Great Movies About Very Smart Young Girls

Updated March 18, 2020 1.6k votes 182 voters 6.3k views27 items

List RulesVote up your favorite films that feature young girls or young women who use their wits to solve problems life throws at them.

Solving crimes, acing tests, and bringing parents back together - smart girls can do it all. The top movies about smart girls feature precocious young women taking their lives into their own hands. This is a list of the greatest movies about little girls, including everything from Little Miss Sunshine to Little Women to The Secret Garden.

What films will you find on this list of great movies for smart girls? The inspiring film Akeelah and the Bee follows 11-year-old Akeelah Anderson as she competes in a string of spelling bees. Keke Palmer stars as the title character in this 2006 movie, alongside fellow cast members Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett. Matilda is another great movie for smart young women. Nancy Drew uses her intellect to solve mysteries in the film of the same name. Other good movies featured on this list include Soul Surfer, The Miracle Worker, and Harriet the Spy.

Do you have a favorite film for smart young girls? Take a look at this list and give the best movies a thumbs up to make sure they land in the top spots.

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Moana
2016
Actors: Auli'i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Rachel House
Directed by: Ron Clements, John Musker
Moana is a 2016 American 3D computer-animated musical fantasy-adventure film directed by Ron... more
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Matilda
1996
Actors: Danny DeVito, Mara Wilson, Paul Reubens, Jon Lovitz, Rhea Perlman
Directed by: Danny DeVito
Matilda is a 1996 American fantasy comedy children's film directed and narrated by Danny... more
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Lilo & Stitch
2002
Actors: Tia Carrere, Ving Rhames, Kevin Michael Richardson, Daveigh Chase, David Ogden Stiers
Directed by: Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders
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Spirited Away
2001
Actors: Miyu Irino, Bunta Sugawara, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Yo Oizumi, Mari Natsuki
Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki
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The Secret Garden
1993
Actors: Maggie Smith, Irène Jacob, Kate Maberly, John Lynch, Andrew Knott
Directed by: Agnieszka Holland
The Secret Garden is a 1993 British drama fantasy film directed by Agnieszka Holland and... more
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Brave
2012
Actors: Emma Thompson, Craig Ferguson, Billy Connolly, Kevin McKidd, Julie Walters
Directed by: Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman
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Charlotte's Web
1973
Actors: Debbie Reynolds, Danny Bonaduce, Henry Gibson, Paul Lynde, Agnes Moorehead
Directed by: Charles August Nichols, Iwao Takamoto
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A Little Princess
1995
Actors: Camilla Belle, Liam Cunningham, Vincent Schiavelli, Liesel Pritzker Simmons, Chris Ellis
Directed by: Alfonso Cuarón
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Akeelah And The Bee
2006
Actors: Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne, Keke Palmer, Lee Thompson Young, Lauren Sánchez
Directed by: Doug Atchison
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The Parent Trap
1998
Actors: Lindsay Lohan, Dennis Quaid, Kat Graham, Dina Lohan, Natasha Richardson
Directed by: Nancy Meyers
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The Secret World Of Arrietty
2010
Actors: Bridgit Mendler, Amy Poehler, Will Arnett
Directed by: Hiromasa Yonebayashi
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Little Miss Sunshine
2006
Actors: Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston, Toni Collette, Abigail Breslin, Alan Arkin
Directed by: Valerie Faris, Jonathan Dayton
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Little Women
1994
Actors: Kirsten Dunst, Christian Bale, Claire Danes, Winona Ryder, Susan Sarandon
Directed by: Gillian Armstrong
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The Parent Trap
1961
Actors: Maureen O'Hara, John Mills, Hayley Mills, Brian Keith, Leo G. Carroll
Directed by: David Swift
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Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil
2011
Actors: Hayden Panettiere, Heidi Klum, Amy Poehler, Glenn Close, Andy Dick
Directed by: Mike Disa
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Harriet The Spy
1996
Actors: Rosie O'Donnell, Michelle Trachtenberg, Danny Glover, Eartha Kitt, Charlotte Sullivan
Directed by: Bronwen Hughes
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Soul Surfer
2011
Actors: Carrie Underwood, Helen Hunt, AnnaSophia Robb, Dennis Quaid, Craig T. Nelson
Directed by: Sean McNamara
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Hoodwinked!
2004
Actors: Anne Hathaway, Glenn Close, Andy Dick, Jim Belushi, Xzibit
Directed by: Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards, Tony Leech
Hoodwinked! is a 2005 American computer-animated family comedy film. It retells the folktale... more
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The Miracle Worker
1962
Actors: Anne Bancroft, Patty Duke, Beah Richards, Victor Jory, Andrew Prine
Directed by: Arthur Penn
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National Velvet
1944
Actors: Elizabeth Taylor, Mickey Rooney, Angela Lansbury, Anne Revere, Donald Crisp
Directed by: Clarence Brown
National Velvet is a 1944 Technicolor sports film based on the novel by Enid Bagnold,... more
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Mulan
1998
Actors: Eddie Murphy, Ming-Na Wen, George Takei, Donny Osmond, Pat Morita
Directed by: Tony Bancroft, Barry Cook
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Frozen 2
2019
Actors: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad, Evan Rachel Wood, Sterling K. Brown
Directed by: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
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Fly Away Home
1996
Actors: Anna Paquin, Dana Delany, Jeff Daniels, Joe Pantoliano, Wendy Walsh
Directed by: Carroll Ballard
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Annie
1982
Actors: Tim Curry, Bernadette Peters, Greta Garbo, Carol Burnett, Shawnee Smith
Directed by: John Huston
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The Secret Of Roan Inish
1994
Actors: Susan Lynch, John Lynch, Mick Lally, Eileen Colgan, Dave Duffy
Directed by: John Sayles
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