Movies like Bird Song (2007)
The best movies like Bird Song (2007) are Arlo the Alligator Boy (2021), When Marnie Was There (2014) and In Your Dreams (2025). If Bird Song hooked you with its animation, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSoul (2020)8.1/10 from 11,905 votes
- NewestIn Your Dreams (2025)Released 2025
- In JapaneseWhen Marnie Was There (2014)Also in Japanese
Arlo the Alligator Boy (2021)
Upon learning that he is from New York City, a wide-eyed boy, who is half human and half alligator, decides to leave his sheltered life in the swamp and search for his long lost father. A musical adventure.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhen Marnie Was There (2014)
Upon being sent to live with relatives in the countryside due to an illness, an emotionally distant adolescent girl becomes obsessed with an abandoned mansion and infatuated with a girl who lives there - a girl who may or may not be real.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisIn Your Dreams (2025)
Stevie and her little brother Elliot journey into the wildly absurd landscape of their own dreams to ask the Sandman to grant them the perfect family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMai Mai Miracle (2009)
Inspired by her grandfather's stories, young Shinko embarks on wild flights of fancy about the history of the little town she lives in. But dreams can't fend off the realities of growing up.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWaking Life (2001)
Waking Life is about a young man in a persistent lucid dream-like state. The film follows its protagonist as he initially observes and later participates in philosophical discussions that weave together issues like reality, free will, our relationships with others, and the meaning of life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDumbo (1941)
Dumbo is a baby elephant born with over-sized ears and a supreme lack of confidence. But thanks to his even more diminutive buddy Timothy the Mouse, the pint-sized pachyderm learns to surmount all obstacles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSnoopy Presents: It's the Small Things, Charlie Brown (2022)
Charlie Brown is determined to win the big baseball game. But things turn into a fiasco right before the matchup, when Sally bonds with a little flower on the pitcher's mound and vows to protect it at all costs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCat Soup (2001)
The surreal black comedy follows Nyatta, an anthropomorphic kitten, on his travel to the land of the dead and back in an effort to save his sister's soul.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisChickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness (2022)
A brave young animal explorer teams up with two trusty friends to find a powerful artifact before his greedy uncle can get his paws on it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPloey: You Never Fly Alone (2018)
A plover chick has not learned to fly when his family migrates in the fall. He must survive the arctic winter, vicious enemies and himself in order to be reunited with his beloved one next spring.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWords Bubble Up Like Soda Pop (2021)
After meeting one day, a shy boy who expresses himself through haiku and a bubbly but self-conscious girl share a brief, magical summer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Boxtrolls (2014)
An orphaned boy raised by underground creatures called Boxtrolls comes up from the sewers and out of his box to save his family and the town from the evil exterminator, Archibald Snatcher.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Willoughbys (2020)
When the four Willoughby children are abandoned by their selfish parents, they must learn how to adapt their Old-Fashioned values to the contemporary world in order to create something new: The Modern Family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhere Is Anne Frank (2021)
The film follows the journey of Kitty, the imaginary friend to whom Anne Frank dedicated her diary. A fiery teenager, Kitty wakes up in the near future in Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam and embarks on a journey to find Anne, who she believes is still alive, in today's Europe. While the young girl is shocked by the modern world, she also comes across Anne's legacy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDoraemon the Movie: Nobita's Sky Utopia (2023)
Doraemon, Nobita and his friends go to find Utopia, a perfect land in the sky where everyone lives with happiness, using an airship having a time warp function.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAngel's Egg (1985)
In the ruins of a strange city, a young girl takes care of a large egg she holds carefully in her arms. She bonds with a boy who is searching for a bird he saw in a dream.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisSoul (2020)
Joe Gardner is a middle school teacher with a love for jazz music. After a successful audition at the Half Note Club, he suddenly gets into an accident that separates his soul from his body and is transported to the You Seminar, a center in which souls develop and gain passions before being transported to a newborn child. Joe must enlist help from the other souls-in-training, like 22, a soul who has spent eons in the You Seminar, in order to get back to Earth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Brave Little Toaster (1987)
A group of dated appliances, finding themselves stranded in a summer home that their family had just sold, decide to seek out their eight year old 'master'.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDoraemon the Movie: Nobita's Little Star Wars 2021 (2022)
During summer vacation Nobita picks up a small rocket containing Papi, a palm-sized alien president escaping rebels on his home planet Pirika.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDahufa (2017)
A warrior named Dahufa goes to save his prince from a dystopian village. He finds the dystopian village ruled by a fake god and his guards. In order to save the prince, Dahufa has to defeat the god and his men, and disclose the whole conspiracy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLaura's Star (2004)
Laura sees a shooting star falling to earth and finds it in a park, down on the floor and with a broken point. The star is a living being, and Laura takes her home to reattach its point with a band-aid. The little star has special powers and can make people fly, or bring inanimate objects to life. But the more she stays on Earth, the weaker she becomes and her colors fade away and her powers start to fail. Laura must find a way to send the little star back into outer space.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe BFG (1990)
Sophie is snatched from her orphanage early one morning by the BFG (Big Friendly Giant), whom she witnesses engaged in mysterious activities. She is soon put at ease, as she learns that BFG's job is to collect, catalog and deliver pleasant dreams to children. She joins him that night, but a mean giants follow them, planning to eat the children of the world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMonster and Dumpling (2011)
Once up on a time, there was an ugly and violent monster. Because he was ugly, everybody disliked him. One day, the monster came to the small town to get some food and found a small girl. The monster tried to eat her, but something happened to him and changed him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Paprika (2006)
Dr. Atsuko Chiba is a research psychologist who uses a device called the DC Mini to enter her patients' dreams, wherein she adopts the alter-ego "Paprika". When the device is stolen, she must stop rogue elements from merging the dream and waking worlds.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea (2000)
Set several years after the first film, Ariel and Prince Eric are happily married with a daughter, Melody. In order to protect Melody from the Sea Witch, Morgana, they have not told her about her mermaid heritage. Melody is curious and ventures into the sea, where she meets new friends. But will she become a pawn in Morgana's quest to take control of the ocean from King Triton?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBack to Gaya (2004)
The beautiful world of Gaya is home to two similar humanoid species: Zeldons who are the furry majority residents, and Snurks, who are goblin-like outcasts. But suddenly all Gayans are facing imminent danger when a magic stone which protects their world, "the Dalamite", is beamed away by a mysterious force. Three Snurks immediately go after it, hoping to be the heroes for once. They are shortly followed by some standout Zeldons: Zino the trouble-prone popular guy & his sidekick, clever but somewhat cowardly inventor Boo, as well as rebel princess Alanta. Their journey ends up leading them all on a dangerous interdimensional quest to find the stone, while they must also figure out a way to get back to Gaya.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
SnoozefestMovies like thisCoraline (2009)
Wandering her rambling old house in her boring new town, 11-year-old Coraline discovers a hidden door to a strangely idealized version of her life. In order to stay in the fantasy, she must make a frighteningly real sacrifice.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDornröschen (1943)
A German stop-motion adaptation of Sleeping Beauty.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Madhouse Mitchel (2017)
Creeping from the halls of the maze brain, corruption and terror is woven by devils born from the denied errors of mankind.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Bird Song?
The closest matches to Bird Song are Arlo the Alligator Boy (2021), When Marnie Was There (2014) and In Your Dreams (2025). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Bird Song?
Start with Arlo the Alligator Boy (2021), the closest match to Bird Song.
What is the highest-rated movie like Bird Song?
Soul (2020), rated 8.1/10 by 11,905 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Bird Song?
In Your Dreams (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Bird Song?
Yes: When Marnie Was There (2014), Mai Mai Miracle (2009) and Cat Soup (2001).
How are movies similar to Bird Song chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Bird Song, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.