Movies like Penguins (1968)
The best movies like Penguins (1968) are The Congress (2013), Strings (2004) and Scott of the Antarctic (1948). If Penguins hooked you with its drama and animation, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedFar from the Tree (2021)8.1/10 from 395 votes
- NewestGoodbye June (2025)Released 2025
The Congress (2013)
An aging, out-of-work actress accepts one last job, though the consequences of her decision affect her in ways she didn't consider.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrings (2004)
The story of Prince Hal who sets out to avenge his dead father against the city's rivals, the Zeriths, little knowing it was his wicked uncle Nezo who is the real killer, with his own designs on the throne.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisScott of the Antarctic (1948)
The true story of the British explorer Robert Falcon Scott and his ill-fated expedition to try to be the first man to discover the South Pole - only to find that the murderously cold weather and a rival team of Norwegian explorers conspire against him
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Penguin Friend (2024)
A lost penguin rescued from an oil spill transforms the life of a heartbroken fisherman. They become unlikely friends, so bonded that even the vast ocean cannot divide them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Penguin Lessons (2025)
In 1976, as Argentina descends into violence and chaos, a world-weary English teacher regains his compassion for others thanks to an unlikely friendship with a penguin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPenguin Bloom (2021)
When an unlikely ally enters the Bloom family's world in the form of an injured baby magpie they name Penguin, the bird’s arrival makes a profound difference in the struggling family’s life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhere'd You Go, Bernadette (2019)
When architect-turned-recluse Bernadette Fox goes missing prior to a family trip to Antarctica, her 15-year-old daughter, Bee, goes on a quest with Bernadette's husband to find her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both 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 thisWhat Maisie Knew (2013)
In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new partners to strengthen their legal standing, Maisie is shuttled back and forth in an endless game of emotional point-scoring. Yet amid the chaos and upheaval, Maisie begins to find true comfort and affection in her new step-parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSpider-Man: The Venom Saga (2005)
A space-shuttle crash-landing puts the famous web-slinger Spider-Man in contact with a living alien substance that bonds to his suit and enhances his super-powers. Unfortunately, the alien substance begins to change him and he feels the pull of evil, so discards the suit. The evil attaches itself to another host leading to an epic confrontation between good and evil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGreystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984)
A shipping disaster in the 19th Century has stranded a man and woman in the wilds of Africa. The lady is pregnant, and gives birth to a son in their tree house. Soon after, a family of apes stumble across the house and in the ensuing panic, both parents are killed. A female ape takes the tiny boy as a replacement for her own dead infant, and raises him as her son. Twenty years later, Captain Phillippe D'Arnot discovers the man who thinks he is an ape. Evidence in the tree house leads him to believe that he is the direct descendant of the Earl of Greystoke, and thus takes it upon himself to return the man to civilization.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMake Mine Music (1946)
In the tradition of Fantasia, Make Mine Music is a glorious collection of musically charged animated shorts featuring such fun-filled favorites as "Peter and the Wolf", narrated by the beloved voice behind Winnie the Pooh. In addition you'll enjoy such classic cartoon hits as "Casey at the Bat," "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met" and "Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
SnoozefestMovies like thisFar from the Tree (2021)
On an idyllic beach in the Pacific Northwest, curiosity gets the better of a young raccoon whose frustrated parent attempts to keep them both safe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSkin (2009)
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Dinner with Hervé (2018)
An unlikely friendship evolves over one wild night in LA between a struggling journalist and actor Hervé Villechaize, the world's most famous gun-toting dwarf, resulting in life-changing consequences for both.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGoodbye June (2025)
Four siblings' lives change drastically when their ailing mother takes a turn for the worse over the holiday season.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Visitor to a Museum (1989)
It is the future, the world is in ruins and a large portion of the population consists of deformed mutants living in reservations. In this world a man decides to spend his vacation visiting the ruins of a museum that is now buried under the sea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Kindness of Strangers (2019)
Clara and her two sons escape from her abusive husband with little more than their car and plan to start over in New York. After the car towed away, the family meets Alice, who gets them into an emergency shelter. While stealing food at a Russian restaurant called ‘Winter Palace’, Clara meets Marc, who has been given the chance to help the old eatery regain its former glory. The ‘Winter Palace’ soon becomes a place of unexpected encounters between people who are all undergoing some sort of crisis and whom fate has now brought together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Road Dance (2022)
A young girl lives in the Outer Hebrides in a small village in the years just before WWI. Isolated and hard by the shore, her life takes a dramatic change when a terrible tragedy befalls her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Adventures of Scamper the Penguin (1987)
Scamper is a little penguin who loves wandering around the Artic where he lives with his parents. Unfortunately his little adventures tend to get he, and his friend Snowflake into trouble, especially when he disobeys his father and goes exploring with seagulls who want to eat him flying above, and men and dogs on the ground with them. One day the adventure goes too far and they float out to sea, only to be caught by men who want to sell them to the zoo. Scamper, Snowflake and their new friend, a macaroni penguin named Louie, must escape and get back to their families to warn them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLe réfrigérateur (2019)
Two different but strangely complementary young women living together are pictured in a fragmented and non-linear narrative about incommunicability and alienation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Félix and the Fish (2011)
Félix finds a young man lying unconscious on the beach and realizes he has scales on his back. Félix takes him home and takes care of him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Penguins of Madagascar (2014)
Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private join forces with undercover organization The North Wind to stop the villainous Dr. Octavius Brine from destroying the world as we know it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSurf's Up (2007)
With a documentary crew in tow, Cody Maverick—a young surfer from Antarctica—travels to the pacific for his first professional competition. Determined to earn respect and live up to his idol, Big Z, Cody pushes himself to the limit. But all that changes when an encounter with a laid-back local forces him to rethink his values.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Little Polar Bear (2001)
This charming animated adventure follows a young polar bear, Lars, as he befriends Robbie, a seal. Together, these two form a friendship that proves different breeds of animals can get along perfectly well.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Penguins of Madagascar: Operation Antarctica (2012)
Private's big heart overcomes his instinct to flee as he helps a stranded young leopard seal get from New York back to her home in Antarctica. The rest of the team (plus stowaway King Julien) follow in their submarine to make sure the young seal and Private make it in one piece. Problem is, they should have been looking out for themselves - they end up on the menu at the leopard seal village! Episodes include: Operation: Antarctica, The Falcon And The Snowjob, The Big Squeeze, Driven To The Brink, Snakehead, Concrete Jungle Survival and Work Order.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Happy Feet (2006)
Into the world of the Emperor Penguins, who find their soul mates through song, a penguin is born who cannot sing. But he can tap dance something fierce!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSpongeBob SquarePants: SpongeBob Goes Prehistoric (2004)
It's twice the underwater hilarity in a double-length feature episode with SpongeBob, Patrick and Squidward as three pioneering sea dwellers in the time before comedy (BC). "SpongeBob Goes Prehistoric" includes a double-length episode plus eight bonus episodes: SpongeBob BC, Nature Pants, Fools in April, I'm with Stupid, Patty Hype, Squid on Strike, The Great Snail Race, Plankton's Arm, and Squilliam Returns.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
It's a SpongeBob Christmas! (2012)
At Christmastime in Bikini Bottom, everyone's excited except Plankton, who always gets a lump of coal from Santa. But he vows this year he'll finally get his wish – the Krabby Patty formula! And it won't be by being good. He's gonna make everyone in Bikini Bottom bad!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Penguins?
The closest matches to Penguins are The Congress (2013), Strings (2004) and Scott of the Antarctic (1948). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Penguins?
Start with The Congress (2013), the closest match to Penguins.
What is the highest-rated movie like Penguins?
Far from the Tree (2021), rated 8.1/10 by 395 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Penguins?
Goodbye June (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Penguins chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Penguins, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.