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The Painting poster

Movies that feel likeThe Painting (2011)

Three characters living in an unfinished painting venture out into the real world in search of their creator to convince him to finish his work.

If you loved The Painting, the closest films we have are Nuts! (2016), White Snake (2019) and Ne Zha (2019). All three share The Painting's whimsical feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Flee (2021).

🍅 82% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.3 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Jean-François Laguioniedreamlikewhimsical
6 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

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See it on the Mood Map

If The Painting hit the spot, these will too

Nuts! poster
Nuts!
2016 · dir. Penny Lane
🍅 94%★ 7.1documentary · animationRent or buy

Whimsical animation in both cases

The difference: Trades the dream logic of The Painting for an angle of its own

The true story of John Romulus Brinkley, a small-town Kansas doctor who discovers in 1917 that he can cure impotence by transplanting goat testicles into men. And that’s just the tipping point in this stranger-than-fiction tale. With the balls of a P.T. Barnum, the gonads of goats, and the wishful dreams of flaccid men, Brinkley amassed a fortune, was almost elected Governor of Kansas, invented junk mail and the infomercial, and built the world’s most powerful radio station. By the time all of the twists and turns of Brinkley’s story are revealed, Nuts! certainly earns its title.

White Snake poster
White Snake
2019 · dir. Amp Wong
🍅 70%★ 7romance · animation · fantasy

Fantasy built on dream logic, twice over

The difference: Leans harder into romance than The Painting does

One day a young woman named Blanca is saved by Xuan, a snake catcher from a nearby village. As they set off an a journey to discover her real identity, the pair develop feelings for each other.

Ne Zha poster
Ne Zha
2019 · dir. Jiao Zi
🍅 88%★ 7.3animation · fantasy · adventurePrime VideoPeacock

Dreamlike fantasy, and it commits to that

The difference: Sits closer to adventure than The Painting does

A young boy is born as the reincarnation of a demonic power, into a society that hates and fears him. Destined by prophecy to bring destruction to the world, Nezha must choose between good and evil to see if he can change his fate.

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

Animation with a pulse of whimsy, in both cases

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.

Checkered Ninja poster
Checkered Ninja
2018 · dir. Thorbjørn Christoffersen
★ 7.1animation · comedy · adventurePrime Video

Both lean on dream logic more than on fantasy

A possessed Ninja doll teams up with a teenage boy to avenge the murder of a poor child factory worker.

Porco Rosso poster
Porco Rosso
1992 · dir. Hayao Miyazaki
🍅 96%★ 7.7animation · adventure · fantasyMax

Animation built on whimsy, twice over

In Italy in the 1930s, sky pirates in biplanes terrorize wealthy cruise ships as they sail the Adriatic Sea. The only pilot brave enough to stop the scourge is the mysterious Porco Rosso, a former World War I flying ace who was somehow turned into a pig during the war. As he prepares to battle the pirate crew's American ace, Porco Rosso enlists the help of spunky girl mechanic Fio Piccolo and his longtime friend Madame Gina.

Ronal the Barbarian poster
Ronal the Barbarian
2011 · dir. Philip Einstein Lipski
★ 6.5animation · adventure · fantasy

Both are fantasy through and through

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.

Tales from Earthsea poster
Tales from Earthsea
2006 · dir. Goro Miyazaki
★ 6.3animation · fantasy · adventureMax

The animation is handled with the same confidence

As crops dwindle and dragons reappear, mankind stands on the verge of total chaos. Lord Archmage Sparrowhawk, a powerful wizard, and Arren, a troubled young prince, search for the force behind this mysterious imbalance that threatens to destroy the land of Earthsea.

Secret Magic Control Agency poster
Secret Magic Control Agency
2021 · dir. Alexey Tsitsilin
★ 6.2animation · comedy · fantasyNetflix

The same fantasy instincts

The Secret Magic Control Agency sends its two best agents, Hansel and Gretel, to fight against the witch of the Gingerbread House.

Flee poster
Flee
2021 · dir. Jonas Poher Rasmussen
🍅 98%★ 7.9documentary · animation

Both working the same animation territory

The difference: Takes it somewhere less dreamlike than The Painting does

Recounted mostly through animation to protect his identity, Amin looks back over his past as a child refugee from Afghanistan as he grapples with a secret he’s kept hidden for 20 years.

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

Fantasy in the same key

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?

The Master and Margarita poster
The Master and Margarita
2024 · dir. Michael Lockshin
★ 7.1fantasy · drama

Cut from the same fantasy cloth

A struggling writer in 1930s Soviet Moscow finds his life transformed when a mysterious professor arrives with his bizarre entourage, including a wisecracking trickster, a deadly assassin, a vampire maid, and a giant talking black cat, turning the city upside down while exposing the hypocrisy of those in power.

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The best-reviewed films that share The Painting’s defining feeling.