10 Disney Movies You Didn’t Know Were Shameless Rip-Offs
2. A Bugs Life
Akira Kurosawa is a director who has had a long, fruitful relationship with the west, drawing the inspiration for films like Throne of Blood from our own William Shakespeare but also influencing a number of American classics with his own films, for example Seven Samurai was the film to inspire The Magnificent Seven as well as providing a loose plot for A Bugs Life. In the time after Toy Storys release, Pixar were the golden boys of the animation world and, eager to get another film under their belts. John Lassiter and his inner-circle were discussing over lunch the possibilities for what to make next. Legend says that this was the meeting where films like Wall-E, Monsters Inc. and Finding Nemo were first pitched. In the midst of discussion Andrew Stanton and Joe Ranft came up with the idea to base the film on the Aesops Fable The Ants and the Grasshopper baring in mind the 1934 short produced by Walt Disney ingeniously titled The Grasshopper and the Ants. A Bugs Life really is one of those films that relies on the if you steal from one source its stealing, if you steal from multiple its research principle.