Film
My Father's Dragon
- Fairy tale
- Action
- Light-hearted
A hand-drawn animated adventure about a lonely boy who runs away to find a dragon on a mysterious island. It's a gentle, warmly funny film with gorgeous storybook visuals and a genuine heart about grief and belonging. For kids and adults who loved *Spirited Away* or *The Secret of Roan Inish*—stories where the journey inward is also a journey outward.
If you liked this
How to Train Your Dragon2010
A boy and a dragon form an unlikely bond that changes both their lives. Gorgeous animation, genuine humor that works for both kids and adults, and a story about learning to see past fear and prejudice.
But The sequels got increasingly bloated and sentimental. Even the first film relies on some familiar hero-narrative beats.

Spirited Away2001
A girl must navigate a magical world full of strange creatures and moral danger to save her parents. Miyazaki's masterpiece: visually astonishing, genuinely mysterious, and driven by a quiet strength that never needs to shout.
But The pacing is deliberate. Some viewers find it slow; others find that slowness is the entire point.

The Owl House2020
A human girl stumbles into a demon realm and finds herself, her found family, and a world where the rules are different. Funny, beautifully animated, and genuinely moving about chosen family and queer identity.
But It was cancelled before its natural ending, so the final season feels compressed and bittersweet—though many argue that makes it better.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from My Father's Dragon
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Gravity Falls2012
Both are about children arriving in strange places and discovering a larger world hiding beneath ordinary surfaces. Both use humor to soften genuinely unsettling premises. Both trust kids to understand complex emotions.
Twins arrive in a weird Oregon town for summer and uncover a 30-year mystery involving secret societies and cosmic horror. Started as a fun monster-of-the-week show and became something far darker and more ambitious. Genuinely excellent.
But The early episodes are lighter than the mythology-heavy later ones; commitment required. Some viewers find the tonal shift uneven.

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A Letter to Momo2012
A grieving girl moves to a remote island and encounters spirits from Japanese folklore. Gorgeously hand-drawn, meditative, and about learning to carry sorrow rather than escape it. A true hidden gem.
But Very slow. Almost nothing happens by conventional plot standards. If you need constant narrative momentum, this will feel like watching paint dry.

Over the Garden Wall2014
Two brothers get lost in a mysterious autumn forest. A ten-episode miniseries that feels like a dark fairy tale—atmospheric, genuinely eerie, and structurally perfect. Every frame matters.
But The tone is melancholic and occasionally unsettling. It's not cozy; it's beautiful but haunting.

Craig of the Creek2018
Kids have adventures in a creek and the surrounding woods, solving mysteries and learning about friendship. Warm, genuinely funny, gorgeously animated with real heart. It feels like the show childhood should have been.
But The episodic structure means some stories land better than others. A few episodes feel slight compared to the best ones.

The Tale of Despereaux2008
A small mouse with big ears falls in love with a princess and must cross the world to save her. Gorgeously animated, genuinely funny, and surprisingly touching about forgiveness and love overcoming bitterness.
But The pacing stumbles in the middle act. Some plot threads feel rushed; others overstay their welcome.

Okko's Inn2018
A girl arrives at a magical inn run by spirits after a car accident. Animated with watercolor beauty, meditative and touching, about grief and finding home in unexpected places.
But Very quiet and contemplative. The story moves at its own pace and some viewers will find it too gentle.

The Spiderwick Chronicles2008
Three siblings discover a hidden magical world in their new house and must protect it from dark forces. Fun adventure with good creature design, real stakes, and the feeling of being genuinely unwelcome in a place.
But Some dated CGI and occasionally clunky dialogue. The family dynamics can feel a bit thin compared to the fantasy world-building.

The Secret of Kells2009
Both are hand-drawn adventures about lonely boys who find magic and purpose on journeys. Both use visual style as part of the storytelling, not decoration. Both are about learning to see the world as more wondrous and dangerous than you thought.
An Irish animated film about a boy who discovers ancient magic while illustrating a magical book. Visually extraordinary—designed to look like an illuminated manuscript come to life—with a story about courage, art, and confronting what you fear.
But The pacing is loose and dreamlike. Some find it meandering; it doesn't follow conventional narrative shapes.

The Wind Rises2013
Both explore grief and displacement through a child's or young person's quiet observation of the world. Both trust viewers to find beauty in stillness and melancholy. Both understand that growing up means understanding you can't escape the world's complexity—only how to live thoughtfully within it.
Miyazaki's final film: the fictionalized biography of the engineer who designed Japanese fighter planes. It sounds dry but it's gorgeous, meditative, and unexpectedly about the tension between art and harm, between creating something beautiful and the consequences of that creation.
But It's slow, elegiac, and political in a quiet way. Also: it's about aircraft design. If that premise sounds boring, it probably will be for you.

People
Cast
Jacob TremblayElmer Elevator (voice)
Golshifteh FarahaniDela Elevator (voice)
Gaten MatarazzoBoris the Dragon (voice)
Dianne WiestIris the Rhinoceros (voice)
Rita MorenoMrs. McClaren (voice)
Chris O'DowdKwan the Macaque (voice)
Judy GreerSoda the Whale (voice)
Alan CummingCornelius the Crocodile (voice)
Yara ShahidiCallie (voice)
Jackie Earle HaleyTamir the Tarsier (voice)
Mary Kay PlaceNarrator (voice)
Leighton MeesterSasha (voice)
Directing
- Fabian ErlinghäuserAssistant Director
- Louise BagnallAssistant Director
- Mark MulleryAssistant Director
- Nora TwomeyDirector
Writing
- Ruth Stiles GannettBook
- Giovanna FerrariHead of Story
- Meg LeFauveScreenplay
- John C. MorganStory
- Meg LeFauveStory
- Louise McCagueStory Coordinator
Production
- Amy LippensCasting
- Kristi LugoCasting Assistant
- Alan MoloneyExecutive Producer
- Gerry ShirrenExecutive Producer
- John C. MorganExecutive Producer
- Meg LeFauveExecutive Producer
- Ruth CoadyExecutive Producer
- Tomm MooreExecutive Producer
- Katja SchumannHead of Production
- Zahra DowlatabadiLine Producer
- Bonnie CurtisProducer
- Julie LynnProducer
- Paul YoungProducer
- Michael CulletonProduction Accountant
- Rosa Ballester CaboProduction Designer
- Isabel LozanoProduction Manager