50 Fun Facts About Badly Explained Movie Plots

Which Judy Garland musical has a farm girl kill a woman on arrival, then join three strangers to kill her sister?

The Wizard of Oz shot its fantasy land in three-strip Technicolor and its Kansas scenes in sepia-toned black and white. Both deaths are accidents: one by falling house, one by a bucket of water.

Which James Cameron film has an old woman tell a salvage crew a long story, then drop their treasure in the sea?

Titanic was only the second film to receive eleven Academy Awards, after Ben-Hur. The necklace she lets go, the Heart of the Ocean, is the very thing the treasure hunters were diving for.

Which Disney film has a runaway heir loaf about for years until a childhood friend nags him to face his uncle?

The Lion King draws on Shakespeare's Hamlet, another story of a prince whose uncle murders his father to take the throne. Simba spends his exile with a meerkat and a warthog.

Which Pixar film has a nervous single father cross an ocean with a forgetful stranger to reach a dentist's office?

Finding Nemo grew from director Andrew Stanton's childhood trips to the dentist, where he assumed the fish in the waiting-room tank had come from the sea and wanted to go back.

Which Christmas comedy has parents fly to Paris minus one son, who spends the holiday injuring two burglars?

Home Alone made Macaulay Culkin a child star and stayed the highest-grossing live-action comedy for two decades. His eight-year-old hero rigs the whole house with homemade hazards.

Which film has an island resort flunk its safety inspection after a bribed employee cuts the power and exhibits escape?

Jurassic Park has the investors' own lawyer, sent to have the island certified as safe, eaten by a Tyrannosaurus. The surviving experts fly home having agreed not to endorse the place.

Which film has a boy lure a stranded visitor home with candy, then get drunk at school when his guest finds beer?

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial used Reese's Pieces for the candy trail after the Hershey Company agreed to let the film feature them. The boy never touches a drop himself; the drinking all happens back at the house.

Which film has a farm boy take up an elderly hermit's mystical creed, then blow up a government space station?

Star Wars makes its hero the nephew of moisture farmers on a desert planet. The station he destroys, the Death Star, was built to wipe out entire planets.

Which Disney film has a new queen wreck her own coronation, flee to a mountain and accidentally cancel summer?

Frozen was loosely inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's 1844 fairy tale The Snow Queen. Its queen builds herself an ice palace, unaware of the endless winter she has left behind.

Which thriller has a mayor keep the beaches open for the Fourth of July, so three men have to go fishing?

Jaws mostly hides its shark because the mechanical models kept malfunctioning. Steven Spielberg chose to suggest the animal with John Williams's ominous, minimalist theme instead.

Which prison drama has an inmate launder the warden's money for years, then leave by sewage pipe with the man's suit?

The Shawshank Redemption disappointed at the box office, then became the top video rental of 1995 on the strength of award nominations and word of mouth.

Which film has a man at a Savannah bus stop tell strangers a life story involving ping-pong, shrimp and John Lennon?

Forrest Gump is adapted from a 1986 novel by Winston Groom. Its hero is only at the bus stop because an old friend has written inviting him to visit.

Which Disney film has a woman swap places with her jailed father, then fall for the jailer while his furniture cheers?

Beauty and the Beast was the first animated film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. The furniture is his staff, turned into household objects by an enchantress.

Which Disney film has a prince dance with a woman all evening, then need a shoe fitting to identify her?

Cinderella was a hit for a Disney studio that by 1947 was over $4 million in debt and close to bankruptcy. In fairness to the prince, she runs off at midnight before they swap names.

Which Disney film has a bread thief pose as a wealthy prince, with supernatural help, to court a ruler's daughter?

Aladdin has its princess shrug off the invented Prince Ali until a carpet ride, when she recognizes him as the boy from the market. She had met him earlier while out in disguise herself.

Which Pixar film has a child's old favorite get jealous of a birthday present and knock it out of a window?

Toy Story was the first entirely computer-animated feature film. Tom Hanks voices Woody, the old-fashioned cowboy doll who only meant to wedge his rival behind a desk.

Which Pixar film has a Paris restaurant's garbage boy fake his cooking talent by letting vermin pull his hair?

Ratatouille hides its rat chef, Remy, under a toque, where he steers the garbage boy around the kitchen like a marionette.

Which sci-fi film has a programmer swallow a pill offered by a stranger, then learn that his whole life is fake?

The Matrix popularized the slow-motion effect known as bullet time. Will Smith turned down the lead role to make Wild Wild West instead.

Which Christopher Nolan film has a team sedate an heir on a flight to make him break up his father's company?

Inception pays its lead thief not in cash but with a cleared criminal record, so that he can finally go home to his children.

Which time-travel comedy has a teenager fend off his own mother's crush while setting her up with his father?

Back to the Future first imagined its time machine as a refrigerator, before director Robert Zemeckis suggested a DeLorean. The teenager's siblings fade from a photo as his plan stalls.

Which Bill Murray comedy traps a weatherman at a small-town festival until he learns piano, ice sculpting and French?

Groundhog Day sends a cynical Pittsburgh weatherman to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where he relives February 2 until he starts using the loop to change himself and help others.

Which Bruce Willis thriller has a child therapist counsel a boy who sees the dead without noticing he is one himself?

The Sixth Sense was the second-highest-grossing film of 1999 and made the twist ending M. Night Shyamalan's trademark. The clue he missed: his wedding ring is not on his finger.

Which crime epic has the son who shunned the family business take it over during a very busy baptism?

The Godfather put director Francis Ford Coppola's infant daughter Sofia on screen as the baby being baptised while hitmen assassinate the heads of the rival New York families.

Which film has a loan shark's debt collector lose a title bout by split decision and not mind in the slightest?

Rocky was written by Sylvester Stallone in three and a half days, after he watched Chuck Wepner take on Muhammad Ali. His boxer only ever wanted to go the distance with the champion.

Which animated film has a grumpy homeowner agree to fetch a ruler's bride just to get squatters off his swamp?

Shrek has Lord Farquaad banish the fairy tale creatures to beautify his land, then hold a tournament so that somebody else will do his princess-rescuing for him.

Which 1980s sci-fi film has a waitress learn from the news that women who share her name are being murdered?

The Terminator came to James Cameron in a fever dream he had around the release of his first film. Its cyborg has travelled from 2029 to stop the waitress ever having her son.

Which action film has a New York cop visit his estranged wife's office party on the night armed thieves take over?

Die Hard gives its villain a cover story: he poses as a terrorist while actually going after $640 million in untraceable bearer bonds in the building's vault.

Which Jim Carrey film has a man learn that his neighbors are actors when his boat hits the edge of the set?

The Truman Show has its hero adopted by a television studio at birth, then broadcast worldwide around the clock through hidden cameras.

Which comedy has three sacked Columbia professors go into the removals trade and get New York trampled by a mascot?

Ghostbusters grew from Dan Aykroyd's pitch about three men who chase ghosts, which already came with his sketch of the Marshmallow Man.

Which thriller has an FBI trainee ask one jailed serial killer for tips on catching another who is still at large?

The Silence of the Lambs became the third film to win the Big Five Academy Awards: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Screenplay. Officially, she is only there to conduct a survey.

Which comedy has a divorced dad doctor his ex-wife's job advert, then apply in disguise as an elderly British nanny?

Mrs. Doubtfire won the Academy Award for Best Makeup. Its hero, an out-of-work voice actor, lifts his new surname from a newspaper headline while he is on the phone.

Which comedy has three men wake in a Caesars Palace suite with a tiger, a baby and no sign of the groom?

The Hangover gained its tiger, its baby and boxer Mike Tyson in a rewrite, after the original script had already sold to the studio for $2 million.

Which 1980s film has a handyman get days of unpaid chores from a bullied teenager and call it martial arts training?

The Karate Kid makes the chores the lesson: repeating them has quietly taught the teenager his defensive blocks through muscle memory.

Which John Hughes comedy has a truant borrow a Ferrari that ends up reversing out through the garage wall?

Ferris Bueller's Day Off was written in less than a week. The car falls while the boys have it jacked up in reverse gear, trying to wind the added miles back off the odometer.

Which musical has a straitlaced transfer student win back her summer fling by swapping her wardrobe for leather?

Grease was the highest-grossing film of 1978. The makeover runs both ways: her boyfriend shocks his own gang by turning up as a letterman.

Which historical epic has a Roman general demoted to slave, then promoted to arena star, all to settle a grudge?

Gladiator lost one of its stars, Oliver Reed, who died before production was finished. The grudge is a fair one: the new emperor murdered the general's family.

Which romance has a man in a nursing home read a woman with dementia the story of their own love affair?

The Notebook has its young hero write to his sweetheart every day for a year, only for her mother to intercept the letters.

Which superhero film has a teenager bitten on a school field trip, then cheated out of his wrestling winnings?

Spider-Man sends its hero into the wrestling ring to pay for a car that might impress his crush. When the organizer who swindled him is robbed, he bitterly lets the thief run past.

Which Disney musical has a nanny float in on an umbrella, and her employer's bank suffer a run started by his son?

Mary Poppins reached the screen only after author P. L. Travers had repeatedly refused Walt Disney, doubting that a film could do her books justice.

Which musical has a trainee nun hired as governess to seven children end up replacing their father's fiancée?

The Sound of Music retells the story of the real Maria von Trapp. Its jilted baroness takes it well: she calls off the engagement herself and goes home to Vienna.

Which Alfred Hitchcock thriller has a secretary steal $40,000 from her employer, then stop overnight at the wrong motel?

Psycho paid Anthony Perkins $40,000 to play the motel's shy proprietor, exactly the sum his guest has embezzled. A rainstorm is the only reason she pulls in at all.

Which comedy has a sorority girl get into Harvard Law School purely to win back the boyfriend who dumped her?

Legally Blonde lets her win a murder trial on hair-care knowledge: a witness claims she showered right after a perm, which would have ruined her still-perfect curls.

Which comedy has a would-be journalist work as an assistant and get lectured by her boss about a blue sweater?

The Devil Wears Prada uses that lecture, known as the cerulean speech, to puncture its heroine's snobbery about fashion by tracing her sweater back to the magazine's own pages.

Which drama has an MIT janitor solve a professor's blackboard challenge, then swap a jail term for math and therapy?

Good Will Hunting won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for its two young stars, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. The jail term was for assaulting a police officer.

Which Disney comedy has an inventor's machine finally work, so he sweeps his own children out with the trash?

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids fixes the machine by accident: a neighbor's baseball flies through the attic window, switches it on and blocks the laser that had been making things explode.

Which sci-fi horror has a towing crew detour to investigate a signal, then lose a colleague during a farewell dinner?

Alien sets its horror aboard the commercial space tug Nostromo, hauling cargo home to Earth with seven crew and the ship's cat, Jones. Company policy obliges them to check the signal.

Which fantasy film has two children resume a board game that swallowed a boy twenty-six years earlier?

Jumanji is based on a 1981 children's picture book by Chris Van Allsburg. The boy is sucked in after a careless roll in 1969 and has to wait in a jungle for someone to roll a five or an eight.

Which DreamWorks film has a noodle shop's heir named a prophesied hero in what his own teacher calls an accident?

Kung Fu Panda has him land by mistake in front of the Furious Five, the trained students who expected one of their own to be named the Dragon Warrior at that ceremony.

Which 1980s romance has a cardiologist's daughter spend a Catskills holiday learning to be lifted overhead by staff?

Dirty Dancing has the pair fail the lift at their first performance and land it only in the finale, at the resort's end-of-season talent show.

Which action film has an extortionist demand $3.7 million from a city bus that is not allowed to slow down?

Speed makes its bomber an ex-cop turned extortionist, and the bus only becomes a bomb once it first reaches 50 miles per hour.