A Bug's Life Review
I think by now, Everyone has seen this movie and if you haven't, I'm sure all will enjoy it. I owned this on VHS and then on DVD. The reason I purchased the Blu-ray was because my DVD version was not enhanced for 16x9 TVs, and I knew the Blu-ray would be. I haven't tried any extra features with the blu-ray version and only have the picture quality to compare. The blu-ray version is more sharp, but the DVD version was pretty good to begin with. If I had a way to zoom in on the DVD version without changing my DVD upscale settings to 480, I would have just stayed with the DVD version... There was such a magic on the screen in 1995 when the people at Pixar came up with the first fully computer-animated film, Toy Story. Their second feature film, A Bug's Life, may miss the bull's-eye but Pixar's target is so lofty, it's hard to find the film anything less than irresistible.
Brighter and more colorful than the other animated insect movie of 1998 (Antz), A Bug's Life is the sweetly told story of Flik (voiced by David Foley), an ant searching for better ways to be a bug. His colony unfortunately revolves around feeding and fearing the local grasshoppers (lead by Hopper, voiced with gleeful menace by Kevin Spacey). When Flik accidentally destroys the seasonal food supply for the grasshoppers he decides to look for help ("We need bigger bugs!"). The ants, led by Princess Atta (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), are eager to dispose of the troublesome Flik. Yet he finds help--a hearty bunch of bug warriors--and brings them back to the colony. Unfortunately they are just traveling performers afraid of conflict.
As with Toy Story, the ensemble of creatures and voices is remarkable and often inspired. Highlights include wiseacre comedian Denis Leary as an un-ladylike ladybug, Joe Ranft as the German-accented caterpillar, David Hyde Pierce as a stick bug, and Michael McShane as a pair of unintelligible pillbugs. The scene-stealer is Atta's squeaky-voiced sister, baby Dot (Hayden Panettiere), who has a big sweet spot for Flik.
More gentle and kid-friendly than Antz, A Bug Life's still has some good suspense and a wonderful demise of the villain. However, the film--a giant worldwide hit--will be remembered for its most creative touch: "outtakes" over the end credits à la many live-action comedy films. These dozen or so scenes (both "editions" of outtakes are contained here) are brilliant and deserve a special place in film history right along with 1998's other most talked-about sequence: the opening Normandy invasion in Saving Private Ryan.
The video and DVD also contain Pixar's delightful Oscar-winning short, Geri's Game. --Doug Thomas
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Customer Reviews
Its a small World - B. McMillen -
This movie is great it came in perfect condition. I will buy another movie from this vendor.
Big Fan - AbbysK -
I'm a big fan of Pixar. I like their movies very much. The short films are really cute too.
Jul 01, 2010 23:26:15
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