Best movies like A Shine of Rainbows

An abandoned child brings the colors of love into their lives.

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like A Shine of Rainbows Starring Connie Nielsen, Aidan Quinn, John Bell, Tara Alice Scully, and more. If you liked A Shine of Rainbows then you may also like: Where the Lilies Bloom, Owd Bob, Jumping Ship, All Roads Lead Home, The Amazing Panda Adventure and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.

An orphaned boy named Tomás is adopted by Maire O’Donnell to live on a whimsical Irish isle filled with new friends, secret caves and a lost baby pup seal stranded on the coast. But when Maire's reluctant husband Alec refuses to accept Tomás as his own son, the boy drifts down a fateful path of adventure and self-discovery, illuminating how rainbows can shine around - and within - us all.

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Where the Lilies Bloom

A family of children decide not to tell anyone their father has died, and to live on their own in the backwoods of rural North Carolina. If the state finds out they are on their own, they will be split up and sent to live in foster homes.

5.9 / 10 1998 Family
suggested by: user309fi7eizwl

Owd Bob

Recently orphaned David must move to the Isle of Man to live with his grandfather, Adam, who's a sheep farmer. Both long for the end of the summer, having nothing in common but their love for dogs, notably Adam's precious champion sheepdog Bob. David strikes a friendship with Maggie, the sassy daughter of friendly neighbor Keith Moore, but Adam hates that family on account of an old canine competition-related tragedy. Other neighbors suspect Bob and the Moore's dog of the recent series of nocturnal sheep-kills.

Jumping Ship

Joseph, Matthew and Andrew Lawrence (TV's Brotherly Love) star in this thrilling, action-packed sequel to the Disney Channel Original Movie Horse Sense. It's first-class adventure on the high seas for Michael Woods (Joseph Lawrence) and his cousin (Andrew Lawrence) when they charter a private yacht for a fun-filled cruise off the coast of Australia. But the yacht turns out to be a broken-down fishing boat complete with rusting hull! When they find themselves being chased by modern-day pirates, they decide that Jumping Ship with the boat's captain Jake Hunter (Matthew Lawrence) is the only option. Stranded on a desert island without any conveniences from home, these three castaways must work together as a team if they hope to survive and be rescued.

All Roads Lead Home

The story is about a 12 year old girl who loses her mother in an automobile accident. Her father struggles with the loss of his wife and trying to raise his young daughter who believes her father is partly responsible for her mother's death. Belle's maternal grandfather is a changed man since losing his daughter in the accident. He finds it difficult to have a relationship with Belle since she is a constant reminder of her mother. It is Atticus the new puppy who will change Belle's life and the lives of those who love her

The Amazing Panda Adventure

Far from home in the lush bamboo forests of China, ten-year-old Ryan Tyler, with the help of a young girl, goes on a wonderful journey to rescue a baby panda taken by poachers.

Andre

The true story of how a marine seal named Andre befriended a little girl and her family, circa 1962.

Big Red

Wealthy sportsman James Haggin (Walter Pidgeon) lives on a Quebec estate called Wintapi. Émile Fornet (Émile Genest), handler of Haggin's hunting dogs, and Émile's wife Therese (Janette Bertrand), Haggin's cook and housekeeper, live in a separate house on the estate. To start a line of top show dogs, Haggin purchases the winner of the Montreal Kennel Club show, an Irish setter named Red.

The Biscuit Eater

Nothing warms the heart like the story of a boy and his dog. Lonnie (Johnny Whitaker) and Text (George Spell) are two friends determined, against all odds, to turn a misfit hound into a hero. Tennessee farmer and dog trainer Harve McNeil (Earl Holliman) tells his son Lonnie that his dog, Moreover, is a good-for-nothing "biscuit eater."

A Boy Called Po

When David Wilson's young wife falls victim to cancer, he is left a single working dad with the sole responsibility of caring for his sixth grade son with autism. Patrick, who prefers to be called 'Po,' is a gifted but challenged child who was very close to his mother and unable to communicate his own sense of loss. As father and son struggle to deal with life after mom, they each begin to withdraw into their own worlds. David into the high pressure job he's close to losing and Po drifting away from the school where he's bullied into his magical fantasy world, the Land of Color, where he's just a typical carefree boy with a rich cast of other worldly companions. The growing divide between father and son and the challenges of single parenthood of a special needs child threaten to separate David and Po permanently. Based on a true story, the bonds of love between a grieving father and son are tested in the most real way in Po.

The Boy Who Could Fly

Milly and Louis, and their recently-widowed mom, Charlene, move to a new neighborhood. Once there, they all deal with a variety of personal problems, but Milly finds a friend in Eric, her autistic next door neighbor. Eric has a fascination with flight, and as the story progresses, he exerts an enthralling force of change on all those around him.

Circle of Friends

Three girlhood friends now at college share first loves, first kisses and first betrayals. At the center of it all is the best-looking boy on campus. Can a self-conscious dreamer hook the biggest fish in the pond?

Follow Me, Boys!

Lem Siddons is part of a traveling band who has a dream of becoming a lawyer. Deciding to settle down, he finds a job as a stockboy in the general store of a small town. Trying to fit in, he volunteers to become scoutmaster of the newly formed Troop 1. Becoming more and more involved with the scout troop, he finds his plans to become a lawyer being put on the back burner, until he realizes that his life has been fulfilled helping the youth of the small town.

Flipper

Sandy is distraught when, having saved Flipper by pulling out a spear, his father insists the dolphin be released. A grateful Flipper, however, returns the favor when Sandy is threatened by sharks.

Goodnight, Mister Tom

We're in an English village shortly before Dunkirk. "Mr. Tom" Oakley still broods over the death of his wife and small son while he was away in the navy during WWI, and grief has made him a surly hermit. Now children evacuated from London are overwhelming volunteers to house them. Practically under protest, Mr. Tom takes in a painfully quiet 10-year-old, who gradually reveals big problems.

Where the Red Fern Grows

Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for two years to achieve his dream of buying two red-bone coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in life as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with his dogs, Old Dan and Little Ann.

Paradise

A 10-year-old boy spends a summer in the country with a childless couple and a precocious girl.

Housekeeping

In the Pacific Northwest during the 1950s, two young sisters whose mother has abandoned them wind up living with their Aunt Sylvie, whose views of the world and its conventions don't quite live up to most people's expectations.

suggested by: user48863rwrqpq

Heidi

Heidi is an orphaned girl initially raised by her aunt Dete in Maienfeld, Switzerland. In order to get a job in Frankfurt, Dete brings 5-year-old Heidi to her grandfather, who has been at odds with the villagers for years and lives in seclusion on the alm. He at first resents Heidi's arrival, but the girl manages to penetrate his harsh exterior and subsequently has a delightful stay with him and her best friend, young Peter the goat-herd.

5.5 / 10 2005 Animation Family
suggested by: magicmaker

Heidi

Based on the ever-popular children's' novel by Johanna Spyri, "Heidi" follows the adventures of an indomitable young girl, forced to move to her grandfather's hovel high up in the Swiss Alps, where she she surprises all by settling in to a firm friendship, not only with her somewhat grouchy relative, but also with a new friend Peter, the goat-herder.

The Secret of Roan Inish

Ten-year-old Fiona is sent to live with her grandparents in a small fishing village in Donegal, Ireland. She soon learns the local legend that an ancestor of hers married a Selkie – a seal who can turn into a human. Years earlier, her baby brother was washed out to sea and never seen again, so when Fiona spies a naked little boy on the abandoned Isle of Roan Inish, she is compelled to investigate.

4.9 / 10 2013 Drama
suggested by: user2395o67h8li

Stay

A woman finds out she's pregnant and returns home when the expected father wants nothing to do with her.

Stolen Summer

Pete, an eight-year-old Catholic boy growing up in the suburbs of Chicago in the mid-1970s, attends Catholic school, where as classes let out for the summer, he's admonished by a nun to follow the path of the Lord, and not that of the Devil. Perhaps taking this message a bit too seriously, Pete decides it's his goal for the summer to help someone get into heaven - by trying to convert a Jew to Catholicism.

Tiger Eyes

After Davey's father is killed in a hold-up, she and her mother and younger brother visit relatives in New Mexico. Here Davey is befriended by a young man who helps her find the strength to carry on and conquer her fears.

The Race

The story of an 11-year-old girl from a poor rural community who dreams of becoming a racing driver.

Far from Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog

Teenager Angus adopts a stray dog and names him Yellow. Several days later, while travelling along the coast of British Columbia with Angus's father, John, the boy and dog become stranded when turbulent waters capsize their boat. Angus's parents relentlessly badger rescue teams. Angus, schooled by his father in wilderness survival skills, and assisted by the intelligent Yellow Dog, tries to attract rescuers.

Martian Child

A recently-widowed science fiction writer considers whether to adopt a hyper-imaginative 6-year-old abandoned and socially-rejected boy who says he's really from Mars.

Second Best

The difficult relationship between a british postal officer and his adoptive son.

Canvas

A woman's schizophrenia affects her relationships with her husband and son.

The Golden Seal

A lonely 10-year-old boy living with his parents in a remote coastal part of Alaksa, spontaneously finds a legendary golden seal and her newborn pup. But the greed for her valuable pelt sets off the hunters, including his own father, the local natives, and an ambitious poacher in pursuit the seal. The golden seal and her cub are hunted for a huge bounty on her head and the mythological legend

The Run of the Country

An Irish lad (Matt Keeslar) who fled from his oppressive, widowed father (Albert Finney) falls for a girl (Victoria Smurfit) from an affluent family.

My Friend Joe

During the course of one summer, a young Irish lad named Chris befriends an American boy named Joe. The two couldn't be more different, yet they become inseparable. Things turn horribly wrong however, when Chris discovers his new best friend isn't a he, but a she. The sadness only begins as Chris learns why Joe's gender must be kept a secret.

Angel at Sea

Louis is a twelve year old boy who lives with his parents and older brother in southern Morocco. Louis is very happy until the day his father shares a secret with him.

Rails & Ties

A deadly collision between a train and car lead to an unlikely bond between the train engineer and a young boy who escapes the carnage.

Losing Chase

An intimate and turbulent relationship develops between Chase, a woman recovering from a nervous breakdown and Elizabeth, the caretaker employed to look after her.

The Horses of McBride

When Nicki finds two horses stranded deep in the Rocky Mountain snow, she makes it her mission to find a way to get them to safety. With no other options, she picks up a shovel and starts to dig out the mile-long path, inspiring her father, Matt, and the rest of the community to join together and save the horses in the spirit of Christmas.

Sister, Sister

Heated confrontations and revelations result when a divorcee returns with her young son to the home of her two sisters.

The Last Sin Eater

In seeking her own redemption from the one man of whom she is most afraid, 10-year-old Cadi Forbes discovers a secret sin haunting her community of Welsh immigrants in 1850s Appalachia.

Seasons of the Heart

Martha and Jed Richards live in Oregon in 1862. They and their two daughters moved there to make a new life, but the daughters died of cholera along the way. This has left Martha an emotional wreck, and she is unable to move on with her life. That is until an orphan named Danny comes to live with them. Jed immediately accepts Danny as his son, but Martha is still too upset to be able to love him. As time passes, however, she finds herself more and more able to accept him as part of the family.

The Baby Formula

Two adventurous women in love are desperate to have their own biological child. They take a chance on an experimental scientific process and make sperm from their own stem cells. Pregnant with humor and unexpected twists, their journey ultimately confirms that all life is a gift and all families are crazy.

The Little Kidnappers

Loosely based on a '50's movie of the same name, it tells the story of two young orphan boys who travel by themselves from the Old country to join their father's family in Canada. There they encounter their stern disciplinarian grandfather who has alienated himself from some of his neighbors. There is particularly no love lost between the grandfather and his Dutch neighbors, who he generalizes as being responsible for his son's death in the Boor War. A side product of this animosity is that it is keeping apart the boy's aunt and her Dutch doctor suitor. The two boys change everything though when they find a young baby on the beach...

Booky & the Secret Santa

Booky does everything she can to make an enjoyable Christmas, for her family, during the depression as her father is out of work.

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey

When a broken hearted boy loses the treasured wooden nativity set that links him to his dead father, his worried mother persuades a lonely ill-tempered woodcarver to create a replacement, and to allow her son to watch him work on it.

Thrill of the Hills

In order to to see his idol, Jimi Hendrix, a twelve year old boy attempts a journey from his Quebec village to Woodstock.

Love's Unending Legacy

Missie three years later: being a single mother after her husband Willie was shot during a poker scuffle. She and Maddy move back in with her parents Clark and Marty. She finds a new home, and finds a new teaching position that she settles right into, but Missie has lost all faith in herself, until a chance encounter at her father's church where she adopts homeless orphan Belinda Marshall.

The Boxcar Children

Four orphaned and homeless siblings happen upon an abandoned boxcar, which, they furnish with all the comforts of home. Fearful that they will be sent to live with their grandfather they have never met, the children keep their new home a secret.

Change of Plans

Sally and Jason Danville's life are turned upside down when a tragic accident suddenly names them the caretakers of four young children.

The Color of Rain

After cancer claims Matt Kell's life on Christmas Day 2005, his widow, Gina and two young boys are left to cope with the pain of his loss while their close church community gathers around them for support.

7.8 / 10 2003 Drama Family
suggested by: user729aecvzt3p

Pollyanna

Pollyanna Whittier goes to live with her wealthy but bitter aunt after the tragic death of her father. Pollyanna shares a game her father taught her -- the 'Glad Game' -- in which everyone can find a silver lining in even the darkest cloud, and her sunny nature, good humor and determination to look on the bright side of life prove to have an astonishing effect on those around her. With the help of her orphaned friend, Jimmy Bean, she casts her spell on the grumpiest townsfolk of Beldingsville -- including the cynical shut-in Mrs. Snow, the morose millionaire Mr. Pendleton and the enigmatic Dr. Chilton. And Pollyanna masterminds the romance between her Aunt's maid, Nancy, and the handyman, Tim. It is only Aunt Polly, who cannot bring herself to embrace Pollyanna's innocence and joy. But all is not straightforward in Pollyanna's war against pessimism, since she must overcome a personal tragedy that threatens to banish "glad" from her vocabulary forever.

The Seventh Stream

She's a beautiful stranger lost in his world. Can they find a place in each other's hearts?

The Christmas Bunny

The Christmas Bunny tells the story of a lonely foster child (Sophie Bolen) who finds a lost, injured rabbit in the woods on Christmas Eve. The rabbit is nursed back to health by The Bunny Lady (Florence Henderson), who runs a rabbit rescue in an old barn behind her Michigan farmhouse.

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