Movies Like The Little Elephant is Dead / An Elephant Calf Is Dead

If you liked The Little Elephant is Dead / An Elephant Calf Is Dead (1980), a movie directed by Kōbō Abe, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
Dumbo (2019)
★ 6.6/10
A young elephant, whose oversized ears enable him to fly, helps save a struggling circus, but when the circus plans a new venture, Dumbo and his friends discover dark secrets beneath its shiny veneer.
2
Water for Elephants (2011)
★ 6.9/10
In this captivating Depression-era melodrama, impetuous veterinary student Jacob Jankowski joins a celebrated circus as an animal caretaker but faces a wrenching dilemma when he's transfixed by angelic married…
3
Ghost Elephants (2026)
★ 7.6/10
In Angola's mist-shrouded highlands, three KhoiSan master trackers embark on a spiritual quest to rediscover the legendary "ghost elephants" of Lisima, creatures presumed lost but remembered in ancestral trance…
4
The Magician's Elephant (2023)
★ 6.8/10
Peter is searching for his long-lost sister when he crosses paths with a fortune teller in the market square. His only question is: is his sister still alive? The answer, that he must find a mysterious elephant and the…
5
Horton Hears a Who! (2008)
★ 6.5/10
An imaginative elephant named Horton hears a faint cry for help coming from a tiny speck of dust floating through the air. Horton suspects there may be life on that speck and despite a surrounding community, who thinks…
6
The Book of Life (2014)
★ 7.5/10
The journey of Manolo, a young man who is torn between fulfilling the expectations of his family and following his heart. Before choosing which path to follow, he embarks on an incredible adventure that spans…
7
The Jungle Book (2016)
★ 6.9/10
After a threat from the tiger Shere Khan, Mowgli, a man-cub fostered by wolves, is forced to flee the jungle, and he embarks on a journey of self-discovery with the help of the panther, Bagheera, and the free-spirited…
8
White Hunter, Black Heart (1990)
★ 6.4/10
Renowned filmmaker John Wilson travels to Africa to direct a new movie, but constantly leaves to hunt elephants and other game, to the dismay of his cast and crew. He eventually becomes obsessed with hunting down and…
9
The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act (2026)
★ 8.8/10
With Caine gone and the circus dark, the cast are left with only the mistakes and traumas of their pasts to keep them company. As the prospect of eternity closes in around them, they discover the truth about the…
10
Elephant (2020)
★ 7.7/10
Disneynature’s Elephant follows African elephant Shani and her spirited son Jomo as their herd make an epic journey hundreds of miles across the vast Kalahari Desert. Led by their great matriarch, Gaia, the family…
11
Pinocchio (2022)
★ 6.2/10
A wooden puppet embarks on a thrilling adventure to become a real boy.
12
Miss Saigon: 25th Anniversary Performance (2016)
★ 8/10
The epic love story tells the tragic tale of young Vietnamese bar girl Kim, orphaned by war, who falls in love with American GI Chris — but their lives are torn apart by the fall of Saigon.
13
Mad God (2021)
★ 6.8/10
A silent figure known as The Assassin travels through a nightmare underworld of tortured souls, ruined cities and wretched monstrosities forged from the primordial horrors of the unconscious mind of Phil Tippett, the…
14
Khumba (2013)
★ 6/10
A half-striped zebra is blamed for the drought and leaves his herd in search of his missing stripes. He is joined on his quest by an overprotective wildebeest and a flamboyant ostrich; they defeat the tyrannical…
15
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2022)
★ 7.6/10
Marcel is an adorable one-inch-tall shell who ekes out a colorful existence with his grandmother Connie and their pet lint, Alan. Once part of a sprawling community of shells, they now live alone as the sole survivors…
16
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)
★ 8/10
During the rise of fascism in Mussolini's Italy, a wooden boy brought magically to life struggles to live up to his father's expectations.
17
The House (2022)
★ 7/10
Across different eras, a poor family, an anxious developer and a fed-up landlady become tied to the same mysterious house in this animated dark comedy.
18
Ashes and Snow (2005)
★ 7.3/10
Ashes and Snow, a film by Gregory Colbert, uses both still and movie cameras to explore extraordinary interactions between humans and animals. The 60-minute feature is a poetic narrative rather than a documentary. It…
19
Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie (2004)
★ 6.1/10
After the conclusion of the Battle City Tournament, deep below the sands of Egypt, an ancient evil has awakened. Anubis, who was defeated centuries ago by Yugi’s mysterious alter ego – the ancient Pharaoh – has…
20
Over the Moon (2020)
★ 7.2/10
Fueled by memories of her mother, resourceful Fei Fei builds a rocket to the moon on a mission to prove the existence of a legendary moon goddess.