Best movies like The Great Outdoors

The wildlife is wild, but his brother-in-law in unbearable.

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like The Great Outdoors Starring Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Stephanie Faracy, Annette Bening, and more. If you liked The Great Outdoors then you may also like: The Four Seasons, Vacation, Wild America, Without a Paddle, Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie 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.

It's vacation time for outdoorsy Chicago man Chet Ripley, along with his wife, Connie, and their two kids, Buck and Ben. But a serene weekend of fishing at a Wisconsin lakeside cabin gets crashed by Connie's obnoxious brother-in-law, Roman Craig, his wife, Kate, and the couple's two daughters. As the excursion wears on, the Ripleys find themselves at odds with the stuffy Craig family.

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The Four Seasons

Three middle-aged wealthy couples take vacations together in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Along the way we are treated to mid-life, marital, parental and other crises.

Vacation

Hoping to bring his family closer together and to recreate his childhood vacation for his own kids, a grown up Rusty Griswold takes his wife and their two sons on a cross-country road trip to the coolest theme park in America, Walley World. Needless to say, things don't go quite as planned.

Wild America

Three brothers - Marshall, Marty and Mark dream of becoming naturalists and portraying animal life of America. One summer their dream comes true, they travel through America, filming alligators, bears and moose.

Without a Paddle

Three friends, whose lives have been drifting apart, reunite for the funeral of a fourth childhood friend. When looking through their childhood belongings, they discover a trunk which contained details on a quest their friend was attempting. It revealed that he was hot on the trail of the $200,000 that went missing with airplane hijacker D.B. Cooper in 1971. They decide to continue his journey, but do not understand the dangers they will soon encounter.

Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure

Though Eddie's fired right at Christmastime, his boss sends him and his family on a South Pacific vacation, hoping Eddie won't sue him after being bitten by a lab monkey. When the Tuttle family winds up trapped on a tropical island, however, Eddie manages to provide for everyone and prove himself a real man.

The Night of the Grizzly

Marshall "Big Jim" Cole turns in his badge and heads to Wyoming with his family in order to settle on some land left him by a relative. He faces opposition both from a neighbor who wants that land for his own sons, and from a grizzly bear nicknamed "Satan" who keeps killing Cole's livestock.

RV

Climbing aboard their mammoth recreational vehicle for a cross-country road trip to the Colorado Rockies, the Munro family – led by dysfunctional patriarch, Bob – prepares for the adventure of a lifetime. But spending two weeks together in one seriously small space has a way of cramping their style.

Johnson Family Vacation

Nate Johnson, a Los Angeles man estranged from his wife and three children, decides to reconnect with his family by taking them with him on a road trip to Missouri for a big family reunion.

The Adventures of the Wilderness Family

The story of a modern family bored with the hassles of the city life in Los Angeles. They head for the wilderness never to return.

Are We Done Yet?

Newlyweds Nick and Suzanne decide to move to the suburbs to provide a better life for their two kids. But their idea of a dream home is disturbed by a contractor with a bizarre approach to business.

Baby's Day Out

Baby Bink couldn't ask for more: he has adoring (if somewhat sickly-sweet) parents, lives in a huge mansion, and he's just about to appear in the social pages of the paper. Unfortunately, not everyone in the world is as nice as Baby Bink's parents—especially the three enterprising kidnappers who pretend to be photographers from the newspaper. Successfully kidnapping Baby Bink, they have a harder time keeping hold of the rascal, who not only keeps one step ahead of them, but seems to be more than a little bit smarter than the three bumbling criminals.

Beethoven's 2nd

Beethoven is back -- and this time, he has a whole brood with him now that he's met his canine match, Missy, and fathered a family. The only problem is that Missy's owner, Regina, wants to sell the puppies and tear the clan apart. It's up to Beethoven and the Newton kids to save the day and keep everyone together.

Benji

Benji is a stray who has nonetheless worked his way into the hearts of a number of the townspeople, who give him food and attention whenever he stops by. His particular favorites are a pair of children who feed and play with him against the wishes of their parents. When the children are kidnapped, however, the parents and the police are at a loss to find them. Only Benji can track them down, but will he be in time? If he can save the day, he may just find the permanent home he's been longing for.

Benji the Hunted

Benji has become stranded on a remote island after a boating accident. He finds himself struggling to survive in the wilderness, avoiding close encounters with a wolf, a bear, and a territorial female cougar with her cub.

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."

Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation

This animated adventure goes back in time to the Care Bears' first-ever Caring Mission, when True Heart Bear and Noble Heart Horse touch down on Earth to boost the spirits of some unhappy kids at summer camp. But the evil Dark Heart has other plans, and convinces one of the campers to help him capture the Care Bears. Will our lovable heroes' Care Stare be enough to vanquish the villain -- and convince his apprentice that good's the way to go?

Cheaper by the Dozen

The Baker brood moves to Chicago after patriarch Tom gets a job coaching football at Northwestern University, forcing his writer wife, Mary, and the couple's 12 children to make a major adjustment. The transition works well until work demands pull the parents away from home, leaving the kids bored -- and increasingly mischievous.

Cheaper by the Dozen 2

Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt return as heads of the Baker family who, while on vacation, find themselves in competition with a rival family of eight children, headed by Eugene Levy,

Cheetah

An American boy and girl, spending six months in Kenya with their scientist parents adopt a cheetah, only to realize that they must set it loose so that it can learn to hunt and be free. However, when the animal is captured by poachers planning to race it against greyhounds, the two city kids, together with a young African goat herder they befriended, head off into the wild to rescue the cheetah.

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids

The scientist father of a teenage girl and boy accidentally shrinks his and two other neighborhood teens to the size of insects. Now the teens must fight diminutive dangers as the father searches for them.

Honey, I Blew Up the Kid

Wayne Szalinski is at it again. But instead of shrinking things, he tries to make a machine that can make things grow. As in the first one, his machine isn't quite accurate. But when he brings Nick & his toddler son Adam to see his invention, the machine unexpectedly starts working. And when Adam comes right up to the machine, he gets zapped along with his stuffed bunny.

Darling Companion

The story of a woman who loves her dog more than her husband. And then her husband loses the dog.

Escanaba in da Moonlight

A macho man in a family on the eve of deer-hunting season must deal with the eldest son's curse of never having bagged a buck.

Houseguest

In hot water with the mob over an unpaid debt, a con man poses as a family friend in an affluent Pennsylvania suburb.

License to Drive

Teenager Les Anderson thinks his life can't get any worse after he flunks his driver's exam, but he's wrong. Even though he didn't receive his license, Les refuses to break his date with the cool Mercedes Lane, and he decides to lift his family's prize luxury car for the occasion. Unfortunately, Mercedes sneaks some booze along and passes out drunk, and a confused Les makes the bad decision of enlisting his rebellious friend, Dean, to help.

Harry and the Hendersons

Returning from a hunting trip in the forest, the Henderson family's car hits an animal in the road. At first they fear it was a man, but when they examine the "body" they find it's a "bigfoot". They think it's dead so they decide to take it home (there could be some money in this). As you guessed, it isn't dead. Far from being the ferocious monster they fear "Harry" to be, he's a friendly giant.

Parenthood

The story of the Buckman family and friends, attempting to bring up their children. They suffer/enjoy all the events that occur: estranged relatives, the 'black sheep' of the family, the eccentrics, the skeletons in the closet, and the rebellious teenagers.

My Father the Hero

A teenage girl on vacation in the Bahamas with her divorced father tries to impress a potential boyfriend by saying that her father is actually her lover. Remake of the 1991 French film Mon père, ce héros.

Little Giants

When Danny O'Shea's daughter is cut from the Peewee football team just for being a girl, he decides to form his own team, composed of other ragtag players who were also cut. Can his team really learn enough to beat the elite team, coached by his brother, a former pro player?

The Last Summer

Standing on the precipice of adulthood, a group of friends navigate new relationships, while reexamining others, during their final summer before college.

December Boys

For many years, four teenage orphans at an Australian outback convent have watched their younger comrades find new parents, and realize that they may never be adopted. The Reverend Mother sends the four boys away on a seaside vacation, where they meet Teresa and Fearless, a couple who would make perfect parents. The youths compete with one another to be the one Teresa and Fearless decide to adopt.

Sweetheart

A socially awkward, environmentally-conscious teenager named AJ is dragged to a coastal holiday park by her painfully 'normal' family, where she becomes unexpectedly captivated by a chlorine smelling, sun-loving lifeguard named Isla.

Stardust

A scientist finds his newest invention; a microchip that infuses inanimate objects with human qualities co-opted by the company he works for, which wants to capitalize on his findings. Knowing his creation can be used for evil purposes, he stashes it away, but his 11-year-old son, Charlie (Jared Robbins), finds it and implants it into a vacuum cleaner he calls Stardust. Will he manage to elude his dad's greedy bosses?

Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves

The joke's on absent-minded scientist Wayne Szalinski when his troublesome invention shrinks him, his brother and their wives so effectively that their children think they've completely disappeared. Of course, this gives the kids free rein to do anything they want, unaware that their parents are watching every move.

House Arrest

High-schooler Grover Beindorf and his younger sister Stacy decide that their parents, Janet and Ned, are acting childishly when they decide to divorce after 18 years of marriage, so they lock them up in the basement until they'll sort out their problems.

Summer Rental

Jack Chester, an overworked air traffic controller, takes his family on vacation to the beach. Things immediately start to go wrong for the Chesters, and steadily get worse. Jack ends up in a feud with a local yachtsman, and has to race him to regain his pride and family's respect.

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil

Two hillbillies are suspected of being killers by a group of paranoid college kids camping near the duo's West Virginian cabin. As the body count climbs, so does the fear and confusion as the college kids try to seek revenge against the pair.

Snowglobe

A young woman discovers a Christmas-themed dreamworld inside a magical snowglobe. Angela loves Christmas more than anything. However, her family does not share her love for the holiday at all. When she is about to breakdown because of her family, she receives a snowglobe in the mail. When she opens up the snowglobe, she is transported into the world inside, where Christmas is the heart and soul for everyone who lives there. She discovers she can return to her world by going down a small path in the small forest at the edge of the village, and can return whenever she winds up the snowglobe. After a long set of visits to the globe, she accidentally gets trapped inside.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

It's Christmastime, and the Griswolds are preparing for a family seasonal celebration. But things never run smoothly for Clark, his wife Ellen, and their two kids. Clark's continual bad luck is worsened by his obnoxious family guests, but he manages to keep going, knowing that his Christmas bonus is due soon.

What We Did on Our Holiday

Doug and Abi and their three children travel to the Scottish Highlands for Doug's father Gordie's birthday party. It's soon clear that when it comes to keeping a secret under wraps from the rest of the family, their children are their biggest liability...

Mulligans

When Tyler Davidson brings his college buddy Chase home for the summer holidays a secret is revealed that threatens to tear his perfect family apart.

Christmas Is Canceled

A father begins dating his 29-year-old daughter Emma's high school frenemy soon after his wife passes away. His daughter embarks on a mission to break up the happy couple.

When Nature Calls

When construction worker Greg becomes fed-up with his foreman and the "city life", he takes his wife and kids on a wilderness adventure.

Dance 'Til Dawn

It's prom night and the kids of Hoover High will be having a night they will never forget. Popular girl Shelley ditches her prom and ends up spending the night with unpopular Dan; Popular guy Kevin goes out with nerdy Angela because he heard she was easy; Patrice continues to blame her boyfriend Roger for everything that doesn't go the way she wants it to.

Personally Yours

Susannah and Jesse Stanton divorced two years prior with three children. When Susannah starts dating a lawyer, the children decide to find someone for their father, sending a letter to a popular magazine called Alaskan Love. He receives a large number of responses, but the children later feel that his perfect match is Susannah, and they try to arrange a plan to bring them together.

Puppy Love

When single mom Megan Nolan moves to a new town, she feels guilty for uprooting her ten-year-old daughter Caitlin. Seeing that the little girl's only friend is a neighbor's dog, Megan decides to adopt a shelter pet for Caitlin. She immediately regrets her decision when Caitlin gravitates to the biggest, sloppiest dog in the pound, Jake. Megan's beautiful new home is now in shambles and, as Megan considers returning Jake to the shelter, handsome ballplayer Ben shows up claiming Jake is his dog, the regrettable outcome of his roommate leaving a gate open. Megan and Ben butt heads. Ben wants to take his dog and leave, until he sees that Caitlin loves Jake as much as he ever could. Now it is clear: the pound puppy everyone loves deserves no less than joint custody.

Alpha and Omega: Family Vacation

Kate and Humphrey take their pups to Alfred Creek Falls for a vacation, where they find themselves embroiled in a cross-country chase after mad wolf trappers spot them.

Return to Christmas Creek

As Christmas approaches, Amelia Hughes, a career-focused Chicago app developer lacking in holiday spirit, returns to her small hometown of Christmas Creek to rediscover the meaning of Christmas. There, she reunites with her childhood best friend Mike and her estranged uncle Harry, whose mysterious rift with Amelia’s father divided her family during the holiday season when she was a child.

The King and Queen of Moonlight Bay

A college girl decides to get to know her estranged father before she begins her education, but his life turns out to be nothing that she expected.

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