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When Marnie Was There poster

Movies that feel likeWhen Marnie Was There (2014)

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.

If you loved When Marnie Was There, the closest films we have are The White Balloon (1995), Children of Heaven (1997) and Pinocchio (2019). All three share When Marnie Was There'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 Still Walking (2008).

🍅 92% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.6 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Hiromasa Yonebayashicontemplativewarmcozy
10 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Disney Plus · Criterion Channel

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If When Marnie Was There hit the spot, these will too

The White Balloon poster
The White Balloon
1995 · dir. Jafar Panahi
🍅 83%★ 7.6drama · family

Contemplative and warm in the same breath

Several people try to take advantage of a little girl's innocence to hustle money her mom gave to her to buy a goldfish with.

Children of Heaven poster
Children of Heaven
1997 · dir. Majid Majidi
🍅 83%★ 8.2drama · family

Drama built on comfort, twice over

Zohre's shoes are gone; her older brother Ali lost them. They are poor, there are no shoes for Zohre until they come up with an idea: they will share one pair of shoes. School awaits.

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

Both keep coming back to the same thing: calm

The difference: Sits closer to fantasy than When Marnie Was There does

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.

Wonder poster
Wonder
2017 · dir. Stephen Chbosky
🍅 86%★ 7.9family · dramaRent or buy

Contemplative family in both cases

The story of August Pullman – a boy with facial differences – who enters fifth grade, attending a mainstream elementary school for the first time.

Storm Boy poster
Storm Boy
1977 · dir. Henri Safran
★ 6.9drama · family

Animation with a pulse of warmth, in both cases

The difference: 37 years apart, and the 1970s show

Mike is a lonely Australian boy living in a coastal wilderness with his reclusive father. In search of friendship he encounters an Aboriginal native loner and the two form a bond in the care of orphaned pelicans.

Arrietty poster
Arrietty
2010 · dir. Hiromasa Yonebayashi
🍅 94%★ 7.6fantasy · animation · familyMax

Both are Hiromasa Yonebayashi's work, and they rhyme

The difference: Trades the stillness of When Marnie Was There for an angle of its own

14-year-old Arrietty and the rest of the Clock family live in peaceful anonymity as they make their own home from items "borrowed" from the house's human inhabitants. However, life changes for the Clocks when a human boy discovers Arrietty.

Bridge to Terabithia poster
Bridge to Terabithia
2007 · dir. Gábor Csupó
🍅 85%★ 7.2adventure · drama · familyDisney+

Common ground: friendship

The difference: Leans harder into adventure than When Marnie Was There does

Jesse Aarons trained all summer to become the fastest runner in school. So he's very upset when newcomer Leslie Burke outruns him and everyone else. Despite this and other differences including that she's rich, he's poor, she's a city girl, and he's a country boy the two become fast friends. Together they create Terabithia, a land of monsters, trolls, ogres, and giants where they rule as king and queen.

Dinosaur poster
Dinosaur
2000 · dir. Ralph Zondag
🍅 65%★ 6.4adventure · animation · dramaDisney+

Cozy animation, and it commits to that

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

An orphaned dinosaur raised by lemurs joins an arduous trek to a sancturary after a meteorite shower destroys his family home.

The Call of the Wild poster
The Call of the Wild
2020 · dir. Chris Sanders
🍅 62%★ 6.7adventure · family · dramaDisney+

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

Buck is a big-hearted dog whose blissful domestic life is turned upside down when he is suddenly uprooted from his California home and transplanted to the exotic wilds of the Yukon during the Gold Rush of the 1890s. As the newest rookie on a mail delivery dog sled team—and later its leader—Buck experiences the adventure of a lifetime, ultimately finding his true place in the world and becoming his own master.

Still Walking poster
Still Walking
2008 · dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda
🍅 100%★ 7.9drama · family

Family with a pulse of warmth, in both cases

A family gathers together for a commemorative ritual whose nature only gradually becomes clear.

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

Different title, same corner of the shelf

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.

Cars 3 poster
Cars 3
2017 · dir. Brian Fee
🍅 70%★ 6.7animation · drama · familyDisney+

Animation in the same key

Blindsided by a new generation of blazing-fast racers, the legendary Lightning McQueen finds himself pushed to the brink—and suddenly, the champion who once ruled the track is fighting just to stay in the race. With his career hanging in the balance, McQueen must turn to an ambitious young race technician with a plan of her own, draw strength from the legacy of the late Fabulous Hudson Hornet, and risk everything on one last shot at glory.

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The best-reviewed films that share When Marnie Was There’s defining feeling.