Movies Like Magic

If you liked Magic (1955), a movie directed by Salar Eshghi and Ebrahim Beyk-Khan, 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
Esther (1999)
★ 6.8/10
Esther, the beautiful queen of Persia, intervenes to save the Jewish people from a bloody massacre.
2
Not Without My Daughter (1991)
★ 6.9/10
An American woman, trapped in Islamic Iran by her brutish husband, must find a way to escape with her daughter as well.
3
Blue Lagoon: The Awakening (2012)
★ 6.4/10
Two high school students become stranded on a tropical island and must rely on each other for survival. They learn more about themselves and each other while falling in love.
4
Septembers of Shiraz (2015)
★ 5.9/10
In this adaptation of the critically acclaimed debut novel by Iranian American author Dalia Sofer, a secular Jewish family is caught up in the maelstrom of the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
5
The English Patient (1996)
★ 7.1/10
In the 1930s, Count Almásy is a Hungarian map maker employed by the Royal Geographical Society to chart the vast expanses of the Sahara Desert along with several other prominent explorers. As World War II unfolds…
6
Life of Pi (2012)
★ 7.4/10
The story of an Indian boy named Pi, a zookeeper's son who finds himself in the company of a hyena, zebra, orangutan, and a Bengal tiger after a shipwreck sets them adrift in the Pacific Ocean.
7
The Stoning of Soraya M. (2009)
★ 7.7/10
In 1986 Iran, Sahebjam, whose car breaks down in a remote village, enters into a conversation with Zahra, who relays to him the story about her niece, Soraya, whose arranged marriage to an abusive tyrant ended in…
8
Close-Up (1990)
★ 8/10
This fiction-documentary hybrid uses a sensational real-life event—the arrest of a young man on charges that he fraudulently impersonated the well-known filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf—as the basis for a stunning…
9
Reading Lolita in Tehran (2024)
★ 7.2/10
In 1979, amidst censorship and religious extremism, a revolutionary literature professor in Tehran gathers seven of her most dedicated female students to immerse themselves in banned literary classics.
10
And Life Goes On (1992)
★ 7.7/10
After the earthquake of Guilan, a film director and his son travel to the devastated area to search for the actors from the movie the director made there a few years previously. In their search, they see how people who…
11
Arabian Adventure (1979)
★ 6/10
An evil caliph offers his daughter’s hand in marriage to a prince if he can complete a perilous quest for a magical rose. Helped by a young boy and a magic carpet, Prince Hasan has to overcome genies, fire-breathing…
12
The Black Pirate (1926)
★ 6.7/10
A nobleman vows to avenge the death of his father by the hands of pirates. To this end, he infiltrates the pirate band; Acting in character, he single-handedly captures a merchant vessel, but things are complicated…
13
The History of Love (2016)
★ 6.4/10
The story of a long-lost book that mysteriously reappears and connects an old man searching for his son with a girl seeking a cure for her mother's loneliness.
14
Poseidon (2006)
★ 5.9/10
A packed cruise ship traveling the Atlantic is hit and overturned by a massive wave, compelling the passengers to begin a dramatic fight for their lives.
15
Gold (2022)
★ 6.2/10
In the not-too-distant future, two drifters traveling through the desert stumble across the biggest gold nugget ever found and the dream of immense wealth and greed takes hold. They hatch a plan to excavate their…
16
Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again (2022)
★ 6.3/10
Nick Daley is following in his father's footsteps as night watchman at the American Museum of Natural History, so he knows what happens when the sun goes down. But when the maniacal ruler Kahmunrah escapes, it is up to…
17
The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
★ 7.3/10
A nameless thief falls in love with the Caliph of Bagdad's daughter. The Caliph will give her hand to the suitor that returns with the rarest treasure after seven moons. The thief sets off on a magical journey while…
18
About Elly (2009)
★ 7.5/10
The mysterious disappearance of a kindergarten teacher during a picnic in the north of Iran is followed by a series of misadventures for her fellow travelers.
19
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003)
★ 7.1/10
The sailor of legend is framed by the goddess Eris for the theft of the Book of Peace, and must travel to her realm at the end of the world to retrieve it and save the life of his childhood friend Prince Proteus.
20
Descendants 2 (2017)
★ 7.4/10
When the pressure to be royal becomes too much for Mal, she returns to the Isle of the Lost where her archenemy Uma, Ursula's daughter, has taken her spot as self-proclaimed queen.