Movies like The Ephemeral Orphanage (2021)
The best movies like The Ephemeral Orphanage (2021) are Waking Life (2001), Sintel (2010) and The Willoughbys (2020). If The Ephemeral Orphanage hooked you with its animation and fantasy, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHow to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming (2019)8.0/10 from 1,155 votes
- NewestIn Your Dreams (2025)Released 2025
Waking 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 & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSintel (2010)
A wandering warrior finds an unlikely friend in the form of a young dragon. The two develop a close bond, until one day the dragon is snatched away. She then sets out on a relentless quest to reclaim her friend, finding in the end that her quest exacts a far greater price than she had ever imagined.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies 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 & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Tooth Fairy Tale (2025)
Van, the brave son of a tooth fairy leader, meets the goblins girl Gemma on his first mission. Despite the myths about ancient disputes between fairies and goblins, they share common values. When the greedy Spider Queen threatens both tribes, they must work together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisPuss in Book: Trapped in an Epic Tale (2017)
After tumbling into a magic storybook, Puss in Boots must fight, dance and romance his way through wild adventures as he searches for an escape.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrings (2004)
The story of Prince Hal who sets out to avenge his dead father against the city's rivals, the Zeriths, little knowing it was his wicked uncle Nezo who is the real killer, with his own designs on the throne.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMonster High: Scaris City of Frights (2013)
The Monstruitas of Monster High are obsessed with going to Scaris, The City of Frights for Fashion international competition where the winner will become the apprentice of the world famous Madame Ghostier designer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies 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 animation & 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 animation & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Witcher: Sirens of the Deep (2025)
When human sailors are attacked by mysterious creatures of the deep, only one person can stop the war between land and sea: the Witcher, Geralt of Rivia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHow to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming (2019)
It's been ten years since the dragons moved to the Hidden World, and even though Toothless doesn't live in New Berk anymore, Hiccup continues the holiday traditions he once shared with his best friend. But the Vikings of New Berk were beginning to forget about their friendship with dragons. Hiccup, Astrid, and Gobber know just what to do to keep the dragons in the villagers' hearts. And across the sea, the dragons have a plan of their own...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisWelcome to Smelliville (2021)
The Oggly family arrive at the municipal rubbish dump of Smelliville and must look for a new home, but they never feel really welcome anywhere. They stink and are for most humans just a tad too oggly. When Firebottom, the family dragon, crash-lands on the run-down rubbish tip of the small town of Smelliville, the Ogglies at once feel at home. And it's here they want to stay.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWish Dragon (2021)
Determined teen Din is longing to reconnect with his childhood best friend when he meets a wish-granting dragon who shows him the magic of possibilities.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDisney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams (2007)
Princess Aurora and Princess Jasmine learn valuable life lessons in two short stories.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLou (2017)
A lost-and-found box holds a mysterious and unseen monster within.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & 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 & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMonster High: Frights, Camera, Action! (2014)
When Draculaura is led to believe she's the rightful heir to the vampire throne, she and her best ghoulfriends are whisked away to Transylvania for a royal coronation to die for. But they soon discover the hunt for the queen is not over yet. The Ghouls must locate an ancient artifact known as the Vampire's Heart in order to discover the identity of the true Vampire Queen. It's a fangtastic adventure that will lead them from the Tower of Londoom, to a haunted river boat in New Goreleans and finally to the glamorous boo-vie lots of Hauntlywood. Could this be the moment when Draculara finally receives her vampire powers and discovers screams really can come true?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies 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 & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeavy Traffic (1973)
A white dropout struggles to become a cartoonist and filmmaker, drawing inspiration from the harsh, gritty world around him. Still sharing his rundown apartment with his middle-aged parents, an oafish slob of an Italian father and a ditzy nutcase of a Jewish mother, he's ridiculed and looked down upon by his friends, hypocrites who run with violent gangs and the Italian Mafia, and a shallow Black girl who makes her living downtown with the pimps and pushers. The cartoonist gets a chance to pitch a film idea to a movie mogul, but the story proves too outrageous: a far-future Earth, depleted by war and pollution, where a mutant antihero challenges and kills God.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Ephemeral Orphanage?
The closest matches to The Ephemeral Orphanage are Waking Life (2001), Sintel (2010) and The Willoughbys (2020). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Ephemeral Orphanage?
Start with Waking Life (2001), the closest match to The Ephemeral Orphanage.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Ephemeral Orphanage?
How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming (2019), rated 8.0/10 by 1,155 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Ephemeral Orphanage?
In Your Dreams (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Ephemeral Orphanage?
Yes: Waking Life (2001), Sintel (2010) and The Willoughbys (2020).
How are movies similar to The Ephemeral Orphanage chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Ephemeral Orphanage, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.