Movies like The Total Family (1981)
The best movies like The Total Family (1981) are Beethoven (1992), The Phoenician Scheme (2025) and The Boys from Brazil (1978). If The Total Family hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHow Green Was My Valley (1941)7.3/10 from 480 votes
- NewestSketch (2025)Released 2025
Beethoven (1992)
The Newton family live in their comfortable home, but there seems to something missing. This "hole" is filled by a small puppy, who walks into their home and their lives. Beethoven, as he is named, grows into a giant of a dog... a St Bernard. Doctor Varnick, the local vet has a secret and horrible sideline, which requires lots of dogs for experiments. Beethoven is on the bad doctor's list.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Phoenician Scheme (2025)
Wealthy businessman Zsa-zsa Korda appoints his only daughter, a nun, as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists, and determined assassins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Boys from Brazil (1978)
Nazi hunter Ezra Lieberman discovers a sinister and bizarre plot, masterminded by Dr. Josef Mengele, to rekindle the Third Reich.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Love My Dad (2022)
A hopelessly estranged father catfishes his son in an attempt to reconnect.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisProblem Child 2 (1991)
Junior and his father, Ben, move from Cold River to Mortville. Junior becomes threatened by Ben's desire to date again and find a new mother for Junior, and sabotages each of his dates.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSketch (2025)
When a young girl’s sketchbook falls into a strange pond, her drawings come to life—chaotic, real, and on the loose. As the town descends into chaos, her family must reunite and stop the monsters they never meant to unleash.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPeter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (2021)
Peter Rabbit runs away from his human family when he learns they are going to portray him in a bad light in their book. Soon, he crosses paths with an older rabbit who ropes him into a heist.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKing of California (2007)
Charlie gets released from an insane asylum and moves in with Miranda, the young daughter he left behind. Charlie believes that there is treasure hidden beneath the local Costco, so he puts together a plan to unearth the loot. By convincing Miranda to quit her job at McDonald's and instead work at the wholesale store, he is able to obtain a key. Although Miranda is skeptical, she helps her father with his irrational quest.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Freshman (1990)
After a film student gets his belongings stolen, he meets a mobster bearing a startling resemblance to a certain cinematic godfather. Soon, he finds himself caught up in a caper involving endangered species and fine dining.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHow Green Was My Valley (1941)
Huw Morgan, the academically inclined youngest son in a proud family of Welsh coal miners, witnesses the tumultuous events of his young life during a period of rapid social change. At the dawn of the 20th-century, a miners' strike divides the Morgans: the sons demand improvements, and the father doesn't want to rock the boat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisChief Daddy 2: Going for Broke (2021)
The Beecroft family are ready to spend all of Chief Daddy's inheritance, but not if the CEO of his company has anything to do with it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Borrowers (1997)
The four-inch-tall Clock family secretly share a house with the normal-sized Lender family, "borrowing" such items as thread, safety pins, batteries and scraps of food. However, their peaceful co-existence is disturbed when evil lawyer Ocious P. Potter steals the will granting title to the house, which he plans to demolish in order to build apartments. The Lenders are forced to move, and the Clocks face the risk of being exposed to the normal-sized world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrange Brew (1983)
Something is rotten at the Elsinore Brewery. Bob and Doug McKenzie (as seen on SCTV) help the orphan Pam regain the brewery founded by her recently-deceased father. But to do so, they must confront the suspicious Brewmeister Smith and two teams of vicious hockey players.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Taming of the Shrew (1967)
Italy, 16th century. Petruchio, a choleric, lying and poor rural landowner from Verona, arrives in Padua in search of fortune and a wife, while Baptista, a wealthy merchant, announces that he will not allow Bianca, his youngest daughter, to marry until the temperamental and unruly Katherina, his eldest daughter, does.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Family Jewels (1965)
A young heiress must choose between six uncles, one of which is up to no good and out to harm the girl's beloved bodyguard who practically raised her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDuel in the Sun (1946)
Beautiful half-breed Pearl Chavez becomes the ward of her dead father's first love and finds herself torn between her sons, one good and the other bad.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSuper Buddies (2013)
When the Buddies stumble upon the Five Power Rings of Inspiron, they all develop super powers, and are enlisted in Captain Canine's battle against the evil Commander Drex. The pups have to master their abilities quick - for the Commander is headed to Earth, determined to defeat Captain Canine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisDespicable Me (2010)
Determined to prove he's the world's greatest supervillain, Gru hatches an audacious plan to steal the Moon. To pull it off, he adopts three orphaned girls—Margo, Edith, and Agnes—intending to use them as pawns in his scheme. But the unexpected bond they form forces him to question the criminal life he's always known.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFreaky Friday (1976)
School girl Annabel is hassled by her mother, and Mrs. Andrews is annoyed with her daughter, Annabel. They both think that the other has an easy life. On a normal Friday morning, both complain about each other and wish they could have the easy life of their daughter/mother for just one day and their wishes come true as a bit of magic puts Annabel in Mrs. Andrews' body and vice versa. They both have a Freaky Friday.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThoroughbreds (2018)
Lily and Amanda, two high school students living in suburban Connecticut, rekindle their unlikely friendship after years of drifting apart. Together, they devise a plan to kill Lily's abusive stepfather by hiring a lowlife drug dealer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Total Family?
The closest matches to The Total Family are Beethoven (1992), The Phoenician Scheme (2025) and The Boys from Brazil (1978). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Total Family?
Start with Beethoven (1992), the closest match to The Total Family.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Total Family?
How Green Was My Valley (1941), rated 7.3/10 by 480 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Total Family?
Sketch (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like The Total Family?
The closest matches are in other languages.
How are movies similar to The Total Family chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Total Family, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.