A Bug's Life (1998)
A Bug's Life is a 1998 American CGI film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution in the United States on November 25, 1998.
A Bug's Life was the second Disney·Pixar feature film and the third American computer-animated film after Toy Story and Antz. Based on Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, it tells the tale of an oddball individualist inventor ant who hires what he thinks are "warrior bugs" — actually circus performers — to fight off a small band of grasshoppers who have made the ant colony their servants.
The film was directed by John Lasseter, and was co-directed by Andrew Stanton. It also inspired a 3D show at Disney's Animal Kingdom called It's Tough to Be a Bug!'.
Plot
Every season, a colony of ants are expected to gather food for a gang of bullying grasshoppers. One ant, Flik, is a promising inventor who isn't appreciated due to his inventions causing trouble. While trying out a mechanical harvester, he accidentally knocks the pile of food into a stream just before the grasshoppers arrive.
The grasshopper leader, Hopper, gives the ants the rest of the season to gather more but orders double after Flik stands up to him in defense of the Queen's young daughter and his only supporter, Dot. As a result of his mistake, Flik is admonished by the colony's council. When Flik suggests that he try to recruit warrior bugs to fight the grasshoppers, Dot's older sister and the successor to the Queen, Princess Atta, allows him to do so, but only as a fool's errand to get rid of him.
Flik reaches the insect city, which is actually garbage under a trailer. He encounters a troupe of unemployed circus performers whose latest performance has just ended in disaster and mistakes them for the warriors he needs. At the same time, they believe him to be a talent scout who wants to book their act. They return to the colony, to Atta's surprise, and are greeted as heroes who can fight the grasshoppers. In a conversation, Flik and the troupe realize their misunderstandings with each other, which Atta nearly overhears. While about to leave the colony, the troupe reconsider when they manage to save Dot from being attacked by a hungry bird.
Flik proposes to build a model bird to scare Hopper away. Whilst working together on the bird, the troupe members bond with the colony. Atta and Flik, who share mutual feelings of pleasing everyone, begin an awkward attraction for each other. At the grasshopper's hideout, Hopper's brother Molt suggests that they do not come back, since they have more than enough food and that it will rain. Hopper reminds him and everyone else to keep ants living in fear because of the latters' superior numbers, and they all set out to collect their due.
Eventually, circus master P. T. Flea arrives looking for his missing performers and unknowingly exposes them. Upset at Flik's deception, Atta orders him exiled from the colony, while the other ants rush to collect whatever food they can for Hopper. When the grasshoppers arrive, the ants are unable to meet Hopper's demands, so Hopper and his cronies take over the colony and force them to bring them food. Dot overhears their plans to kill the Queen, catches up with Flik and the troupe, and persuades them to return and put their plan into action.
Flik, with help from Dot and her friends, fly the bird, which frightens the grasshoppers senseless, but P. T. Flea, thinking the bird to have injured Manny, sets it on fire. Realizing the bird is a fake, Hopper berates and beats Flik to the ground. Flik, however, is able to stand up and reveals that the ants are more powerful than they are led to believe, with grasshoppers being the weak, reliant ones. Realizing this, the colony swarms against the gang and forces all, except a captured Hopper, to leave. However, a rainstorm begins, causing panic in which Hopper grabs Flik and flies off. Atta rescues Flik and they lure Hopper toward the bird's nest. When they reach the birds nest, Hopper corners Flik, and then is confronted by the bird, whom he at first believes to be another fake, but eventually discovers it to be real. Hopper runs and almost manages to escape, but the bird corners him and picks him up in his beak. As Hopper screams "no" over and over again in panic, Flik and Atta look away as the bird lowers Hopper into its nest, where Hopper is promtly devoured by the bird's chicks.
The next spring, the colony has adopted Flik's harvester to speed up grain collection, and Atta becomes the new queen, passing the princess crown to Dot and choosing Flik as her mate. They wave goodbye to the troupe, now joined by Hopper's younger brother Molt, who all stayed over winter as guests.
Production
DreamWorks Animation's similar film Antz was released a little more than a month before A Bug's Life. DreamWorks' Jeffrey Katzenberg left Disney in 1994 and said the idea for Antz came from a 1991 story pitch by Tim Johnson that was related to Katzenberg in October 1994. However, Disney had been working on developing an ant film since 1988. Pixar head John Lasseter pitched A Bug's Life the day Katzenberg left Disney in August 1994, and said he felt "betrayed" when he learned Antz was scheduled for release before A Bug's Life. According to Lasseter and Steve Jobs, Katzenberg offered to stop development of Antz if Disney moved the release date of A Bug's Life, which was coming out opposite DreamWorks Animation's The Prince of Egypt. Pixar refused.
The release date of Antz was moved up from March 1999 to October 1998 in response to Disney's refusal. Even though A Bug's Life was the first to be pitched, Antz was finished and released first. A Bug's Life, however, was more profitable.
Reception
The film received very positive reviews. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 91% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 81 reviews, with an average score of 7.9/10. The critical consensus is "A Bug's Life is a clever and enjoyable movie with great animation."
Box office
A Bug's Life made approximately $162.7 million in its United States theatrical run, easily covering its estimated production costs of $45 million. The film made $200,600,000 in foreign countries. The film made a worldwide gross of $363.3 million, surpassing the competition from DreamWorks Animation's Antz.
From Wikipedia
A Bug's Life was the second Disney·Pixar feature film and the third American computer-animated film after Toy Story and Antz. Based on Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, it tells the tale of an oddball individualist inventor ant who hires what he thinks are "warrior bugs" — actually circus performers — to fight off a small band of grasshoppers who have made the ant colony their servants.
The film was directed by John Lasseter, and was co-directed by Andrew Stanton. It also inspired a 3D show at Disney's Animal Kingdom called It's Tough to Be a Bug!'.
Plot
Every season, a colony of ants are expected to gather food for a gang of bullying grasshoppers. One ant, Flik, is a promising inventor who isn't appreciated due to his inventions causing trouble. While trying out a mechanical harvester, he accidentally knocks the pile of food into a stream just before the grasshoppers arrive.
The grasshopper leader, Hopper, gives the ants the rest of the season to gather more but orders double after Flik stands up to him in defense of the Queen's young daughter and his only supporter, Dot. As a result of his mistake, Flik is admonished by the colony's council. When Flik suggests that he try to recruit warrior bugs to fight the grasshoppers, Dot's older sister and the successor to the Queen, Princess Atta, allows him to do so, but only as a fool's errand to get rid of him.
Flik reaches the insect city, which is actually garbage under a trailer. He encounters a troupe of unemployed circus performers whose latest performance has just ended in disaster and mistakes them for the warriors he needs. At the same time, they believe him to be a talent scout who wants to book their act. They return to the colony, to Atta's surprise, and are greeted as heroes who can fight the grasshoppers. In a conversation, Flik and the troupe realize their misunderstandings with each other, which Atta nearly overhears. While about to leave the colony, the troupe reconsider when they manage to save Dot from being attacked by a hungry bird.
Flik proposes to build a model bird to scare Hopper away. Whilst working together on the bird, the troupe members bond with the colony. Atta and Flik, who share mutual feelings of pleasing everyone, begin an awkward attraction for each other. At the grasshopper's hideout, Hopper's brother Molt suggests that they do not come back, since they have more than enough food and that it will rain. Hopper reminds him and everyone else to keep ants living in fear because of the latters' superior numbers, and they all set out to collect their due.
Eventually, circus master P. T. Flea arrives looking for his missing performers and unknowingly exposes them. Upset at Flik's deception, Atta orders him exiled from the colony, while the other ants rush to collect whatever food they can for Hopper. When the grasshoppers arrive, the ants are unable to meet Hopper's demands, so Hopper and his cronies take over the colony and force them to bring them food. Dot overhears their plans to kill the Queen, catches up with Flik and the troupe, and persuades them to return and put their plan into action.
Flik, with help from Dot and her friends, fly the bird, which frightens the grasshoppers senseless, but P. T. Flea, thinking the bird to have injured Manny, sets it on fire. Realizing the bird is a fake, Hopper berates and beats Flik to the ground. Flik, however, is able to stand up and reveals that the ants are more powerful than they are led to believe, with grasshoppers being the weak, reliant ones. Realizing this, the colony swarms against the gang and forces all, except a captured Hopper, to leave. However, a rainstorm begins, causing panic in which Hopper grabs Flik and flies off. Atta rescues Flik and they lure Hopper toward the bird's nest. When they reach the birds nest, Hopper corners Flik, and then is confronted by the bird, whom he at first believes to be another fake, but eventually discovers it to be real. Hopper runs and almost manages to escape, but the bird corners him and picks him up in his beak. As Hopper screams "no" over and over again in panic, Flik and Atta look away as the bird lowers Hopper into its nest, where Hopper is promtly devoured by the bird's chicks.
The next spring, the colony has adopted Flik's harvester to speed up grain collection, and Atta becomes the new queen, passing the princess crown to Dot and choosing Flik as her mate. They wave goodbye to the troupe, now joined by Hopper's younger brother Molt, who all stayed over winter as guests.
Production
DreamWorks Animation's similar film Antz was released a little more than a month before A Bug's Life. DreamWorks' Jeffrey Katzenberg left Disney in 1994 and said the idea for Antz came from a 1991 story pitch by Tim Johnson that was related to Katzenberg in October 1994. However, Disney had been working on developing an ant film since 1988. Pixar head John Lasseter pitched A Bug's Life the day Katzenberg left Disney in August 1994, and said he felt "betrayed" when he learned Antz was scheduled for release before A Bug's Life. According to Lasseter and Steve Jobs, Katzenberg offered to stop development of Antz if Disney moved the release date of A Bug's Life, which was coming out opposite DreamWorks Animation's The Prince of Egypt. Pixar refused.
The release date of Antz was moved up from March 1999 to October 1998 in response to Disney's refusal. Even though A Bug's Life was the first to be pitched, Antz was finished and released first. A Bug's Life, however, was more profitable.
Reception
The film received very positive reviews. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 91% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 81 reviews, with an average score of 7.9/10. The critical consensus is "A Bug's Life is a clever and enjoyable movie with great animation."
Box office
A Bug's Life made approximately $162.7 million in its United States theatrical run, easily covering its estimated production costs of $45 million. The film made $200,600,000 in foreign countries. The film made a worldwide gross of $363.3 million, surpassing the competition from DreamWorks Animation's Antz.
From Wikipedia
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