Movies like It's Just Awful! (1982)
The best movies like It's Just Awful! (1982) are F.R.E.D.I. (2018), Guest from the Future (1984) and Earth to Echo (2014). If It's Just Awful! hooked you with its science fiction and family, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMira (2022)7.5/10 from 499 votes
- NewestGuest from the Future (2024)Released 2024
F.R.E.D.I. (2018)
An intelligent, lovable robot known as "F.R.E.D.I." is stolen from a secret research facility by the project's lead scientist. The robot is found by a 15 year old teenager, James. Soon the two begin to communicate and create a bond in which F.R.E.D.I. learns about teenage life and James learns about some new values.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & family
SnoozefestMovies like thisGuest from the Future (1984)
6-grader Kolya Gerasimov discovers a time machine in a basement of an old house in Moscow and gets transferred into the 21st century. There he is allowed to look around. Accidentally, Kolya witnesses two space pirates who arrive from Saturn and later try to steal a device called a "Mielophone" (which can read thoughts) from Alisa Seleznyova - a girl that performs experiments with this device and animals. Kolya manages to save the device from the pirates and brings it back to the 20th century. But both pirates and Alisa get there too. Alisa knows where Kolya studies but doesn't know what he looks like. Pirates saw Kolya, but don't know anything about him. Written by Boris Shafir
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEarth to Echo (2014)
After a construction project begins digging in their neighbourhood, best friends Tuck, Munch and Alex inexplicably begin to receive strange, encoded messages on their cell phones. Convinced something bigger is going on, they go to their parents and the authorities. The three embark on a secret adventure to crack the code and follow it to its source, and discover a mysterious being from another world who desperately needs their help. The journey that follows will change all their lives forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisGuest from the Future (2024)
Kolya is an ordinary guy: video games, rap and friends. The last thing he cares about is the future. Until one day, he gets into the future himself. And everything is not easy there. The Earth coalition won the intergalactic war and lives quite happily, only the leaders of the defeated pirate forces are secretly preparing a new offensive. To do so, they need to go back in time and change the course of history, and Kolya unwittingly becomes their tool. But most importantly, Kolya meets Alisa, a girl unlike anyone else.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTime Toys (2016)
A group of middle school kids stumble upon a chest full of incredible toys from the future. The discovery takes them on an adventure using their newfound toys to save their neighborhood and ultimately the world from a maniacal corporate madman. In the process, these "loser" kids learn they have the qualities they thought they were lacking all along.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisMax Winslow and The House of Secrets (2020)
Five teenagers compete to win a mansion owned by entrepreneur and scientist Atticus Virtue. To win the teens must face-off against a super computer named HAVEN who controls the mansion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Primevals (2023)
Deep in the Himalayas, a group of sherpas kills a gigantic humanoid creature. Convinced that it is the legendary Yeti, Dr. Claire Collier organizes an expedition with her former student Matt Connor and hunter Rondo Montana, among others, to search for more specimens. But what awaits them is something that none of them could have imagined. A colorful fusion of real image and stop-motion that is reminiscent of fantastic films from the 1980s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Mimzy (2007)
Two siblings begin to develop special talents after they find a mysterious box of toys, and soon their parents and even their teacher are drawn into a strange new world – and find a task ahead of them that is far more important than any of them could imagine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBabylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers - To Live and Die in Starlight (2002)
After being punished for retreat from combat, Ranger David Martel is given command of the Liandra, a haunted 20-year old Minbari fighting ship. He's escorting ambassadors to a secret archaeological site, the oldest city on record and a clue to a dangerous ancient race.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMira (2022)
Near future. Lera Arabova is a 15-year-old girl who lives with her family in Vladivostok. Lera's father has been working at the orbiting space station "Mira" for many years and has long lost contact with his daughter, turning only into a voice on the phone. After a meteor shower hits the city, Lera has only one chance to save her loved ones and the city from a new disaster. Her father helps her in this - through satellite surveillance systems and the telephone, he uses every opportunity to send a message to his daughter, watching from above from the station her every step.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStrawberry Mansion (2021)
In the not-too-distant future, an all-seeing surveillance state conducts “dream audits” to collect taxes on the unconscious lives of the populace. Mild-mannered government agent James Preble travels to a remote farmhouse to audit the dreams of Arabella “Bella” Isadora, an eccentric, aging artist. Entering Bella’s vast VHS archive, which contains a lifetime of dreams, Preble stumbles upon a secret that offers him a chance at love—and hope for escape.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wish of the Fairy Fish (2023)
If you go fishing, be prepared to draw the fish of your dreams, the magical Pike, which can grant any three wishes. Only Emelya let two wishes down the drain, and decided to save the third. Therefore, in order to achieve the hand of the royal daughter Anfisa, he will have to act without magical power, on his own. And Pike will help him, who without her skin will appear as an ordinary girl Vasilisa.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures! The Movie (2018)
Thomas leaves Sodor to fulfil his dream of seeing the world. This heroic quest takes Thomas across deserts, through jungles and over dangerous mountains as he travels across five continents seeing sights he has never seen before.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAnastasia: Once Upon a Time (2020)
Anastasia Romanov escapes through a portal when her family is threatened by Vladimir Lenin, and she finds herself in the year 1988, befriended by a young American girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisWish Upon a Unicorn (2020)
Two children discover that their mother is gone. The youngest of the pair, adventurer and upcomming singer, Long Johnson forces his older sister, Lily Johnson, to hunt down a unicorn with magical blood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShorts (2009)
A young boy's discovery of a colorful, wish-granting rock causes chaos in the suburban town of Black Falls when jealous kids and scheming adults alike set out to get their hands on it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisCurious George 3: Back to the Jungle (2015)
When Curious George is offered a special space mission, Ted (The Man in the Yellow Hat) can't deny his little friend this exciting journey, especially after Curious George completes the training. But when he crash-lands in Africa, a worried Ted goes searching, expecting the worst, only to have it turn out to be the best.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPeter Pan (1924)
Peter Pan enters the nursery of the Darling children and, with the help of fairy dust, leads them off to Never Never Land, where they meet the nefarious Captain Hook.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTimescape (1992)
Before they can complete renovations on their new country inn, a widowed father and his young daughter are visited by a strange group of tourists. He soon makes a chilling discovery: they are disaster junkies from the future who visit the past to witness history's greatest catastrophes—and his small town is their next stop.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDiscovering Dinotopia (2002)
The citizens of Waterfall City flee for the tenuous safety of Earthfarm, abandoning their city to the dangerous Outsiders - who discover the key to Dinotopias future and threaten its survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like It's Just Awful!?
The closest matches to It's Just Awful! are F.R.E.D.I. (2018), Guest from the Future (1984) and Earth to Echo (2014). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after It's Just Awful!?
Start with F.R.E.D.I. (2018), the closest match to It's Just Awful!.
What is the highest-rated movie like It's Just Awful!?
Mira (2022), rated 7.5/10 by 499 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like It's Just Awful!?
Guest from the Future (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to It's Just Awful! chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside It's Just Awful!, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.