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Click above to purchase "A Bug's Life" at amazon.com
A Bug's Life
review by Zach B.
Rated G
Studio: Disney
With the voices of Dave Foley, Dennis Leary, Julia
Louis-Dreyfuss, Kevin Spacey, Bonnie Hunt
Running Time: 95 Minutes
Written by Andrew Stanton, Donald McEnery and Bob
Shaw
Based on a story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Joe
Ranft
Directed by John Lasseter
Co-Directed by Andrew Stanton
Retail Price: $29.99
Features: Outtakes,"Geri's Game" short,
Specs: 2.35:1 Non-Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.33:1 Full
Frame, 5.1 Dolby Digital English, English Captions, Chapter
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After the highly succesful "Toy Story" which wowed
audiences to infinity and beyond, Pixar, the leading
computer animation studio, created another successful
follow-up, "A Bug's Life". Technically, "A Bug's Life" is a
lot better than Toy Story, thanks to the advances in
computer animation. Things looked more realistic and flow
better, as well as more vivid colors and scenary.
The movie follows the inventor ant Flik, who is always
creating trouble with new inventions. But after a little
accident which causes the ants to lose all their food they
collected for the Grasshoppers (I guess they are sort of
slaves), led by Hopper (Kevin Spacey), Flik is sent to find
warrior bugs to get him out of the other ants hair for them
to re-collect the food. Flik does return with warriors. They
appear to be warriors, but are actually a fire bunch of
circus bugs. However, will these actors be good enough to
help with the fight against grasshoppers? Will their true
identitys be revealed?
Why I don't think "A Bug's Life" is as good as "Toy
Story", it's still a really enjoyable movie, even if it is a
tad predictable. The computer animation is really
breahtaking, and the voice acting (especially by Foley and
Spacey) is top notch. The script is good and does its job. A
great movie for the whole family, this DVD release has a
really nice presentation.
Perfect. The film is presented in two ratios: 2.35:1
non-anamorphic widescreen and an excellent composed full
frame version at 1.33:1. The transfer is striking. It was
converted from the original computers, not from tape or
film, so it looks absolutley perfect. Direct digital to
digital file. I couldn't find any dirt, artifacts or
scratches anywhere. Detail is some of the best I have ever
seen, and the colors are perfect and vibrant. While the
widescreen is nice, the full frame is also excellent and has
a lot of history to it. To make sure nothing is lost,
cropping is kept at a mininum, and Pixar used the original
computer files to create a new transfer. Some characters are
brought closer together, and some tops and bottoms have been
added to see even more of the picture. Still, this transfer
is as good as they come. It's just amazing to look at.
However, if you want anamorphic, you have to go with the
Collector's
Edition.
The 5.1 audio track is just as good as the transfer.
Randy Newman's wonderful score is brought to full life with
the 5.1, it truly is booming and loud using all the channels
creatively and wonderfully. Sound effects are really
amazing, the sound of things flying overhead, crashes, it
just sounds amazing. Dialogue is crisp and clear. It's an
excellent mix, just a perfect track and a joy to listen to.
Not much. You'll find the Oscar®-winning short
Geri's Game (as shown in theaters with the film),
plus the two sets of Outtakes, also in theaters. The
CE
has it all...
Good movie, top notch presentation, no supplements. I say
go with the
Collector's
Edition, you'll get so much in supplements and an
anamorphic transfer.
 (4/5, NOT included in
final score)
 (5/5)
(5/5)
 (1/5)
 (3/5,
NOT an average)
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