Movies like An American Girl Story - Ivy & Julie 1976: A Happy Balance (2017)
The best movies like An American Girl Story - Ivy & Julie 1976: A Happy Balance (2017) are An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong (2009), Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front (2006) and An American Girl: Isabelle Dances Into the Spotlight (2014). If An American Girl Story - Ivy & Julie 1976: A Happy Balance hooked you with its family and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWonder (2017)8.1/10 from 8,467 votes
- NewestNot Without Hope (2025)Released 2025
- Same seriesAn American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong (2009)An American Girl
An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong (2009)
A fourth grader and her friends deal with bullying from a more popular girl in their class.
Why it matches: Same series: An American Girl · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMolly: An American Girl on the Home Front (2006)
Molly is a girl living in the year 1944 and WWII has brought many changes to Molly's life. An English girl comes to live with Molly's family to escape the bombings. They slowly become good friends.
Why it matches: Same series: An American Girl · both drama & family
An American Girl: Isabelle Dances Into the Spotlight (2014)
Isabelle is an inspired dancer, but when her sister and a classmate make her doubt herself, she's motivated by a ballerina to find her own way to shine.
Why it matches: Same series: An American Girl · both family & drama
An American Girl: McKenna Shoots for the Stars (2012)
A young girl struggles to maintain her school grades while competing as a gymnast.
Why it matches: Same series: An American Girl · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSamantha: An American Girl Holiday (2004)
Kindhearted Samantha Parkington's world starts to change the day Nellie O'Malley walks into her life. Nellie, her father, and her two little sisters have moved in next door to be servants for the Ryland family. Though they come from completely different backgrounds, Samantha and Nellie become fast friends. The girls turn to each other in happiness and sorrow, adventure and danger.
Why it matches: Same series: An American Girl · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAn American Girl: Grace Stirs Up Success (2015)
Grace is excited for the summer so she can start a business with her friends, but things take an unexpected turn when her mom announces a trip to Paris. There, Grace must learn to get along with her French cousin, Sylvie, and she finds unexpected inspiration for her business. Then, Grace finds out her grandparents bakery, that inspired her to start a business, is closing. Can she and her friends find a way to save it?
Why it matches: Same series: An American Girl · both family & drama
An American Girl: Lea to the Rescue (2016)
Born for adventure, Lea Clark heads deep into the Brazilian rainforest, where her most exciting story awaits.
Why it matches: Same series: An American Girl · both family
Summer of Dreams (2016)
Debbie Taylor is a former 1980s pop star bent on making a comeback and returning to the Billboard charts. As she prepares to once again take the music industry by storm, Debbie's record label deems her irrelevant and abruptly drops her. Out of money, she leaves the fast lane of New York to move in with her sister in Youngstown, Ohio.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & family
SnoozefestMovies like thisFinding a Family (2011)
Bright Alex grows up in Michigan proud of his mother, Romanian immigrant Ileana, who became a professor, vowing to make her dream come true by graduating from Harvard. But when mother becomes manic-depressive and repeatedly dumps her medication, Alex each time lands in foster care. At age 16, he gets legal emancipation and vows to take charge of their lives himself
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & family
Lift Me Up (2015)
A young lady, who recently lost her mother, faces the challenges of high school and her very strict step-father. Through personal growth, and an amazing dedication to dance, she learns to find the peace and happiness of family.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & drama
The Audrey Hepburn Story (2000)
The film spans from Hepburn's early childhood to the 1950s which details her life as a Dutch ballerina, coming to grips with her parents' divorce, and enduring life in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II. She then settles in the U.S. where she succeeds in making it big as a movie actress, in such movies as Breakfast at Tiffany's.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Believe (2019)
A 9 year old boy experiences God's power in a supernatural way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFlicka (2006)
Katy McLaughlin desires to work on her family's mountainside horse ranch, although her father insists she finish boarding school. Katy finds a mustang in the hills near her ranch. The headstrong 16 year old then sets her mind to tame a mustang and prove to her father she can run the ranch. But when tragedy happens, it will take all the love and strength the family can muster to restore hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSkater Girl (2021)
Prerna, a teenager growing up in rural India, comes of age when she’s introduced to the sport of skateboarding. As a result, she has to fight the odds to follow her dreams and compete in the national championship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhere the Red Fern Grows (1974)
Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for two years to achieve his dream of buying two red-bone coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in life as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with his dogs, Old Dan and Little Ann.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhere the Red Fern Grows (2003)
Set in the Ozark Mountains during the Great Depression, Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for 2 years to achieve his dream of buying two coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in God as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with "Old Dan" and "Little Ann."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGreyfriars Bobby (1961)
In Scotland 1865, An old shepherd and his little Skye terrier go to Edinburgh. But when the shepherd dies of pneumonia, the dog remains faithful to his master, refuses to be adopted by anyone, and takes to sleeping on his master's grave in the Greyfriars kirkyard, despite a caretaker with a "no dogs" rule. And when Bobby is taken up for being unlicensed, it's up to the children of Edinburgh and the Lord Provost to decide what's to be done.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Little Prince(ss) (2021)
When Gabriel, a 7-year-old Chinese kid who loves ballet, becomes friends with Rob, another Chinese kid from school, Rob’s dad gets suspicious about Gabriel's feminine behavior and decides to intervene.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAngels in the Snow (2015)
The affluent, yet troubled Montgomery family hits the road for a special Christmas in the mountains.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Lord Fauntleroy (1980)
Young Cedric Errol and his widowed mother live in genteel poverty in 1880s Brooklyn after the death of his father. Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, has long ago disowned his son for marrying an American. But after the death of the Earl's remaining son, he decides to accept Cedric as his heir.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Second Chance (2011)
A young girl and her coach overcome adversity to make their way into the National Australian Gymnastics Squad.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Secret Life of Bees (2008)
Set in South Carolina in 1964, this is the tale of Lily Owens a 14 year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother. To escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father, Lily flees with Rosaleen, her caregiver and only friend, to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother's past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWonder (2017)
The story of August Pullman – a boy with facial differences – who enters fifth grade, attending a mainstream elementary school for the first time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Good Witch's Gift (2010)
Almost as soon as Jake and Cassie decide to get married on Christmas Eve, complications arise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Remember Mama (1948)
Norwegian immigrant Marta Hanson keeps a firm but loving hand on her household of four children, a devoted husband and a highly-educated lodger who reads great literature to the family every evening. Through financial crises, illnesses and the small triumphs of everyday life, Marta maintains her optimism and sense of humor, traits she passes on to her aspiring-author daughter, Katrin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHeidi (2005)
Swiss girl Adelheid 'Heidi' is orphaned young. Aunt Detie brings her to grandpa Alp and his wife, who live isolated in the Alps since his murder charge. Heidi soon takes to the wild country, especially accompanying young goatherd Peter. Grandpa refuses to send her to school in the city, but aunt Detie returns and forces him to give in. She's sent to a posh lady in Frankfurt, where she'll be a companion for crippled daughter Clara after school hours.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Dry White Season (1989)
During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Truth About Emanuel (2013)
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019)
Nancy Drew, a smart high schooler with a penchant for keen observation and deduction, stumbles upon the haunting of a local home. A bit of an outsider struggling to fit into her new surroundings, Nancy and her pals set out to solve the mystery, make new friends, and establish their place in the community
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNot Without Hope (2025)
A group of friends' fishing boat capsizes off the coast of Mexico and they're left alone stranded at sea and struggling for survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like An American Girl Story - Ivy & Julie 1976: A Happy Balance and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like An American Girl Story - Ivy & Julie 1976: A Happy Balance?
The closest matches to An American Girl Story - Ivy & Julie 1976: A Happy Balance are An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong (2009), Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front (2006) and An American Girl: Isabelle Dances Into the Spotlight (2014). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after An American Girl Story - Ivy & Julie 1976: A Happy Balance?
People who watched An American Girl Story - Ivy & Julie 1976: A Happy Balance most often go on to Summer of Dreams (2016), Finding a Family (2011) and Lift Me Up (2015).
What is the highest-rated movie like An American Girl Story - Ivy & Julie 1976: A Happy Balance?
Wonder (2017), rated 8.1/10 by 8,467 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like An American Girl Story - Ivy & Julie 1976: A Happy Balance?
Not Without Hope (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Is An American Girl Story - Ivy & Julie 1976: A Happy Balance part of a series?
Yes. It belongs to An American Girl, which includes An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong (2009), Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front (2006), An American Girl: Isabelle Dances Into the Spotlight (2014) and An American Girl: McKenna Shoots for the Stars (2012).
Are there English movies like An American Girl Story - Ivy & Julie 1976: A Happy Balance?
Yes: An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong (2009), Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front (2006) and An American Girl: Isabelle Dances Into the Spotlight (2014).
How are movies similar to An American Girl Story - Ivy & Julie 1976: A Happy Balance chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside An American Girl Story - Ivy & Julie 1976: A Happy Balance, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.