Movies Like Vanishing Time: A Boy Who Returned

If you liked Vanishing Time: A Boy Who Returned (2016), a fantasy and drama movie directed by Um Tae-hwa, 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
Mythica: A Quest for Heroes (2014)
★ 5.8/10Also fantasy
Stuck in a life of indentured servitude, Marek dreams of becoming a wizard. When she meets the beautiful priestess Teela in need of help, she offers her assistance and provides a motley troupe. Together they go in…
2
The Canterville Ghost (1996)
★ 6.3/10Also fantasy and drama
When a teenaged girl moves to England, with her brothers and parents into the ancient Canterville Hall, she's not at all happy. Especially as there's a ghost and a mysterious re-appearing bloodstain on the hearth. She…
3
Dragonheart: Vengeance (2021)
★ 6.8/10Also fantasy
Lukas, a young farmer whose family is killed by savage raiders in the countryside, sets out on an epic quest for revenge, forming an unlikely trio with a majestic dragon and a swashbuckling, sword-fighting mercenary…
4
The Water Man (2020)
★ 6.1/10Also fantasy
Hoping to save his sick mother, a boy named Gunner and his friend Jo venture into the remote Wild Horse forest to search for a mythical figure who possesses the secret to immortality. When they go missing, Gunner's…
5
Anastasia: Once Upon a Time (2020)
★ 5.9/10Also fantasy
Anastasia Romanov escapes through a portal when her family is threatened by Vladimir Lenin, and she finds herself in the year 1988, befriended by a young American girl.
6
Abigail (2019)
★ 6.1/10Also fantasy
A young girl Abigail lives in a city whose borders were closed many years ago because of an epidemic of a mysterious disease. Abby's father was one of the sick - and he was taken when she was six years old. Going…
7
Where the Wild Things Are (2009)
★ 6.5/10Also drama and fantasy
Max imagines running away from his mom and sailing to a far-off land where large talking beasts—Ira, Carol, Douglas, the Bull, Judith and Alexander—crown him as their king, play rumpus, build forts and discover secret…
8
The Dark Crystal (1982)
★ 7.2/10Also fantasy
On another planet in the distant past, a Gelfling embarks on a quest to find the missing shard of a magical crystal and restore order to his world, before the grotesque race of Skeksis find and use the crystal for evil.
9
The Restless (2006)
★ 5.9/10Also fantasy
After Yi-gwak, a demon hunter, loses his beloved Yon-hwa, he enters a realm that has only spirits. He meets her there, but she has no memory of him.
10
Inkheart (2008)
★ 6.3/10Also fantasy
The adventures of a father and his young daughter, in their search for a long lost book that will help reunite a missing, close relative.
11
Come Away (2020)
★ 5.8/10Also fantasy
Before Alice went to Wonderland, and before Peter became Pan, they were brother and sister. When their eldest brother dies in a tragic accident, they each seek to save their parents from their downward spirals of…
12
A Tooth Fairy Tale (2025)
★ 8.5/10Also fantasy
Van, the brave son of a tooth fairy leader, meets the goblins girl Gemma on his first mission. Despite the myths about ancient disputes between fairies and goblins, they share common values. When the greedy Spider…
13
Before I Fall (2017)
★ 7/10Also drama and fantasy
Samantha Kingston has everything. Then, everything changes. After one fateful night, she wakes up with no future at all. Trapped into reliving the same day over and over, she begins to question just how perfect her…
14
The Deep End of the Ocean (1999)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
A three-year-old boy disappears during his mother's high school reunion. Nine years later, by chance, he turns up in the town in which the family has just relocated.
15
Cave Rescue (2019)
★ 6/10Also drama
When a youth football team of 12 boys, aged 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach is trapped deep inside a cave in Northern Thailand, thousands of volunteers and soldiers from around the world unite in a race against time…
16
The Parts You Lose (2019)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
An unlikely friendship unfolds between a young deaf boy, Wesley, and a fugitive criminal who takes refuge in an abandoned barn on the family’s rural North Dakota farm.
17
Momo (2025)
★ 7.1/10Also fantasy
Momo is a young orphan girl who lives in the ruins of an old Roman amphitheater and becomes friends with everybody in the neighborhood. But when a powerful international corporation starts stealing everybody’s time…
18
Dirt (2018)
★ 6.1/10Also drama
In search of a lifeline for his struggling off road racing team, a man takes on a young car thief looking for a second chance, but as their worlds collide, they must struggle to forge a successful alliance.
19
Welcome to Smelliville (2021)
★ 6.7/10Also fantasy
The Oggly family arrive at the municipal rubbish dump of Smelliville and must look for a new home, but they never feel really welcome anywhere. They stink and are for most humans just a tad too oggly. When Firebottom…
20
I Am David (2003)
★ 6.8/10Also drama
A 12-year-old boy manages to flee a Communist concentration camp on his own, through sheer will and determination. All he has in his possession is a loaf of bread, a letter to deliver to someone in Denmark, and a…