These Movies Are Quite Similar, But Which Ones Do You Like Best?

A Bug's Life or Antz – it's time to make some tricky choices.

1. Big and 13 Going On 30.

20th Century Fox / Columbia Pictures

The slightly awkward tween who wishes they were older, but then realises the grass isn’t greener after they’re inexplicably transformed into a full-grown adult. Both films even have a random dance scene! 

2. The Lego Movie and The Matrix.

Warner Bros

The Lego Movie is basically the child-friendly version of The Matrix. Emmet and Neo are both regular guys living their mundane lives until they accept that they’re THE CHOSEN ONE, and it’s their destiny to save everyone. To sum it up, both movies are existential as hell and very very similar (in all the right ways).

3. Freaky Friday and It's A Boy Girl Thing.

Icon Entertainment International / Buena Vista Pictures

I suppose there are only so many ways the body-swap genre can be done, and these movies went about it the right way. They prove that having two characters who absolutely hate each other trade bodies makes for great watching, especially when there are important events like weddings and Yale interviews raising the stakes.

4. The Great Escape and Chicken Run.

DreamWorks Pictures / United Artists

Fans of The Chicken Run will know that the creators of The Chicken Run got their influences from the wartime classic. Wrongful imprisonment? Check. Fear of impending death? Check. A cunning plan that will lead to freedom? Check! Steve McQueen riding off on that motorbike and the chickens flying to freedom are cinematic parallels.

5. Pocahontas and Avatar.

Buena Vista Pictures / 20th Century Fox

Picture this: A story about Pocahontas, except its the year 2154, she’s blue, and she lives on Pandora. Picturing it? Yep, it’s Avatar. I mean, it's not the most unpredictable of narratives – white settlers travel to a faraway land, and the daughter of the land's leader falls for one of the white guys. Seriously, the plot of one of the highest-grossing movies ever is almost identical to the Disney classic, with just a few details changed.

6. Finding Nemo and Taken.

Buena Vista Pictures Distribution / DreamWorks Pictures

Okay, so you might be saying, “What’s Taken doing here, it's Finding Nemo and Shark Tale that are the same,” but you're wrong – the only real similarity between those two is that they’re both about fish. Taken, on the other hand, is a much darker take on the old single-father-who-will-do-anything-to-rescue-his-beloved-missing-child storyline that we all recognise as Finding Nemo.

7. John Tucker Must Die and The Other Woman.

20th Century Fox

Three women get betrayed by a hot douchebag and then team up to do some hilarious revenge. I don’t think I need to say much about this one, other than The Other Woman is a more mature version of John Tucker, just with a much more literal (and less fun) title.

8. Freddy vs. Jason and Alien vs. Predator.

New Line Cinema / 20th Century Fox

Yes, the titles are alike, but the similarities don’t end there. Sure, the genres are different but both films are essentially crossovers with superhuman villains who want to fight it out to the death, while everyone else gets caught in the crossfire.

9. This Is The End and The World's End.

Sony Pictures Releasing / Universal Pictures

If you ignore the alien invasion plot of The World’s End and just focus on the whole "lads trying to survive the apocalypse" storyline, you’ll see that it’s just Britain’s version of This Is The End. If you want the cynical disaster comedy, go for The World’s End, but if you want the glitzy Hollywood blockbuster, you know what to watch.

10. Antz & A Bug's Life.

DreamWorks Pictures / Buena Vista Pictures

This one goes without saying. You know they’re the same. They’re so similar the plots just merge into one big insect story. I bet you can’t even tell which bug is Z and which is Flik.

11. The Lion King and The Prince Of Egypt.

DreamWorks Pictures / Buena Vista Pictures

Okay, so I know that The Prince Of Egypt is based on the Old Testament story and The Lion King is based on Hamlet, but have you seen them both? Our two young heroes are involved in a tragic death, which leads them to flee in shame. Simba and Moses both wallow for a while, before realising that they need to pull themselves together and save their beloved people.

12. Deep Impact and Armageddon.

United International Pictures / Buena Vista Pictures

Shout out to Chandler Bing for this one. These are another pair that came out in the same year, and are a perfect example of the whole “great minds think alike thing.” I mean, look at those pictures – they even look like they’re from the same film!

13. No Strings Attached and Friends With Benefits.

Paramount Pictures / Screen Gems

I don’t even want to write about these two because they may as well be the same movie. They even came out in the same year! Seriously, if you were watching Friends With Benefits and someone swapped it for No Strings Attached halfway through, you probably wouldn't even notice the difference.

14. Matilda and Carrie.

United Artists / TriStar Pictures

I expect a few eyebrow raises for this one, but hear me out. A young girl who’s mistreated by her family discovers she has the power of telekinesis, and that’s where the adventure begins. You might not want to admit it, but you know that plot summary could be for either film.

What other movie plots are essentially the same? Tell me your favourites in the comments!