Movies Like Ballet Shoes (2008)

Ballet Shoes is a 2008 drama, family film from Sandra Goldbacher with a MovieMagicScore of 6.4/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with The BFG and Madeline.

Drama Family

The BFG

2016

An orphan little girl befriends a benevolent giant who takes her to Giant Country, where they attempt to stop the man-eating giants that are invading the human world.

6.3

MagicScore

Madeline

1998

Horrified at the prospect of her beloved school being sold, a young French girl named Madeline uses her wit and craftiness to attempt to save it, making an unlikely new friend in the process.

6.2

MagicScore

Black Swan

2010

The story of a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life is completely consumed with dance. Nina lives with her retired ballerina mother who zealously supports her daughter's professional ambition. When the artistic director decides to replace the prima ballerina for the opening production of their new season, Nina is his first choice.

7.7

MagicScore

Yeh Ballet

2020

Discovered by an eccentric ballet master, two gifted but underprivileged Mumbai teens face bigotry and disapproval as they pursue their dancing dreams.

7.6

MagicScore

Billy Elliot

2000

County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.

7.6

MagicScore

Dance Academy: The Movie

2017

This 2017 movie follows the original dance academy TV show and tracks where the characters are in their lives now.

7.2

MagicScore

Center Stage: On Pointe

2016

Jonathan Reeves is tasked with infusing more contemporary styles and modernism into the American Ballet Academy, and enlists his top choreographers Charlie, Cooper and Tommy to recruit dancers to compete at a camp where the winners will be selected to join the Academy. Bella Parker, who has always lived in the shadow of her hugely successful sister Kate, finally gets her chance to step into the limelight as one of the dancers recruited for the camp.

6.4

MagicScore

The Bolshoi

2016

Young and extremely talented dancer Yulya Olshanskaya from a small mining town draws a “happy ticket”: she is noticed by a former ballet dancer Pototsky and he promises her a future of great ballerina, worthy of the main stage of the country. However, in order to become a diamond, anyone, even the most outstanding brilliant, needs to be cut, and the way to the legendary stage of The Bolshoi Theatre for Yulya lies through the walls of the ballet school, where the more capricious teacher Galina Mikhailovna Beletskaya takes custody of the rebellious provincial. Turning into a prima will require incredible self-denial, and Yulya herself will have to make sure that the big ballet is not only the whiteness of the packs, the gold of the boxes and the slip of silk ribbons. But no obstacles will stop the one who has the big dream.

6.2

MagicScore

Despicable Me

2010

Determined to prove he's the world's greatest supervillain, Gru hatches an audacious plan to steal the Moon. To pull it off, he adopts three orphaned girls—Margo, Edith, and Agnes—intending to use them as pawns in his scheme. But the unexpected bond they form forces him to question the criminal life he's always known.

7.3

MagicScore

#10

Ballerina

2016

In 1879 Paris, a young orphan dreams of becoming a ballerina and flees her rural Brittany for Paris, where she passes for someone else and accedes to the position of pupil at the Grand Opera house.

7.2

MagicScore

#11

Suspiria

1977

An American newcomer to a prestigious German ballet academy comes to realize that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of grisly murders.

7.5

MagicScore

#12

Etoile

1989

An American ballerina arrives in Hungary to enroll in a ballet school and it soon becomes apparent that things are not what they seem.

5.7

MagicScore

#13

Anne of Green Gables

1985

At the turn of the century on Prince Edward Island, Matthew Cuthbert and his sister Marilla decide to take on an orphan boy as help for their farm. But they get an unexpected jolt when they're mistakenly sent a girl instead: Anne Shirley.

8.1

MagicScore

#14

Kensuke's Kingdom

2024

A young boy and his family set off on a sailing trip of a lifetime until a violent storm erupts, sweeping Michael and his dog overboard. After washing up on a remote island, terrified, they struggle to survive and adjust to life alone, One day, Michael discovers he is not alone when he is confronted by a mysterious Japanese man who has lived there secretly since World War II, angry that Michael has arrived. However, as dangerous invaders threaten their fragile island paradise, Michael and the old man, Kensuke, join forces to save their secret world.

7.2

MagicScore

#15

Madeline: Lost in Paris

1999

When Madeline's long lost uncle Horst arrives to take her to a Viennese finishing school, Miss Clavel, the eleven little girls and Pepito realize that something is not right.

6.7

MagicScore

#16

The Secret Garden

2020

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 wondrous secret garden lost in the grounds of Misselthwaite Manor.

6.3

MagicScore

#17

The Red Shoes

1948

In this classic drama, Vicky Page is an aspiring ballerina torn between her dedication to dance and her desire to love. While her imperious instructor, Boris Lermontov, urges to her to forget anything but ballet, Vicky begins to fall for the charming young composer Julian Craster. Eventually Vicky, under great emotional stress, must choose to pursue either her art or her romance, a decision that carries serious consequences.

8.0

MagicScore

#18

Russian Dolls

2005

Five years after their summer together in Barcelona, Xavier, William, Wendy, Martine and Isabelle reunite.

6.6

MagicScore

#19

Belle and Sebastian: The Adventure Continues

2015

September, 1945. Sebastian impatiently waits for the return of his friend Angelina, whom he has not seen for two years. When the plane carrying the young woman to her small village in the Alps is reported to have crashed in the mountains, Sebastian is convinced that Angelina is still alive. Along with his faithful dog Belle, Sebastian embarks on the most dangerous adventure of his life.

6.9

MagicScore

#20

Roald Dahl's The Witches

2020

In late 1967, a young orphaned boy goes to live with his loving grandma in the rural Alabama town of Demopolis. As the boy and his grandmother encounter some deceptively glamorous but thoroughly diabolical witches, she wisely whisks him away to a seaside resort. Regrettably, they arrive at precisely the same time that the world's Grand High Witch has gathered.

6.4

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Ballet Shoes?

The top films similar to Ballet Shoes by MovieMagicScore are The BFG (6.3), Madeline (6.2), Black Swan (7.7). Each shares drama/family themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Ballet Shoes worth watching?

Ballet Shoes holds a MovieMagicScore of 6.4/10 from 266 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is Ballet Shoes?

Ballet Shoes (2008) is a drama, family film directed by Sandra Goldbacher, starring Emilia Fox, Victoria Wood, Emma Watson.

Where can I find more recommendations like Ballet Shoes?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more drama recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like The BFG Movies like Madeline Movies like Black Swan Movies like Yeh Ballet Movies like Billy Elliot Movies like Dance Academy: The Movie

About movies like Ballet Shoes

This ranked list pairs Ballet Shoes (2008), a drama and family film from Sandra Goldbacher, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Emilia Fox take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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