10 Movies That Aren't Very Original, But They're Still Amazing

Before you get angry about any of these being called unoriginal, remember they're also being called great. It’s an exercise not in disproving the notion that originality is overrated, but more that originality isn't always everything, and movies exploring well-worn territory can still be engaging (if you want some movies on the other side of the coin – those that are ambitious and somewhat original, but not great quality-wise – go here).

10 'John Wick' (2014)

John Wick is such a blunt sort of revenge movie, and the kind you’ve seen the likes of before, in all likelihood. There’s a guy, and he used to be an assassin, but not anymore. He’s sad. His wife has died. She left him a puppy. Something bad happens to the puppy, and some bad people are responsible. He’s got nothing left to lose. He goes on a vengeance-fueled rampage.

It sounded a bit like a joke at the time, though felt significantly less like one once it came out and proved surprisingly good. The sequels to John Wick also aren’t 100% original, yet they might be a little more so than the first, funnily enough, because they all double down on the small but interesting bits of world-building offered in this first film (the whole idea of a wild criminal underworld existing in secret alongside the real world/society).

9 'La La Land' (2016)

There’s not much in La La Land you haven’t seen already, at least if you're into classic Hollywood musicals. This is okay, though, since La La Land isn't afraid to wear its influences on its sleeve, along with its heart. It’s kind of sappy, and also by design. The fact that the romantic story here feels familiar ends up adding to this sense of La La Land being a remix of tropes and conventions from a couple of different genres.

It works. Like with John Wick and the other movies that are about to be mentioned, it’s the execution that leads to La La Land being great regardless of its lack of originality. You could also argue it subverts expectations right at the end, to some extent, even if that ending is the sequence that most obviously references old-school movie musicals, with the Singin’ in the Rain or An American in Paris-esque dreamy/surreal dance number.

8 'Pacific Rim' (2013)

In Pacific Rim, there are giant monsters invading Earth, but from a dimensional rift in the Pacific Ocean, rather than from space, which would be more expected. Maybe it’s a small thing that makes the invasion feel a little different, even if only just. The way humanity combats this threat (constructing giant pilotable robots) might seem novel, if you’ve not seen many classic kaiju movies or mecha-related anime series before.

This approach doesn’t end up kneecapping Pacific Rim. It’s a movie that slams together these two genres that are particularly popular in – and tied to – Japan, and has fun with the resulting mess. Pacific Rim is all very playful and sincere, not to mention self-aware to some extent and without feeling cynical, so it’s hard not to get swept up in it all, familiar qualities and clichés be damned.

7 'The Wild Robot' (2024)

The Wild Robot is largely about a robot becoming emotional, or very much not robotic, breaking out of its programming and everything, which is not at all an uncommon thing for sci-fi movies – animated or otherwise – about robots to explore. There’s also the whole dynamic it has with a similarly confused and somewhat lost younger character who wants to belong, but doesn’t fit in, and that’s all very coming-of-age and stuff.

But here, it’s a coming-of-age kind of movie about a young goose, so maybe that’s a little different. And, honestly, even if every emotional beat and story idea feels familiar, The Wild Robot still proves moving and visually inventive. Also, younger viewers aren’t likely to notice some of the potentially derivative stuff, and the movie’s also of such a quality that older viewers who do notice aren’t likely to mind all that much.

6 'Gangs of Wasseypur' (2012)

With a runtime of more than five hours, Gangs of Wasseypur certainly has room to pay homage to just about every great pre-existing gangster movie out there, and takes influence from so many that it ends up feeling original. It’s the best approach when you want to borrow from other people’s stuff, and said approach has arguably been seen most recently with Sinners, which is another kind of movie entirely, but one where just about every scene can be linked to another movie or story out there (in a good way).

If you threw Scarface, the first two The Godfather movies, Goodfellas, City of God, Gangs of New York, and a bunch of other titles into a blender, then the resulting smoothie would look something like Gangs of Wasseypur. If you borrow from enough sources, and have a sufficient love for – and knowledge of – cinema, you can indeed not only get away with it, but also make blending all that stuff remain compelling for one mammoth runtime.

5 'Star Wars' (1977)

Star Wars (1977) was original in some regards, namely with its setting and the mythology it began building, or at least hinted at, though much of its DNA is famously tied to stories and conventions that already existed before 1977. Most famously, it reworked some aspects of Akira Kurosawa movies, including The Hidden Fortress and Yojimbo, and then the undeniably exciting climax heavily referenced The Dam Busters.

There are more examples, and that’s before getting to how film serials played a big role in influencing George Lucas, a little like how serials influenced Steven Spielberg when he directed Raiders of the Lost Ark. In both cases, it was the right kind of borrowing, and the first Star Wars borrowed more than enough (and had originality in terms of its setting and overall look) to make it still feel very much like its own thing, to a more than sufficient extent.

4 'Titanic' (1997)

The first James Cameron movie worth mentioning here is Titanic, which is a film that stands out from other movies about the titular ship thanks to its length. Titanic is a huge movie, but still, the story here has more or less been told before, and some would argue it was even told better (or at least more directly) in A Night to Remember.

That one’s more of a historical drama, while Titanic has a fictional love story focused on, while the historical stuff still happens, but sometimes more in the background. It’s an approach that works, though it should be stressed that the romantic side of Titanic, while undeniably emotional, is familiar in many ways. It’s a tragic kind of love story, the star-crossed lovers sort of thing, and with some reliable class conflict a part of it to boot. Cameron more than makes it all soar, though. He can indeed get away with doing that. Speaking of…

3 'Avatar' (2009)

…There’s also Avatar. This one is more infamously unoriginal, as far as James Cameron movies go, but it’s not a bad thing. It makes Avatar an easy target, sure, yet if you go beyond the narrative and thematic stuff here, Avatar was still something unlike anything else at the time. When watched nowadays, the only movies that look and feel the same are, not surprisingly, its sequels.

Like with John Wick, those sequels arguably get a little more adventurous and original with the stories they tell and things they explore. Avatar (2009), though, wants to guide you into its world and the fantastical stuff gently, and one way to do that was by having familiar yet reliable characters and a narrative that hit all the beats you'd expect it to when you'd expect it to. Clichéd? Maybe, but no one makes clichéd movies quite as well – nor as consistently – as James Cameron does.

2 'Coco' (2017)

Feeling familiar among Pixar movies isn't the worst thing in the world, when so many Pixar movies are genuinely great. Coco does kind of play the hits, in terms of the stories those at this studio like to tell, and the themes its films usually explore, with Coco being singled out here because it’s comparatively recent, as far as classic Pixar films go, and also because it is genuinely top-tier Pixar.

There’s a journey through a world unlike the real one in many ways, emotional punches you kind of see coming (they still hit hard regardless), and a story about family and legacy that’s well-worn, yet still affecting. And that’s before addressing the potential elephant in the room, which is Coco’s similarity in some regards (not all regards, it should be noted) to another animated movie from the 2010s, specifically a little earlier in the 2010s than Coco: The Book of Life (2014).

1 'Kill Bill' (2003–2004)

There’s an argument to be made that more Quentin Tarantino movies should’ve been featured here, since he’s a filmmaker who really loves referencing and remixing older films. Still, it’s Kill Bill that does all that to the greatest extent, and it’s also Kill Bill that might well do so the most skillfully. Like with Gangs of Wasseypur, Kill Bill is ultimately an epic (and both it and Gangs of Wasseypur were told in two parts), so there’s plenty of time to do a whole bunch of referencing.

With Kill Bill, the first volume is heavily indebted to martial arts and samurai movies, while the second is less action-focused and seems most influenced by spaghetti Westerns… okay, still with a bit of martial arts stuff thrown in for good measure, with the extended training-related flashback. It’s not nearly as messy as you might fear, based on that description, and Kill Bill also burns through the copious references with speed and a surprising grace, or if it’s chaotic, then at least it’s chaotic in a controlled, purposeful, and compelling way.