7 heartwarming movies like The Life List that explore personal growth

The Life List showed up on Netflix looking like just another rom-com but it surprised a lot of people. It has romance but the real focus is on change. Alex seems to have a good life with a job at her mom’s company and a boyfriend who makes sense on paper.

Everything shifts when her mom passes away and leaves her a list she wrote when she was thirteen. If Alex wants her inheritance she has to finish every single item on it. At first she’s annoyed but the more she gets into it the more it forces her to look at who she is and what she actually wants.

These kinds of stories don’t always come with big speeches or dramatic breakdowns. They show people making quiet choices that change everything. Sometimes that means quitting a job or leaving someone who felt safe. Sometimes it’s as simple as getting on a stage or learning how to drive.

If The Life List worked for you it’s probably because it felt real. So here are seven other movies that tap into the same kind of emotional shift. They’re about people who get stuck then get unstuck and somehow end up feeling more like themselves.

Heartwarming movies like The Life List that explore personal growth

1. Julie & Julia (2009)

Julie & Julia (Image via Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Releasing)

Julie feels stuck in her job and her life so she decides to cook her way through Julia Child’s cookbook and blog the entire experience. It starts as a personal project but quickly becomes something more important as she works through self-doubt and creative blocks. The routine gives her structure and helps her focus during a time when everything else feels uncertain.

The film moves between Julie’s story in post-9/11 New York, and Julia Child’s journey in 1950s France. Julia also struggles to find her purpose after moving abroad. She experiments with different careers before falling in love with cooking and eventually building her legacy. Both stories show the slow process of figuring things out and not quitting when the work feels too hard.

Julie and Julia grow in different ways but both use cooking as a path back to themselves. Neither journey feels fast or easy and that’s what makes it believable.

2. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Image via 20th Century Studios)

Walter spends most of his time daydreaming and barely speaks up for himself at work or in his personal life. When a photo goes missing at his magazine he sets out to find the photographer and ends up on a trip that takes him to Iceland and the Himalayas. That search forces him to stop imagining adventure and start living it for real.

He jumps out of a helicopter into the ocean. He hikes through freezing terrain. He gets into situations he never would have attempted before. It is never framed as easy or fun. He is scared and unsure most of the time but he keeps going. His growth happens not because he decides to be brave but because he chooses to act even when he feels afraid.

Walter returns home as the same person but something has shifted. He no longer escapes into fantasy. He finally learns how to show up.

3. Eat Pray Love (2010)

Liz realizes her life is not working after her divorce and takes off for a year to travel through Italy, India, and Bali. She eats without guilt in Italy and allows herself to enjoy things again. In India she works on letting go of control and learns how to forgive herself. In Bali she finds a rhythm that finally feels like her own.

Each country represents a part of the healing process. Italy helps her reconnect with her body and her joy. India slows her down and shows her that stillness can also be powerful. Bali gives her space to try love again but this time on her own terms. She starts asking for what she wants instead of making herself smaller to fit someone else’s plans.

Liz’s growth is not about the scenery. It’s about the work she does internally while trying to feel whole again. The travel just gives it shape.

4. Wild (2014)

Cheryl is broken after the death of her mother and years of self-destructive choices so she decides to hike the Pacific Crest Trail alone. She has never done anything like it before. The trail is long and dangerous and she is not ready for most of it. But that’s part of why she needs to do it.

She deals with physical pain and isolation and fear. She remembers the moments that led her to this point. Her memories show how grief twisted her judgment and pulled her away from the people she loved. As she walks she begins to process everything that happened without trying to explain it away.

Cheryl’s journey is not about finding peace by the end of the trail. It is about carrying her loss without letting it stop her anymore. She does not erase her past. She just stops letting it decide who she is going to be.

5. Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)

Under the Tuscan Sun (Image via Touchstone Pictures)

Frances is a writer whose life falls apart after a divorce so she impulsively buys a villa in Tuscany. The house is in bad shape and she feels just as messy inside. She starts over in a place where she doesn’t speak the language and knows no one. The quiet forces her to listen to herself again.

She fixes the house slowly and starts to meet people in town. She helps strangers and gets her heart broken and still chooses to stay. She learns that it is okay to want joy without waiting for someone else to provide it. She begins to feel whole again not because she finds love but because she makes peace with being alone.

By the end the house is filled with people she cares about and her life is hers again. The growth doesn’t come from escape. It comes from staying put and choosing to build something new.

6. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

Little Miss Sunshine (Image via Searchlight Pictures)

The Hoover family piles into a van to take young Olive to a beauty pageant in California. They are barely holding it together. Each person is dealing with their own failure and no one knows how to talk about it. The road trip becomes a crash course in honesty.

Fights happen. The van breaks down. The grandfather dies. Everyone reaches a point where they want to quit. But through the chaos they begin to show up for each other in small ways. The quiet uncle gives advice. The silent teen finally speaks. The parents stop pretending everything is okay. And Olive just keeps being herself.

At the pageant they all end up onstage during Olive’s routine. It is ridiculous and uncomfortable and also the most united they have ever been. That moment works because it is not about winning. It is about choosing each other when everything else feels broken.

7. The Fundamentals of Caring (2016)

The Fundamentals of Caring (Image via Netflix)

Ben is dealing with grief and burnout so he becomes a caregiver for Trevor a teenage boy with muscular dystrophy. Trevor does not trust people easily and Ben is not ready to connect again. They take a road trip to see a few odd landmarks and end up learning way more than expected.

They fight and joke and call each other out. Ben avoids talking about his past and Trevor hides behind sarcasm but the road does not let either of them stay guarded for long. They meet new people and deal with messy situations and keep moving forward. Both characters shift in ways that feel earned.

By the end Trevor starts asking for more from life. Ben finally allows himself to feel again. Their growth is not loud or sentimental. It happens in between the awkward stops and uncomfortable conversations. That is what makes the ending feel real and earned.