Blu-ray Review: A Bug's Life

A Bug's Life
Written by: Andrew Stanton, Don McEnery, and Bob Shaw
Based on a story by: John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Joe Ranft, Geefwee Boedoe, Jason Katz, Jorgen Klubien, Robert Lence, and David Reynolds
Directed by: John Lasseter & Andrew Stanton
Featuring the voices of: Dave Foley, Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Hayden Panettiere, Phyllis Diller, Richard Kind, David Hyde Pierce, Joe Ranft, Denis Leary, Jonathan Harris, Madeline Kahn, Bonnie Hunt, Michael McShane, John Ratzenberger, Brad Garrett, Roddy McDowall, and Edie McClurg

Blu-ray specs:
1080p High Definition/2.35:1
English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital
English DSH, French and Spanish subtitles

Bonus Features: A Bug's Life - The First Draft, Filmmakers' Round Table, Director Audio Commentary, Behind The Scenes, Academy Award winning short Geri's Game, A Walt Disney Silly Symphony: Grasshopper and the Ants, Outtakes, a Digital Copy of the film for portable media players, and access to Disney BDLive which features Movie Chat, Movie Challenge, Movie Mail, and Disney Movie Rewards Live.

A Bug's Life is the second feature from Pixar and to this day ranks among my favorites. It has finally arrived on Disney Blu-ray with a great release full of fantastic features, including a couple that are exclusive to the Blu-ray release.

Pixar and Blu-ray go hand in hand and this release further proves that. The picture is stunning and vibrant and comes to life beautifully.



Click the Rawr! for the complete review.

A Bug's Life is about an island full of ants who gather food for the evil grasshoppers. When Flik, bumbling inventor, accidental causes all the grasshopper's food spilling into the water he is exiled under the guise of searching for warriors to defend the ants from the grasshoppers return. When Flik returns to the island with what he believes to be warriors he is hailed as a hero. That is until the heroes are revealed to be circus bugs and the grasshoppers come looking for their food.

It features one of the best voice casts of any of the Pixar movies. They all fit the characters to a tee and make a great movie even better. Every cast member from Denis Leary to Kevin Spacey, and Madeline Kahn to Bonnie Hunt, make these characters come alive.



I said before how incredible this movie looks. It jumps off the screen as only a Pixar movie can. The clarity and crispness of the picture and sound only serve to push you further into the story. Pixar movies just come alive on Blu-ray. I can't wait to see how Monster's Inc. looks when it gets released (which will be soon and not available now as this release says it is.).

This release is loaded with special features, including two exclusive to this Blu-ray release; a look at the original story of A Bug's Life, narrated by Dave Foley, and a filmmakers round table with the creators of the film. Both add more to the history of the film and make me that much more appreciative of it. While I'd prefer to have the film intact as it was in the theaters (with the short and the bloopers included) it is nice to be able to access them any time. The bloopers are my favorite part and sadly Pixar has stopped producing them for their releases.



Randy Newman again contributes music to this film and it's a perfect fit. I honestly don't know what Pixar has going on over there but they seem completely incapable of making a gorgeous film. From Music to Story and everything in between. They're a regular think tank of geniuses. I've loved every one of their shorts and feature films, with the exception of Cars, only because I haven't seen it yet.

A Bug's Life is another example of Pixar's devotion to quality film with intelligent and touching stories with deep memorable characters.

Pick up this Blu-ray and immerse yourself in the lives of these bugs that you are sure to fall in love with.

A Bug's Life is available on Blu-ray now. Enjoy a couple more clips to hold you over while you wait for your copy to arrive.