'Asteroid City' and 8 Other Movies About Super Smart Kids (2024)

Growing up a “gifted kid,” it can be hard to find friends. Bonding with other kids who have a deep love of learning and harnessing knowledge is a rare font of joy. The sheer amount of smart kids in movies that gifted kids can see themselves in is comforting, and these films provide inspiration as well as entertainment.

The Junior Stargazer kids in Wes Anderson’s latest movie, Asteroid City, are just some of the most delightfully smart young people in cinema. From Disney animation to inspirational family fare to even more Wes Anderson, precocious kids, and brainy teens make for delightful viewing.

9 'Rushmore' (1998)

Rushmore is Wes Anderson’s second film and Jason Schwartzman’s breakout film. Max Fischer (Schwartzman) may not have the greatest grades, but he is in all the extracurricular clubs at the prestigious Rushmore private school (which gets him expelled). After transferring to a new public high school, Max falls in love with elementary school teacher Miss Cross (Olivia Williams) and stumbles into a love triangle of sorts with her and local businessman Herman Blume (Bill Murray).

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Max isn’t as book-smart as many of the other kid protagonists of Wes Anderson’s films. He makes up for it with his sheer charisma and ability to multitask and run dozens of afterschool clubs. Rushmore starts the fine tradition of quirky school-age characters having major roles in Wes Anderson movies, and Max’s DNA can be seen in Anderson's protagonists for years to come.

8 'Matilda' (1996) and 'Matilda the Musical' (2022)

Roald Dahl’s Matilda might be the ultimate brainy kid fantasy. Adapted to the screen twice, the story follows bookworm Matilda Wormwood (Mara Wilson in the original film, Alisha Weir in the musical film) as she outwits her nasty parents and terrifying school headmistress Miss Trunchbull with her kind heart and powerful mind.

Matilda is beloved by children and adults alike for using her heart and intellect (not to mention her innate psychic powers) to overcome adversity at home and in school. The musical also features songs written by the extremely smart musical comedian Tim Minchin, and his exceedingly clever way with words illuminates every ensemble kid, singing wordplay-heavy songs like the "School Song."

7 'Meet the Robinsons' (2007)

Disney’s Meet The Robinsons is a charming animated time-travel romp about Lewis, an orphaned young inventor who longs to find his birth mother. He makes an invention to find her, but the devious Bowler Hat Guy steals it. Lewis is swept into the future by Wilbur Robinson, a kid genius displaced in time whose time machine was also nicked by Bowler Hat Guy. In the future, Wilbur introduces his friend to his eccentric family, and together they try to stop Bowler Hat Guy from using the time machine to change his past.

Meet The Robinsons is fairly underrated for 2000s Disney, and the two main kids and their love of invention make for refreshing lead characters. The film has a terrific message for kids to not dwell on their failures, and the time travel shenanigans are a delight. Plus, there’s a talking dinosaur named Tiny — what’s not to enjoy?

6 'Finding Forrester' (2000)

Gus Van Sant’s Finding Forrester is an inspiring film about an unlikely friendship. Gifted Black high school basketball whiz Jamal (Rob Brown) unexpectedly befriends neighborhood recluse William Forrester (Sean Connery), who turns out to be a Pulitzer-winning novelist. Forrester becomes Jamal’s mentor after discovering he’s also a budding writer.

Though the story beats are familiar, Brown and Connery’s performances elevate the film, and their protégé/mentor relationship is extremely touching. Rob Brown got the role of Jamal hoping to be cast as an extra just so he could make enough to pay his phone bill; his career following his unexpected success in Finding Forrester only grew, including major roles in Coach Carter and the HBO series Treme.

5 'The Young and Prodigious TS Spivet' (2013)

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Amelie director Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s whimsical sensibilities were put to use in adapting the popular Reif Larsen novel The Selected Works of TS Spivet. 10-year-old wunderkind TS Spivet (Kyle Catlett) lives on a Montana ranch with his eccentric family. When he is chosen to win a prestigious scientific prize from the Smithsonian but assumed by the organization that he’s a grown man, TS runs away on a cross-country adventure to receive his award.

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The TS Spivet novel was illustrated and annotated throughout, making it a visually intriguing read that brings TS’s mind to life. This charming film adaptation was released in IMAX 3D in some markets to imitate the book’s immersive feel. It also won the Best Cinematography Cesar award.

4 'Moonrise Kingdom' (2012)

Wes Anderson has a knack for making films where the adults act like children and the kid characters are wise beyond their years. One of his best examples is Moonrise Kingdom. This '60s-set summer romance follows Suzy (Kara Heyward) and Sam (Jared Gilman), two young lovebirds living on an island in New England who run away from home together. The various adults on the island all mobilize to try to find them before a huge storm hits the island.

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Sam and Suzy are awkward teens, but their emotional maturity makes them especially endearing. Suzy is a noted bookworm who packs six of her favorite books to take on her romantic runaway. Titles like “The Girl From Jupiter” and “Disappearance of the Sixth Grade” show she’s interested in a variety of genres.

3 'Queen of Katwe' (2016)

Director Mira Nair helmed the based-on-a-true-story chess movie Queen of Katwe. Young Phiona (Madina Nalwanga), her mother Nakku Harriet (Lupita Nyong’o), and their family struggle to get by in the slums of Uganda. When Phiona meets missionary Robert (David Oyelowo) at an after-school program and learns to play chess with him, she soon climbs the ranks in the competitive chess world, hoping to provide for her family with her winnings and using the game as a way to escape the hardships of the real world.

Queen of Katwe is a crowdpleaser with an inspiring underdog story. The film is based on a book of the same name about the real Ugandan chess champion Phiona Mutesi. The real Mutesi attended all the film's premieres in 2016; she is currently working on her studies and motivational speaking.

2 'Akeelah and the Bee' (2006)

Akeelah and the Bee is a charming family film that follows 11-year-old Akeelah (Keke Palmer)’s dreams of winning the Scripps National Spelling Bee. With help from her mentor Dr. Larabee (Laurence Fishburne), Akeelah strives to make it to the finals. Akeelah’s family life with her mother (Angela Bassett) and discrimination block her path, but her determination wins the day.

Akeelah and the Bee was Keke Palmer’s breakthrough performance, earning her multiple awards. The film was immensely popular and critically praised for its well-handled portrayal of a smart Black girl and her family and its sensitive depiction of how the public school system treats marginalized communities.

1 'Asteroid City' (2023)

Wes Anderson’s latest film is the 1950s-set sci-fi comedy Asteroid City. The titular desert town is the setting for the Junior Stargazers convention, where a group of brainy kids — Woodrow "Braniac" Steenbeck (Jake Ryan), Dinah Campbell (Grace Edwards), Shelly Borden (played by the talented Sophia Lillis), Ricky Cho (Ethan Josh Lee), and Clifford Kellogg (Aristou Meehan) — are to receive honors from the government for their brilliant inventions. A surprise visit from an alien puts the entire convention into government lockdown.

These kids are some of the most lovable in Anderson’s filmography. They’ve all gathered in this desert town to celebrate their unusually powerful inventions (Ricky’s made a jetpack; Dinah can radioactively make plants grow faster; Clifford built a disintegration ray) and bond over their shared passion for science as well as their social outcast status. From their communal memory game that lasts several days without any of them messing up to making contact with a school newspaper to break the alien news to the world, the Junior Stargazers emerge as some of the most memorable characters in a true ensemble piece.

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