While they have a lot in common, in particular their main strength of winning the ball, Makelele and Kante are quite different players.
Makelele would operate between the middle line and his own box. When he won the ball, he would usually push forward with it, often dribbling past one or two players (he's an underrated dribbler) then trying to find a deep pass or releasing the ball to a nearby partner, rarely pushing past the middle line, since he played in a team with 2 centre backs, him as CDM and 7 offensive players. But this ability of winning the ball and then pushing forward was what differentiated him from most CDMs, especially in an offensive team like RM at the time. Kante, when he wins the ball, usually releases it fast and then sprints forward to create a passing opportunity for his teammates. He also covers a much bigger area than Makelele. His engine is bigger but Makelele had much better technical and playmaking abilities.
As a french fan, I'd have loved to see them play together, our national team would probably average 80% possession since the opposition wouldnt be able to keep the ball with those two.