Film

Come Away

Name: Come Away
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
Released: 2020
Cast: Keira Chansa, Jordan A. Nash, Angelina Jolie, David Oyelowo, Reece Yates

Come Away reimagines Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland as siblings in Victorian England, grieving the loss of their older brother. It's a melancholic family drama dressed in fantastical clothes—intimate and character-driven rather than visually spectacular. For those who loved the sadness beneath classic children's stories and want to see how two icons might have become who we know them to be.

TMDb rating

2.9

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a quiet, melancholy fairy-tale origin story that treats childhood grief seriously and lets the fantasy grow out of it, rather than arriving as a bright adventure.

Skip it if you need brisk, escapist wonder from the start; this is slow, sad and heavy with family strain for long stretches before any magic shows up.

What it asks of you: Ninety-four minutes, a slow build, and patience with long stretches of domestic gloom and close attention to small gestures rather than spectacle.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Parent Trap1998

A clever, joyful story about siblings using creativity and wit to heal their fractured family. Feels like the emotional inverse of Come Away—lighter but equally invested in how children process adult pain.

But It's a Disney comedy, so the tone is almost aggressively upbeat. If you're looking for something as melancholic as Come Away, the sunshine will feel jarring.

Nanny McPhee2005

Another film about grieving children who misbehave until a magical figure helps them heal. The magic is whimsical but never overshadows the real emotional work the family has to do.

But Emma Thompson's character is stern and stern gets old fast. The film's sentimentality creeps up on you rather than landing cleanly.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind2019

A true story of a young man turning imagination into survival when his family faces catastrophe. It has Come Away's sense that children often see solutions adults miss, grounded in real stakes.

But It's heavy and slow. There's no magic, just the weight of actual poverty and the constant threat of failure.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Come Away

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Pan's Labyrinth2006

Both films use fantasy not as escape but as a child's attempt to process adult trauma. Both suggest imagination itself might be the real story.

A Spanish-language film where a girl enters a dark, unsettling fantasy world during fascist occupation. Like Come Away, it asks whether magic is salvation or the mind's way of fleeing unbearable reality—but answers far more darkly.

But It's violent, disturbing, and genuinely horrifying. If you want melancholy, not horror, this will be too much. Requires subtitles.

Pan2015

A colorful prequel about Peter Pan's origins in the real world before Neverland. If Come Away intrigued you about backstory, this goes deeper into one half of the equation.

But It's overstuffed and visually exhausting, chasing spectacle instead of emotion. Many people found it a mess; they weren't entirely wrong.

A Little Chaos2015

Kate Winslet and Matthias Schoenaerts in a period piece about two people healing from grief through creation and beauty. Quiet, grown-up, and surprisingly moving.

But Nothing much happens plot-wise. If you need narrative momentum, you'll be watching a garden being designed for two hours.

The Secret Garden2020

The newest adaptation of the classic, about children using nature and imagination to process grief and isolation. Like Come Away, it trusts that children's inner lives are sophisticated enough to carry a film.

But It's very faithful to the book, which means some of its attitudes toward disability and class haven't aged perfectly. The pacing is deliberate.

Mama2013

A genuinely unsettling film about orphaned children and the supernatural figure who raises them. It has that same question at its heart: what do traumatized children conjure from their own minds?

But It's a horror film with jump scares and genuine dread. Come Away is sad; this will make you uncomfortable and afraid.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe2005

Siblings enter a magical world while processing the death of their father and the trauma of wartime separation. The fantasy is grand but the emotional core is a family broken by loss.

But It's a blockbuster with battle sequences and obvious messaging. The spectacle can drown out what makes the story hurt.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe poster

Bridge to Terabithia2007

Two isolated children build an imaginary kingdom together, until real tragedy forces them to understand what imagination actually does. About friendship, creativity, and the moment childhood ends.

But It's aimed at families and feels a bit safe. The magical sequences are pretty but never as haunting as they mean to be.

The Tale2018

Both films believe children's internal narratives are as real and complex as any adult's. Both treat a child's mind as the actual subject, not just the lens.

A documentary where filmmaker Jennifer Fox examines her own childhood memory of abuse, reconstructing it with actors to understand what actually happened. Devastating and formally inventive, about how children narrate their own pain.

But It's not comforting. It's about confronting rather than escaping. If you're looking for something gentle, this will break that.

A Serious Man2009

Both films center children's perspectives on adult collapse without pretending the children can fix anything. Both resist easy sentiment about childhood innocence.

A Coen Brothers film about a family in crisis and the children who watch it happen, told with both absurdism and genuine heartbreak. The world is strange and unfair; the film refuses to make it sensible.

But It's darkly funny in a way that some find cruel rather than cathartic. There's no comfort here, only the observation that life is frequently meaningless.