Movies like Island of the Blue Dolphins (1964)
The best movies like Island of the Blue Dolphins (1964) are The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams (1974), Lost on a Mountain in Maine (2024) and White Lion (2010). If Island of the Blue Dolphins hooked you with its adventure and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Wolf and the Lion (2021)7.5/10 from 517 votes
- NewestLost on a Mountain in Maine (2024)Released 2024
The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams (1974)
After fleeing into the mountains after he is wrongly accused of murder, woodsman "Grizzly Adams" discovers an uncanny bond to the indigenous wildlife of the region after rescuing an orphaned grizzly bear cub whom he adopts and calls "Ben".
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Lost on a Mountain in Maine (2024)
When twelve-year-old Donn Fendler gets tired of waiting for his father and brothers to join him on the summit of Maine's highest peak, he decides to find his own way back to camp. But Donn doesn't count on a fast-moving fog that obscures the path. He doesn't count on falling down an embankment that hides him from sight. And he doesn't count on taking a turn that leaves him alone to wander aimlessly for nearly two weeks in the empty mountain wilderness.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhite Lion (2010)
According to the legend of the Shangaan, white lions are the messengers of the gods, but it has been years since one has been seen in their remote African valley. When a white lion is miraculously born into that valley, a young Shangaan named Gisani, finds himself destined to protect this rare and magnificent creature at all costs. This young lion, whom will be known as Letsatsi, is cast from his pride and forced to embark upon a perilous journey of survival.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & family
My Side of the Mountain (1969)
Thirteen-year-old Sam Gribley, a devotee of Thoreau, decides to leave the city to spend a sabbatical in the Canadian woods and see if he can make it as a self-sufficient spirit after his parents promise a summer trip that doesn't pan out.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Eight Below (2006)
In the Antarctic, after an expedition with Dr. Davis McClaren, the sled dog trainer Jerry Shepherd has to leave the polar base with his colleagues due to the proximity of a heavy snow storm. He ties his dogs to be rescued after, but the mission is called-off and the dogs are left alone at their own fortune. For six months, Jerry tries to find a sponsor for a rescue mission.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Black Stallion (1979)
While traveling with his father, young Alec becomes fascinated by a mysterious Arabian stallion that is brought on board and stabled in the ship he is sailing on. When it tragically sinks both he and the horse survive only to be stranded on a deserted island. He befriends it, so when finally rescued both return to his home where they soon meet Henry Dailey, a once successful trainer. Together they begin training the horse to race against the fastest ones in the world.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Bear (1988)
An orphan bear cub hooks up with an adult male as they try to dodge human hunters.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRobinson Crusoe (1997)
Robinson Crusoe flees Britain on a ship after killing his friend over the love of Mary. A fierce ocean storm wrecks his ship and leaves him stranded by himself on an uncharted island. Left to fend for himself, Crusoe seeks out a tentative survival on the island, until he meets Friday, a tribesman whom he saves from being sacrificed. Initially, Crusoe is thrilled to finally have a friend, but he has to defend himself against the tribe who uses the island to sacrifice tribesman to their gods. During time their relationship changes from master-slave to a mutual respected friendship despite their difference in culture and religion.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFly Away Home (1996)
Amy is only 13 years old when her mother is killed. She goes to Canada to live with her father, an eccentric inventor whom she barely knows. Amy is miserable in her new life... until she discovers a nest of goose eggs that were abandoned when a local forest was torn down. The eggs hatch and Amy becomes "Mama Goose". When winter comes, Amy and her dad must find a way to lead the birds South.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLife of Pi (2012)
The story of an Indian boy named Pi, a zookeeper's son who finds himself in the company of a hyena, zebra, orangutan, and a Bengal tiger after a shipwreck sets them adrift in the Pacific Ocean.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Cry in the Wild (1990)
13-year-old Brian is the sole survivor of an unreported plane crash. Alone in the Yukon wilderness, Brian must learn to survive by his wits, find food and shelter, and brave wild, hungry animals until or if he is found.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & family
A Far Off Place (1993)
Thrown together under incredible circumstances, two strangers must discover courage and strength when they begin a journey across the treacherous African desert! Equipped only with their wits and the expertise of a native bushman who befriends them, they are determined to triumph over impossible odds and reach their destination. But along the way, the trio face a primitive desert wilderness.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Edge (1997)
The plane carrying wealthy Charles Morse crashes down in the Alaskan wilderness. Together with the two other passengers, photographer Robert and assistant Stephen, Charles devises a plan to help them reach civilization. However, his biggest obstacle might not be the elements, or even the Kodiak bear stalking them -- it could be Robert, whom Charles suspects is having an affair with his wife and would not mind seeing him dead.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Journey of Natty Gann (1985)
America is in the depths of the Great Depression. Families drift apart when faraway jobs beckon. A courageous young girl confronts overwhelming odds when she embarks on a cross-country search for her father. During her odyssey, she forms a close bond with two diverse traveling companions: a magnificent, protective wolf, and a hardened drifter.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlueback (2022)
Based on the best-selling novel by Tim Winton, Blueback is a timely tale about the ocean, a beautiful marine creature, and a young girl’s power to change the world.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWalkabout (1971)
Under the pretense of having a picnic, a geologist takes his teenage daughter and 6-year-old son into the Australian outback and attempts to shoot them. When he fails, he turns the gun on himself, and the two city-bred children must contend with harsh wilderness alone. They are saved by a chance encounter with an Aboriginal boy who shows them how to survive, and in the process underscores the disharmony between nature and modern life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhite Fang (1991)
Jack London's classic adventure story about the friendship developed between a Yukon gold hunter and the mixed dog-wolf he rescues from the hands of a man who mistreats him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlaska (1996)
Jake Barnes and his two kids, Sean and Jessie, have moved to Alaska after his wife died. He is a former airline pilot now delivering toilet paper across the mountains. During an emergency delivery in a storm his plane goes down somewhere in the mountains. Annoyed that the authorities aren't doing enough, Jessie and Sean set out on an adventure to find their father with the help of a polar bear which they have saved from a ferocious poacher. Conflict ensues.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisBorn Free (1966)
At a national park in Kenya, English game warden George Adamson and his wife, Joy, care for three orphaned lion cubs. After the two larger lions are shipped off to a zoo in the Netherlands, the smallest of the three, Elsa, stays with the couple. When Elsa is blamed for causing an elephant stampede in the nearby village, head warden John Kendall demands the young lion either be trained to survive in the wilds of the Serengeti or be sent to a zoo.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFar from Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog (1995)
Teenager Angus adopts a stray dog and names him Yellow. Several days later, while travelling along the coast of British Columbia with Angus's father, John, the boy and dog become stranded when turbulent waters capsize their boat. Angus's parents relentlessly badger rescue teams. Angus, schooled by his father in wilderness survival skills, and assisted by the intelligent Yellow Dog, tries to attract rescuers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wolf and the Lion (2021)
After her grandfather's death, 20-year-old Alma decides to go back to her childhood home - a little island in the heart of the majestic Canadian forest. Whilst there, she rescues two helpless cubs: a wolf and a lion. They forge an inseparable bond, but their world soon collapses as the forest ranger discovers the animals and takes them away. The two cub brothers must now embark on a treacherous journey across Canada to be reunited with one another and Alma once more.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFree Willy: Escape from Pirate's Cove (2010)
After young Kirra leaves her Australian home to summer with her grandfather in South Africa, she soon discovers a baby orca stranded in the lagoon near her grandfather’s rundown seaside amusement park. She names the lonely whale Willy--and embarks on a great quest to lead the little guy back to his anxious pod.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJonathan Livingston Seagull (1973)
Jonathan is sick and tired of the boring life in his seagull clan. He rather experiments with new, always more daring flying techniques. Since he doesn't fit in, the elders expel him from the clan. So he sets out to discover the world beyond the horizon in a quest for wisdom.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Legend of Longwood (2014)
When 12-year-old Mickey Miller moves from New York to Ireland, she soon discovers a link between herself and the 300-year-old legend of the mysterious Black Knight, who regularly haunts the sleepy Irish village. With courage and a sharp mind, she sets out to save a precious herd of white horses and to thwart the evil plans of a greedy, ambitious woman.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & adventure
Two Brothers (2004)
Two tigers are separated as cubs and taken into captivity, only to be reunited years later as enemies by an explorer (Pearce) who inadvertently forces them to fight each other.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDuma (2005)
An orphaned cheetah becomes the best friend and pet of a young boy living in South Africa.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNapoleon and Samantha (1972)
Two young children, who, rather than part with an old pet lion who was once a circus performer, go on a perilous mountain trek to stay with a recluse friend.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Cheetah (1989)
An American boy and girl, spending six months in Kenya with their scientist parents adopt a cheetah, only to realize that they must set it loose so that it can learn to hunt and be free. However, when the animal is captured by poachers planning to race it against greyhounds, the two city kids, together with a young African goat herder they befriended, head off into the wild to rescue the cheetah.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Blue Lagoon (1980)
Two small children and a ship's cook survive a shipwreck and find safety on an idyllic tropical island. Soon, however, the cook dies and the young boy and girl are left on their own. Days become years and Emmeline and Richard make a home for themselves surrounded by exotic creatures and nature's beauty. But will they ever see civilization again?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSwallows and Amazons (1974)
On holiday with their mother in the Lake District in 1929 four children are allowed to sail over to the nearby island in their boat Swallow and set up camp for a few days. They soon realise this has been the territory of two other girls who sail the Amazon, and the scene is set for serious rivalry.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & family
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Island of the Blue Dolphins?
The closest matches to Island of the Blue Dolphins are The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams (1974), Lost on a Mountain in Maine (2024) and White Lion (2010). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Island of the Blue Dolphins?
People who watched Island of the Blue Dolphins most often go on to The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams (1974), Lost on a Mountain in Maine (2024) and White Lion (2010).
What is the highest-rated movie like Island of the Blue Dolphins?
The Wolf and the Lion (2021), rated 7.5/10 by 517 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Island of the Blue Dolphins?
Lost on a Mountain in Maine (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Island of the Blue Dolphins?
Yes: The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams (1974), Lost on a Mountain in Maine (2024) and White Lion (2010).
How are movies similar to Island of the Blue Dolphins chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Island of the Blue Dolphins, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.