20 best movies like Matilda (1996)

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.

Eleven-year-old North has had it with his parents. They are always busy with their careers and don't give North the attention he needs, so he files a lawsuit against them. The judge rules that North should either find new parents or return to his own parents within two months. Thus North starts off on a journey around the world to find parents that really care about him.

Ivan is a 400-pound silverback gorilla who shares a communal habitat in a suburban shopping mall with Stella the elephant, Bob the dog, and various other animals. He has few memories of the jungle where he was captured, but when a baby elephant named Ruby arrives, it touches something deep within him. Ruby is recently separated from her family in the wild, which causes him to question his life, where he comes from and where he ultimately wants to be.

Ramona is a little girl with a very big imagination and a nose for mischief. Her playful antics keep everyone in her loving family on their toes, including her older sister Beezus, who's just trying to survive her first year of high school. Through all the ups and downs of childhood, Ramona and Beezus learn that anything's possible when you believe in yourself and rely on each other.

A young boy, Josh Baskin makes a wish at a carnival machine to be big. He wakes up the following morning to find that it has been granted and his body has grown older overnight. But he is still the same 13-year-old boy inside. Now he must learn how to cope with the unfamiliar world of grown-ups including getting a job and having his first romantic encounter with a woman. What will he find out about this strange world?

A young boy's discovery of a colorful, wish-granting rock causes chaos in the suburban town of Black Falls when jealous kids and scheming adults alike set out to get their hands on it.

A young boy named Luke and his grandmother go on vacation only to discover their hotel is hosting an international witch convention, where the Grand High Witch is unveiling her master plan to turn all children into mice. Will Luke fall victim to the witches' plot before he can stop them?

A veterinarian who can communicate with animals travels abroad to search for a giant sea snail.

The boy who wasn't supposed to grow up—Peter Pan—did just that, becoming a soulless corporate lawyer whose workaholism could cost him his wife and kids. But a trip to see Granny Wendy in London, where the vengeful Capt. Hook kidnaps Peter's kids and forces Peter to return to Neverland, could lead to a chance at redemption, in this family-oriented fantasy from director Steven Spielberg.

Animated character Fat Albert emerges from his TV universe into the real world, accompanied by his friends Rudy, Mushmouth, Old Weird Harold and Dumb Donald. Though the gang is flabbergasted by the modern world, they make new friends, and Albert attempts to help young Doris become popular. But things get complicated when Albert falls for her older sister, Lauri, and must turn to creator Bill Cosby for advice.

Vlad has just moved and joined one of the most famous magical schools in the world, where he meets fairies, witches, trolls and dwarfs. Him and his father are the first vampires in town, but he soon meets other special kids.

As a child, Michael Walker wished every day could be Christmas. That is, until a tragic accident crushed his holiday spirit. Thirty years later, Michael still can't muster any joy for the holidays, despite encouragement from his playful wife and well-intentioned parents. But when his young son faces a tragedy, Michael needs to make amends with his past. A mysterious man named Nick gives Michael a gift and instills in him the courage to find the joy that he lost.

The four-inch-tall Clock family secretly share a house with the normal-sized Lender family, "borrowing" such items as thread, safety pins, batteries and scraps of food. However, their peaceful co-existence is disturbed when evil lawyer Ocious P. Potter steals the will granting title to the house, which he plans to demolish in order to build apartments. The Lenders are forced to move, and the Clocks face the risk of being exposed to the normal-sized world.

A young boy wins a tour through the most magnificent chocolate factory in the world, led by the world's most unusual candy maker.

When Max fools a gang of local toughs, he finds himself in big trouble. Fleeing from the thugs, Max runs into an old warehouse and bumps into a boom box. By doing that, he manages to release Kazaam, a genie who has been held captive for thousands of years.

A young boy is scared of the monster under his bed. He asks his 6th grade brother to swap rooms for the night as a bet that the monster really exists. Soon the brother becomes friends with the monster and discovers a whole new world of fun and games under his bed where pulling pranks on kids and other monsters is the main attraction.

Identical 9-year-olds from very different backgrounds: orphaned Amanda and wealthy Alyssa meet at summer camp and decide to switch places -- and play matchmaker between Alyssa's dad, Roger, and the kind social worker who cares for Amanda.

The Russo family and friends are headed to Tuscany, Italy, to meet their long lost relatives... but when Alex tries to prove she's more than a seemingly carefree young Wizard, she inadvertently conjures a spell that creates a Good Alex and an Evil Alex. When Evil Alex gets roped into a charming young wizard's foreboding plan to take over the world, Good Alex must find a way to save her family and humankind, which leads to a monumental battle between the two versions of herself - all atop the Tower of Pisa.

For years, old wood carver Mr. Meacham has delighted local children with his tales of the fierce dragon that resides deep in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. To his daughter, Grace, who works as a forest ranger, these stories are little more than tall tales... until she meets Pete, a mysterious 10-year-old with no family and no home who claims to live in the woods with a giant, green dragon named Elliott. And from Pete's descriptions, Elliott seems remarkably similar to the dragon from Mr. Meacham's stories. With the help of Natalie, an 11-year-old girl whose father Jack owns the local lumber mill, Grace sets out to determine where Pete came from, where he belongs, and the truth about this dragon.

Hansel and Gretel is a 2002 film adaptation of the Brothers Grimm children's story. It stars Jacob Smith and Taylor Momsen as the eponymous characters. It includes the Sandman, played by Howie Mandel and Sinbad as a raven.

Recently orphaned, a young boy is taken in by his godmother who is shocked to realize that she can see the boy's imaginary friend: a flamboyant, French magician named Bogus.

Bingo, the runaway circus dog, is off the leash and saving Chuckie's life! Bingo and the boy become the best of friends in this canine comedy featuring doggy disguises and skateboarding, pinball and prison. Chuckie and his parents (Cindy Williams and David Rasche) are moving house, a thousand miles away, but Bingo won't be allowed to join them. Chuckie and Bingo's determination to be reunited is t

When an overachieving high school student decides to travel around the country to choose the perfect college, her overprotective cop father also decides to accompany her in order to keep her on the straight and narrow.

Ben Archer is not happy. His mother, Sandy, has just met a man, and it looks like things are pretty serious. Driven by a fear of abandonment, Ben tries anything and everything to ruin the "love bubble" which surrounds his mom. However, after Ben and Jack's experiences in the Indian Guides, the two become much closer.

Dodger, a criminal monkey, belongs to a crooked street performer but escapes his life of crime only to end up in the arms of Eva, an innocent little girl whose mother has no idea that her daughter is harboring a fugitive.

Mother and daughter bicker over everything -- what Anna wears, whom she likes and what she wants to do when she's older. In turn, Anna detests Tess's fiancé. When a magical fortune cookie switches their personalities, they each get a peek at how the other person feels, thinks and lives.

A nine-year-old boy gets a plastic Indian and a cupboard for his birthday and finds himself involved in adventure when the Indian comes to life and befriends him.

Family adventure based on Mary Norton's classic children's books about a race of tiny people who live under the floorboards, resourcefully surviving by borrowing bits and pieces from the large residents who dwell above. After being discovered by 'human beans', borrower Arrietty and her parents are forced to leave their home while attempting to evade the clutches of obsessive scientist Professor Mildeye.

Conrad and Sally Walden are home alone with their pet fish. It is raining outside, and there is nothing to do. Until The Cat in the Hat walks in the front door. He introduces them to their imagination, and at first it's all fun and games, until things get out of hand, and The Cat must go, go, go, before their parents get back.

Five 2nd-grade kids who don't follow strict rules by their school principal Brinway are dubbed "Stinkers" by him. On the class visit to an aquarium the Stinkers decide that a sea lion called Slappy doesn't feel too good there, "free" him, and plant him into Brinway's hot-tub.

Living a bleak existence at a London orphanage, 12-year-old Peter finds himself whisked away to the fantastical world of Neverland. Adventure awaits as he meets new friend James Hook and the warrior Tiger Lily. They must band together to save Neverland from the ruthless pirate Blackbeard. Along the way, the rebellious and mischievous boy discovers his true destiny, becoming the hero forever known as Peter Pan.

Nanny McPhee appears at the door of a harried young mother, Mrs. Isabel Green, who is trying to run the family farm while her husband is away at war. But once she’s arrived, Nanny McPhee discovers that the children are fighting a war of their own against two spoiled city cousins who have just moved in. Relying on everything from a flying motorcycle and a statue that comes to life to a tree-climbing piglet and a baby elephant, Nanny uses her magic to teach her mischievous charges five new lessons.

A young woman discovers a Christmas-themed dreamworld inside a magical snowglobe. Angela loves Christmas more than anything. However, her family does not share her love for the holiday at all. When she is about to breakdown because of her family, she receives a snowglobe in the mail. When she opens up the snowglobe, she is transported into the world inside, where Christmas is the heart and soul for everyone who lives there. She discovers she can return to her world by going down a small path in the small forest at the edge of the village, and can return whenever she winds up the snowglobe. After a long set of visits to the globe, she accidentally gets trapped inside.

A woman named Kit moves back to her parent's house, where she receives a mysterious invitation that would fulfill her childhood dreams.

Two siblings who discover their seemingly normal mom is a former thief in witness protection. Mom is forced to pull one last job, and the kids team up to rescue her over the course of an action-packed night.

An overlooked middle child finds himself in the unexpected spotlight when he realizes his family's terrible Christmas day keeps repeating. As the only one experiencing the day over and over, he decides to use his unique gift to give the holidays a makeover and his family a Christmas they will never forget.

An orphan who practices hypnosis faces off against a bank robber who wants her book on the art form.

In their quest to confront the ultimate evil, Percy and his friends battle swarms of mythical creatures to find the mythical Golden Fleece and to stop an ancient evil from rising.

Zoey is a talented dancer whose organized life is rudely disrupted when she moves in with her new step-dad and three step-brothers, until she discovers a dog-training app that can get boys to obey her every command. But she soon learns that it isn't the cure-all she had hoped for.

After an extramarital indiscretion, a fairy-tale prince and his sidekick are turned into frogs for all eternity or until the prince can convince a maiden to kiss and then marry him.

When Lenny and his wife, Amanda, adopt a baby, Lenny realizes that his son is a genius and becomes obsessed with finding the boy's biological mother in hopes that she will be brilliant too. But when he learns that Max's mother is Linda Ash, a kindhearted prostitute and porn star, Lenny is determined to reform her immoral lifestyle. A Greek chorus chimes in to relate the plot to Greek mythology in this quirky comedy.

It's the end of the school year. The long-awaited moment of the holidays is arrive. The little Nicolas, her parents and Grandma take the road towards the sea, and settle in for some time at the Hotel Beau-Rivage.

Alexander's day begins with gum stuck in his hair, followed by more calamities. Though he finds little sympathy from his family and begins to wonder if bad things only happen to him, his mom, dad, brother, and sister all find themselves living through their own terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

After losing his wife seven years earlier, the eccentric Dr. John Dolittle, famed doctor and veterinarian of Queen Victoria’s England, hermits himself away behind the high walls of Dolittle Manor with only his menagerie of exotic animals for company. But when the young queen falls gravely ill, a reluctant Dolittle is forced to set sail on an epic adventure to a mythical island in search of a cure, regaining his wit and courage as he crosses old adversaries and discovers wondrous creatures.

Seventeen-year-old Alexia Wheaton hasn't been herself lately. Neighter has her 15-year-old sister Hayley. In fact they've been each other. Alexia becomes fashion-challenged Hayley and she in turn becomes styling Alexia and the complications come fast furious and funny.

Travel writer Lemuel Gulliver takes an assignment in Bermuda, but ends up on the island of Liliput, where he towers over its tiny citizens.

The adventurous, young Madeline is very good at getting into trouble, but she's also fantastic at solving problems as well, and her school-mistress Miss Clavel is not too approving of her. The biggest problem comes up when Lord Covington decides to sell Madeline's school.

As Halloweentown prepares to celebrate its 1,000th anniversary, Marnie Piper and her brother Dylan return to Witch University, where trouble is in session from the Sinister Sisters and from someone who's plotting to use Marnie's powers for evil.

Murray is a male fairy godmother, and he is trying to help 8-year-old Anabel to fulfil her "simple wish" - that her father Oliver, who is a cab driver, would win the leading role in a Broadway musical. Unfortunately, Murray's magic wand is broken and the fairies convention is threatened by evil witches Claudia and Boots.

Recruited by a secret society of babysitters, a high schooler battles the Boogeyman and his monsters when they nab the boy she's watching on Halloween.