Movies like The Nutcracker
If The Nutcracker hooked you with its adventure and fantasy, these are the films to watch next. Every pick says why it matches.
Nutcracker: The Motion Picture (1986)
In this Pacific Northwest Ballet performance, it is Christmas Eve and festivities are underway. Clara is excited when her godfather arrives with a bag full of gifts, one of which is an intriguing wooden nutcracker. That night, while the household sleeps, Clara visits the Christmas tree to inspect her nutcracker and soon finds herself immersed in a dream world both dark and enchanting.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & fantasy
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018)
When Clara’s mother leaves her a mysterious gift, she embarks on a journey to four secret realms—where she discovers her greatest strength could change the world.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPinocchio (2022)
A wooden puppet embarks on a thrilling adventure to become a real boy.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both fantasy & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wizard of Oz (1939)
Young Dorothy finds herself in a magical world where she makes friends with a lion, a scarecrow and a tin man as they make their way along the yellow brick road to talk with the Wizard and ask for the things they miss most in their lives. The Wicked Witch of the West is the only thing that could stop them.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAlice in Wonderland (2010)
Alice, now 19 years old, returns to the whimsical world she first entered as a child and embarks on a journey to discover her true destiny.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
Four kids travel through a wardrobe to the land of Narnia and learn of their destiny to free it with the guidance of a mystical lion.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPeter Pan (2003)
In stifling Edwardian London, Wendy Darling mesmerizes her brothers every night with bedtime tales of swordplay, swashbuckling and the fearsome Captain Hook. But the children become the heroes of an even greater story, when Peter Pan flies into their nursery one night and leads them over moonlit rooftops through a galaxy of stars and to the lush jungles of Neverland.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Magic Flute (2022)
A seventeen year old travels from London to the Austrian Alps to attend the legendary Mozart boarding school. There, he discovers a centuries-old forgotten passageway into the fantastic world of Mozart's "The Magic Flute".
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInkheart (2008)
The adventures of a father and his young daughter, in their search for a long lost book that will help reunite a missing, close relative.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)
Upon moving into the run-down Spiderwick Estate with their mother, twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace, along with their sister Mallory, find themselves pulled into an alternate world full of faeries and other creatures.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHugo (2011)
Orphaned and alone except for an uncle, Hugo Cabret lives in the walls of a train station in 1930s Paris. Hugo's job is to oil and maintain the station's clocks, but to him, his more important task is to protect a broken automaton and notebook left to him by his late father. Accompanied by the goddaughter of an embittered toy merchant, Hugo embarks on a quest to solve the mystery of the automaton and find a place he can call home.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLabyrinth (1986)
Frustrated with babysitting on yet another weekend night, Sarah, a teenager with an active imagination, summons the Goblins to take her baby stepbrother away. When little Toby actually disappears, Sarah must follow him into a fantastical world to rescue him from the Goblin King. Guarding his castle is the labyrinth itself, a twisted maze of deception, populated with outrageous characters and unknown dangers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPeter Pan & Wendy (2023)
Wendy Darling, a young girl afraid to leave her childhood home behind, meets Peter Pan, a boy who refuses to grow up. Alongside her brothers and a tiny fairy, Tinker Bell, she travels with Peter to the magical world of Neverland. There, she encounters an evil pirate captain, Captain Hook, and embarks on a thrilling adventure that will change her life forever.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisChristmas Story (2007)
Hundreds of years ago in Lapland, a little boy named Nikolas loses his family in an accident. The villagers decide to look after the orphaned boy together. Once a year - at Christmas - Nikolas moves to a new home. To show his gratitude, Nikolas decides to make toys for the children of the families as good-bye presents. Over the years, Nikolas's former adoptive families become many, and soon almost every house has presents on its doorstep on Christmas morning. At thirteen, Nikolas is sent to live and work with Iisakki, a grumpy old carpenter, who forbids Nikolas to continue making presents for Christmas. Gradually, however, Nikolas wins Iisakki's trust. Together they begin to look after the Christmas traditional that Nikolas has begun. When the aged Iisakki has to leave Nikolas and move away, the tradition of Christmas presents is once again at risk. Thankfully, Nikolas comes up with a solution that brings children joy every Christmas, even continuing to today.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both fantasy & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe NeverEnding Story (1984)
While hiding from bullies in his school's attic, a young boy discovers the extraordinary land of Fantasia, through a magical book called The Neverending Story. The book tells the tale of Atreyu, a young warrior who, with the help of a luck dragon named Falkor, must save Fantasia from the destruction of The Nothing.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Golden Compass (2007)
In a parallel universe, after overhearing a shocking secret, precocious orphan Lyra Belacqua trades her carefree existence roaming the halls of Jordan College for an otherworldly adventure in the far North, unaware that it's part of her destiny.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBridge to Terabithia (2007)
Jesse Aarons trained all summer to become the fastest runner in school. So he's very upset when newcomer Leslie Burke outruns him and everyone else. Despite this and other differences including that she's rich, he's poor, she's a city girl, and he's a country boy the two become fast friends. Together they create Terabithia, a land of monsters, trolls, ogres, and giants where they rule as king and queen.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStardust (2007)
In a countryside town bordering on a magical land, a young man makes a promise to his beloved that he'll retrieve a fallen star by venturing into the magical realm. His journey takes him into a world beyond his wildest dreams and reveals his true identity.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOz the Great and Powerful (2013)
Oscar Diggs, a small-time circus illusionist and con-artist, is whisked from Kansas to the Land of Oz where the inhabitants assume he's the great wizard of prophecy, there to save Oz from the clutches of evil.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both fantasy & adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)
In 1926, Newt Scamander arrives at the Magical Congress of the United States of America with a magically expanded briefcase, which houses a number of dangerous creatures and their habitats. When the creatures escape from the briefcase, it sends the American wizarding authorities after Newt, and threatens to strain even further the state of magical and non-magical relations.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both fantasy & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMaleficent (2014)
A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman, Maleficent has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until one day when an invading army threatens the harmony of the land. She rises to be the land's fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal – an act that begins to turn her heart into stone. Bent on revenge, Maleficent faces an epic battle with the invading King's successor and, as a result, places a curse upon his newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Maleficent realizes that Aurora holds the key to peace in the kingdom – and to Maleficent's true happiness as well.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both fantasy & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPan (2015)
Living a bleak existence at a London orphanage, 12-year-old Peter finds himself whisked away to the fantastical world of Neverland. Adventure awaits as he meets new friend James Hook and the warrior Tiger Lily. They must band together to save Neverland from the ruthless pirate Blackbeard. Along the way, the rebellious and mischievous boy discovers his true destiny, becoming the hero forever known as Peter Pan.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both fantasy & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sorcerer's Apprentice (2002)
Every hundred years, the evil sorceress Morgana returns to claim Fingall's talisman from Merlin, with which she intends to destroy the world. For the last fourteen hundred years she has failed... now she intends to conquer all. Young Ben Clark moves with his parents to a new town, where he befriends his elderly magician neighbor, Milner. Ben has a natural talent for magic and wants to learn all that he can from this old man. Ben carries the same scar as the original staff-bearer 1,400 years before. Both Morgana and Milner, who is revealed to be Merlin, see this as a sign that this time, the battle between good and evil will be stronger and harder than ever. Ben must make his own choice between good and evil as he is drawn into a battle and must draw on his own spirit and magic to decide which path to follow and hence, the fate of the world as we know it.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Nanny McPhee (2005)
Widower Cedric Brown hires Nanny McPhee to care for his seven rambunctious children, who have chased away all previous nannies. Taunted by Simon and his siblings, Nanny McPhee uses mystical powers to instill discipline. And when the children's great-aunt and benefactor, Lady Adelaide Stitch, threatens to separate the kids, the family pulls together under the guidance of Nanny McPhee.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both fantasy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrozen (2013)
Young princess Anna of Arendelle dreams about finding true love at her sister Elsa’s coronation. Fate takes her on a dangerous journey in an attempt to end the eternal winter that has fallen over the kingdom. She's accompanied by ice delivery man Kristoff, his reindeer Sven, and snowman Olaf. On an adventure where she will find out what friendship, courage, family, and true love really means.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPinocchio (2009)
The enchanted story of Pinocchio.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnastasia (1997)
Ten years after she was separated from her family, an eighteen-year-old orphan with vague memories of the past sets out to Paris in hopes of reuniting with her grandmother. She is accompanied by two con men, who intend to pass her off as the Grand Duchess Anastasia to the Dowager Empress for a reward.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992)
When a sprite named Crysta shrinks a human boy, Zak, down to her size, he vows to help the magical fairy folk stop a greedy logging company from destroying their home: the pristine rainforest known as FernGully. Zak and his new friends fight to defend FernGully from lumberjacks — and the vengeful spirit they accidentally unleash after chopping down a magic tree.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSecret of the Wings (2012)
Tinkerbell wanders into the forbidden Winter woods and meets Periwinkle. Together they learn the secret of their wings and try to unite the warm fairies and the winter fairies to help Pixie Hollow.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Dark Crystal (1982)
On another planet in the distant past, a Gelfling embarks on a quest to find the missing shard of a magical crystal and restore order to his world, before the grotesque race of Skeksis find and use the crystal for evil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & family
Worth the HypeMovies like this
Like The Nutcracker and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Nutcracker?
The closest matches to The Nutcracker are Nutcracker: The Motion Picture, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, Pinocchio.
How are movies similar to The Nutcracker chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Nutcracker, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.
Are there English movies like The Nutcracker?
Yes: Nutcracker: The Motion Picture, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, Pinocchio.