Movies like What is Animation? (2014)
The best movies like What is Animation? (2014) are Who Are You, Charlie Brown? (2021), Camp Confidential: America's Secret Nazis (2021) and Piece by Piece (2024). If What is Animation? hooked you with its animation and documentary, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
What is Animation?
Quick picks
- Highest ratedTower (2016)7.6/10 from 213 votes
- NewestBillie Eilish - Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D) (2026)Released 2026
Who Are You, Charlie Brown? (2021)
Lupita Nyong'o narrates a documentary about Peanuts and its creator, Charles M. Schulz. Famous fans—including Drew Barrymore, Kevin Smith, and Al Roker—share its influence on them, and a new animated story finds Charlie Brown on a quest.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCamp Confidential: America's Secret Nazis (2021)
Camp Confidential: America's Secret Nazis, is a documentary short featuring animation that focuses on the story of a top secret POW camp that was classified for over 5 decades. In the midst of WWII, a group of young Jewish refugees are assigned to guard a top secret POW camp near Washington D.C. The Jewish soldiers soon discover that their prisoners are no other than Hitler's top scientists - What starts out as an intelligence mission to gather information from the Nazis, soon gets a shocking twist when the Jewish soldiers are tasked with a very different mission altogether. A mission that would question their moral values - exposing a dark secret from America's past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPiece by Piece (2024)
A unique cinematic experience that invites audiences on a vibrant journey through the life of cultural icon Pharrell Williams. Told through the lens of LEGO® animation, turn up the volume on your imagination and witness the evolution of one of music's most innovative minds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAnother Day of Life (2018)
In 1975, Ryszard Kapuściński, a veteran Polish journalist, embarked on a seemingly suicidal road trip into the heart of the Angola's civil war. There, he witnessed once again the dirty reality of war and discovered a sense of helplessness previously unknown to him. Angola changed him forever: it was a reporter who left Poland, but it was a writer who returned…
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTower (2016)
Combining archival footage with rotoscopic animation, Tower reveals the action-packed untold stories of the witnesses, heroes and survivors of America's first mass school shooting, when the worst in one man brought out the best in so many others.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIs the Man Who Is Tall Happy? (2013)
A series of interviews featuring linguist, philosopher and activist Noam Chomsky done in hand-drawn animation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeyond Infinity: Buzz and the Journey to Lightyear (2022)
Explore the evolution of Buzz Lightyear from toy to human in the making of Pixar’s Lightyear. Dive into the origin and cultural impact of everyone’s favorite Space Ranger, the art of designing a new “human Buzz,” and the challenges faced by the Lightyear crew along the way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVoyage of Time: The IMAX Experience (2016)
A celebration of the universe, displaying the whole of time, from its start to its final collapse. This film examines all that occurred to prepare the world that stands before us now: science and spirit, birth and death, the grand cosmos and the minute life systems of our planet.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRoundhay Garden Scene (1888)
The earliest surviving motion-picture film, and believed to be one of the very first moving images ever created, was shot by Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince using the LPCCP Type-1 MkII single-lens camera. It was taken on paper-based photographic film in the garden of Oakwood Grange, the Whitley family house in Roundhay, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire (UK), on 14 October 1888. The film shows Adolphe Le Prince (Le Prince’s son), Mrs. Sarah Whitley (Le Prince’s mother-in-law), Joseph Whitley, and Miss Harriet Hartley walking around in circles, laughing to themselves, and staying within the area framed by the camera. Roundhay Garden Scene is often associated with a recording speed of around 12 frames per second and runs for about 2 to 3 seconds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDaft Punk Unchained (2015)
Daft Punk Unchained is the first film about the pop culture phenomenon that is Daft Punk, the duo with 12 million albums sold worldwide and seven Grammy Awards. Throughout their career Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo have always resisted compromise and the established codes of show business. They have remained determined to maintain control of every link in the chain of their creative process. In the era of globalisation and social networks, they rarely speak in public and neither do they show their faces on TV. This documentary explores this unprecedented cultural revolution revealing a duo of artists on a permanent quest for creativity, independence and freedom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSeven Up! (1985)
A group of British children aged 7 from widely ranging backgrounds are interviewed about a range of subjects. The filmmakers plan to re-interview them at 7 year intervals to track how their lives and attitudes change as they age.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBillie Eilish - Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D) (2026)
Captured during Billie Eilish's sold-out world tour, a concert experience from one of the most celebrated and successful artists of her generation, presented in immersive 3D.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBehind the Planet of the Apes (1998)
Roddy McDowall takes you, film by film, from production meetings to make-up sessions, then right onto the movie set to see the actual filming of the science fiction masterpiece. The most comprehensive history of Planet of the Apes ever created, this fascinating 127-minute documentary explores one of the most imaginative and influential series in movie history.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOLIVIA RODRIGO: driving home 2 u (a SOUR film) (2022)
Grammy® winner singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo takes a familiar road trip from Salt Lake City, where she began writing her debut album “SOUR,” to Los Angeles. Along the way, Rodrigo recounts the memories of writing and creating her record-breaking debut album and shares her feelings as a young woman navigating a specific time in her life. Through new live arrangements of her songs, intimate interviews and never-before-seen footage from the making of the album, audiences will follow Olivia along on a cinematic journey exploring the story of “SOUR.”
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPower of Grayskull: The Definitive History of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2017)
This documentary looks to forge the greatest, most definitive, documentary on everything He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, She-Ra, the live action movie, New Adventures of He-Man, the 200x series and much more! They delve into the toys, comics, cartoons, and movies from all eras by talking to the artists, creators, executives and actors who helped make it a reality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJoe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten (2007)
As the front man of the Clash from 1977 onwards, Joe Strummer changed people's lives forever. Four years after his death, his influence reaches out around the world, more strongly now than ever before. In "The Future Is Unwritten", from British film director Julien Temple, Joe Strummer is revealed not just as a legend or musician, but as a true communicator of our times. Drawing on both a shared punk history and the close personal friendship which developed over the last years of Joe's life, Julien Temple's film is a celebration of Joe Strummer - before, during and after the Clash.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisExtremis (2016)
A purely observational non-fiction film that takes viewers into the ethically murky world of end-of-life decision making in a public hospital.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCasting By (2012)
This essential new documentary pays tribute to the legacy of the late, legendary casting director Marion Dougherty and shines a light on one of the most overlooked and least understood crafts in filmmaking.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDavid Byrne's American Utopia (2020)
A filmed version of David Byrne's Broadway show, a unifying musical celebration that inspires audiences to connect to each other and to the global community.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSherman's March (1986)
Documentarian Ross McElwee originally set out to make a travelogue of sorts tracing General William T. Sherman's infamous scorched-earth march through the Confederacy in the latter stages of the Civil War. Instead, haunted by a recent breakup with a girlfriend, McElwee ends up documenting his progress -- or lack thereof -- in starting a new relationship. His journey then becomes one of self-reflection and self-discovery rather than a historical/sociological exploration.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like What is Animation??
The closest matches to What is Animation? are Who Are You, Charlie Brown? (2021), Camp Confidential: America's Secret Nazis (2021) and Piece by Piece (2024). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after What is Animation??
Start with Who Are You, Charlie Brown? (2021), the closest match to What is Animation?.
What is the highest-rated movie like What is Animation??
Tower (2016), rated 7.6/10 by 213 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like What is Animation??
Billie Eilish - Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D) (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like What is Animation??
Yes: Who Are You, Charlie Brown? (2021), Camp Confidential: America's Secret Nazis (2021) and Piece by Piece (2024).
How are movies similar to What is Animation? chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside What is Animation?, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.