DVD Review: A Bug’s Life [Blu-ray]: Kevin Spacey, Dave Foley, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Hayden Panettiere, Phyllis Diller, Richard Kind, David Hyde Pierce, Joe Ranft, Denis Leary, Jonathan Harris, Madeline Kahn, Bonnie Hunt, Andrew Stanton;John Lasseter: Movies & TV

May19

DVD Review: A Bug’s Life [Blu-ray]: Kevin Spacey, Dave Foley, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Hayden Panettiere, Phyllis Diller, Richard Kind, David Hyde Pierce, Joe Ranft, Denis Leary, Jonathan Harris, Madeline Kahn, Bonnie Hunt, Andrew Stanton;John Lasseter: Movies & TV

Posted by admin | on 19 May, 06:34 AM

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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

Product Description
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. 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.

Bonus Features Include: Filmmakers Round Table with John Lasseter, Kevin Reher, Darla Anderson, Andrew Stanton, A Bug’s Life: The First Draft full animated sequences from storyboards and Pixar’s original story treatment, Story treatment introduction by John Lasseter, and more

See all Editorial Reviews

The best DVD I’ve ever owned,

By Tom Zohar (Escondido, CA United States) -

This review is from: A Bug’s Life (Collector’s Edition) (DVD)

This is probably not going to surprise anyone– This is simply an excellent DVD, in every scale. The first disc contains the movie itself, which is transferred from its original, digital source. The picture quality is unbelievable. Not one spot comes up during the movie, not one scratch appears– because this wasn’t transferred from film. This is the way A Bug’s Life should be watched. The colors are amazing, bright and contrast eachother perfectly. The sound is also unbelievable– this movie challanged my 1.5 surround system perfectly. Unlike some other movies I’ve seen, where the two rear speakers are only used about twice in the movie, A Bug’s Life uses them almost constantly– You can hear the crickets and cicadas all around you in many of the scenes, Hopper’s gang are flying at you from behind; Even with a simple scene like the "Royal Huddle" the ant’s footsteps are coming from around you. The first disc contains a Cinemascope widescreen version and a pan-and-scan version. I’ll have to say that if you don’t have a widescreen TV (I don’t), you probably should forget about the widescreen version here as it is aspecially small. Besides, the PSP version was edited digitally in a very special way, even described on this DVD– you hardly miss anything in the PSP version because of that special editing. If anything, you actually get to see more detail. Also on the first disc are two special audio choices, Music Only (cool) and SFX only (VERY cool), and a director’s commentary (quite cool, although not the best I’ve heard. John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich seem to talk too much about the story, which sometimes makes it sound as if they’re just describing what you already see on screen.)

(I’m not going to give review to the movie itself here– In short, it is definitly a 5 star movie!)

The second disk is where the real fun begins. I’ve never seen so many extras, with so many choices to choose from. It’s almost confusing– You not only get to see how they made the movie, you get to literally see how they developed EACH AND EVERY character in this film. It’s astonishing. You can also hear how they edited the sound, see how they made the PSP version so good, see how they made the outtakes at the end (and also see the outtakes by themselves, clean, full screen and with no credits to interrupt), see an interview with the characters themselves (which is simply hilarious), and… See Geri’s Game in all its glory. And there’s even more.

Basically, if you don’t have this DVD, you WILL buy it. Otherwise, what’s the point of having a DVD?

The Super Genius Edition is the one to own,

By Lawrence A. Zieminski (Fort Bragg, NC USA) -

This review is from: A Bug’s Life (Collector’s Edition) (DVD)

This is the definitive DVD edition of A Bugs Life. The film makers call it "The Super Genius Edition" and I have to agree. They included everything in this two disc edition. Not only do we get both sets of outtakes, but we get Geri’s Game (old man playing chess), the trailers (including one for international release), deleted scenes, storyboards, pictures, making of segments and more. It can easily take you 3 hours to go through all the extras on this disc. If you have ever wanted to know how this movie was made, this disc will tell you!

Wonderful!,

By ”childof80s” (New York) -

This review is from: A Bug’s Life (Collector’s Edition) (DVD)

A BUG’S LIFE is truly a movie that the entire family can enjoy. It is adorable, funny, and it has a message that everybody can relate to.

The DVD is amazing, amazing, amazing! The transfer (the first ever completely digital transfer), is simply unbelievable. It is like you can reach into the screen and touch the characters. The cinemascope animation is truly stunning, and the transfer expresses it beautifully. The sound is wonderful. You feel like you’re in the bugs’ world.

This DVD has the most amazing set of extras I have ever seen. It takes you through the entire process of making A BUG’S LIFE…I’ve gone through "preproduction" and the first half of "production" and it took me an hour and a half…I still have three sections left! What is more amazing is that every extra is interesting! Truly an outstanding, sure to be groundbreaking disc. Disney, why can’t all of your DVDs be like this!

A MUST HAVE!
Search A Bug’s Life [Blu-ray]: Kevin Spacey, Dave Foley, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Hayden Panettiere, Phyllis Diller, Richard Kind, David Hyde Pierce, Joe Ranft, Denis Leary, Jonathan Harris, Madeline Kahn, Bonnie Hunt, Andrew Stanton;John Lasseter: Movies & TV from AmAzon

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