A Bug's Life (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bonnie Hunt, Brad Garrett, Dave Foley, Jonathan Harris, Phyllis DillerBrand: Buena Vista Home Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Anamorphic, Animated, Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 95 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-05-27
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Studio: Walt Disney Video
Product features:
- Journey inside the miniature world of bugs for bigger-than-life fun and adventure under every leaf! Crawling with imaginative characters, hilarious laughs, and colorful animation, Disney and Pixar's A BUG'S LIFE will "delight everyone -- young, old, or six-legged" ("People" magazine). On behalf of "oppressed bugs everywhere" an inventive ant named Flik hires "warrior bugs" to defend his co
Movie Reviews of A Bug's Life (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
Movie Review: A classic comedy of errors in a bug-eat-bug world
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of very few computer-animated movies that I have seen that makes the genre one truly to rank alongside cartoons as a way of telling stories that do not require the time, trials, tribulations and, yes, money to make live-action movies. Yet the cartoon medium, especially when Disney has anything to do with it, has always been one designed principally to make otherwise unlovable creatures lovable with human characteristics and a sense (or lack) of morality.
This Pixar Animations movie focuses on a lovable, yet flawed character, who wants to make himself better in the eyes of his fellows, but ends up being shunned and even exiled before circumstances dictate that he should return as the hero. The difference here is that the main character is not human, rather it is an ant named Flik (voiced with conviction by Dave Foley), who ends up being the (very) unlikely hero when his colony is threatened with being "squished" by the evil Hopper (voiced with chilling excellence by Kevin Spacey), unless they accede to his demands for food - the ant/grasshopper equivalent of "protection money".
The straw that broke the proverbial camel's back for the colony is when Flik's harvesting machine goes out of control just at the wrong place at the wrong time, resulting in all the food for the grasshoppers ending up in the river just as Hopper and his cronies are arriving. Hopper is enraged as he confronts Princess Atta (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and demands an explanation for this apparent lack of obedience. Hopper seizes Atta's younger sister, Dot (Hayden Panettiere), but Flik, for whom Dot has a soft spot, throws caution to the wind and tries to stop Hopper, much to the astonishment of all the ants. Hopper nonetheless takes full control of the situation, ordering all the ants to prepare another offering, even if food supplies are running low.
The colony is clearly unwilling to stand up to these bullies in spite of their own overwhelming numerical superiority (something that Hopper directly refers to later on), yet the hierarchy allows Flik to leave the island on what they perceive to be a suicide mission, that is, to bring back "bigger bugs [...] to rid [the colony] of Hopper and his gang" - even if the real reason is so that Flik cannot possibly ruin their chances of preparing the new offering.
What follows is a classic comedy of errors when Flik mistakenly assumes that a trio of assorted insects are warrior bugs when, in a "city bar", he witnesses three of them challenging some other insects sporting for a fight. He pleads with them to accompany him back to the colony, but his new acquaintances mistake him for a "talent scout". To his horror, before an audience of ants, relieved at seeing these "warriors", Rosie the black widow spider (Bonnie Hunt) reveals (very discreetly) what she and her friends really are - circus performers. Hurriedly removing the "warriors", Flik is angry at what he perceives to be their deception, yet Manny the mantis (Jonathan Harris) accuses him of precisely the same thing. Not surprisingly, Atta becomes suspicious and distrusts him. Everything thus seems on the verge of disaster when an event involving Dot sees the "warriors" playing along with the deception - until their former boss, P.T. Flea (John Ratzenberger), comes looking for them and, because of his almost incessant babbling, the ants realize what the "warriors" actually are.
Atta immediately exiles Flik, yet the grasshoppers soon return and force the ants to prepare food. Dot manages to escape and (inexplicably) finds her absent friend and the circus troupe. The insects try and convince Flik to return yet he, in turn, is unwilling owing his shockingly low self-esteem: "The colony's right - I just make things worse." However, the colony's need is greater than that of just one individual (a theme explored in "Antz"), so they return to carry out their original plan to get rid of Hopper, using a facsimile of the one thing that the bully is most afraid of. It almost works, except that, once again, P.T., not realizing what is really going on, scuppers this in a somewhat "inflammatory" fashion. An enraged Hopper tries to assert his dominance when he tells the ants that they are "mindless, soil-shoving losers". Despite being "dealt with", Flik shows his true mettle and openly confronts the bully: "We're a lot stronger than you say we are!" What happens next is predictable. As with all good guy/bad guy stories, the bad guy somehow has to get his comeuppance - and, since it is, as Hopper puts it to Atta, "a bug-eat-bug world out there", one can guess how it all ends.
The chemistry between the cast members is all too evident, as the characters interact with vigor and vitality, thus helping to make this flick (no pun intended!) and the morality tale within it a highly enjoyable and entertaining experience for all the family, not just the little ones. What is even more enjoyable, in case the little ones are sad at what happens to one character in particular, are the deliberately made out-takes, so that the animated characters now become animated actors.
This is a true gem, and it gets my five stars.
Summary of A Bug's Life (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
Journey inside the world of bugs in this epic of miniature proportions. Crawling with imaginative characters, hilarious laughs, and colorful animation, Walt Disney Pictures Presentation of A Pixar Animation Studios Film, A BUG'S LIFE, will "delight everyone -- young, old, or six-legged." (People Magazine) In this 2-disc set you'll step behind the scenes for a look at the innovation and teamwork that resulted in this ingenious film. Loaded with bonus features ? including animation not seen in theaters, abandoned sequences, and multiple surprises ? A BUG'S LIFE COLLECTOR'S EDITION offers something for everyone from families to film lovers!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 also contains Pixar's delightful Oscar-winning short, Geri's Game. Box art varies. --Doug Thomas
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