Movies like Trans/Figure/Ground (2016)
The best movies like Trans/Figure/Ground (2016) are Mater and the Ghostlight (2006), Mad God (2021) and Day & Night (2010). If Trans/Figure/Ground hooked you with its 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
- NewestBig City Greens the Movie: Spacecation (2024)Released 2024
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 thisMad God (2021)
A silent figure known as The Assassin travels through a nightmare underworld of tortured souls, ruined cities and wretched monstrosities forged from the primordial horrors of the unconscious mind of Phil Tippett, the world's preeminent stop-motion animator.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDay & Night (2010)
When Day, a sunny fellow, encounters Night, a stranger of distinctly darker moods, sparks fly! Day and Night are frightened and suspicious of each other at first, and quickly get off on the wrong foot. But as they discover each other's unique qualities--and come to realize that each of them offers a different window onto the same world-the friendship helps both to gain a new perspective.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe 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 thisHeavy 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 thisDestino (2003)
Short film to a song of love lost and rediscovered, a woman sees and undergoes surreal transformations. Her lover's face melts off, she dons a dress from the shadow of a bell and becomes a dandelion, ants crawl out of a hand and become Frenchmen riding bicycles. Not to mention the turtles with faces on their backs that collide to form a ballerina, or the bizarre baseball game.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGet a Horse! (2013)
Mickey, Minnie, Horace Horsecollar, and Clarabelle Cow go on a musical wagon ride until Peg-Leg Pete tries to run them off the road.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNo Time for Nuts (2006)
Scrat comes across a time machine and is transported to various times all in pursuit of his beloved acorn.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCanvas (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 thisScrat's Continental Crack-Up: Part 2 (2011)
This short film continues the adventures of the title character as he tries to retrieve his elusive acorn.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPixar Short Films Collection: Volume 1 (2007)
Experience these masterpieces of storytelling from the creative minds that brought you Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo and many more. With revolutionary animation, unforgettable music and characters you love, these dazzling short films have changed the face of animation and entertainment and are sure to delight people of all ages for years to come.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisInvader Zim: Enter the Florpus (2019)
ZIM discovers his almighty leaders never had any intention of coming to Earth and he loses confidence in himself for the first time in his life, which is the big break his human nemesis, Dib has been waiting for.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Ugly Duckling (1939)
An outcast duckling's search for a family to accept him leads to constant rejection before learning his true identity as a swan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCars 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 thisBig City Greens the Movie: Spacecation (2024)
When thrill-seeker Cricket tricks his family into taking a "road trip" in space, chaos in the cosmos quickly ensues. Despite growing frustrations between Cricket and his dad, Bill, the two must learn to appreciate each other's unique perspectives in order to prevent Big City from being destroyed by an interstellar disaster.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe 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
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisYellow Is the New Black (2018)
An adventure about two Minions who make a daring (though temporary) escape from jail. As they navigate the chaos of their breakout, their antics showcase the Minions' signature blend of resourcefulness and mischief, resulting in a short filled with hilariously unpredictable moments.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDuck Amuck (1953)
The short-tempered Daffy Duck must improvise madly as the backgrounds, his costumes, the soundtrack, even his physical form, shifts and changes at the whim of the animator.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Absolute CinemaMovies 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 thisIn a Heartbeat (2017)
A closeted boy runs the risk of being outed by his own heart after it pops out of his chest to chase down the boy of his dreams.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisA Room Nearby (2003)
Paul Fierlinger's unique animation captures five individuals from diverse backgrounds as they describe their bouts with loneliness, its challenges and benefits.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
The Vandal (2021)
Set in a world not unlike mid-20th century America, The Vandal centers on Harold, whose tormented search for peace from traumatic loss results in an unexpectedly destructive awakening after he undergoes a lobotomy. When the procedure “turns his mind inside out” and his great love is suddenly gone, Harold’s desperate search intensifies.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Stick and Stone (2017)
When Stick rescues Stone from a prickly situation with a Pinecone, the pair becomes fast friends. But when Stick gets stuck, can Stone return the favor? With a subtle anti-bullying message even the young will understand, Stick and Stone have energy, emotion, and personality to spare and share a story of kindness and friendship that all will enjoy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
None of That (2015)
A museum guard is doing his night patrol when a tiny nun breaks into the museum and starts censoring nude art.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Shackle (2022)
Three archetypal woodland spirits explore the conflicting human drives of creativity, possessiveness and our desire for status.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Persepolis (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: Similar story and style · both animation
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisOnly the crow knows him (TBA)
The misrepresentation of images through the story of an old man who lives in the street. One day he sees photographs of himself in an art gallery. He sees himself portrayed as an old homeless man. He has no history, no childhood, no mystery.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
The Burden (2017)
A shopping center along a large highway is the scene of an apocalyptic musical. Animation with a strong sense of form set to auto-tuned music by Klungan. About liberation through great catastrophy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Return (2008)
Polish animator Anna Błaszczyk’s humorous short—a collage of drawing, cut-out, and computer animation—was inspired by Stanisław Lem’s 1961 novel Return from the Stars, a time-paradox tale of an astronaut who returns to Earth after many years away.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Trans/Figure/Ground?
The closest matches to Trans/Figure/Ground are Mater and the Ghostlight (2006), Mad God (2021) and Day & Night (2010). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Trans/Figure/Ground?
Start with Mater and the Ghostlight (2006), the closest match to Trans/Figure/Ground.
What is the highest-rated movie like Trans/Figure/Ground?
Far from the Tree (2021), rated 8.1/10 by 395 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Trans/Figure/Ground?
Big City Greens the Movie: Spacecation (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Trans/Figure/Ground?
Yes: Mater and the Ghostlight (2006), Mad God (2021) and Day & Night (2010).
How are movies similar to Trans/Figure/Ground chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Trans/Figure/Ground, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.