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Movies that feel like Explorers (1985)

If you loved Explorers, the closest films we have are E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Escape to Witch Mountain (1975) and Flight of the Navigator (1986). All three share Explorers's cerebral and epic feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 10 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Apple TV, Apple TV Amazon Channel and Disney Plus and others, checked against today's data.

Middle schooler Ben spends his free time watching sci-fi films, playing video games and reading comic books. Surprisingly, his affinity for all things fantastical yields a real result – when he has a vivid dream about technology, his prodigy best friend Wolfgang manages to create a working spacecraft. Joined by their buddy Darren, the boys take off into outer space and encounter some very odd extraterrestrial life.

6.4 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Joe Dantecerebralepicwarmcozyawedreamlike
Stream it:MGM+

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If Explorers hit the spot, these will too

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial poster
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
1982 · dir. Steven Spielberg
🍅 99%7.9adventure · science fiction · family

Alien sits at the heart of each

The difference: Not nearly as dreamlike as Explorers

An alien is left behind on Earth and saved by the 10-year-old Elliott who decides to keep him hidden in his home. While a task force hunts for the extra-terrestrial, Elliott, his brother, and his little sister Gertie form an emotional bond with their new friend, and try to help him find his way home.

Feels alike?
Escape to Witch Mountain poster
Escape to Witch Mountain
1975 · dir. John Hough
🍅 87%6.3adventure · fantasy · science fiction

Cerebral and epic in the same breath

The difference: Missing the awe of Explorers

Tia and Tony are two orphaned youngsters with extraordinary powers. Lucas Deranian poses as their uncle in order to get the kids into the clutches of Deranian's megalomaniacal boss, evil millionaire Aristotle Bolt, who wants to exploit them. Jason, a cynical widower, helps Tia and Tony escape to witch mountain, while at the same time Tia and Tony help Jason escape the pain of the loss of his wife.

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Flight of the Navigator poster
Flight of the Navigator
1986 · dir. Randal Kleiser
🍅 85%6.9family · science fiction · adventure

Alien is the engine of both

12-year-old David is accidentally knocked out in the forest near his home, but when he awakens eight years have passed. His family is overjoyed to have him back, but is just as perplexed as he is that he hasn't aged. When a NASA scientist discovers a UFO nearby, David gets the chance to unravel the mystery and recover the life he lost.

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Time Bandits poster
Time Bandits
1981 · dir. Terry Gilliam
🍅 92%6.9family · fantasy · science fiction

Warm where it counts, cozy underneath

The difference: Plays it as fantasy more than Explorers does

Young history buff Kevin can scarcely believe it when six dwarfs emerge from his closet one night. Former employees of the Supreme Being, they've purloined a map charting all of the holes in the fabric of time and are using it to steal treasures from different historical eras. Taking Kevin with them, they variously drop in on Napoleon, Robin Hood and King Agamemnon before the Supreme Being catches up with them.

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Tomorrowland poster
Tomorrowland
2015 · dir. Brad Bird
🍅 49%6.4adventure · family · mystery

Science fiction with a pulse of dream logic, in both cases

The difference: Leans mystery where Explorers does not

Bound by a shared destiny, a bright, optimistic teen bursting with scientific curiosity and a former boy-genius inventor jaded by disillusionment embark on a danger-filled mission to unearth the secrets of an enigmatic place somewhere in time and space that exists in their collective memory as "Tomorrowland."

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Treasure Planet poster
Treasure Planet
2002 · dir. Ron Clements
🍅 68%7.2science fiction · adventure · animation

Adventure built on ideas, twice over

When space galleon cabin boy Jim Hawkins discovers a map to an intergalactic "loot of a thousand worlds," a cyborg cook named John Silver teaches him to battle supernovas and space storms on their journey to find treasure.

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Lightyear poster
Lightyear
2022 · dir. Angus MacLane
🍅 74%6.1animation · science fiction · family

Both keep circling back to space travel

The difference: A 2020s film, from a different era of filmmaking

Legendary Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear embarks on an intergalactic adventure alongside a group of ambitious recruits and his robot companion Sox.

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Return to Oz poster
Return to Oz
1985 · dir. Walter Murch
🍅 59%6.8adventure · family · fantasy

Epic family, and it commits to that

Dorothy, saved from a psychiatric experiment by a mysterious girl, finds herself back in the land of her dreams, and makes delightful new friends, and dangerous new enemies.

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The NeverEnding Story poster
The NeverEnding Story
1984 · dir. Wolfgang Petersen
🍅 84%7.3adventure · fantasy · family

Both trade on warmth more than on being adventure

While hiding from bullies in his school's attic, a young boy discovers the extraordinary land of Fantasia, through a magical book called The Neverending Story. The book tells the tale of Atreyu, a young warrior who, with the help of a luck dragon named Falkor, must save Fantasia from the destruction of The Nothing.

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The Dark Crystal poster
The Dark Crystal
1982 · dir. Jim Henson
🍅 78%7.1adventure · family · fantasy

Cozy family in both cases

On another planet in the distant past, a Gelfling embarks on a quest to find the missing shard of a magical crystal and restore order to his world, before the grotesque race of Skeksis find and use the crystal for evil.

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Monsters vs Aliens poster
Monsters vs Aliens
2009 · dir. Rob Letterman
🍅 73%6.4animation · family · adventure

Science fiction with a pulse of ideas, in both cases

When Susan Murphy is unwittingly clobbered by a meteor full of outer space gunk on her wedding day, she mysteriously grows to 49-feet-11-inches. The military jumps into action and captures Susan, secreting her away to a covert government compound. She is renamed Ginormica and placed in confinement with a ragtag group of Monsters...

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Atlantis: The Lost Empire poster
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
2001 · dir. Gary Trousdale
🍅 48%6.9animation · family · adventure

Epic science fiction, and it commits to that

A young linguist named Milo Thatch joins an intrepid group of explorers to find the mysterious lost continent of Atlantis.

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The best-reviewed films that share Explorers's defining feeling.