Giving opinions for several years and showing like a fine vintage
Giving opinions for several years and showing like a fine vintage
Member since:11.07.2000
Reviews:625
Members who trust:55
There's just something about a Pixar animated film that says quality. You just know it's going to be good without reading anything about it. This is because the makers concentrate on the story and characters as well as the visuals.
A Bugs Life is no different. First you've got the outstanding CGI animation that is truly wonderful to look at. It bursts with colour and imagination. Then there are the characters such as a luvvie type circus magician in the form of an insect. A real nasty grasshopper with a bumbling brother and an ant with a clumsy knack for inventions. In this story the ants gather food for the grasshoppers until one ant messes the whole thing up leaving the grasshoppers very angry. Not able to gether up enough food in time the ants enlist the help of some circus bugs to fight off the grasshoppers only these bugs think they're just there to out on a show. There's a lot of humour
which all ages can enjoy.
Recently Disney have really treated their major dvd animation releases well. The collectors edition of A Bugs Life has yet to see a Region 2 debut but has been available in region 1 for some time now.
It comes as a 2 dvd set. On the first dvd you get a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen version of the film as well as a 4:3 version for standard tv's. This transfer was created direct from a digital source so it's visually stunning and anyone thinking about getting dvd will lay eyes on this and have their mind made up for them. You'd be hard pressed to find a single fault with it.
The sound is also great in Dolby Digital 5.1 with a lot of rear effects and some great bass in later scenes as a rain storm hits.
On the first dvd there are also isolated audio tracks in 2.0 stereo that highlight the musical score and the sound effects if you're that way inclined.
Wrapping up the first platter is an audio commentary with directors John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Editor Lee UnKrich. These guys obviously love what they do and share a lot of great stories about production and ideas behind the film. It's constantly entertaining and never dull.
But it's the second dvd in the set that is really cool. This is the reason why dvd is a great format and if you've ever wondered how these films are put together then prepare yourself.
The dvd is split up into different stages of production that cover such things as Pre-Production, Sound Design, Production and Release.
You can see such things as the storyboard pitch where Pixar go through the storyboards to the film adding voices to see what works and what doesn't, you can then compare these boards to the final cut with the use of your angle button. Then there's storyboard sequences for scenes that never got animated as well as a written story treatment for the film. There are also featurettes on reaserch into insect movement etc.
Then you can browse through a lot of stills on character concepts and designs that show what the ideas for how the insects should look evolved. There's also a look at the designs of the various sets to be used in the film.
Moving on you can look at featurettes on the voice talent used in the film with interviews with the likes of Kevin Spacey etc as well as early footage of tests synching up the voices with the animation as well as progress reels. There's also a featurette on the maing of the film.
Then you have featurettes on creating the sound and score for the film as well as a look at the out-takes which a real highlight of the film and both sets are included.
If that wasn't enough then there is more. You get the trailers for the film as well as interviwes with the actual characters in the film talking about the movie as if they were real actors. There is also stills of posters and ad campaigns to promote the movie.
Add to that the animated short Geri's Game that won an oscar and features a character that later went on to be the toy refurbisher in Toy Story 2.
Finally there is a featurette on how the movie was digitally altered and recomposed to a different aspect ratio for full-screen home video release.
It's a truly amazing set that is worth the money you pay for it.
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Production Year: 1999 - Family - Director: Rob Minkoff - Original Language: English - Classification: Universal - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Geena Davis, Michael J. Fox, Nathan Lane, Chazz Palminteri
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![A Bug's Life [DVD] [1999]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78539799.jpg "A Bug's Life [DVD] [1999]")
Aug 18th, 2001
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