Top 20 Animated Movie Rip-Offs
#20: “Bug Bites: An Ant’s Life” (1998)
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Remember when the film “Antz” came out and some were calling it a rip-off of Pixar’s “A Bug’s Life?” Well after seeing this travesty, we guarantee you’ll find a whole new appreciation for Dreamworks’ film. With horrendous animation production that barely looks finished, awful voice acting, and sound quality that is gnawing at best, scenes in this flick tend to go on for way too long and amount to absolutely nothing – at least according to critics and viewers. We guess it’s about a caterpillar and his ant friends trying to survive an incursion of geckos? The plot sort of gets lost amid the millions of chase scenes. Apparently the creators thought watching insects scuttle back and forth for half an hour counts as entertainment.
#19: “Beauty and the Beast” (1992)
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Not every studio can be cranking out timeless classics. So if you want to make some money in the movie business, you’ve got to jump on some trends. GoodTimes Entertainment was one of those companies known for publishing low-budget films that were a little too similar to larger releases. One of the most egregious examples was “Beauty and the Beast.” While the voice acting isn’t the worst, the visuals at points barely match the emotions heard. Between this film and its Disney counterpart, the animation is barely comparable. While the story is public domain, the company was sued by Disney for its deliberately misleading VHS covers. The company later filed for bankruptcy in 2005.
#18: “Arischa, The Little Witch” (2005)
How this film got a DVD release is mind-boggling. It looks like a child drew it. And not in a charming way! The plot borrows elements from “KiKi’s Delivery Service” by Studio Ghibli, but the two are eons apart in quality. The animation is incredibly basic, some characters are even tracings of Disney designs. You’ll find the animals from Bambi pop up throughout the film and help Aricha. The studio, Dingo Pictures, has made other films of similar quality, but this film was their last and remains undubbed from the German version. We’d be surprised if they made a profit at all!
#17: “The Secret of Mulan” (1998)
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Turns out that the company that made this “adaptation” has a long history of taking beloved animated films and reworking them into what has become known as “The Secret of…” series. uch entries include “The Secret of the Hunchback,” “The Secret of Anastasia,” and of course “The Secret of Mulan.” How does it fare up? Well, it’s been said to be not only is it a complete bastardisation of one of animation’s greatest female characters, but it goes a step further by meshing it together with elements right out of “A Bug’s Life.” Sorry, Flik, you and your friends have been ripped-off twice on this list…
#16: “Homeward” (2020)
You know you’ve made a successful movie when The Asylum rips it off. “Onward” is the story of two elf brothers who go on a quest to spend one last day with their late father. But if you look to rent it online, you might come across this derivative piece. While the promotional material might look similar, the marketing and the magical modern world setting is where the similarities end. Instead, it’s a plot about an orc and an elf trying to prevent a group of orcs from taking over the world. While it’s easy to tell the difference between “Homeward” and “Onward,” this won’t be the last time The Asylum will try to con you out of your money.
#15: “Leo the Lion: King of the Jungle” (1994)
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Circle of Life? More like an endless circle of copyright infringements! The story follows a selfish king lion who gets lectured by a small cub into caring about his fellow animals. The film was produced by Mark Taylor, whose name you’ll find across a lot of low-budget mockbusters from the 90s. Just like other films from his library, “Leo the Lion” was criticized for its lackluster animation and strange musical numbers. The real problem is that it’s just nothing to write home about. It’s not so bad it’s good, but it’s not the opposite either! Leaving it somewhere in that awkward middle!
#14: “Life’s a Jungle: Africa’s Most Wanted” (2012)
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Phase 4 Films bring us a film that could easily be mistaken for a student’s animation project. A privileged sweater-wearing dog called Pip gets separated from his owners on holiday in Africa. He’s then forced to adapt to life in the wild. The title is an obvious play on Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted which was released around the same time. However, the plot is nothing like it and plays out more like the earlier entries in the franchise. But once you start watching, you can tell which one had the bigger animation budget.
#13: “Finding Jesus” (2020)
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This film doesn't even do what it says on the tin. WowNow Entertainment brings this animated travesty to streaming and it's a mess. The film follows fish Muggles and Joy living at "Finding Jesus Bay," where they listen and share stories of their beloved creator. The animation is nothing special, the voice acting is bland and they don't even find Jesus! Given the title you would at least expect there to be fish named Jesus. Even in the religious sense, all the characters are already fully committed to Christianity at the start of the film! As a result, this film is just one long underwater parable reading.
#12: “The Frog Prince” (2009)
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Based on the reviews, you can basically summarize this mockbuster in one word: lazy. Lazy because they only use a handful of locations; lazy because the voice work involves insulting imitations of supposedly black accents; and lazy because we immediately dislike many of the characters. While Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog” gave us magic, great chemistry between the lead characters, and important life lessons, all we get here is a princess who throws tantrums, a King who resents his daughter’s independent attitude, and a frog who’ll say practically anything just to score.
#11: “Plan Bee” (2007)
“Bee Movie,” starring Jerry Seinfield, was a big budget Hollywood film, so of course it was going to get a copy plaguing the bargain bin. “Plan Bee” was distributed by mockbuster veterans Spark Plug Entertainment, and has about the same production value as their other titles, meaning there isn’t a lot. You won’t be getting any smooth jazz during this bee-utiful adventure though! The cheap imitation is about a soldier bee working to topple an evil usurper of the hive’s queen! Even if that plot sounds a little interesting, the actual product doesn’t deliver, as it features poor voice work, bad animation, and lackluster sound design. You’ll be cringing the entire way through.
#10: “Titanic: The Legend Goes On” (2000)
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Do you remember “Titanic?” The emotion, the tragedy! The rapping dog!... The rapping dog? Most of the films on this list are rip-offs of other animated features, but this one was riding the hype of the James Cameron classic. While we do get the romance and ship sinking, we also have front-row seats to more character rip-offs than you could believe. With some confusing stereotypes thrown in there for good measure! The film is overflowing with subplots! You’d be forgiven for getting confused along the way! And the worst part is they seemed to put most of the budget into the out-of-place musical number. Our heart does not go on for this.
#9: “What’s Up: Balloon to the Rescue” (2009)
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This mockbuster not only dumps on the original Pixar epic; it’s also a confusing schlockfest. For some reason, the filmmakers behind “What’s Up” didn’t think a flying house was thrilling enough, so they tossed in magic. If you stick around long enough, you might find yourself asking why a magical stone’s sole function is to turn a house into part-hot air balloon, or why they go out of their way to be racist towards a supporting character that happens to be Chinese. However, we’ll forgive you if you don’t even make it that far after seeing the questionable 3D animation.
#8: “Kiara The Brave” [aka “Super K”] (2011)
Many consider this a terrible film that should have never been forced onto the viewing public. But, it’s also called a travesty because, when it was shipped to the United States, the distributors rebranded it to cash in on the latest Pixar release, “Brave.” Funnily enough, “Kiara the Brave” involves neither medieval Scotland nor a coming-of-age story where a strong female protagonist tries to forge her own path. What do we get instead? A superhero called Super K trying to defend the world of Dreamzone from the evil Badmess, while “Kiara” stands in the background doing pretty much nothing.
#7: “Tappy Toes” (2011)
Here we get a much needed break from horrendous 3D animation and are even treated to a higher standard of voice work. But, for most people, that doesn’t save “Tappy Toes” from being another trainwreck. The limits of flash animation become clear early on, as this short happily rips off the plot of “Happy Feet,” minus the stellar dance sequences and the Robin Williams. Sure, it tries to throw in some self-referential humor, but considering there’s an uncomfortable scene where a hermit crab threatens to pinch a sea lion in not-so-child-friendly places, “Tappy Toes” manages to tap itself out.
#6: “Chop-Kick Panda” (2011)
It may only be 40-something minutes long, but out of the many “Kung Fu Panda” rip-offs, this is the one that made people feel like they’d gone several rounds with the Furious Five. Brought to us by the folks who created “Tappy Toes,” “Chop Kick Panda” is another entry where the animation is the high point; everything else is a panda-sized mesh of stupidity. Once again, it pretty much follows the original beat-for-beat, but the stupidity of its rushed plot and attempts to focus on humor over action leave “Chop Kick Panda” feeling disjointed and utterly pointless.
#5: “The Legend of Sarila” [aka “La Légende de Sarila”] (2013)
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This Canadian animation incurred the wrath of Disney, and that’s not shocking considering its title was changed to “Frozen Land” for the U.S. market – subtle. Again, this is a pretty big blunder by the distributors, because – while the story focuses on the tale of an Inuit shaman and his animal friends – the name and even the signature logo were designed to match Disney’s “Frozen.” The company behind “Legend of Sarila” might’ve thought their film was just a blip on the radar, but in the end, the Mouse House sees all. The creators should’ve done themselves a favor and let it go.
#4: “Donkey Xote” (2007)
From the Producers who “saw” Shrek!... We’re not kidding, that’s on the poster. “Donkey Xote” is a comic retelling of Cervantes’ classic novel “Don Quixote.” Travelling across Spain, a knight, his squire, and his squire’s steed who looks a little too much like Donkey from Shrek, look to woo a beautiful woman. And if you’re searching for an imitation of Eddie Murphy, you’re out of luck. The only similarities between the donkey characters is in their look. The animation is decent and unfortunately that’s where the positives end. Still, it’s a lot more competent than a lot of the other entries on this list.
#3: “A Car’s Life: Sparky's Big Adventure” (2006)
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“Cars” wasn’t exactly the pinnacle of Pixar’s creativity, but it’s still a decent and entertaining film, especially in comparison to this. Throughout this chopped together mess, we’re subjected to protagonist/motorized douchebag Sparky, who only exists to cause chaos wherever he goes. Along the way, we’re treated to what could be described as an onslaught of terrible animation, awful voice acting, and a collection of some truly detestable automobiles. It’s about as cheap a mockbuster as you can get, so we’ll never understand how it managed to spawn multiple sequels!
#2: “The Funny Life of Pets” (2016)
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This is one of the most frustrating rip-offs you’ll ever find. Illumination’s “The Secret Life of Pets” is about adorable talking animals interacting with the real world. Production house Ruthless Studios took that concept and boiled it down to the most low-effort version they could think of, a dog and a cat reacting to stock footage of cute animals doing cute things. Stock footage must be all they budgeted for because shots are repeated endlessly to stretch out the run time. Perhaps the worst part is there are other films with this exact same concept. So if you’re in the mood to watch more, you’re in luck.
#1: “Ratatoing” (2007)
They may trade Paris for Rio de Janeiro, but this rip-off remains just as blatant no matter where you set it. Obviously taking liberties from the five-star meal that is Pixar’s “Ratatouille,” the “plot” follows a rodent head chef who tries to keep his restaurant open and defeat his competitors. How does he do that? By stealing fresh ingredients from human kitchens in sequences that try to imitate spy capers of old and which – at least, according to most people who’ve watched it – fail miserably on every conceivable level. Do yourself a favor and skip this meal.
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