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Boy & the World poster

Movies that feel likeBoy & the World (2014)

Suffering because of his father's departure to the big city, a boy leaves his village and discovers a fantastic world dominated by bug-engines and strange beings. An unusual animation with various artistic techniques that portrays the issues of the modern world through the eyes of a child.

If you loved Boy & the World, the closest films we have are Long Way North (2015), Arrietty (2010) and Big Fish & Begonia (2016). All three share Boy & the World's wistful feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is The Secret of Kells (2009).

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If Boy & the World hit the spot, these will too

Long Way North poster
Long Way North
2015 · dir. Rémi Chayé
🍅 98%★ 7.2adventure · animation · dramaPrime Video

Both keep coming back to the same thing: growing up

The difference: Takes it somewhere less whimsical than Boy & the World does

In 1892 Saint Petersburg, when her explorer grandfather's failure to return from his latest expedition brings dishonour to her aristocratic family, a resilient teenager runs away to follow in his trail in search of his famed ship.

Arrietty poster
Arrietty
2010 · dir. Hiromasa Yonebayashi
🍅 94%★ 7.6fantasy · animation · familyMax

Whimsical where it counts, dreamlike underneath

The difference: Easier on the scale than Boy & the World

14-year-old Arrietty and the rest of the Clock family live in peaceful anonymity as they make their own home from items "borrowed" from the house's human inhabitants. However, life changes for the Clocks when a human boy discovers Arrietty.

Big Fish & Begonia poster
Big Fish & Begonia
2016 · dir. Liang Xuan
🍅 94%★ 7animation · adventure · fantasyRent or buy

Common ground: growing up

Beyond the human realm, there is a magical race of beings who control the tides and the changing of the seasons. One of these beings, a young girl named Chun, seeks something more—she wants to experience the human world! At sixteen, she finally gets her chance and transforms into a dolphin in order to explore the world that has her fascinated. But she soon discovers that it's a dangerous place and nearly gets killed in a vortex. Luckily, her life is spared when a young boy sacrifices himself to save her. Moved by his kindness and courage, she uses magic to bring him back to life only to learn that this power comes at a serious price. On a new adventure, she’ll have to make her own sacrifices in order to protect his soul until it is ready to return to the human world.

The Secret of Kells poster
The Secret of Kells
2009 · dir. Tomm Moore
🍅 90%★ 7.5animation · family · fantasy

Warm and cozy in the same breath

Adventure awaits 12 year old Brendan who must fight Vikings and a serpent god to find a crystal and complete the legendary Book of Kells. In order to finish Brother Aiden's book, Brendan must overcome his deepest fears on a secret quest that will take him beyond the abbey walls and into the enchanted forest where dangerous mythical creatures hide. Will Brendan succeed in his quest?

Kirikou and the Sorceress poster
Kirikou and the Sorceress
1998 · dir. Michel Ocelot
🍅 96%★ 7.5fantasy · adventure · animationPrime Video

Epic animation, and it commits to that

Drawn from elements of West African folk tales, it depicts how a newborn boy, Kirikou, saves his village from the evil witch Karaba.

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole poster
🍅 52%★ 6.9animation · adventure · family

Fantasy with a pulse of whimsy, in both cases

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

When a young owl is abducted by an evil Owl army, he must escape with new-found friends and seek the legendary Guardians to stop the menace.

Epic poster
Epic
2013 · dir. Chris Wedge
🍅 65%★ 6.6animation · adventure · familyMax

Both lean on dream logic more than on adventure

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 characters in order to save their world—and ours.

Song of the Sea poster
Song of the Sea
2014 · dir. Tomm Moore
🍅 99%★ 8family · animation · fantasy

Warm family in both cases

The story of the last Seal Child’s journey home. After their mother’s disappearance, Ben and Saoirse are sent to live with Granny in the city. When they resolve to return to their home by the sea, their journey becomes a race against time as they are drawn into a world Ben knows only from his mother’s folktales. But this is no bedtime story; these fairy folk have been in our world far too long. It soon becomes clear to Ben that Saoirse is the key to their survival.

Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard poster
🍅 14%★ 5.3adventure · fantasy · animationPrime VideoStarz

Animation built on scale, twice over

Arthur answers a distress call from Princess Selenia, who is menaced by the nefarious Maltazard.

Kiki's Delivery Service poster
Kiki's Delivery Service
1989 · dir. Hayao Miyazaki
★ 7.8animation · family · fantasyMax

Fantasy with a pulse of wistfulness, in both cases

The difference: Made in the 1980s, in a different era of the craft

A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service.

Tangled poster
Tangled
2010 · dir. Byron Howard
🍅 89%★ 7.7animation · family · adventureDisney+

Cozy adventure in both cases

Feisty teenager Rapunzel, who has long and magical hair, wants to go and see sky lanterns on her eighteenth birthday, but she's bound to a tower by her overprotective mother. She strikes a deal with Flynn Rider, a charming wanted thief, and the duo set off on an action-packed escapade.

Ronal the Barbarian poster
Ronal the Barbarian
2011 · dir. Kresten Vestbjerg Andersen
★ 6.5animation · adventure · fantasy

Whimsical family, and it commits to that

Ronal is a young barbarian with low self-esteem, the polar opposite of all the muscular barbarians in his village. He's a real wuss. However, as fate would have it, responsibility for the tribe's survival falls on Ronal's scrawny shoulders, when the evil Lord Volcazar raids the village and abducts every living barbarian with the exception of Ronal, who is forced to go on a perilous quest to save his enslaved clan and thwart Volcazar’s plot to rule the world.

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The best-reviewed films that share Boy & the World’s defining feeling.