.I." is stolen from a secret research facility by the project's lead scientist. The robot is found by a 15 year old teenager, James. Soon the two begin to communicate and create a bond in which F.R.E.D.I. learns about teenage life and James learns about some new values.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & family
SnoozefestMovies like thisTransformers One (2024)
The untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but once were friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & family
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThunderstruck (2012)
After NBA star Kevin Durant switches talent with 16 year old Brian, the teenager becomes the star of his high school team, but Durant starts struggling and eventually learns an important lesson.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Transformers: The Movie (1986)
The Autobots must stop a colossal planet-consuming robot who goes after the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. At the same time, they must defend themselves against an all-out attack from the Decepticons.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMonsters vs Aliens (2009)
When Susan Murphy is unwittingly clobbered by a meteor full of outer space gunk on her wedding day, she mysteriously grows to 49-feet-11-inches. The military jumps into action and captures Susan, secreting her away to a covert government compound. She is renamed Ginormica and placed in confinement with a ragtag group of Monsters...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStar Kid (1997)
Shy seventh-grader Spencer Griffith's life changes when the meteor falls into local junkyard and he finds a Cybersuit - the wise and strong robot from another galaxy. Spencer puts Cybersuit on and becomes a different kind of guy
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPets United (2019)
When Roger (a Robin Hood-esque, stray dog) and Belle (an elegant yet spoilt pet cat) are thrown together amidst the chaos of a robot take-over of their home city, they must push all their preconceptions aside in order to survive, as they embark on a high-stakes, action-packed adventure.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisEarth to Echo (2014)
After a construction project begins digging in their neighbourhood, best friends Tuck, Munch and Alex inexplicably begin to receive strange, encoded messages on their cell phones. Convinced something bigger is going on, they go to their parents and the authorities. The three embark on a secret adventure to crack the code and follow it to its source, and discover a mysterious being from another world who desperately needs their help. The journey that follows will change all their lives forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisSpymate (2006)
Amelia, a young genius and daughter of a top secret agent, unknowingly invents a contraption that makes her the target of an evil scientist.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Loud House Movie (2021)
The Loud family travel to Scotland and discover they are descendants of Scottish royalty as they move into their giant ancestral castle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSanta Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)
Martians fear their children have become lazy and joyless due to their newfound obsession with Earth TV shows. After ancient Martian leader Chochem suggests that the children of Mars need more fun—including their own Santa Claus—supreme leader Lord Kimar assembles an expedition to Earth. Once there, they kidnap two children who lead them to the North Pole, then capture the real Santa Claus, taking all three back to Mars in an attempt to bring the Martian children happiness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisCape of Pleasures (TBA)
In a near future in Brazil, a totalitarian regime forces the elderly into residences where they extract memories from their brains to train an AI system. Horrified by this new reality, one man escapes one of the residences and joins a guerrilla cell led by fellow dissidents over 75.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Julie & Jack (2003)
In this love story with Hitchcockian overtones, a computer chip salesman meets the perfect girl (a brilliant software developer) -- and then she disappears. After Jack Livingstone (Justin Kunkle) finds Julie Romanov (Jenn Gotzon) through an Internet dating service, he's convinced life is perfect. But when she vanishes, he's left distraught and confused. Turning to Julie's mother (Hitchcock vet Tippi Hedren), he learns a startling revelation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
4 Minutes Before Forever (2026)
What starts as harmless fun with a voice assistant becomes a countdown to destruction when the AI begins predicting a couple's relationship's demise with terrifying precision.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Love Me (2025)
In a story that spans billions of years, a buoy and a satellite meet online long after humanity’s extinction. As they learn what life was like on Earth, they discover themselves and what it means to be alive and in love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRobot Monster (1953)
Ro-Man, an alien robot who greatly resembles a gorilla in a diving helmet, is sent to earth to destroy all human life. Ro-Man falls in love with one of the last six remaining humans, and struggles to understand how his programming can instruct him to kill her while his heart demands that he can't.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisUpgrade (2018)
A brutal mugging leaves Grey Trace paralyzed in the hospital and his beloved wife dead. A billionaire inventor soon offers Trace a cure — an artificial intelligence implant called STEM that will enhance his body. Now able to walk, Grey finds that he also has superhuman strength and agility — skills he uses to seek revenge against the thugs who destroyed his life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShe's in the Army Now (1981)
Akin to Private Benjamin, this comedy deals with the tough life of female army recruits going through basic training. Through their training they come to realize that there is more to being tough than having muscles.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Shinobi (2018)
In the future, Miko, a Japanese psychic warrior is looking to destroy a corporation that mass produces robots called "Shinobi" in order to avenge the death of her loved one.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Rhea Gall Force (1989)
The last remaining human soldiers of a devastated Earth fight against the machines for one last chance for their species to escape and survive.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Like Short Circuit and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Short Circuit?
The closest matches to Short Circuit are A.R.C.H.I.E. (2016), The Cat from Outer Space (1978) and Hoppers (2026). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Short Circuit?
Start with A.R.C.H.I.E. (2016), the closest match to Short Circuit.
What is the highest-rated movie like Short Circuit?
Hoppers (2026), rated 8.1/10 by 2,525 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Short Circuit?
4 Minutes Before Forever (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Short Circuit?
Yes: A.R.C.H.I.E. (2016), The Cat from Outer Space (1978) and Hoppers (2026).
How are movies similar to Short Circuit chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Short Circuit, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.