Movies Like Elina: As If I Wasn't There

If you liked Elina: As If I Wasn't There (2003), a drama and family movie directed by Klaus Härö, 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
A Little Princess (1995)
★ 7.6/10Also drama and family
When her father enlists to fight for the British in WWI, young Sara Crewe goes to New York to attend the same boarding school her late mother attended. She soon clashes with the severe headmistress, Miss Minchin, who…
2
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019)
★ 6.4/10Also family
Nancy Drew, a smart high schooler with a penchant for keen observation and deduction, stumbles upon the haunting of a local home. A bit of an outsider struggling to fit into her new surroundings, Nancy and her pals set…
3
The Secret Garden (1993)
★ 7.4/10Also drama and family
A young British girl born and reared in India loses her neglectful parents in an earthquake. She is returned to England to live at her uncle's castle. Her uncle is very distant due to the loss of his wife ten years…
4
Skater Girl (2021)
★ 7.2/10Also drama and family
Prerna, a teenager growing up in rural India, comes of age when she’s introduced to the sport of skateboarding. As a result, she has to fight the odds to follow her dreams and compete in the national championship.
5
Momo (2025)
★ 7.1/10Also family
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…
6
Anastasia: Once Upon a Time (2020)
★ 5.9/10Also family
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.
7
Wish Upon a Unicorn (2020)
★ 6.9/10Also family
Two children discover that their mother is gone. The youngest of the pair, adventurer and upcomming singer, Long Johnson forces his older sister, Lily Johnson, to hunt down a unicorn with magical blood.
8
Won't Back Down (2012)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for…
9
The Secret Garden (2020)
★ 6.3/10Also family and drama
Mary Lennox is born in India to wealthy British parents who never wanted her. When her parents suddenly die, she is sent back to England to live with her uncle. She meets her sickly cousin, and the two children find a…
10
Anne of Green Gables (2016)
★ 7.2/10Also drama and family
Anne Shirley, an orphan, is fostered by farmer Matthew Cuthbert and his sister Marilla, who were expecting a boy to be sent them to help with their farm work. They accept Anne, who quickly endears herself to them and…
11
Inkheart (2008)
★ 6.3/10Also family
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.
12
A Wrinkle in Time (2003)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and family
Meg and Charles Wallace are aided by Calvin and three interesting women in the search for their father who disappeared during a government experiment. Their travels take them around the universe to a place unlike any…
13
I Believe (2019)
★ 7.8/10Also family and drama
A 9 year old boy experiences God's power in a supernatural way.
14
A Monster Calls (2016)
★ 7.3/10Also family
12-year-old Conor encounters an ancient tree monster who proceeds to help him cope with his mother's terminal illness and being bullied in school.
15
Skin (2009)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
16
Where the Red Fern Grows (2003)
★ 6.6/10Also drama and family
Set in the Ozark Mountains during the Great Depression, Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for 2 years to achieve his dream of buying two coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in God as he faces…
17
Nico the Unicorn (1998)
★ 6.2/10Also family
As an 11-year-old boy struggles to cope with a disability, he finds a pony who gives birth to a unicorn which he takes care of.
18
White Fang 2: Myth of the White Wolf (1994)
★ 6.9/10Also family
A boy and his dog, White Fang, must try to save the noble Haida tribe from evil white men in turn-of-the-century Alaska.
19
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…
20
Oliver Twist (1997)
★ 6.2/10Also family and drama
An orphan endures a harsh life in a workhouse before fleeing to London, where he falls in with a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the criminal Fagin, and eventually finds a better life, exposing the cruelties of…