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Return to Halloweentown poster

Movies that feel likeReturn to Halloweentown (2006)

As Halloweentown prepares to celebrate its 1,000th anniversary, Marnie Piper and her brother Dylan return to Witch University, where trouble is in session from the Sinister Sisters and from someone who's plotting to use Marnie's powers for evil.

If you loved Return to Halloweentown, the closest films we have are Hocus Pocus (1993), Nanny McPhee (2005) and Mary Poppins Returns (2018). All three share Return to Halloweentown's warm and cozy feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Paper Planes (2014).

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If Return to Halloweentown hit the spot, these will too

Looking for the series itself? Also in this series: Halloweentown (1998)

Hocus Pocus poster
Hocus Pocus
1993 · dir. Kenny Ortega
🍅 42%★ 6.9fantasy · comedy · familyDisney+

Both are working the same pair: witch, magic

After 300 years of slumber, three sister witches are accidentally resurrected in Salem on Halloween night, and it is up to three kids and their newfound feline friend to put an end to the witches' reign of terror once and for all.

Nanny McPhee poster
Nanny McPhee
2005 · dir. Kirk Jones
🍅 74%★ 6.6fantasy · comedy · family

The same mix in both: warmth, then comfort

Widower Cedric Brown hires Nanny McPhee to care for his seven rambunctious children, who have chased away all previous nannies. Taunted by Simon and his siblings, Nanny McPhee uses mystical powers to instill discipline. And when the children's great-aunt and benefactor, Lady Adelaide Stitch, threatens to separate the kids, the family pulls together under the guidance of Nanny McPhee.

Mary Poppins Returns poster
Mary Poppins Returns
2018 · dir. Rob Marshall
🍅 80%★ 6.6fantasy · family · comedyDisney+

One thread runs through both: magic

Mary Poppins returns to the Banks family and helps them evade grave dangers by taking them on magical, musical adventures.

The Santa Clause poster
The Santa Clause
1994 · dir. John Pasquin
🍅 73%★ 6.6fantasy · drama · comedyDisney+

The same preoccupation in both: holiday

The difference: Leans harder into drama than Return to Halloweentown does

On Christmas Eve, divorced dad Scott Calvin and his son discover Santa Claus has fallen off their roof. When Scott takes the reins of the magical sleigh, he finds he is now the new Santa, and must convince a world of disbelievers, including himself.

Addams Family Values poster
Addams Family Values
1993 · dir. Barry Sonnenfeld
🍅 76%★ 6.9comedy · family · fantasyParamount+

Both keep coming back to the same thing: halloween

Siblings Wednesday and Pugsley Addams will stop at nothing to get rid of Pubert, the new baby boy adored by parents Gomez and Morticia. Things go from bad to worse when the new "black widow" nanny, Debbie Jellinsky, launches her plan to add Fester to her collection of dead husbands.

Paper Planes poster
Paper Planes
2014 · dir. Robert Connolly
🍅 85%★ 6.2comedy · family · dramaStarz

Both land wit and play at once

The difference: Trades the dream logic of Return to Halloweentown for an angle of its own

Dylan discovers he has a talent for making paper planes. He has a chance to compete in a world championship, but he'll have to face bullies and self-doubt to do so.

CJ7 poster
CJ7
2008 · dir. Stephen Chow
🍅 49%★ 6.4comedy · drama · family

Both lean on dream logic more than on family

A poor construction worker, who struggles to keep his son in private school, mistakes an orb he finds in a junkjard for a toy which proves to be much, much more once the young boy starts to play with it.

Roald Dahl's The Witches poster
Roald Dahl's The Witches
2020 · dir. Robert Zemeckis
★ 5.4comedy · fantasy · familyRent or buy

Common ground: witch

In late 1967, a young orphaned boy goes to live with his loving grandma in the rural Alabama town of Demopolis. As the boy and his grandmother encounter some deceptively glamorous but thoroughly diabolical witches, she wisely whisks him away to a seaside resort. Regrettably, they arrive at precisely the same time that the world's Grand High Witch has gathered.

Just Another Christmas poster
Just Another Christmas
2020 · dir. Roberto Santucci
★ 6.7comedy · drama · fantasyNetflix

Fantasy built on warmth, twice over

After taking a very nasty fall on Christmas Eve, grinchy Jorge blacks out and wakes up one year later, with no memory of the year that has passed. He soon realizes that he’s doomed to keep waking up on Christmas Eve after Christmas Eve, having to deal with the aftermath of what his other self has done the other 364 days of the year.

Evan Almighty poster
Evan Almighty
2007 · dir. Tom Shadyac
🍅 24%★ 5.5fantasy · comedy · family

Cozy comedy in both cases

God contacts Junior Congressman Evan Baxter and tells him to build an ark in preparation for a great flood.

Asterix at the Olympic Games poster
Asterix at the Olympic Games
2008 · dir. Thomas Langmann
★ 5.3fantasy · adventure · comedyPrime Video

Dreamlike tv movie, and it commits to that

Astérix and Obélix have to win the Olympic Games in order to help their friend Alafolix marry Princess Irina. Brutus uses every trick in the book to have his own team win the game, and get rid of his father Julius Caesar in the process.

The Flintstones poster
The Flintstones
1994 · dir. Brian Levant
🍅 23%★ 5.1fantasy · comedy · familyNetflix

Family with a pulse of wit, in both cases

Modern Stone Age family the Flintstones hit the big screen in this live-action version of the classic cartoon. Fred helps Barney adopt a child. Barney sees an opportunity to repay him when Slate Mining tests its employees to find a new executive. But no good deed goes unpunished.

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The best-reviewed films that share Return to Halloweentown’s defining feeling.