Movies like A Recipe for Gruel (2013)
The best movies like A Recipe for Gruel (2013) are The Little Matchgirl (2006), Hilda and the Mountain King (2021) and Light of the World (2025). If A Recipe for Gruel hooked you with its animation and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHow to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming (2019)8.0/10 from 1,155 votes
- NewestTespis Teporocho (2025)Released 2025
The Little Matchgirl (2006)
An animated short based on Hans Christian Andersen's tale about a poor young girl with a burning desire to find comfort and happiness in her life. Desperate to keep warm, the girl lights the matches she sells, and envisions a very different life for herself in the fiery flames filled with images of loving relatives, bountiful food, and a place to call home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHilda and the Mountain King (2021)
When Hilda wakes up in the body of a troll, she must use her wits and courage to get back home, become human again — and save the city of Trolberg.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLight of the World (2025)
It's 30 AD and everyone is expectantly awaiting the coming Messiah. While Jesus isn't exactly what they imagined, there is something special about this man. Soon, John, James, Andrew, Peter, and others begin to follow Jesus on an unexpected adventure. This beautifully animated story of Jesus is told through the eyes of his beloved young friend, the Apostle John.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisWhere Is Anne Frank (2021)
The film follows the journey of Kitty, the imaginary friend to whom Anne Frank dedicated her diary. A fiery teenager, Kitty wakes up in the near future in Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam and embarks on a journey to find Anne, who she believes is still alive, in today's Europe. While the young girl is shocked by the modern world, she also comes across Anne's legacy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPloey: You Never Fly Alone (2018)
A plover chick has not learned to fly when his family migrates in the fall. He must survive the arctic winter, vicious enemies and himself in order to be reunited with his beloved one next spring.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (2012)
After a hurricane levels his city, a young man wanders into a mysterious library where books literally come to life. This film won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film in 2012.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Pagemaster (1994)
Rich knows a lot about accidents. So much so, he is scared to do anything that might endanger him, like riding his bike, or climbing into his treehouse. While in an old library, he is mystically transported into the unknown world of books, and he has to try and get home again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRoom on the Broom (2012)
Animated film based on the wonderful children's picture book written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. The story of a kind witch who invites a surprising collection of animals to join her on her broom, much to the frustration of her cat. The gang ultimately saves the witch from a fearsome dragon, and in gratitude she rewards them with a magnificent new broom which has room for everyone. A magical tale about friendship and family from Magic Light Pictures, the producers of the hugely successful The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDragons: Rescue Riders: Secrets of the Songwing (2020)
When a musical dragon with a beautiful voice hypnotizes the dragons and people of Huttsgalor, the Rescue Riders have to find a way to break the spell.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBabes in the Woods (1932)
Two Dutch children stumble on a clearing in the woods where gnomes are going about their business. The gnomes are friendly to the children. A witch comes and takes them away on her broom to her gingerbread house, where she turns nasty on them, turning the boy into a spider, her yowling cat to stone, and tries to turn the girl into a rat when a gnome's arrow stops her. While the gnomes are fighting the witch, Hansel and Gretl free the other children who have been imprisoned and transformed by the witch.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pied Piper (1933)
The people of Hamelin, overrun with rats, offer a bag of gold to anyone who can get rid of the rats. A piper offers to do the job, and successfully lures the rats into a mirage of cheese, which disappears. The citizens, disappointed that all he did was play a tune, offer only pocket change. The piper, angered, plays a new tune that has all the children of the city follow him, even the new twins the stork is preparing to deliver.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPAW Patrol: Jet to the Rescue (2020)
A royal relative steals a gem with the power to make things fly, the Paw Patrol takes to the skies to stop him and save Barkingburg.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTinker Bell (2008)
Journey into the secret world of Pixie Hollow and hear Tinker Bell speak for the very first time as the astonishing story of Disney's most famous fairy is finally revealed in the all-new motion picture "Tinker Bell."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHow to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming (2019)
It's been ten years since the dragons moved to the Hidden World, and even though Toothless doesn't live in New Berk anymore, Hiccup continues the holiday traditions he once shared with his best friend. But the Vikings of New Berk were beginning to forget about their friendship with dragons. Hiccup, Astrid, and Gobber know just what to do to keep the dragons in the villagers' hearts. And across the sea, the dragons have a plan of their own...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThunderbirds Are GO (1966)
When the launch of a mission to Mars goes awry due to sabotage, International Rescue is requested to assist in the mission's second attempt.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWinnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968)
Winnie the Pooh and his friends experience high winds, heavy rains, and a flood in Hundred Acre Wood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEpic (2013)
A teenager finds herself transported to a deep forest setting where a battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil is taking place. She bands together with a rag-tag group of characters in order to save their world—and ours.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast (2014)
An ancient myth of a massive creature sparks the curiosity of Tinker Bell and her good friend Fawn, an animal fairy who’s not afraid to break the rules to help an animal in need. But this creature is not welcome in Pixie Hollow — and the scout fairies are determined to capture the mysterious beast, who they fear will destroy their home. Fawn must convince her fairy friends to risk everything to rescue the NeverBeast.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMonster High: Friday Night Frights (2012)
After Monster High’s roller skating team is defeated at the Skulltimate Roller Maze tournament, the ghouls team up to face an all-boys league, with the hope of winning back the school crest and restoring school spirit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSnoopy Presents: It's the Small Things, Charlie Brown (2022)
Charlie Brown is determined to win the big baseball game. But things turn into a fiasco right before the matchup, when Sally bonds with a little flower on the pitcher's mound and vows to protect it at all costs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThat Eye, the Sky (1995)
Ort Flack is 12 years old and lives with his mother and his sister Tegwyn in the Australian outback. The three of them also have to take care of their old grandma and their paralyzed father. It is not easy for one mother to take care of everybody. But one day a mysterious stranger, Henry, comes to their desolate house to help them...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Cockfighter (1974)
A man who trains fighting cocks vows to remain silent until one of his birds wins a championship.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBoogaloo and Graham (2014)
In 1970s Belfast two young boys discover the facts of life, aided by the help of their pet chickens.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (2023)
A band of fearless chickens flock together to save poultry-kind from an unsettling new threat: a nearby farm that's cooking up something suspicious.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Morning Stroll (2011)
In three distinct eras, a man walking down the street has an unexpected encounter with a chicken.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Eggs Benedict (1965)
Super Chicken fights chicken hater Eggs Benedict
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Tespis Teporocho (2025)
In "Tespis Teporocho", a boy who interacts with vagabonds thirsty for knowledge, finally absorb them from an unexpected teacher.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Alice in Earnestland (2015)
A young woman struggles to pay the hospital bills of her vegetative husband. Despite her hard work, there's no hope for him to ever wake up, until an opportunity arises.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Partisan (2015)
On the edge of a crumbling city, 11-year-old Alexander lives in a sequestered commune alongside other children, their mothers, and charismatic leader, Gregori. Gregori teaches the children how to raise livestock, grow vegetables, work as a community - and how to kill. With the birth of a new baby brother weighing on his mind, Alexander begins to question Gregori’s overpowering influence on the children and their training to become assassins. Threatened by his increasing unwillingness to fall in line, Gregori’s behavior turns erratic and adversarial toward the child he once considered a son. With the two set dangerously at odds and the commune’s way of life disintegrating, the residents fear a violent resolution is at hand.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Adventures of Milo and Otis (1986)
When Milo the cat and Otis the dog are separated, they each set off on an adventurous and often perilous quest across mountains, plains, and snow-covered lands to reunite with one another.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like A Recipe for Gruel?
The closest matches to A Recipe for Gruel are The Little Matchgirl (2006), Hilda and the Mountain King (2021) and Light of the World (2025). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after A Recipe for Gruel?
Start with The Little Matchgirl (2006), the closest match to A Recipe for Gruel.
What is the highest-rated movie like A Recipe for Gruel?
How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming (2019), rated 8.0/10 by 1,155 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like A Recipe for Gruel?
Tespis Teporocho (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like A Recipe for Gruel?
Yes: The Little Matchgirl (2006), Hilda and the Mountain King (2021) and Light of the World (2025).
How are movies similar to A Recipe for Gruel chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside A Recipe for Gruel, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.