The foreign secretary said penalising "escape" was "not in the interests of our friends and our partners".
PM Theresa May set out her Brexit strategy, including leaving the EU single market, in a speech on Tuesday.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker promised to work for "good results" from Brexit talks.
And, at Prime Minister's Questions, Mrs May clashed with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, telling him she had a "plan" and he did not "have a clue".
Mr Corbyn accused her of "threatening to turn Britain into an offshore tax haven".
With just over two months to go before the UK government is due to get Brexit talks under way, Mr Johnson was asked on a trip to India about comments by an aide to French President Francois Hollande, who said the UK should not expect a better trading relationship with the EU after leaving it.
He replied: "If Monsieur Hollande wants to administer punishment beatings to anybody who chooses to escape, rather in the manner of some World War Two movie, then I don't think that is the way forward.
"I think, actually, it's not in the interests of our friends and our partners."
Downing Street later said Mr Johnson "was not in any way suggesting anyone was a Nazi".
The spokeswoman said the remarks were "all being hyped up" and that Mr Johnson was making a point about a punitive approach, using a "theatrical comparison".
Questioned whether there was concern about raising the issue of World War Two in this context she said: "There is not a government policy of not talking about the war."
A Labour spokesman said: "The foreign secretary has a habit of making wild and inappropriate comments. Talking about World War Two in that context is another one of those and not something that's going to improve the climate for negotiations.
Mr Johnson, a key Brexit campaigner, earlier wrote that the UK would "no longer have our trade policy run by the EU Commission".
He added: "That means - crucially - that we will be able to do new free trade deals with countries around the world. They are already queuing up.
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