Movies Like D.A.R.Y.L.
If you loved D.A.R.Y.L.'s Family and Science Fiction storytelling, these films deliver a similar experience — carefully selected for tone, themes, and emotional depth. Each pick includes where to watch it right now.
★ Top Picks
After Yang
When his young daughter's beloved companion — an android named Yang — malfunctions, Jake searches for a way to repair him. In the process, Jake discovers the life that has been passing in front of him, reconnecting with his wife and daughter across a distance he didn't know was there.
Astro Boy
Set in the futuristic Metro City, Astro Boy (Atom) is a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist in the image of the son he had lost. Unable to fulfill his creator's expectations, Astro embarks on a journey in search of acceptance, experiencing betrayal and a netherworld of robot gladiators, before returning to save Metro City and reconcile with the father who rejected him.
Spy Kids
Carmen and Juni think their parents are boring. Little do they know that in their day, Gregorio and Ingrid Cortez were the top secret agents from their respective countries. They gave up that life to raise their children. Now, the disappearances of several of their old colleagues forces the Cortez' return from retirement. What they didn't count on was Carmen and Juni joining the "family business."
Short Circuit
After a lightning bolt zaps a robot named Number 5, the lovable machine starts to think he's human and escapes the lab. Hot on his trail is his designer, Newton, who hopes to get to Number 5 before the military does. In the meantime, a spunky animal lover mistakes the robot for an alien and takes him in, teaching her new guest about life on Earth.
A-X-L
The life of a teenage boy is forever altered by a chance encounter with cutting edge military technology.
The Electric State
An orphaned teen hits the road with a mysterious robot to find her long-lost brother, teaming up with a smuggler and his wisecracking sidekick.
How to Build a Better Boy
After inadvertently inputting the qualities of the ideal boyfriend into a high-tech government computer, two social outcasts named Mae and Gabby must contend with Albert, a cybernetic sweetheart with only one directive: to treat Mae to the perfect highschool romance.
More Movies Like D.A.R.Y.L.
Thunderstruck
After NBA star Kevin Durant switches talent with 16 year old Brian, the teenager becomes the star of his high school team, but Durant starts struggling and eventually learns an important lesson.
Finch
On a post-apocalyptic Earth, a robot, built to protect the life of his dying creator's beloved dog, learns about life, love, friendship, and what it means to be human.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
David, a robotic boy—the first of his kind programmed to love—is adopted as a test case by a Cybertronics employee and his wife. Though he gradually becomes their child, a series of unexpected circumstances make this life impossible for David.
The Iron Giant
In the small town of Rockwell, Maine in October 1957, a giant metal machine befriends a nine-year-old boy and ultimately finds its humanity by unselfishly saving people from their own fears and prejudices.
Transformers One
The untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but once were friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever.
Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip
After Dexter is confronted with robots who wish to "destroy the one who saved the future," he uses his time machine to see how he saved it. They declare that they are here to destroy the one who saved the future, and make ready to attack Dexter. Dexter easily destroys them with the use of various tools and gadgets from his lab. However, news that he is "The One Who Saved the Future" intrigues him, and he decides to travel through time to discover how cool he is. In the first time period he visits, Dexter finds a tall, skinny, weak version of himself working in office-designing cubicles, with Mandark as his rich, successful boss. The child Dexter unwittingly reveals the existence of blueprints regarding the "Neurotomic Protocore", and Mandark steals it after the two Dexters move forward in time.
Spymate
Amelia, a young genius and daughter of a top secret agent, unknowingly invents a contraption that makes her the target of an evil scientist.
Secret Headquarters
While hanging out after school, Charlie and his friends discover the headquarters of the world’s most powerful superhero hidden beneath his home. When villains attack, they must team up to defend the headquarters and save the world.
Star Kid
Shy seventh-grader Spencer Griffith's life changes when the meteor falls into local junkyard and he finds a Cybersuit - the wise and strong robot from another galaxy. Spencer puts Cybersuit on and becomes a different kind of guy
Real Steel
Charlie Kenton is a washed-up fighter who retired from the ring when robots took over the sport. After his robot is trashed, he reluctantly teams up with his estranged son to rebuild and train an unlikely contender.
The Spy Next Door
Former CIA spy Bob Ho takes on his toughest assignment to date: looking after his girlfriend's three kids, who haven't exactly warmed to their mom's beau. And when one of the youngsters accidentally downloads a top-secret formula, Bob's longtime nemesis, a Russian terrorist, pays a visit to the family.
WALL·E
After hundreds of years doing what he was built for, WALL•E— a robot designed to clean up the earth—discovers a new purpose in life when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. EVE comes to realize that WALL•E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet's future, and races back to space to report to the humans. Meanwhile, WALL•E chases EVE across the galaxy and sets into motion one of the most imaginative adventures ever brought to the big screen.
Why These Movies Are Similar
These recommendations share core qualities with D.A.R.Y.L. (1985): Family and Science Fiction themes, similar narrative structure, and comparable emotional depth. NoBadPicks uses a combination of TMDB collaborative filtering, genre matching, and AI analysis to surface films most likely to resonate with fans of D.A.R.Y.L..
See full details for D.A.R.Y.L. (1985)