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Movies like Operator (2009)

The best movies like Operator (2009) are Dug's Special Mission (2009), The House (2022) and Waking Life (2001). If Operator hooked you with its animation, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. Dug's Special Mission (2009)

    Dug is sent on foolish missions by Alpha, Beta, and Gamma so they can hunt for the Bird of Paradise Falls by themselves. Dug may find that where he belongs is not where he's been looking.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  2. The House (2022)

    Across different eras, a poor family, an anxious developer and a fed-up landlady become tied to the same mysterious house in this animated dark comedy.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  3. Waking Life (2001)

    Waking Life is about a young man in a persistent lucid dream-like state. The film follows its protagonist as he initially observes and later participates in philosophical discussions that weave together issues like reality, free will, our relationships with others, and the meaning of life.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  4. Mater and the Ghostlight (2006)

    Mater, the rusty but trusty tow truck from Cars, spends a day in Radiator Springs playing scary pranks on his fellow townsfolk. That night at Flo's V8 Café, the Sheriff tells the story of the legend of the Ghostlight, and as everyone races home Mater is left alone primed for a good old-fashioned scare.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  5. Heavy Traffic (1973)

    A white dropout struggles to become a cartoonist and filmmaker, drawing inspiration from the harsh, gritty world around him. Still sharing his rundown apartment with his middle-aged parents, an oafish slob of an Italian father and a ditzy nutcase of a Jewish mother, he's ridiculed and looked down upon by his friends, hypocrites who run with violent gangs and the Italian Mafia, and a shallow Black girl who makes her living downtown with the pimps and pushers. The cartoonist gets a chance to pitch a film idea to a movie mogul, but the story proves too outrageous: a far-future Earth, depleted by war and pollution, where a mutant antihero challenges and kills God.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  6. Canvas (2020)

    After a heartbreaking loss, a grandfather struggling to reclaim his passion for painting finds the inspiration to create again.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  7. Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin (2024)

    Franklin is new to town and hoping to make friends, but his usual tactics don't work on the Peanuts gang. When the Soap Box Derby arrives, he's sure it's a chance to impress new pals and teams up with the only other unpartnered kid: Charlie Brown.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  8. It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012)

    Bill struggles to put together his shattered psyche.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation

    Absolute CinemaMovies like this
  9. For the Birds (2000)

    One by one, a flock of small birds perches on a telephone wire. Sitting close together has problems enough, and then comes along a large dopey bird that tries to join them. The birds of a feather can't help but make fun of him—and their clique mentality proves embarrassing in the end.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  10. The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021)

    A quirky, dysfunctional family's road trip is upended when they find themselves in the middle of the robot apocalypse and suddenly become humanity's unlikeliest last hope.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  11. Arctic Dogs (2019)

    Animals band together to save the day when the evil Otto Von Walrus hatches a sinister scheme to accelerate global warming and melt the Arctic Circle.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation

  12. The Brave Little Toaster (1987)

    A group of dated appliances, finding themselves stranded in a summer home that their family had just sold, decide to seek out their eight year old 'master'.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  13. Ferdinand the Bull (1938)

    This Oscar-winning short tells of a bull who preferred to sit under trees and smell flowers to clashing horns with his fellow animals. As luck would have it, an untimely bee reveals Ferdinand's ferocious side via pained howls and wild stomping. This lands him in the bull-fighting arena amidst characters based on Walt's animators with a matador reportedly modeled after Walt himself.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  14. Who Are You, Charlie Brown? (2021)

    Lupita Nyong'o narrates a documentary about Peanuts and its creator, Charles M. Schulz. Famous fans—including Drew Barrymore, Kevin Smith, and Al Roker—share its influence on them, and a new animated story finds Charlie Brown on a quest.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  15. The Tidal Zone: SpongeBob Universe Special (2023)

    GrandPat travels through alternate dimensions and timelines to get home.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  16. Inner Workings (2016)

    This is the story of the internal struggle between a man's Brain—a pragmatic protector who calculates his every move, and his Heart—a free-spirited adventurer who wants to let loose.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  17. Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)

    As the Clone Wars sweep through the galaxy, Anakin Skywalker and his new Padawan learner Ahsoka Tano plunge into a dangerous mission to rescue the kidnapped son of crime lord Jabba the Hutt.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  18. Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five (2008)

    Ordered to teach a martial arts class of rambunctious bunny kittens, Po tells stories of each of the Furious Five's pasts.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  19. Cars Toon Mater's Tall Tales (2008)

    Mater the tow truck travels from country to country as he retells his infamous but unbelievable stories.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  20. PAW 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 this
  21. Head (1975)

    An ingenious, witty essay on making filmed, photographed, drawn, painted, and Xeroxed images move. Reverberating between multi-media versions of the same events, playing with disjunctions between figure and ground, HEAD is a 'trickfilm' meditation on portraiture; the animator, as actor, lives through his drawings, which in turn become actors who influence his own self-image. An insider's diary on the process of creation, HEAD is a brilliant encyclopedic exploration of the circular relationship between the animator and his creation, of the nature of animated illusion itself.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation

  22. The Portrait Studio (2013)

    Late 19th century Japan: a studio photographer who always captures his clients’ best smile. One day he tries to coax a smile out of a little girl, but… A nostalgic tale of a relationship that transcends wars and disasters.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation

  23. One Self: Fish/Girl (1998)

    A young woman's diary depicts her layered, poetic, inner efforts to deal with the world and overcome self-doubt.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation

  24. The Girl And The Star (1970)

    A fairy tale about how the girl, Lola, became friends with the star.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation

  25. A Cautionary Tail (2012)

    A little girl is born with a tail that expresses her emotions. As a child, her parents celebrate their daughter's uniqueness and her tail inspires magical make-believe adventures with her friends. As she grows up, however, the young woman faces pressure to fit in, and must choose between conformity and self-expression. An animated short film starring Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett, using a striking collage of 3D animated characters and hand-made miniature sets.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation

  26. Hasan Everywhere (2010)

    Hasan Everywhere is an animation which broaches the subtlety of a relationship between a man and a woman who bear the passports of enemies, to sympathetically deal with the subjects of death, grief, lost opportunity; but mostly it seeks to demonstrate the possibility of friendship triumphing over the deepest of rifts between two people. In that regard it is most unusual among the standard fare of animated shorts.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation

  27. Ashiaraiyashiki no Juunin-tachi (2010)

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation

  28. VeggieTales: King George and the Ducky (2000)

    King George, unlike most kings, spends most of his time in the bathtub, playing with his favorite toy - a rubber ducky. But George isn't satisfied with just his rubber ducky - he wants all the duckies! The king learns a lesson in humility from his brave soldier Thomas, whose ducky George had stolen. Eventually, George faces his sin and learns that it's always important to share with others.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation

  29. Treasure Planet (2002)

    When space galleon cabin boy Jim Hawkins discovers a map to an intergalactic "loot of a thousand worlds," a cyborg cook named John Silver teaches him to battle supernovas and space storms on their journey to find treasure.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  30. Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)

    Against impossible odds, Spirit, a young mustang, sets out across the majestic wilderness to regain his freedom and save his homeland. Along the way, he forms a friendship with a young Lakota brave, outwits a squadron of soldiers, and ultimately, finds love.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation

    Worth the HypeMovies like this

Like Operator and something else?

Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like Operator?

The closest matches to Operator are Dug's Special Mission (2009), The House (2022) and Waking Life (2001). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after Operator?

Start with Dug's Special Mission (2009), the closest match to Operator.

What is the highest-rated movie like Operator?

It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012), rated 7.9/10 by 386 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like Operator?

Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin (2024) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there English movies like Operator?

Yes: Dug's Special Mission (2009), The House (2022) and Waking Life (2001).

How are movies similar to Operator chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Operator, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.

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