The Wizard of Oz, broadcasted in 1939, is among the most well-known musical pictures and the first Hollywood film to employ color. The story follows little Dorothy as she discovers herself in a magical realm where she befriends a scarecrow, lion, and tin man as they travel down the yellow brick road to speak with the Wizard and request the things they most desire.
The Wizard of Oz, like many other fairy tales, is about a grand adventure. Dorothy must conquer the Wicked Witch of the West to return to Kansas. Of course, Dorothy succeeds, but her prize isn’t a prince or a fortune; it’s self-awareness.
Dorothy is eventually taken home on her two feet at the end of the story.
If you like movies about adventure, fantasy, and found family, you’ll love similar films in the same genre. Continue reading to learn more about them!
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Charlie is a kind, humble, and hardworking young man who works as a paperboy in his spare time to help support his impoverished family. Charlie walks past Willy Wonka’s famed chocolate factory every day, making the best sweets in the world. For years, Wonka has not allowed anybody inside the factory to protect his recipes.
Then, when eccentric candy entrepreneur Willy Wonka announces that golden tickets concealed inside five of his delectable candy bars will admit the lucky recipients into his top-secret confectionery, a worldwide frenzy ensues. The five kids who locate the tickets will be taken on a factory tour and given a lifetime supply of chocolate. Charlie miraculously discovers one of the golden tickets and invites his grandfather Joe to accompany him.
Willy Wonka, the eccentric factory owner, not only shows his visitors how his famous candy is manufactured, but he also teaches them about the necessity of being honest, humble, and kind.
Mary Poppins (1964)
Another nanny quits from watching George Banks’ rambunctious children, Jane and Michael, in Edwardian London. But suddenly, as if by magic, a different one arrives on their doorstep, the delightful Mary Poppins, to take control of the issue, while exhilarating adventures with Bert, the brilliant chimney sweep, pave the path for a great makeover. Will she be able to bring order to the chaos?
Color, songs, and live-action sequences are mixed with the motions of animated figures in this film. Mary Poppins is a super nanny who sweeps in with her umbrella in reply to Jane and Michael Banks’ requests and uses her exceptional magical powers to put things right.
Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)
Sophie, a modest girl who works in a hat shop, has her life turned upside down when Howl, a handsome but mysterious magician, sweeps her off her feet. Sophie is cursed by the arrogant and angry Witch of the Waste, who is jealous of their friendship and transforms her into a 90-year-old lady.
Sophie climbs aboard Howl’s majestic moving castle in search of a way to break the spell and enters a new world of wonder and adventure. Sophie finds herself trying to protect them both from a dangerous war of sorcery that jeopardizes their world when the actual power of Howl’s wizardry is revealed.
Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
Charlie, Carrie, and Paul Rawlins are assigned to stay with Miss Eglantine Price, who turns out to be an apprentice witch during World War II in England. Miss Price is blackmailed into giving Charlie something if he is to keep her practices a secret, so she removes a bedknob from her late father’s bed and installs the “renowned magic traveling spell” on it, which only Paul can activate.
Their first stop is on a London street, where they run with Emelius Browne, the former headmaster of Miss Price’s witchcraft correspondence school. Miss Price informs him of a scheme to uncover the magic words for a spell called “Substitutiary Locomotion,” which animates inanimate items. Her contribution to the military effort will be this spell.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
The film recounts the escapades of Halloweentown’s beloved pumpkin king, Jack Skellington, who has grown tired of spooking people in the “real world” each year.
Jack gets a new lease on life when he accidentally stumbles onto Christmastown, which is full of brilliant colors and pleasant spirits. He schemes to take over Christmas by abducting Santa Claus and taking control of his job. However, Jack quickly learns that even the best-laid plans of skeleton men and mice may go wrong.
Spirited Away (2001)
A gloomy 10-year-old girl stumbles into a world ruled by witches, gods, and spirits, where humans are transformed into monsters during her family’s relocation to the suburbs.
Much to Chihiro’s chagrin, she and her parents are relocating to a small Japanese village in the countryside. Chihiro’s dad makes a wrong turn on the way to their new home, driving down a lonely one-lane road that dead-ends before a tunnel. Her parents decide to pull over to the side of the road and take a look around.
They pass through the tunnel and emerge on the other side to see an abandoned amusement park with its town. Her parents decide to dine and pay later when they come across a restaurant with delicious-smelling cuisine but no personnel.
On the other hand, Chihiro refuses to eat and instead opts to continue exploring the amusement park. She encounters a guy named Haku, who informs her that Chihiro and her parents are in peril and must flee as soon as possible. When she arrives at the restaurant, she discovers that her parents have transformed into pigs.
The amusement park also turns out to be a town full of demons, ghosts, and wicked gods. A bathhouse in the town’s center is where these creatures unwind. The bathhouse is owned by the evil witch Yubaba, who intends to keep all trespassers as slaves, including Chihiro.
To return to their reality, Chihiro must depend on Haku to save her parents.
Elf (2003)
Buddy was inadvertently lugged to the North Pole as a baby and reared among Santa’s elves until adulthood. Buddy, the grownup, unable to shake the notion that he doesn’t belong, journeys to New York in full elf regalia in pursuit of his birth father.
Walter Hobbs, a cynical businessman, happened to be here. Walter unwillingly attempts to build a relationship with the young Buddy when a DNA test confirms this, with progressively disastrous outcomes.