feelsalike.comSign in
A Christmas Carol poster

Movies that feel likeA Christmas Carol (2009)

Miser Ebenezer Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways. Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold: death or redemption.

If you loved A Christmas Carol, the closest films we have are Pinocchio (2019), The Secret Garden (1993) and A Little Princess (1995). All three share A Christmas Carol's contemplative and warm feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is When Marnie Was There (2014).

🍅 52% Rotten Tomatoes★ 6.8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Robert Zemeckiscontemplativewarmcozydreamlike
9 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Disney Plus

Can't choose? Answer three questions and get one movie for tonight.

See it on the Mood Map

When is A Christmas Carol streaming? →

If A Christmas Carol hit the spot, these will too

Pinocchio poster
Pinocchio
2019 · dir. Matteo Garrone
🍅 84%★ 6.3drama · family · fantasy

Contemplative where it counts, warm underneath

The difference: Reviewed even better

Old woodcarver Geppetto fashions a wooden puppet, Pinocchio, who magically comes to life. Pinocchio longs for adventure and is easily led astray, encountering magical beasts, fantastical spectacles, while making friends and foes along his journey. However, his dream is to become a real boy, which can only come true if he finally changes his ways.

The Secret Garden poster
The Secret Garden
1993 · dir. Agnieszka Holland
🍅 89%★ 7.3drama · family · fantasy

Cozy and dreamlike in the same breath

A young British girl born and reared in India loses her neglectful parents in an earthquake. She is returned to England to live at her uncle's castle. Her uncle is very distant due to the loss of his wife ten years before. Neglected once again, she begins exploring the estate and discovers a garden that has been locked and forgotten. Aided by one of the servants' boys, she begins restoring the garden, and eventually discovers some other secrets of the manor.

A Little Princess poster
A Little Princess
1995 · dir. Alfonso Cuarón
🍅 97%★ 7.6drama · family · fantasy

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

When her father enlists to fight for the British in WWI, young Sara Crewe goes to New York to attend the same boarding school her late mother attended. She soon clashes with the severe headmistress, Miss Minchin, who attempts to stifle Sara's creativity and sense of self-worth.

The Cat Returns poster
The Cat Returns
2002 · dir. Hiroyuki Morita
🍅 88%★ 7.1adventure · fantasy · animationMax

Animation with a pulse of warmth, in both cases

The difference: Sits closer to adventure than A Christmas Carol does

Young Haru rescues a cat from being run over, but soon learns it's no ordinary feline; it happens to be the Prince of the Cats.

A Dog's Purpose poster
A Dog's Purpose
2017 · dir. Lasse Hallström
🍅 35%★ 7.3adventure · fantasy · family

Cozy family in both cases

A dog goes on quest to discover his purpose in life over the course of several lifetimes with multiple owners.

The Amazing Mr. Blunden poster
The Amazing Mr. Blunden
1972 · dir. Lionel Jeffries
★ 6.8family · fantasyPrime Video

Common ground in both: victorian england and ghost

The difference: Easier on the stillness than A Christmas Carol

Mysterious old solicitor Mr. Blunden visits Mrs. Allen and her young children in their squalid, tiny Camden Town flat and makes her an offer she cannot refuse. The family become the housekeepers to a derelict country mansion in the charge of the solicitors. One day the children meet the spirits of two other children who died in the mansion nearly a hundred years prior. The children prepare a magic potion that allows them to travel backwards in time to the era of the ghost children. Will the children be able to help their new friends and what will happen to them if they do?

The Polar Express poster
The Polar Express
2004 · dir. Robert Zemeckis
🍅 55%★ 6.6adventure · animation · family

Robert Zemeckis directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

When a doubting young boy takes an extraordinary train ride to the North Pole, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery that shows him that the wonder of life never fades for those who believe.

When Marnie Was There poster
When Marnie Was There
2014 · dir. Hiromasa Yonebayashi
🍅 92%★ 7.6animation · drama · familyMax

Fantasy built on stillness, twice over

Upon being sent to live with relatives in the countryside due to an illness, an emotionally distant adolescent girl becomes obsessed with an abandoned mansion and infatuated with a girl who lives there - a girl who may or may not be real.

Wolf Children poster
Wolf Children
2012 · dir. Mamoru Hosoda
🍅 95%★ 8.1animation · family · dramaMax

Both lean on dream logic more than on animation

After her werewolf lover unexpectedly dies in an accident, a woman must find a way to raise the son and daughter that she had with him. However, their inheritance of their father's traits prove to be a challenge for her.

The BFG poster
The BFG
2016 · dir. Steven Spielberg
🍅 74%★ 6.3adventure · family · fantasyDisney+

Family with a pulse of warmth, in both cases

An orphan little girl befriends a benevolent giant who takes her to Giant Country, where they attempt to stop the man-eating giants that are invading the human world.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader poster
🍅 49%★ 6.3adventure · family · fantasyDisney+

Both lean on comfort more than on fantasy

This time around Edmund and Lucy Pevensie, along with their pesky cousin Eustace Scrubb find themselves swallowed into a painting and on to a fantastic Narnian ship headed for the very edges of the world.

Peter Pan poster
Peter Pan
2003 · dir. P.J. Hogan
🍅 77%★ 6.8adventure · fantasy · family

Drama with a pulse of dream logic, in both cases

In stifling Edwardian London, Wendy Darling mesmerizes her brothers every night with bedtime tales of swordplay, swashbuckling and the fearsome Captain Hook. But the children become the heroes of an even greater story, when Peter Pan flies into their nursery one night and leads them over moonlit rooftops through a galaxy of stars and to the lush jungles of Neverland.

In the mood for more contemplative?

all contemplative movies →

The best-reviewed films that share A Christmas Carol’s defining feeling.