Movies like The Things They Left Behind (2012)
The best movies like The Things They Left Behind (2012) are Donovan's Echo (2011), Sketch (2025) and You Cast A Spell On Me (2015). If The Things They Left Behind hooked you with its fantasy and mystery, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPaperman (2012)8.0/10 from 1,852 votes
- NewestMomo (2025)Released 2025
Donovan's Echo (2011)
A series of uncanny déjà vu events force a man to re-examine his tragic past, memory, instinct, and future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & mystery
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 · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisYou Cast A Spell On Me (2015)
Despite agreeing to an arranged marriage to a childhood friend, a successful businessman tries to track down a beautiful woman that he met at a Halloween party.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dollmaker (2017)
A grieving mother latches on to a magical surrogate for her lost child. But small miracles come with big consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Worth the HypeMovies 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 mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrep & Landing Stocking Stuffer: Operation: Secret Santa (2010)
Wayne and Lanny, now partners, are called by Magee to meet with a secret contact – Mrs. Claus, who sends them on a new mission to retrieve a box from Santa’s secret workshop. Later they sneak into Santa’s office while he is asleep, using their high tech equipment from the previous film. Lanny’s expertise at dressing the tree enables them to enter the hidden workshop where they recover the box and escape just in time. But what is the box for?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMomo (2025)
Momo is a young orphan girl who lives in the ruins of an old Roman amphitheater and becomes friends with everybody in the neighborhood. But when a powerful international corporation starts stealing everybody’s time, nobody has any time left for her, let alone their friends or families. Momo, together with Master Hora, the custodian of time, are the only ones who can go up against the time thieves before all is lost forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLife-Size 2 (2018)
Grace Manning is in the middle of her quarter-life crisis, realizing she is in over her head as CEO. To make matters worse, her wild-child ways are causing the company’s stock to plummet. With the help of her young next-door neighbor, Grace’s old Eve doll magically awakens to help get Grace back on track and give her the confidence to be the woman and leader Eve knows Grace can be.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking (1988)
After her father's ship is carried off by a sudden storm, the spunky Pippi Longstocking is stranded with her horse, Alfonso,and her pet monkey, Mr. Neilson, and takes up residence in the old family home, which is thought by neighborhood children to be haunted. Soon, two children, Tommy and his sister Anika, venture into the house only to meet up with Pippi. The three soon become friends and get into various adventures together, including cleaning the floor with scrubbing shoes, dodging the "splunks", going down a waterfall in barrels, and helping Pippi with the problem of having to go to an orphanage. Older children will probably get the most out of this movie.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisInvisible Sister (2015)
Teenager Cleo's school science project goes quite awry, causing her popular older sister Molly to go invisible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPaperman (2012)
An urban office worker finds that paper airplanes are instrumental in meeting a girl in ways he never expected.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisPirates of the Caribbean: Tales of the Code: Wedlocked (2011)
Wenches Scarlett and Giselle fix each other up for their wedding, in which they would each marry their groom. Upon realizing that both their grooms were the same man, Jack Sparrow, the two wenches found themselves in an auction led by the Auctioneer. This short film serves as a prequel to The Curse of the Black Pearl, and explains just why Jack Sparrow's boat the Jolly Mon was seen sinking at the beginning of the whole story; why the wenches were so upset with him; and how Cotton lost his tongue.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBorrowed Hearts (1997)
Single mom Kathleen Russell (Roma Downey) and her daughter Zoey pretend to be Kathleen's boss's "family" so he can close a major business deal with the mysterious Mexican financier Javier Del Campo.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrep & Landing (2009)
Wayne gets a new rookie partner, Lanny, after his previous partner got the promotion he wanted. Lanny has to remind Wayne of the Spirit of Christmas and the importance of being an elf in Santa's Prep and Landing elite unit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Little Matchgirl (2006)
An animated short based on Hans Christian Andersen's tale about a poor young girl with a burning desire to find comfort and happiness in her life. Desperate to keep warm, the girl lights the matches she sells, and envisions a very different life for herself in the fiery flames filled with images of loving relatives, bountiful food, and a place to call home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSanjay's Super Team (2015)
SANJAY'S SUPER TEAM follows the daydream of a young Indian boy, bored with his father's religious meditation, who imagines "a kind of ancient, Hindu version of The Avengers," with the gods appearing like superheros.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Borrowers (2011)
Family adventure based on Mary Norton's classic children's books about a race of tiny people who live under the floorboards, resourcefully surviving by borrowing bits and pieces from the large residents who dwell above. After being discovered by 'human beans', borrower Arrietty and her parents are forced to leave their home while attempting to evade the clutches of obsessive scientist Professor Mildeye.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisParty Central (2014)
Mike and Sulley are back at Monsters University for a fun-filled weekend with their Oozma Kappa fraternity brothers. The gang is throwing their first party, but no one’s showing up. Luckily for them, Mike and Sulley have come up with a plan to make sure “Party Central” is the most epic party the school has ever seen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrolls Holiday in Harmony (2021)
Queen Poppy plans the first annual Trolls Kingdom Secret Holiday Gift Swap, but things don't go quite as expected.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBrigadoon (1954)
Americans Jeff and Tommy, hunting in Scotland, stumble upon a village - Brigadoon. They soon learn that the town appears once every 100 years in order to preserve its peace and special beauty. The citizens go to bed at night and when they wake up, it's 100 years later. Tommy falls in love with a beautiful young woman, Fiona, and is torn between staying or going back to his hectic life in New York.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Curve of Forgotten Things (2011)
A magical girl, who exists outside of space and time, inhabits an odd, timeless landscape that is both old and modern, and spends her days playing and collecting objects from history, things that she loves.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy & mystery
Deus ex Machina (2017)
A young, unbelieving couple is being pursued by a terrifying monster. They try to hide in a church, where they meet a priest who seems friendly at first glance, but it soon becomes clear that the priest has less than honorable plans for them. They are trapped.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy & mystery
OSARU-CHAN (2021)
When two brothers steal a valuable heirloom from an elderly Japanese woman, they unknowingly awaken her demigod son, Osaru, who does not take kindly to thieves.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Shackle (2022)
Three archetypal woodland spirits explore the conflicting human drives of creativity, possessiveness and our desire for status.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
CLEAN (TBA)
"Have you ever answered the wrong call—only to change a life? When a middle-aged sanitation worker picks up a ringing helpline phone, she becomes an unexpected lifeline to a young woman in despair, revealing the quiet power of empathy from society’s most overlooked."
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
Frankenstein (1910)
Frankenstein, a young medical student, trying to create the perfect human being, instead creates a misshapen monster. Made ill by what he has done, Frankenstein is comforted by his fiancée; but on his wedding night he is visited by the monster.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Impossible Voyage (1904)
Using every known means of transportation, several savants from the Geographic Society undertake a journey through the Alps to the Sun which finishes under the sea.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1908)
Dr. Henry Jekyll experiments with scientific means of revealing the hidden, dark side of man and releases a murderer from within himself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Private Screening (2019)
Please have a seat, the movie is about to start...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Things They Left Behind?
The closest matches to The Things They Left Behind are Donovan's Echo (2011), Sketch (2025) and You Cast A Spell On Me (2015). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Things They Left Behind?
Start with Donovan's Echo (2011), the closest match to The Things They Left Behind.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Things They Left Behind?
Paperman (2012), rated 8.0/10 by 1,852 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Things They Left Behind?
Momo (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Things They Left Behind?
Yes: Donovan's Echo (2011), Sketch (2025) and You Cast A Spell On Me (2015).
How are movies similar to The Things They Left Behind chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Things They Left Behind, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.