Movies like Goodbye to Our Kindergarten (2011)
The best movies like Goodbye to Our Kindergarten (2011) are Skater Girl (2021), Where the Red Fern Grows (1974) and A Little Princess (1995). If Goodbye to Our Kindergarten 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 ratedAmerican History X (1998)8.3/10 from 13,136 votes
- NewestLook Back (2024)Released 2024
- In JapaneseTotto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window (2023)Also in Japanese
Skater 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 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 thisA Little Princess (1995)
When her father enlists to fight for the British in WWI, young Sara Crewe goes to New York to attend the same boarding school her late mother attended. She soon clashes with the severe headmistress, Miss Minchin, who attempts to stifle Sara's creativity and sense of self-worth.
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 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 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 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 thisThe Encounter (2010)
When five strangers with nothing in common come together at a remote roadside eatery, they place their orders with the diner's omniscient owner, who seems to know everything about them ... and is eerily reminiscent of Jesus Christ.
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 thisTotto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window (2023)
This engaging series of childhood recollections tells of an unconventional school in Tokyo during World War II that combined learning with fun, freedom, and love. The school had old railroad cars for classrooms and was run by an extraordinary man – its founder and headmaster, Sōsaku Kobayashi – who deeply valued children's independence, and who was a firm believer in freedom of expression and activity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSamantha: An American Girl Holiday (2004)
Kindhearted Samantha Parkington's world starts to change the day Nellie O'Malley walks into her life. Nellie, her father, and her two little sisters have moved in next door to be servants for the Ryland family. Though they come from completely different backgrounds, Samantha and Nellie become fast friends. The girls turn to each other in happiness and sorrow, adventure and danger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAn American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong (2009)
A fourth grader and her friends deal with bullying from a more popular girl in their class.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Believe (2019)
A 9 year old boy experiences God's power in a supernatural way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMonster (2023)
After an outburst at school involving her son, a concerned single mother demands answers, triggering a sequence of deepening suspicion and turmoil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHeaven (2019)
Heaven Leigh Casteel, gifted and intelligent, is the eldest of five dirt-poor children struggling to survive in a mountain shack. As she endures neglect and abuse, Heaven discovers a dark secret that changes everything she thought she knew about her family. Then tragedy tears her world apart and she must forge her own way in the cruel, unknown world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWon't Back Down (2012)
Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLook Back (2024)
Popular, outgoing Fujino is celebrated by her classmates for her funny comics in the class newspaper. One day, her teacher asks her to share the space with Kyomoto, a truant recluse whose beautiful artwork sparks a competitive fervor in Fujino. What starts as jealousy transforms when Fujino realizes their shared passion for drawing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisOnce Upon a Forest (1993)
A young mouse, mole and hedgehog risk their lives to find a cure for their badger friend, who's been poisoned by men.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGirl in the Box (2016)
The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Am Elizabeth Smart (2017)
The story of Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping and captivity, as told from her perspective.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisItalian for Beginners (2000)
Several lonely hearts in a semi-provincial suburb of a town in Denmark use a beginner's course in Italian as the platform to meet the romance of their lives. The film, which unspools the connections and family drama shared between the students, complies with several aesthetic principles of Dogme 95 movement.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMuriel's Wedding (1994)
Socially awkward Muriel Heslop wants nothing more than to get married. Unfortunately, due to her oppressive politician father, Muriel has never even been on a date. Ostracized by her more socially adept friends, Muriel runs into fellow outcast Rhonda Epinstalk, and the two move from their small Australian town to the big city of Sydney, where Muriel changes her name and begins the arduous task of redesigning her life to match her fantasies.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAbout a Boy (2002)
Will Freeman is a good-looking, smooth-talking bachelor whose primary goal in life is avoiding any kind of responsibility. But when he invents an imaginary son in order to meet attractive single moms, Will gets a hilarious lesson about life from a bright, but hopelessly geeky 12-year-old named Marcus. Now, as Will struggles to teach Marcus the art of being cool, Marcus teaches Will that you're never too old to grow up.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKnockin' on Heaven's Door (1997)
Two young men, Martin and Rudi, both suffering from terminal cancer, get to know each other in a hospital room. They drown their desperation in tequila and decide to take one last trip to the sea. Drunk and still in pajamas they steal the first fancy car they find, a 60's Mercedes convertible. The car happens to belong to a bunch of gangsters, which immediately start to chase it, since it contains more than the pistol Martin finds in the glove box.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMaybe... Maybe Not (1994)
The heterosexual man Axel is thrown out of his girlfriends home for cheating and ends up moving in with a gay man. Axel learns the advantages of living with gay men even though they are attracted to him and when his girlfriend wants him back he must make a tough decision.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Big Blue (1988)
Childhood friends Jacques and Enzo share a passion for the danger of free diving. Jacques, following in the footsteps of his father, who died at sea when Jacques was a boy, harbors a remarkable ability to adjust his heart rate and breathing patterns in the water, with his vital signs more closely resembling those of dolphins than men.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTalk to Her (2002)
Two men share an odd friendship while they care for two women who are both in deep comas.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisParadise Now (2005)
Two childhood friends are recruited for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBilly Elliot (2000)
County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAmerican History X (1998)
Derek Vineyard is paroled after serving 3 years in prison for killing two African-American men. Through his brother, Danny Vineyard's narration, we learn that before going to prison, Derek was a skinhead and the leader of a violent white supremacist gang that committed acts of racial crime throughout L.A. and his actions greatly influenced Danny. Reformed and fresh out of prison, Derek severs contact with the gang and becomes determined to keep Danny from going down the same violent path as he did.
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 Goodbye to Our Kindergarten?
The closest matches to Goodbye to Our Kindergarten are Skater Girl (2021), Where the Red Fern Grows (1974) and A Little Princess (1995). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Goodbye to Our Kindergarten?
Start with Skater Girl (2021), the closest match to Goodbye to Our Kindergarten.
What is the highest-rated movie like Goodbye to Our Kindergarten?
American History X (1998), rated 8.3/10 by 13,136 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Goodbye to Our Kindergarten?
Look Back (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Goodbye to Our Kindergarten?
Yes: Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window (2023), Monster (2023) and Look Back (2024).
How are movies similar to Goodbye to Our Kindergarten chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Goodbye to Our Kindergarten, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.