Movies like Waking Life (2001)
The best movies like Waking Life (2001) are Afro Samurai: Resurrection (2009), The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep (2025) and Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match (2023). If Waking Life hooked you with its animation and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBatman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall (2026)9.1/10 from 508 votes
- NewestBatman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall (2026)Released 2026
Afro Samurai: Resurrection (2009)
Afro Samurai avenged his father and found a life of peace. But the legendary master is forced back into the game by a beautiful and deadly woman from his past. The sparks of violence dropped along Afro’s bloody path now burn out of control – and nowhere are the flames of hatred more intense than in the eyes of Sio.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
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 thisMortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match (2023)
In 1980s Hollywood, action star Johnny Cage is looking to become an A-list actor. But when his costar, Jennifer, goes missing from set, Johnny finds himself thrust into a world filled with shadows, danger, and deceit. As he embarks on a bloody journey, Johnny quickly discovers the City of Angels has more than a few devils in its midst. He faces off against a sinister secret society plotting a nefarious scheme, but the brutal fight against the bloodthirsty warriors of the Netherrealm is just beginning.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind (2022)
The vicious, power-mad Kano is determined to take over Earthrealm, one soul at a time. Assisted by a trio of cold Black Dragon mercenaries, he embarks on a brutal assault from town to defenseless town. The choice is simple: kneel or be annihilated. Kenshi, a rebel warrior, calls on Kuai Liang, the only one powerful enough to challenge the malevolent Kano. But Kuai Liang has given up the ways of the warrior, and Kenshi is too undisciplined to defeat Kano himself. If Kuai Liang cannot break through the glacier of doubt that holds him back, Earthrealm will fall.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Zero Theorem (2013)
A computer hacker's goal to discover the reason for human existence continually finds his work interrupted thanks to the Management; this time, they send a teenager and lusty love interest to distract him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInterstate 60 (2002)
An aspiring painter meets various characters and learns valuable lessons while traveling across America.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFreedom Fighters: The Ray (2018)
Earth-X is one of many realities in the multiverse, with one glaring difference from our Earth: The Nazis won World War II. Led by The Ray, a group of heroes known as the Freedom Fighters battle selflessly against tyranny. But when The Ray is transported to our Earth to save his life, he passes his powers to his unsuspecting counterpart, Ray Terrill. Charged with superhuman abilities, Terrill is newly christened The Ray and must adapt and overcome the challenges of crime-fighting with a little help from The Flash and Green Arrow. Seasoned and ready to fight, The Ray now faces his biggest battle: a return to Earth-X to lead the Freedom Fighters against Overgirl and her evil Nazi henchmen!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNine Days (2021)
A bureaucrat interviews five souls to decide which of them will be given a life on Earth. But he soon faces an existential challenge of his own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms (2021)
When Shao Kahn's Outworld barbarians terrorize Earthrealm, Lord Raiden is determined to put an end to the carnage once and for all. This leaves one option: a final Mortal Kombat tournament for the future of Earthrealm – win it or lose everything. Raiden's elite fighters Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, and a few new faces kick the action into overdrive as they go head-to-head with Outworld's most bloodthirsty warriors. But deep in the Netherrealm, an unspeakable scheme by the malevolent Shinnok unfolds, threatening to obliterate existence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPink Narcissus (1971)
An outrageous erotic poem focusing on the daydreams of a beautiful boy prostitute who, from the seclusion of his ultra-kitsch apartment, conceives a series of interlinked narcissistic fantasies populated by matadors, dancing boys, slaves, and leather-clad bikers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGame of Thrones The IMAX Experience (2015)
The first episode of this IMAX screening takes place entirely at The Wall with the Night’s Watch (S4 EP9) hopelessly outnumbered as they attempt to defend Castle Black from the Wildings and features one the fiercest and most intense battle scenes ever filmed for television. The second episode (S4 EP10), features Dany coming to grips with the realities of ruling a kingdom, Bran learning the startling reality of his destiny and Tyrion facing the truth of his unfortunate situation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBatman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall (2026)
Arkham Asylum has been destroyed, and all its inmates have been unleashed upon Gotham City. As Batman races to round up some of his greatest enemies, he is pushed to his physical and mental limits and into a final confrontation with a new threat: the man called Bane!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHeavy Metal (1981)
The embodiment of ultimate evil, a glowing orb terrorizes a young girl with bizarre stories of dark fantasy, eroticism and horror.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPaperhouse (1988)
A young girl lost in the loneliness and boredom of reality finds solace in an ill boy, whom she can visit in a surreal dream world that she drew in her school composition book.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf (2021)
Escaping from poverty to become a witcher, Vesemir slays monsters for coin and glory, but when a new menace rises, he must face the demons of his past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHeavy Metal 2000 (2000)
Upon discovery of a shard of what could be the Loc-Nar, a miner named Tyler becomes possessed with an insatiable hunger for power and a thirst for immortality. On his way to the planet of youth, Tyler wipes out most of a space colony and kidnaps a beautiful young woman. His only mistake is that he doesn't kill her sister, Julie, who then sets out on a mission of rescue and revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTuesday (2024)
A mother and her teenage daughter must confront Death when it arrives in the form of an astonishing talking bird.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJustice League Dark: Apokolips War (2020)
Earth is decimated after intergalactic tyrant Darkseid has devastated the Justice League in a poorly executed war by the DC Super Heroes. Now the remaining bastions of good – the Justice League, Teen Titans, Suicide Squad and assorted others – must regroup, strategize and take the war to Darkseid in order to save the planet and its surviving inhabitants.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisInjustice (2021)
When Lois Lane is killed, an unhinged Superman decides to take control of the Earth. Determined to stop him, Batman creates a team of freedom-fighting heroes. But when superheroes go to war, can the world survive?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSuicide Squad: Hell to Pay (2018)
Amanda Waller's top-secret "Task Force X" — consisting of Deadshot, Bronze Tiger, Killer Frost, Captain Boomerang, Harley Quinn, and Copperhead — is on a mission to retrieve a mystical object so powerful that they're willing to risk their lives to steal it. However, the Suicide Squad isn't the only group of villains seeking to possess the object. It's a race for the golden prize, and second place isn't an option if they want to stay alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIdiots and Angels (2008)
Angel, a selfish rotter is hanging around in a local bar, groping the wife of the barman and dealing with weapons. One morning he wakes up finding a pair of wings growing at his back. These wings do good deeds against his nature. But suddenly he finds himself fighting those who want these wings for their own dark plans.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnother World (2025)
Gudo is a Soul Keeper, a spirit who guides human souls into their next life. When he befriends a young girl named Yuri, he discovers that her untimely death has left her cursed with unresolved rage and regret. As Yuri’s soul teeters on the edge of annihilation, Gudo embarks on a dangerous journey to stop her from unleashing horrible destruction on both the human world and the spirit realm.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & drama
The Wolf House (2018)
After escaping from a religious colony in Chile, Maria seeks shelter in a mansion where she’s taken in by two pigs, its only inhabitants. Like in a stop-motion dream, the universe of the house reacts to her feelings. The animals slowly morph into humans and the house into a dark, menacing world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMillennium Actress (2002)
Documentary filmmaker Genya Tachibana has tracked down the legendary actress Chiyoko Fujiwara, who mysteriously vanished at the height of her career. When he presents her with a key she had lost and thought was gone forever, the filmmaker could not have imagined that it would not only unlock the long-held secrets of Chiyoko’s life... but also his own.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBabylas' Marriage (1921)
The film is a delightful tale of a spoiled wedding between child's toys which shows Starewicz's typical style of making amusing films appropriate for children without much sentimentality. As in many of his other films, his daughter Nina plays the role of the child.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & fantasy
Blood Tea and Red String (2006)
The aristocratic White Mice and the rustic Creatures Who Dwell Under the Oak battle over the doll of their hearts' desire.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDream Addicts Anonymous (TBA)
When Amy struggles to trudge through her monotonous everyday life, she realizes she is happier when she is asleep, forcing her to chase the secure bliss she feels when she dreams.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Double Hour (2009)
A chambermaid and a former cop meet at a speed dating event and a romance develops. But during a romantic getaway things suddenly take a turn for the worse when her mysterious past is revealed.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLong Live Death (1971)
At the end of the Spanish civil war, Fando, a boy of about ten, tries to make sense of war and his father's arrest. His mother is religious, sympathetic to the Fascists; his father is accused of being a Red. Fando discovers that his mother may have aided in his father's arrest. Sometimes we witness Fando imagining explanations for what's going on; sometimes we see him at play, alone or with his friend Thérèse. Oedipal fantasies and a lad's natural curiosity about sex and death mix with his search for his mother's nature and his father's fate. Will Fando survive the search?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisDifference & Repetition, 2020 (2025)
In March 2020, an Argentine woman flees New York with her Peruvian husband for his family’s empty beach house outside of Lima, whereupon an unplanned pregnancy precipitates the destruction of her marriage. In the present, she rips the moments of this narrative from their context, and reconstructs her story to reckon with her profound feeling of loneliness and the experience of time in which it has trapped her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Waking Life and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Waking Life?
The closest matches to Waking Life are Afro Samurai: Resurrection (2009), The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep (2025) and Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match (2023). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Waking Life?
Start with Afro Samurai: Resurrection (2009), the closest match to Waking Life.
What is the highest-rated movie like Waking Life?
Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall (2026), rated 9.1/10 by 508 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Waking Life?
Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Waking Life?
Yes: Afro Samurai: Resurrection (2009), The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep (2025) and Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match (2023).
How are movies similar to Waking Life chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Waking Life, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.