NoBadPicks

Movies Like Simon Birch

If you loved Simon Birch's Comedy and Drama 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

The Great Gilly Hopkins
6.6

The Great Gilly Hopkins

2015

Young and feisty Gilly Hopkins devises a scheme to escape from her new foster home and reunite with her birth mother.

Nanny McPhee
6.7

Nanny McPhee

2005

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.

Thunderstruck
6.1

Thunderstruck

2012

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.

Bridge to Terabithia
7.3

Bridge to Terabithia

2007

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.

The Unbreakable Boy
7.7

The Unbreakable Boy

2025

When Scott and Teresa LeRette learn that their son Austin is both autistic and has brittle bone disease, they initially worry for their son’s future. But with Scott’s growing faith and Austin’s incredible spirit, they become 'unbreakable', finding joy, gratitude, and courage even in the most trying times.

This Is Where I Leave You
6.6

This Is Where I Leave You

2014

When their father passes away, four grown, world-weary siblings return to their childhood home and are requested -- with an admonition -- to stay there together for a week, along with their free-speaking mother and a collection of spouses, exes and might-have-beens. As the brothers and sisters re-examine their shared history and the status of each tattered relationship among those who know and love them best, they reconnect in hysterically funny and emotionally significant ways.

Housekeeping
6.5

Housekeeping

1987

In the Pacific Northwest during the 1950s, two young sisters whose mother has abandoned them wind up living with their Aunt Sylvie, whose views of the world and its conventions don't quite live up to most people's expectations.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
6.7

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules

2011

Wimpy Greg Heffley, now in seventh grade, thinks he has it all together. He has mastered middle school and gotten rid of the Cheese Touch. However, Greg's older brother, Rodrick, is itching to cut him down to size. He gets the perfect opportunity when their mother tries to force the boys to bond. Rodrick may be Greg's chief tormentor, but he feels his constant pranks are just what his little brother needs to prepare him for life's hard knocks.

More Movies Like Simon Birch

Matilda
7.2

Matilda

1996

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.

The Shack
7.5

The Shack

2017

A grieving man receives a mysterious, personal invitation to meet with God at a place called 'The Shack'.

Family Switch
6.4

Family Switch

2023

When the Walker family members switch bodies with each other during a rare planetary alignment, their hilarious journey to find their way back to normal will bring them closer together than they ever thought possible.

Chang Can Dunk
6.7

Chang Can Dunk

2023

Chang, a 16-year-old, Asian American, bets the high school basketball star that he can dunk by Homecoming. The bet leads 5' 8" Chang on a quest to learn to dunk—not only to impress his crush, Kristy, but to gain the respect of his high school peers too. But before he can rise up and truly throw one down, he'll have to reexamine everything he knows about himself, his friendships and his family.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape
7.7

What's Eating Gilbert Grape

1993

Gilbert Grape is a small-town young man with a lot of responsibility. Chief among his concerns are his mother, who is so overweight that she can't leave the house, and his mentally impaired younger brother, Arnie, who has a knack for finding trouble. Settled into a job at a grocery store and an ongoing affair with local woman Betty Carver, Gilbert finally has his life shaken up by the free-spirited Becky.

Bambi II
6.5

Bambi II

2006

Return to the forest and join Bambi as he reunites with his father, The Great Prince, who must now raise the young fawn on his own. But in the adventure of a lifetime, the proud parent discovers there is much he can learn from his spirited young son.

I Believe
7.7

I Believe

2019

A 9 year old boy experiences God's power in a supernatural way.

Cheaper by the Dozen
6.3

Cheaper by the Dozen

2003

The Baker brood moves to Chicago after patriarch Tom gets a job coaching football at Northwestern University, forcing his writer wife, Kate, and the couple's 12 children to make a major adjustment. The transition works well until work demands pull the parents away from home, leaving the kids bored -- and increasingly mischievous.

The Odd Life of Timothy Green
7.0

The Odd Life of Timothy Green

2012

A childless couple bury a box in their backyard, containing all of their wishes for an infant. Soon, a child is born, though Timothy Green is not all that he appears.

The Boxtrolls
6.7

The Boxtrolls

2014

An orphaned boy raised by underground creatures called Boxtrolls comes up from the sewers and out of his box to save his family and the town from the evil exterminator, Archibald Snatcher.

Cyrus
5.9

Cyrus

2010

With John's social life at a standstill and his ex-wife about to get remarried, a down on his luck divorcée finally meets the woman of his dreams, only to discover she has another man in her life - her son. Before long, the two are locked in a battle of wits for the woman they both love-and it appears only one man can be left standing when it's over.

Holes
6.9

Holes

2003

After being wrongfully convicted for stealing a pair of shoes, Stanley Yelnats is sent away to Camp Green Lake, a boys detention facility where inmates are forced to dig holes all day in the hot desert sun as a form of character building. But Stanley and the other boys start to unravel a mystery, linked with the camps tough-as-nails warden —and possibly Stanley’s family itself.

Why These Movies Are Similar

These recommendations share core qualities with Simon Birch (1998): Comedy and Drama 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 Simon Birch.

See full details for Simon Birch (1998)

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