Movies like The Breadwinner (2017)
The best movies like The Breadwinner (2017) are I Lost My Body (2019), Persepolis (2007) and My Life as a Zucchini (2016). If The Breadwinner hooked you with its animation and war, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedGrave of the Fireflies (1988)8.4/10 from 6,950 votes
- NewestThe Most Precious of Cargoes (2024)Released 2024
I Lost My Body (2019)
A story of Naoufel, a young man who is in love with Gabrielle. In another part of town, a severed hand escapes from a dissection lab, determined to find its body again.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPersepolis (2007)
In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Satrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMy Life as a Zucchini (2016)
After his mother’s death, Zucchini is befriended by a kind police officer, Raymond, who accompanies him to his new foster home filled with other orphans his age. There, with the help of his newfound friends, Zucchini eventually learns to trust and love as he searches for a new family of his own.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEthel & Ernest (2016)
This hand drawn animated film, based on the award winning graphic novel by Raymond Briggs, is an intimate and affectionate depiction of the life and times of his parents, two ordinary Londoners living through extraordinary events.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCharlotte (2022)
The true story of Charlotte Salomon, a young German-Jewish painter who comes of age in Berlin on the eve of the Second World War. Fiercely imaginative and deeply gifted, she dreams of becoming an artist. Her first love applauds her talent, which emboldens her resolve. When anti-Semitic policies inspire violent mobs, she escapes to the safety of the South of France. There she begins to paint again, and finds new love. But her work is interrupted, this time by a family tragedy that reveals an even darker secret. Believing that only an extraordinary act will save her, she embarks on the monumental adventure of painting her life story.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
The Most Precious of Cargoes (2024)
Once upon a time, a poor woodcutter and his wife lived in a great forest. Cold, hunger, poverty, and a war raging all around them meant their lives were very hard. One day, the woodcutter's wife rescues a baby. A baby girl thrown from one of the many trains that constantly pass through the forest. This baby, this "most precious of cargoes", will transform the lives of the poor woodcutter's wife and her husband, as well as those whose paths the child will cross—including the man who threw her from the train. And some will try to protect her, whatever the cost. Their story will reveal the worst and the best in the hearts of men.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWolfwalkers (2020)
In a time of superstition and magic, when wolves are seen as demonic and nature an evil to be tamed, a young apprentice hunter comes to Ireland with her father to wipe out the last pack. But when she saves a wild native girl, their friendship leads her to discover the world of the Wolfwalkers and transform her into the very thing her father is tasked to destroy.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Red Turtle (2016)
The dialogue-less film follows the major life stages of a castaway on a deserted tropical island populated by turtles, crabs and birds.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Wolf House (2018)
After escaping from a religious colony in Chile, Maria seeks shelter in a mansion where she’s taken in by two pigs, its only inhabitants. Like in a stop-motion dream, the universe of the house reacts to her feelings. The animals slowly morph into humans and the house into a dark, menacing world.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Peasants (2023)
Peasant girl Jagna is forced to marry the much older, wealthy farmer Boryna, despite her love for his son Antek. With time, Jagna becomes the object of envy and disdain with the villagers and she must fight to preserve her independence.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMemoir of a Snail (2024)
Forcibly separated from her twin brother when they are orphaned, a melancholic misfit learns how to find confidence within herself amid the clutter of misfortunes and everyday life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSong of the Sea (2014)
The story of the last Seal Child’s journey home. After their mother’s disappearance, Ben and Saoirse are sent to live with Granny in the city. When they resolve to return to their home by the sea, their journey becomes a race against time as they are drawn into a world Ben knows only from his mother’s folktales. But this is no bedtime story; these fairy folk have been in our world far too long. It soon becomes clear to Ben that Saoirse is the key to their survival.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Illusionist (2010)
A French illusionist travels to Scotland to work. He meets a young woman in a small village. Their ensuing adventure in Edinburgh changes both their lives forever.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCryptozoo (2021)
Cryptozookeepers try to capture a Baku, a dream-eating hybrid creature of legend, and start wondering if they should display these beasts or keep them hidden and unknown.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisMary and Max (2009)
A tale of friendship between two unlikely pen pals: Mary, a lonely, eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max, a forty-four-year old, severely obese man living in New York.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisGrave of the Fireflies (1988)
In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving relatives and their emergency rations depleted, Seita and Setsuko struggle to survive.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Secret of Kells (2009)
Adventure awaits 12 year old Brendan who must fight Vikings and a serpent god to find a crystal and complete the legendary Book of Kells. In order to finish Brother Aiden's book, Brendan must overcome his deepest fears on a secret quest that will take him beyond the abbey walls and into the enchanted forest where dangerous mythical creatures hide. Will Brendan succeed in his quest?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Tower (2018)
Eleven-year-old Wardi’s great-grandfather leaves behind a will suggesting looking to the past to find the future. Searching the house, Wardi finds out about her Palestinian homeland from family memories.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Loving Vincent (2017)
A young man arrives at the last hometown of painter Vincent van Gogh to deliver the troubled artist's final letter and ends up investigating his final days there.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisChico & Rita (2010)
Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and romantic desire unites them, but their journey - in the tradition of the Latin ballad, the bolero - brings heartache and torment.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhen the Wind Blows (1986)
With the help of government-issued pamphlets, an elderly British couple build a shelter and prepare for an impending nuclear attack, unaware that times and the nature of war have changed from their romantic memories of World War II.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Glassworker (2024)
A young glassworker-in-training living with his pacifist father finds his apprenticeship upended by an impending war and the arrival of an army colonel to their seaside town.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBirdboy: The Forgotten Children (2015)
Teenagers Birdboy and Dinki have decided to escape from an island devastated by ecological catastrophe: Birdboy by shutting himself off from the world, Dinki by setting out on a dangerous voyage in the hope that Birdboy will accompany her.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Swallows of Kabul (2019)
Summer 1998—Kabul under Taliban rule. Zunaira and Mohsen are young and in love. Despite the daily violence and misery, they hope for a better future. One day, a foolish gesture causes life to take an irrevocable turn.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBilal: A New Breed of Hero (2016)
A thousand years ago, one boy with a dream of becoming a great warrior is abducted with his sister and taken to a land far away from home. Thrown into a world where greed and injustice rule all, Bilal finds the courage to raise his voice and make a change. Inspired by true events, this is a story of a real hero who earned his remembrance in time and history.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Tale of The Princess Kaguya (2013)
Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter and his wife, a tiny girl grows rapidly into an exquisite young lady. The mysterious young princess enthrals all who encounter her. But, ultimately, she must confront her fate.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisUnicorn Wars (2022)
An army of bear cubs train and indoctrinate young recruits for the war against the unicorns, which threatens the safety of the cubs. Brothers Bluey and Tubby, along with a group of inexperienced cadets, are sent on a dangerous mission to save the Magic Forest, where the unicorns live, and start a terrible battle.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIn the Shadow of the Cypress (2023)
Living in a house by the sea with his daughter, a former captain who has post-traumatic stress disorder leads a tough and secluded life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet (2014)
Exiled artist and poet Mustafa embarks on a journey home with his housekeeper and her daughter; together the trio must evade the authorities who fear that the truth in Mustafa's words will incite rebellion.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWindow Horses: The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming (2017)
A young Canadian poet with Chinese and Persian parents travels to Iran to perform at a poetry festival.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Breadwinner?
The closest matches to The Breadwinner are I Lost My Body (2019), Persepolis (2007) and My Life as a Zucchini (2016). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Breadwinner?
People who watched The Breadwinner most often go on to I Lost My Body (2019), Persepolis (2007) and My Life as a Zucchini (2016).
What is the highest-rated movie like The Breadwinner?
Grave of the Fireflies (1988), rated 8.4/10 by 6,950 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Breadwinner?
The Most Precious of Cargoes (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Breadwinner?
Yes: Ethel & Ernest (2016), Wolfwalkers (2020) and Memoir of a Snail (2024).
How are movies similar to The Breadwinner chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Breadwinner, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.