Has anyone else noticed how incredibly similar the storylines are to Pixar's A Bug's Life and the comedy/western Three Amigos starring: Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short? It's almost as if Pixar took the plot for Three Amigos, changed the characters to bugs (along with other supporting details), and rehashed the film in computer animated form.
To illustrate my point, let's take a look at the underlying story to both films.
The Three Amigos (Released: December of 1986).
This comedy/western/adventure film is about a Mexican village which is constantly being bullied by a gang of miscreants led by the villainous El Guapo. Since the villagers in this town are afraid to stand up for themselves & fight off El Guapo and his men, a woman goes in search of warriors who will come help them defend the village. She journeys out into another town and stumbles into a church, which is showing a film starring "The Three Amigos". These are actually American Hollywood actors, but she mistakes them to be real warriors. In desperation, she asks them to come to her village. The Three Amigos mistake her request and assume she is asking them to come perform a show. To make a long story short, the Amigos come to Mexico to "perform", but soon realize they are actually there to fight off El Guapo & his gang. The village discovers the Amigos are only actors...not warriors, a lot of comedy & slapstick ensue, and in the end they come together with the villagers to actually fight off the bad guys & help save the town. (Okay, a lot of other things happen in this film, but that is the story in a nutshell.)
A Bug's Life (Released: November of 1998)
This animated/comedy/adventure film is about an ant colony which is constantly being bullied by a gang of grasshoppers led by the villainous Hopper. Since the ants are afraid to stand up for themselves & fight off Hopper and his gang, an ant named Flik goes in search of warrior bugs who will come help them defend the colony. He journeys out into "the city" and stumbles into a pub, where he comes across a group of "warrior bugs". These are actually circus bug performers, but he mistakes them to be real warriors. In desperation, he asks them to come to his ant colony. The circus bugs mistake his request and assume he is asking them to come perform a show. To make a long story short, the circus bugs come to the ant colony to "perform", but soon realize they are actually there to fight off a grasshopper gang. The colony discovers they are only circus performers...not warriors, a lot of comedy & slapstick ensue, and in the end they come together with the ants to actually fight off the grasshoppers & help save the colony.
Like I said, there are other details & differences to each film, but that pretty much sums up the underlying premise to their respective stories. Was it only a coincidence they are so similar in key plot points? Was it a deliberate ripoff? What do you think?
