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How the Grinch Stole Christmas poster

Movies that feel likeHow the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

The Grinch decides to rob Whoville of Christmas - but a dash of kindness from little Cindy Lou Who and her family may be enough to melt his heart...

If you loved How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the closest films we have are Elf (2003), The Santa Clause (1994) and Freaky Friday (2003). All three share How the Grinch Stole Christmas' warm and cozy feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Addams Family Values (1993).

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If How the Grinch Stole Christmas hit the spot, these will too

Elf poster
Elf
2003 · dir. Jon Favreau
🍅 85%★ 7.1comedy · family · fantasyRent or buy

A holiday misfit whose oversized heart wins over the doubters

The difference: Sincerity over mischief — Buddy never plays the villain

When young Buddy falls into Santa's gift sack on Christmas Eve, he's transported back to the North Pole and raised as a toy-making elf by Santa's helpers. But as he grows into adulthood, he can't shake the nagging feeling that he doesn't belong. Buddy vows to visit Manhattan and find his real dad, a workaholic.

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

A grump conscripted into Christmas spirit against his will

The difference: Suburban-dad warmth instead of Seuss-world anarchy

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.

Freaky Friday poster
Freaky Friday
2003 · dir. Mark Waters
🍅 88%★ 6.4comedy · family · fantasyDisney+

Magic forcing sworn enemies to finally see each other

The difference: Teen-and-mom bickering — no holiday setting or storybook world

Mother and daughter bicker over everything -- what Anna wears, whom she likes and what she wants to do when she's older. In turn, Anna detests Tess's fiancé. When a magical fortune cookie switches their personalities, they each get a peek at how the other person feels, thinks and lives.

Enchanted poster
Enchanted
2007 · dir. Kevin Lima
🍅 93%★ 7.1comedy · family · fantasyDisney+

Storybook whimsy crashing into the real world with a wink

The difference: A princess musical romance — sweetness, not green-furred spite

The beautiful princess Giselle is banished by an evil queen from her magical, musical animated land and finds herself in the gritty reality of the streets of modern-day Manhattan. Shocked by this strange new environment that doesn't operate on a "happily ever after" basis, Giselle is now adrift in a chaotic world badly in need of enchantment. But when Giselle begins to fall in love with a charmingly flawed divorce lawyer who has come to her aid - even though she is already promised to a perfect fairy tale prince back home - she has to wonder: Can a storybook view of romance survive in the real world?

Matilda poster
Matilda
1996 · dir. Danny DeVito
🍅 89%★ 7comedy · family · fantasy

The same mix in both: warmth, then comfort

The difference: Critics rated this one higher still

Matilda Wormwood is an brilliant and intelligent little girl. Unfortunately, her parents, Harry and Zinnia, fail to see that fact. As time passes, she finally starts school and has a kind teacher, loyal friends, and a terrifying, sadistic headmistress. As she becomes fed up with the constant cruelty, she discovers she has a special gift that she just might be able to use to outwit the unruly adults around her.

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

Both land wit and play at once

The difference: Less romantic, more its own thing

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.

Bedtime Stories poster
Bedtime Stories
2008 · dir. Adam Shankman
🍅 27%★ 6fantasy · comedy · familyDisney+

A cynical grown-up undone by a child's sense of wonder

The difference: No Christmas in sight, and the whimsy runs on autopilot

Skeeter Bronson is a down-on-his-luck guy who's always telling bedtime stories to his niece and nephew. But his life is turned upside down when the fantastical stories he makes up for entertainment inexplicably turn into reality. Can a bewildered Skeeter manage his own unruly fantasies now that the outrageous characters and situations from his mind have morphed into actual people and events?

Doctor Dolittle poster
Doctor Dolittle
1998 · dir. Betty Thomas
🍅 44%★ 5.4comedy · family · fantasyDisney+

Broad family comedy built on one comedian's motor-mouthed mayhem

The difference: Contemporary San Francisco — no holiday magic or fantasy village

A successful physician and devoted family man, John Dolittle seems to have the world by the tail, until a long suppressed talent he possessed as a child, the ability to communicate with animals is suddenly reawakened with a vengeance! Now every creature within squawking distance wants the good doctor's advice, unleashing an outrageous chain of events that turns his world upside down!

Casper poster
Casper
1995 · dir. Brad Silberling
🍅 59%★ 6.2fantasy · comedy · familyHuluPeacock

Family fantasy where the scary outsider just wants to be loved

The difference: A melancholy ghost story sits under the gags

Casper is a kind young ghost who peacefully haunts a mansion in Maine. When specialist James Harvey arrives to communicate with Casper and his fellow spirits, he brings along his teenage daughter, Kat. Casper quickly falls in love with Kat, but their budding relationship is complicated not only by his transparent state, but also by his troublemaking apparition uncles and their mischievous antics.

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

Gleeful macabre mischief aimed squarely at cheerful conformity

The difference: Darker and more sardonic — and Thanksgiving, not Christmas

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.

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

Family with a pulse of dream logic, in both cases

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.

Night at the Museum poster
Night at the Museum
2006 · dir. Shawn Levy
🍅 43%★ 6.5fantasy · family · comedyHuluDisney+

Both lean on warmth more than on comedy

Chaos reigns at the natural history museum when night watchman Larry Daley accidentally stirs up an ancient curse, awakening Attila the Hun, an army of gladiators, a Tyrannosaurus rex and other exhibits.

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The best-reviewed films that share How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ defining feeling.