An isolated community is harrassed by a group of bandits. A member of the community begs for help to what appears to be a group of formidable fighters, but are, in reality, recently-fired performers. The performers, under the mistaken impression that they’re being hired to do a show, agree to come to the community, only to discover the truth. They nearly skip town, but instead decide to stick around and help defeat the bad guy by means of a clever ruse.
That’s the basic premise of “Three Amigos!”, a 1986 live-action comedy starring Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short. (Not to be confused with “The Three Caballeros” )
Does the premise remind anyone else of Bug’s Life? I’m not saying Pixar “ripped it off” or anything - as they say, there’s nothing new under the sun - what’s interesting is how very different the two films are, despite the basic idea being similiar.
Just wondering if anyone else ever drew this connection .
I just saw the trailer for Rango, (the one with the lizard voiced by Johnny Depp) and it seems to operate under the same premise, too. (Maybe even more similar to “Three Amigos!” given the “small desert town” setting).
There was also an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures that used this, in which Buster and Babs think they’re in Acme World Theme Park, when they’re actually in a small desert town being terrorized by bad guys.
Looking at it that way, it does sound like A Bug’s Life is not exactly the most original of Pixar’s story ideas. I had never even seen The Seven Samurai (the film that everyone says A Bug’s Life ripped off) as a kid so I always looked at A Bug’s Life as something new. In fact, I had never read hardly any of the original books and stories that many of Disney’s films had been based off of because I grew up with the Disney versions of those stories.
Well, I wouldn’t say they ripped anyone off. They recycled an idea, but in a totally new way. I mean, if anyone ripped-off, then James Cameron has ripped off 1/4 of all stories ever told. (I love his movies. This is not an attack; I’m just saying most movie ideas are recycled.)
Yeah, I agree with this. Besides, Pixar quite openly cite The Seven Samurai as the inspiration for the movie- if they had ripped it off I don’t think that they would mention it, because that would just draw attention to the copying.
Oh yeah, I knew you weren’t accusing them or anything. I was just saying in general, in case anybody who really do think they ripped off The Seven Samurai saw.
)
I mean, if anyone ripped-off, then James Cameron has ripped off 1/4 of all stories ever told.