Movies Like The Secret Garden (1987)

The Secret Garden is a 1987 drama, family, tv movie film from Alan Grint with a MovieMagicScore of 7.6/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Back to the Secret Garden and The Secret Garden.

Drama Family TV Movie

Back to the Secret Garden

2000

A youngster living in a stately home discovers the magical garden Mary, Colin & Dickon stumbled across years before - but faces a battle with the housekeeper over whether to nurture it.

6.3

MagicScore

The Secret Garden

1993

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 before. Neglected once again, she begins exploring the estate and discovers a garden that has been locked and forgotten. Aided by one of the servants' boys, she begins restoring the garden, and eventually discovers some other secrets of the manor.

7.4

MagicScore

This Beautiful Fantastic

2016

Set against the backdrop of a beautiful garden in the heart of London, this contemporary fairy tale revolves around the unlikely friendship between a reclusive young woman and a cantankerous old widower. Bella Brown is a beautifully quirky young woman who dreams of writing and illustrating a successful children’s book. After she is forced by her landlord to deal with her neglected garden or face eviction, she meets her match, nemesis, and unlikely mentor in Alfie Stephenson, a grumpy, loveless, old man who lives next door who happens to be an amazing horticulturalist.

7.1

MagicScore

The Secret Garden

1949

When Cholera takes the parents of Mary Lennox, she is shipped from India to England to live with her Uncle Craven. Mary changes the lives of those she encounters at her Uncle's remote estate.

7.1

MagicScore

Murder by Death

1976

Lionel Twain invites the world's five greatest detectives to a 'dinner and murder'. Included are a blind butler, a deaf-mute maid, screams, spinning rooms, secret passages, false identities and more plot turns and twists than are decently allowed.

7.2

MagicScore

Sweet Home

1989

A TV production crew are making a documentary about the infamous painter Mamiya Ichiro. When they start filming at his old home, they come under attack from the ghost of the painter's wife.

6.4

MagicScore

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

Sparrow

1994

Catania, Sicilia 1854. A serious epidemic of cholera is hitting the region. Maria a 16 years old novice leaves her convent and returns her home to avoid contamination. Here she finds a difficult situation, in fact her stepmother and her half-sisters prevent Maria to live the normal life of a teenager. In their minds Maria is the promised "bride of God" and a regular life for her is inappropriate. Nino, her handsome neighbor, falls in love for Maria who isn't indifferent to him. But when Maria comes back to her convent the way to become nun is compelled. Now Maria can understand Sister Agata, and realizes she became mad cause a lost and impossible love like the one between Maria and Nino.

7.4

MagicScore

Allonsanfan

1974

After the 1815 Restoration, an aging revolutionary finds himself reluctantly involved in an attempted insurrection in Southern Italy while growing increasingly disillusioned with his cause.

6.7

MagicScore

#10

The Horseman on the Roof

1995

In a time of war and disease, a young officer gallantly tries to help a young woman find her husband.

6.5

MagicScore

#11

Addams Family Values

1993

Siblings Wednesday and Pugsley Addams will stop at nothing to get rid of Pubert, the new baby boy adored by parents Gomez and Morticia. Things go from bad to worse when the new "black widow" nanny, Debbie Jellinsky, launches her plan to add Fester to her collection of dead husbands.

7.0

MagicScore

#12

Night of Dark Shadows

1971

Recently married, Quentin and Tracy Collins have just moved into Collinwood, a New England estate that has long been in the Collins family and which Quentin has just inherited. They soon find themselves plagued by spirits of past residents.

6.6

MagicScore

#13

A Little Princess

1995

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 attempts to stifle Sara's creativity and sense of self-worth.

7.6

MagicScore

#14

Annie

1982

An orphan in a facility run by the mean Miss Hannigan, Annie believes that her parents left her there by mistake. When a rich man named Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks decides to let an orphan live at his home to promote his image, Annie is selected. While Annie gets accustomed to living in Warbucks' mansion, she still longs to meet her parents. So Warbucks announces a search for them and a reward, which brings out many frauds.

6.5

MagicScore

#15

The Addams Family

1991

When a man claiming to be long-lost Uncle Fester reappears after 25 years lost, the family plans a celebration to wake the dead. But the kids barely have time to warm up the electric chair before Morticia begins to suspect Fester is fraud when he can't recall any of the details of Fester's life.

7.1

MagicScore

#16

Viridiana

1962

Viridiana is preparing to start her life as a nun when she is sent, somewhat unwillingly, to visit her aging uncle, Don Jaime. He supports her; but the two have met only once. Jaime thinks Viridiana resembles his dead wife. Viridiana has secretly despised this man all her life and finds her worst fears proven when Jaime grows determined to seduce his pure niece. Viridiana becomes undone as her uncle upends the plans she had made to join the convent.

7.6

MagicScore

#17

Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha

1989

Chanthu, a poor orphan and Aromal are cousins and belong to the Chekavar clan, a warrior clan who hire themselves out as duellers to settle disputes among the rich and powerful. Aromal, jealous of the much more talented Chanthu, makes life miserable for him and Chanthu decides to leave and live with Aringodar, a rival chekavan, as his pupil. When the two sons of a local landlord have a property dispute and decide to hire Aromal and Aringodar to duel it out, Chanthu has to decide where his loyalty lies - with the family of the uncle who brought him up or with Aringodar who provided him with sanctuary.

6.9

MagicScore

#18

The House with a Clock in Its Walls

2018

When ten-year-old Lewis is suddenly orphaned, he is sent to live with his Uncle Jonathan in a creaky (and creepy) old mansion with a mysterious ticking noise that emanates from the walls. Upon discovering that his uncle is a warlock, Lewis begins learning magic, but when he rebelliously resurrects an evil warlock he must find the secret of the house and save the world from destruction.

6.3

MagicScore

#19

The Wizard of Oz

1925

A farm girl learns she is a princess and is swept away by a tornado to the land of Oz.

5.4

MagicScore

#20

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

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like The Secret Garden?

The top films similar to The Secret Garden by MovieMagicScore are Back to the Secret Garden (6.3), The Secret Garden (7.4), This Beautiful Fantastic (7.1). Each shares drama/family/tv movie themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is The Secret Garden worth watching?

The Secret Garden holds a MovieMagicScore of 7.6/10 from 47 viewer ratings, putting it among the better-reviewed titles in its genre.

What kind of movie is The Secret Garden?

The Secret Garden (1987) is a drama, family, tv movie film directed by Alan Grint, starring Gennie James, Barret Oliver, Jadrien Steele.

Where can I find more recommendations like The Secret Garden?

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 Back to the Secret Garden Movies like The Secret Garden Movies like This Beautiful Fantastic Movies like The Secret Garden Movies like Murder by Death Movies like Sweet Home

About movies like The Secret Garden

This ranked list pairs The Secret Garden (1987), a drama and family and tv movie film from Alan Grint, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Gennie James 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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