Review Archives

1 | 2 | 3

Today's Date is:

A Bug's Life: Collector's Edition (2003 Re-Release)

Standing out as one of the most imaginative and funny Disney films in quite some time, "A Bug's Life," carries on the humorous pairing of the House of Mouse with the computer animation studio Pixar for yet another outing of supreme in-jokes and exceptional storytelling. As with the previous outing, the phenomenal "Toy Story," this new adventure plunges us into the world beneath our feet, a world of towering grass blades, monstrous grasshoppers, and the ants they control. ***

On Ant Island, a colony of ants has busied itself for months collecting food for the domineering Hopper (voiced by Kevin Spacey), whose troupe of grasshoppers meets there once every couple of months to retrieve the ants' offering. The soon-to-be queen, Atta (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), spends her time worrying about the progress of the gathering, while the socially outcast Flik (Dave Foley) wastes precious time creating crap inventions that usually end in disaster. His latest contraption results in the loss of their entire months' work; with no offering and a very angry Hopper, the ants are given an ultimatum they cannot ignore. ***

But how do they get rid of Flik while trying to keep the grasshoppers off their backs? Simple: grant him the assignment of venturing out into the wide world to locate and acquire the services of bigger, stronger bugs, thus leaving them free and clear to continue collecting for the new offering. Which is exactly what Flik does, only without the awareness that the group of bugs he has encountered are in actuality part of a circus act run by the eccentric P.T. Flea (John Ratzenberger). ***

And what a group of bugs they are! There's stick-bug Slim (David Hyde Pierce), a Shakespearean actor who keeps being cast as a 2X4; the lady-bug Francis (Denis Leary) who's actually a male; Heimlich (Pixar's own Joe Ranft), a German-tongued caterpillar whose appetite is bigger than himself; the praying mantis Manny (Jonathan Harris), who does a disappearing act with the beautiful butterfly Gypsy (Madeline Kahn); the black widow Rosie (Bonnie Hunt), who acts like a mother to the childlike beetle Dim (Brad Garrett); and two foreign pill-bugs Tuck and Roll (Michael McShane). At first hesitant to go along with Flik's ruse, they eventually concoct a plan of warding off the grasshoppers once and for all. ***

The general story is your standard Disney fare, but the ingenious manner in which "A Bug's Life" has been envisioned is full of wonders to behold. Taking us from the mushroom-lit insides of an anthill, to the gleeful concoction that is the bug circus made of Reese's Peanut Butter Cup wrappers for seats and lightning bugs for spotlights, the creative minds behind this visual extravaganza turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. The inventive nature of the material provides for a number of very funny jokes and perky characters, all voiced by one of the best collective gatherings of talent for a motion picture in many a moon. The voice can make the character, and that's certainly the case here, without question. This is the type of movie that merits multiple viewings, if for no other reason than to relive the sheer magnitude of this so-called "epic of miniature proportions."

"A Bug's Life" has the honor of being the first DVD ever to be created directly from the digital source, and as such, it remains one of the cleanest and brightest DVD image transfers I've ever seen. A reference quality picture throughout the film's entire, everything about the transfer is beautiful, with optimal color saturation and exquisite hues and tones. Edges are sharp, with excellent small object detail, and there are no compression or enhancement artifacts to speak of at all. Superb! ***

Also very exciting is the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track, which provides us a fully dynamic and sonic experience that ranks as one of Disney's best efforts to date. The balance between the high and low ends is wonderful, with loads of imaginative sounds effects filling out the fronts and surrounds, and deep, powerful bass from the .1 LFE giving us lots of gratifying booms and shakes throughout. Imaging is excellent throughout, while dialogue sounds natural, and channel separation is superb. Great!

An obvious tactic on the part of Disney to promote their new collaborative effort with Pixar, "Finding Nemo," this re-releasing of the original collector's edition of "A Bug's Life" features new packaging and a few new supplements, but otherwise this is the same release as before. That's not to say that everything about this DVD isn't up to speed; in fact, it's one of Disney's better two-disc efforts. ***

Disc One contains both widescreen and fullframe viewing options, with an audio commentary accompanying the widescreen presentation. Also on this disc is the option to listen to the music by itself on the widescreen feature, and the sound effects, available on the fullframe option. ***

Then we move on to Disc Two, which houses a good deal of supplemental material. With a wealth of separate introductions from the filmmakers into each section, there's hardly any possibility of losing one's way here. "Pre-Production" is the most comprehensive of these sections, beginning with something called the "Fleabie" reel, which was used as a promo piece during the production process to show to the company before any actual animation had been completed; it's actually kinda funny in retrospect. Then we have some footage from the storyboard pitches, which were done numerous times as a way of introducing the other filmmakers to the story, and tossing around ideas and changes. We also have a storyboard comparison scene, two hand-drawn abandoned sequences, a featurette showcasing the research done on the world of bugs for the movie, and last but not least, an enormous gallery of concept art further subdivided into characters, locations, and color scripts. ***

The next section, entitled "Production," is less engrossing, but still watchable. This one is home to three featurettes: "Behind the Scenes of A Bug's Life," which is a general overview of the production, "Voice Casting," where the voice actors muse about their work on the show, and "Early Tests," which shows the digital evolution of these characters in the computer world. None of these is very meaty, with running times of less than four to five minutes. Then we have some animation progression demos, showing us the four different stages of creating "A Bug's Life," all introduced to us by the filmmakers responsible for that field of mastery. ***

After a pretty good look at Gary Rystrom's sound design in a singular featurette, we move on to another section, "Release," which houses a gallery of posters and ad campaigns, as well as the film's theatrical trailers, some cheesy character interviews, and reframing material regarding the fullframe versions of the movie. Then it's on to "Outtakes," which contains a small featurette as well as two different sets of the very funny faux outtakes played during the film's theatrical run. Closing out the disc is the Oscar-winning short "Geri's Game," a "Finding Nemo" promo that has been shamelessly tacked on, and a new set-top game "A Bug's Land," which is basically a trivia challenge that's not that difficult.