Movies Like Rabbit Ears: The Ugly Duckling

If you liked Rabbit Ears: The Ugly Duckling (1985), a movie, 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
Downhearted Duckling (1954)
★ 6.8/10
Jerry's little duckling friend is depressed because he's just read The Ugly Duckling and thinks that he's ugly. Jerry does his best to help. Tom gets involved when the suicidal duck offers himself as a meal.
2
Beastly (2011)
★ 6.3/10
A modern-day take on the "Beauty and the Beast" tale where a New York teen is transformed into a hideous monster in order to find true love.
3
Sidelined: The QB and Me (2025)
★ 6.5/10
Dallas, a burdened but headstrong dancer, is determined to get into the best dance school in the country—her late mother’s alma mater. However, that dream is suddenly derailed when the cheeky yet secretly grieving…
4
Shanghaied (1915)
★ 6/10
A shipowner intends to scuttle his ship on its last voyage to get the insurance money. Charlie, a tramp in love with the owner's daughter, is grabbed by the captain and promises to help him shanghai some seamen. The…
5
The Longest Ride (2015)
★ 7.6/10
The lives of a young couple intertwine with a much older man as he reflects back on a lost love while he's trapped in an automobile crash.
6
A Dog's Journey (2019)
★ 8.1/10
A dog finds the meaning of his own existence through the lives of the humans he meets.
7
The Duck Doctor (1952)
★ 6.8/10
Tom is duck hunting, and he wings a little duckling that can't quite keep up with the flock. Jerry gets to the fallen duck before Tom, bandages his wing, and shelters him from Tom as he keeps running out to join his…
8
Maleficent (2014)
★ 7.1/10
A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman, Maleficent has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until one day when an invading army threatens the harmony of the land. She rises to be the land's fiercest…
9
Love Me Love Me (2026)
★ 6.1/10
After her brother's death, June moves to Milan for a fresh start, finding comfort in Will, the perfect honor student at her new international school. But when his troubled best friend James—hiding a dangerous life in…
10
Sidelined 2: Intercepted (2025)
★ 7.1/10
Freshman star quarterback Drayton struggles with the weight of expectations after a devastating setback, while dancer Dallas begins to question the future she thought she wanted. As their high school relationship…
11
The Girl Most Likely To... (1973)
★ 6.6/10
An ugly girl undergoes plastic surgery and becomes beautiful. She then takes revenge on all the people who mistreated her when she was ugly.
12
Duck Duck Goose (2018)
★ 6.2/10
After he’s grounded by an injury, a high-flying bachelor is saddled with two wide-eyed orphans as they come face-to-face with the dangers and beauty of the outside world.
13
Penguin Bloom (2021)
★ 6.9/10
When an unlikely ally enters the Bloom family's world in the form of an injured baby magpie they name Penguin, the bird’s arrival makes a profound difference in the struggling family’s life.
14
The Clique (2008)
★ 5.9/10
A young girl tries to fit in with a clique of popular middle school girls after moving into the guest house of one of their homes.
15
Fallen (2016)
★ 6.1/10
Lucinda Price is sent to a reform academy under the assumption that she has killed a boy. There, she meets two mysterious boys, Cam and Daniel, to whom she feels drawn to both. But as the love triangle unfurls, it is…
16
Ploey: You Never Fly Alone (2018)
★ 6.2/10
A plover chick has not learned to fly when his family migrates in the fall. He must survive the arctic winter, vicious enemies and himself in order to be reunited with his beloved one next spring.
17
Icefall (2025)
★ 6.6/10
A young Indigenous game warden arrests an infamous poacher only to discover that the poacher knows the location of a plane carrying millions of dollars that has crashed in a frozen lake. When a group of criminals and…
18
I Love You, Beth Cooper (2009)
★ 6.1/10
A valedictorian's declaration of love for a high-school cheerleader launches a night of revelry, reflection and romance for a group of graduating seniors.
19
Shallow Hal (2001)
★ 6.2/10
After taking his dying father's advice, Hal dates only the embodiments of female physical perfection. But that all changes after Hal has an unexpected run-in with self-help guru Tony Robbins. Intrigued by Hal's…
20
Mean Girls (2004)
★ 7.2/10
Cady Heron is a hit with The Plastics, the A-list girl clique at her new school, until she makes the mistake of falling for Aaron Samuels, the ex-boyfriend of alpha Plastic Regina George.