Spoiler Warning: The following article contains spoilers for The Lost City.

A burnt-out bestselling novelist gets lost in the jungle and is aided on her way by a dashing rogue, stumbling onto a story more exciting, adventurous, and romantic than anything she's written in years. If that plot sounds familiar, it's because it's the synopsis for Romancing the Stone, the swashbuckling blockbuster starring Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas in 1984, which just so happens to sound a lot like the plot for The Lost City starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum.

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The Lost City is clearly an homage to its predecessor while still charting its own course to adventure. While the two movies share a lot of similarities, there are enough differences to make them their own distinct stories and worthy contributions to the action-adventure genre.

The Lost City Is Similar To Romancing The Stone

They Both Feature Novelists In Over Their Heads

Jack and Joan hide behind a log in Romancing the Stone

A twin flame to Kathleen Turner's adventure-romance author Joan Wilder in Romancing the Stone is Sandra Bullock's adventure-romance writer Loretta Sage in The Lost City, and while they both have pretty divergent personalities (the former isn't prepared for a jungle adventure, the latter slightly more so), they're both in way over their heads once the action starts.

Much of the humor in each character comes from the novelist's fish-out-of-water adventures, with each referencing the material they write to make sense of the improbable circumstances they've been thrown into.

They Both Combine Action, Comedy, And Romance

Jack T Colton (Michael Douglas) and Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner) swing from a vine in Romancing the Stone

The best part about action-adventure movies with a quest at their center is their deft combination of action, comedy, and romance to spur on the journey. Peril, danger, and tension are buoyed by pithy commentary and a strong undercurrent of passion, vital components that keep Romancing the Stone and The Lost City going no matter how ridiculous their plots get.

Whether each movie is showcasing inhospitable terrain, glowering villains, or just the clever repartee between charming leads with opposing personalities, they both emphasize that humor and love can beat the odds.

A Kidnapping

Daniel Radcliffe and Sandra Bullock in The Lost City

At the crux of both Romancing the Stone and The Lost City, there's a kidnapping, though their plots hinge on it in slightly different ways. In the former, Joan Wilder travels to Colombia to ransom her sister, and in the latter, Loretta Sage herself is the one kidnapped by a billionaire looking for the lost city from her novel.

Both circumstances are the "inciting incident" that fundamentally dismantle the world the heroines know and are comfortable with, forcing them to embark on the hero's journey that will drive the plot and character development, until they emerge as changed people by their harrowing experiences.

Treasure Goals

Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner) holding the El Corazon treasure map in Romancing the Stone

In order for Joan Wilder's sister not to be killed in Romancing the Stone, she and Jack have to deliver a map to the mercenaries holding her hostage, which describes the location of a hidden gem worth an enormous sum of money. In The Lost City, the map directs Loretta and Alan to a fabled utopia with untold treasures.

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While the treasure provides the stakes for both journeys, the real treasure that's found is the bond forged between the two pairs as they navigate a series of obstacles in order to achieve their goal.

Exotic Filming Locations

Jack T Colton (Michael Douglas) and Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner) looking worried in Romancing the Stone

What's a treasure hunt movie without beautiful exotic locales? According to VarietyRomancing the Stone was filmed in the jungles of Huasca de Ocampo and Veracruz, Mexico, lush environments that filled in for the movie's actual location of Colombia.

Casa de Campo Living reports that several locations for The Lost City were filmed in the Dominican Republic, including Samana, Casa de Campos, and Santo Domingo. By going to these destinations, both movies feel vibrant and alive, especially now in an era where green screens are often used in lieu of shooting on location.

The Lost City Is Different From Romancing The Stone

Channing Tatum Isn't The Suave Adventurer Who Saves The Day

Channing Tatum is Disappointed The Lost City Changed its Movie Title

In Romancing the Stone, Joan Wilder knows nothing about surviving in the jungle and has to be helped by dashing adventurer Jack T. Colton, played by a machete-wielding Douglas. Much fanfare is made out of the report between the city slicker who's afraid of bugs and the badass mercenary who cooks them for extra nourishment.

When  Tatum arrives as Alan Caprison to save Loretta Sage, he might look the part, but he's actually Sage's cover model and doesn't know the first thing about being a survivalist. It's a fun spin on the familiar trope, while also making use of Tatum's career as a comedic star as well as an action hero.

Brad Pitt As Jack Trainer

Jack Trainer standing in a tent in The Lost City

Where Romancing the Stone has Danny DeVito as a scheming antique dealer constantly being a thorn in the side of Jack and Joan, The Lost City has Jack Trainer, a Navy SEAL whom Alan meets at a yoga class, played by none other than Brad Pitt, serving a sendup of the sort of heartthrob roles he used to play 20 years ago.

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The connection shouldn't be lost on the audience exactly why Pitt was cast, and his willingness to poke fun at himself and his status as a matinee idol is what gives the film its tongue-in-cheek edge.

Loretta Sage Is Down To Earth

Loretta looks awestruck in The Lost City

Maybe because it's the ever-likable Sandra Bullock in an action movie wearing sequins and strutting around the jungle, but she somehow manages to make even the most glamorous character relatable, the exact opposite of Turner's Joan Wilder who, in Romancing the Stone never seemed to find a way to get into the spirit of things.

Bullock has made a career out of being approachable and affable whether she's playing an agent-turned-beauty pageant contestant in Miss Congeniality or a clueless bus patron in Speed. She's an actress who likes to show off her physicality both in comedy and in stuntwork and is never too vain to commit to a punchline (or be it).

Riffing Romance Tropes

the lost city cast

As a writer, Loretta has written about nearly every possible action-adventure and romance scenario, and as a result, has practical knowledge about every situation she finds herself in throughout The Lost City. Regardless of her own expertise, she's presented with two hero figures and possible love interests who only seem to make matters worse.

Mercenary Jack Trainer has time to smolder into her eyes but not enough time to cut her zip ties, and model Alan constantly keeps hitting henchmen that are already knocked out while striking the sort of poses more suited to one of her book covers. Each man's feat is presented as something that might stir Loretta's heart, but the movie cleverly subverts the most used romance movie tropes in favor of having Loretta often save herself.

More Female Characters

Alan (Channing Tatum), Allison (Patti Harrison) and Beth (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) brainstorm in The Lost City

Patti Harrison's Allison and Da'Vine Joy Randolph's Beth, both part of Loretta's publishing and marketing team, not only add a different style of humor and vitality to the series, but they also round out the cast of female characters.

While the film is mostly centered on the struggles of Loretta and Alan in the jungle, the influence of Allison and Beth are felt throughout and seem to expand on the role filled by DeVito's Ralph in Romancing the Stone as the comic relief in more practical, developed, and clever ways.

NEXT: The 10 Best Quotes In The Lost City