A Bug's Life (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

A Bug's Life (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

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• 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

DVD Reviews of A Bug's Life (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

DVD Review: CGI Bug Story Extraordinaire!
Summary: 4 Stars

Walt Disney Pictures' A BUG'S LIFE, co-directed by Andrew Stanton and John Lasseter, and released in October of 1998 (a full month after Dreamworks SKG's ANTZ), tells the very cute story of a not-so-bright worker ant simply named Flik, voiced by Canadian comedian Dave Foley. His constant bumbling attempts to help the ant colony drive the others to distraction, and to loathe him. I love the opening scene with Flik accidentally losing the yearly "offering" of food meant for the grasshoppers, who regularly exploit the ants for their own purposes. This leads to a very funny scene in which the grasshoppers angrily confront the ants, and demand satisfaction.

My advice is to see this film with an open mind; forget about "The Battle of the Bugs" as A BUG'S LIFE has really nothing whatsoever to do with ANTZ, with the only exception being that both films star a nerdy ant who attempts to win the affection of the ant colony princess. That's the only similarity! Otherwise, A BUG'S LIFE is a rather light story dealing with Flik's attempt to woo Princess Atta (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, brilliantly expressive in a superb comedic role) while he attempts to fix the aforementioned mess he made. Unfortunately for Flik, he is sent out of the ant colony all alone, and into the vast unknown, supposedly populated by big, scary bugs and other creatures. In his search for fierce warrior bugs to fight the grasshoppers, Flik unknowingly comes across a "bug circus" in which he is convinced that he has found the muscle that the ant colony needs. In what is one of the funniest scenes, Flik is welcomed back as the unlikely hero of the ant colony, impresses Princess Atta and then proceeds to find out the truth about these circus-performer bugs he has brought back with him. These bugs are hilarious, by the way. With Slim the walking stick (David Hyde Pierce), Heimlich the big fat German-accented caterpillar (Joe Ranft), the tough-talking male ladybug (Denis Leary), and Manny the old British-accented 'thespian bug' (Jonathan Harris--yep, Dr. Smith himself!), this is truly a motley crew of bugs if there ever was one. But the bug that really steals the show is the villain; the evil grasshopper leader Hopper (Kevin Spacey). Spacey's vocal performance is brilliant; so much so, in fact, that I had no idea it was Kevin Spacey until the first time I saw the end credits!

Spacey is hilariously deadpan while delivering lines like: "Do I look stupid to you? Do I? Do I...look...STUPID...to YOU? Let's just think about the logic for a second, shall we? If it [the offering] was UP THERE, why would I be DOWN HERE, LOOKING FOR IT??" Of course, as a typically self-referential Disney film, the screenwriters couldn't resist having fun with another Hopper line: "It's one of those Circle-of-Life things." Unfortunately, they gave some of the film's worst lines to The Queen (Phyllis Diller); for example, "It's our lot in life. It's not a lot, but it's our life! Ahahahaha!!" I'm sure Phyllis was paid enough to not care so much about the corniness of her lines, but still!

A BUG'S LIFE is an absolute triumph of 3-D CGI animation. It is a beautiful film to look at. The images are bright, sharp and colorful. This film offers a much better viewing experience than ANTZ, which has a more engaging storyline, but has mostly sepia-toned imagery that is neither as sharp or realistic-looking. Again, these are completely two different films: ANTS, with its mildly adult language, themes and occasional violence, is definitely PG-rated. Its humor is appreciated more by adults than kids. A BUG'S LIFE, however, is deservedly G-rated. You can let your 4-year-old watch it, and even though they probably won't be able to follow the storyline (as meager as it is), they will certainly be entertained by both the imagery and the funny voices over and over again. There may be a scene or two that may scare them a little; however, it says a lot that the scariest character in the film is a red robin.

The final verdict in my review: A BUG'S LIFE is a very entertaining combination of 3-D animation and excellent voice-over acting by excellent (and very well-cast) actors such as all who were previously named, plus Madeline Kahn, Bonnie Hunt, Michael McShane, John Ratzenberger and Brad Garrett. It is true that ANTZ has a better story; however, A BUG'S LIFE has superior animation. In addition, this was the Disney film that originated the idea of creating fake 'outtakes' to show over the end credits. Originally, I found this practice to be quite odd, but now I kind of like it. This Collector's Edition has even more bonus features than the original DVD. Now a two-DVD set, A BUG'S LIFE is really loaded; besides the behind-the-scenes featurette, there are interactive games that are sure to provide additional entertainment for your little ones, and maybe even for yourself.

RECOMMENDED
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR DISNEY/PIXAR FANS

Description of A Bug's Life (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

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