A Bug’s Life 720p - (1998 Lang: English)

Wow! This movie is good eatin'!

"A Bug's Life" is like a favorite candy bar -- it's chock-full of great little bits that add up to something really tasty.

The story couldn't have been better; it's clever, has "heart" (emotion), and every character has a nice "arc" (a growth or change). By comparison, the only characters in "Toy Story" to have an "arc" are Buzz, who learns to love being a toy, and Woody, who overcomes his resentment of Buzz. There are tons of laughs and cute moments in "A Bug's Life". All of the actors turn in great voice work, and the animation, both the motion and detail, is superb.

There is great detail in A Bug's Life. Everything is covered. The film looks great and the animation is sometimes jaw-dropping. The film isn't too terribly orignal, it's basically a modern take on Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, only with bugs. I enjoyed the character interaction however and the bad guys in this film actually seemed bad. It seems that Disney usually makes their bad guys carbon copy cut-outs. The grasshoppers are menacing and Hopper, the lead bad guy, was a brillant creation. Check this one out.

A Bug's Life is a 1998 American computer-animated comedy adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Andrew Stanton, the film involves a misfit ant named Flik that is looking for "tough warriors" to save his colony from greedy grasshoppers, only to recruit a group of bugs that turn out to be an inept circus troupe. Randy Newman composed the music for the film, which stars the voices of Dave Foley, Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Hayden Panettiere, Phyllis Diller, Richard Kind, David Hyde Pierce, Joe Ranft, Denis Leary, John Ratzenberger, Jonathan Harris, Madeline Kahn, Bonnie Hunt, Mike McShane, and Brad Garrett.

The film is inspired by Aesop's fable The Ant and the Grasshopper. Production began shortly after the release of Toy Story in 1995. The screenplay was penned by Stanton and comedy writers Donald McEnery and Bob Shaw. The ants in the film were redesigned to be more appealing, and Pixar's animation unit employed new technical innovations in computer animation. During production, the filmmakers became embroiled in a public feud with DreamWorks Animation due to their similar film Antz, which was released the same year.

The film was released to theaters on November 25, 1998, and was a box office success, surpassing competition, and grossing $363 million in receipts. It received positive reviews from film critics, who commended the storyline, witty dialogue and animation, while others criticized it by comparing it to Antz. The film has been released multiple times on home video. It was Roddy McDowall's final role before his death.

Flik, an individualist and would-be inventor, lives in a colony of ants in the middle of a dry creek. They are led by Princess Atta and her mother, the Queen. The colony is oppressed by a gang of marauding grasshoppers that arrive every season demanding food from the ants. One day, when the annual offering is inadvertently knocked into a stream by Flik's latest invention, a grain harvesting device, Hopper, the leader of the grasshoppers, demands twice as much food as compensation. When Flik suggests in earnest that they seek help from other stronger bugs, the other ants see it as an opportunity to be rid of him, and send him off.

Making his way to the "bug city" (a heap of trash under a trailer), the naive Flik mistakes a troupe of circus bugs that have recently been dismissed by their money-hungry ringmaster, P.T. Flea, for the warrior bugs he seeks. The bugs, in turn, mistake Flik for a talent agent and accept his offer to travel with him back to Ant Island. During a welcome ceremony upon their arrival, the circus bugs and Flik both discover their mutual misunderstandings. The circus bugs attempt to leave but are forced back when a bird attacks the group, and save Dot, Atta's younger sister, from the bird as they flee, gaining the ants' respect in the process. At Flik's insistence, they continue the ruse of being "warriors" so the troupe can continue to enjoy the hospitality of the ants. Hearing that Hopper fears birds inspires Flik to create a false bird to scare away the grasshoppers. Meanwhile, Hopper tells his gang how greatly the ants outnumber them and worries that they will eventually rebel against them.

The ants finish constructing the fake bird, but during a celebration, P.T. Flea arrives searching for his troupe and accidentally exposes their ruse. Outraged by Flik's deception, the ants exile him and desperately gather food for a new offering to the grasshoppers. When the grasshoppers arrive to discover the mediocre offering, they take over the island, demanding the ants' winter store of food. After overhearing Hopper's intention to kill the Queen, Dot has Flik and the circus bugs return to the colony for help.

The bird initially fools the grasshoppers, but P.T. Flea, also mistaking it for a real bird, lights it on fire, exposing it as a decoy. Hopper beats Flik in retaliation and proclaims that the ants are lowly life forms who live to serve the grasshoppers. However, Flik responds defiantly, realizing that Hopper actually fears the colony, and inspiring the ants and the circus bugs to fight back against the grasshoppers. The ants attempt to evict Hopper from the island, but it suddenly begins to rain. In the ensuing chaos, Hopper kidnaps Flik and flees. After the circus bugs fail to catch them, Atta rescues Flik. As Hopper viciously pursues them, Flik lures him to the nest of the bird he encountered earlier. Assuming that the actual bird is just another fake one, Hopper taunts it but is caught and fed to one of her chicks.

Sometime later, Flik has improved his inventions and the quality of life for the colony, and Atta professes her love for him. Atta is crowned the new queen and Dot is second in line to the throne. The ants congratulate Flik as a hero and bid a fond farewell to the circus troupe, hoping that they will return for the following year.

This is a FUNNY film. It has all the usual Disney components (music, great range of characters, story, appeal), entwined with superb animation and the excellent voice talents of less well known actors as those in say "Antz" and "Price of Egypt".

The characters work really well, and have a strong appeal, and the humour is aimed at a wide level which overcomes generational barriers. The movie is also presented in superb cinemascope format, which adds to the cinema experience.

Call me crazy, but I have seen the film three times, and I intend on taking more friends to see it this weekend. Many skeptics have seen this film on my recommendation and not been disappointed. I work in a multiplex, and I can honestly say that no-one has ever walked out of this movie without a sense of satisfaction.

See it, and don't be put off because it is animated. You are sure to enjoy this movie, and make sure you stay for the end credits! The bloopers and out-takes at the end are the funniest part of the film, which is packed with laughs throughout.

Bug's Life is really funny!