Movies Like The Small One
If you loved The Small One's Animation and Family 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

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer & the Island of Misfit Toys
When the mysterious Toy Taker grabs all of Santa's toys, it looks like the children will miss out on Christmas. But everyone's favorite reindeer, Rudolph, comes to the rescue with his lovable friends: Hermey the elf, Yukon Cornelius the grizzly prospector, the abominable snow monster Bumbles and Rudolph's very special friend Clarice. Together, they promise Santa they'll track down Toy Taker and rescue Santa's toy. Their incredible quest takes them on a wild adventure with Rudolph's red nose leading the way!

The Boss Baby: Christmas Bonus
Christmas Eve takes a twisty turn when the Boss Baby accidentally swaps places with one of Santa's elves and gets stranded at the North Pole.

The Nutcracker Prince
After young Clara receives a wooden nutcracker as a Christmas gift, she dreams about a fantastical battle between her Nutcracker Prince and the evil Mouse King. At stake is the Nutcracker's freedom - and Clara's future happiness.

Christmas in the Heartland
Kara and Jessie are two teenage girls from very different worlds, but with a little Christmas magic, they find they have much more in common than they ever imagined.

Candy Cane Lane
A man, determined to win the neighborhood's annual Christmas decorating contest, makes a pact with an elf to help him win. However, the elf casts a spell bringing the twelve days of Christmas to life, bringing chaos to the small, unsuspecting town.

A Christmas Carol
Miser Ebenezer Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways. Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold: death or redemption.

Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice
Lanny and Wayne are at it again! With the Big 2-5 fast approaching, Wayne and Lanny must race to recover classified North Pole technology which has fallen into the hands of a computer-hacking Naughty Kid! Desperate to prevent Christmas from descending into chaos, Wayne seeks out the foremost Naughty Kid expert to aid in the mission: a bombastic member of the Coal Bucket Brigade who also happens to be his estranged brother, Noel.

PAW Patrol: Jet to the Rescue
A royal relative steals a gem with the power to make things fly, the Paw Patrol takes to the skies to stop him and save Barkingburg.
More Movies Like The Small One

Beethoven's Christmas Adventure
A Christmas elf accidentally takes off in Santa's sleigh, crash lands in a small town, and loses the magic toy bag. Beethoven must rescue the elf, recover the bag from greedy crooks, and return the sleigh to Santa in time to save Christmas.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie
Young Rudolph suffers a childhood accident that sees his nose turn from the publicly accepted norm of black to a glowing red colour. His parents worry about him getting teased, and indeed he does in the end. When he is beaten in the reindeer games by his rival for a doe he fancies, Rudolph runs away and moves into a cave with Slyly the Fox. However can he overcome his fear and reach his true potential?

Dashing Through the Snow
Eddie Garrick is a good-hearted man who has lost his belief in the wonder of Christmas. While spending time with his nine-year-old daughter Charlotte on Christmas Eve, he befriends a mysterious man in a red suit named Nick.

Noelle
Kris Kringle's daughter, Noelle, sets off on a mission to find and bring back her brother, after he gets cold feet when it's his turn to take over as Santa.

Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse
When a huge snowstorm leaves everyone stranded, Mickey and all of his guests at the House of Mouse, including Pooh, Belle, Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel and many more of his old and new friends, break out the cookies and hot chocolate to help Donald mend his tattered Christmas spirit.

Shrek the Halls
The Christmas tree isn't the only thing green in this new holiday classic. Shrek is back and trying to get into the spirit of the season. After promising Fiona and the kids a Christmas they'll remember, he is forced to take a crash course in the holiday. But just when he thinks he has everything for their quiet family Christmas just right, there is a knock at the door.

Olive, the Other Reindeer
After mis-hearing a radio broadcast about Santa canceling his Christmas trip due to an injured reindeer, Olive the dog decides to travel to the North Pole and volunteer to be a replacement. Unfortunately, Olive must deal with an evil postman who's tired of handling all the extra Christmas mail. Will Martini the penguin be able to help Olive realize her dream?

The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol
When Grouchy Smurf behaves badly to everyone and refuses to celebrate Christmas, the Smurfs of Christmas Past, Present and Future teach him to appreciate Christmas.

Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh
Step brothers Drake and Josh must give a foster family the best Christmas ever or face years in jail for a Christmas party gone wrong.

A Christmas Story Christmas
Follows Ralphie, now adult, who returns to the house on Cleveland Street to give his kids a magical Christmas like the one he had as a child, reconnecting with childhood friends, and reconciling the passing of his Old Man.

Olaf's Frozen Adventure
Olaf is on a mission to harness the best holiday traditions for Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff.

Elf
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.
Why These Movies Are Similar
These recommendations share core qualities with The Small One (1978): Animation and Family 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 The Small One.
See full details for The Small One (1978)