Gets under your skin (A Bug's Life (DVD))

Member Name: Pingu

Product:	A Bug's Life (DVD)
Date:	15/10/01 (91 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good old slapstick humour, Great animation

Disadvantages: None

There were all kinds of rumours flying about this film, and its striking similarity to Antz. It would seem that Bug's Life was due to be the original, and Dreamworks somehow got hold of the idea, transformed it into Antz, and scrambled to get theirs out first....

....Which is unfortunate, because Antz is the better film, and, to Joe Public, who can only afford to take his kids to one or the other, it doesn't really matter how it came to be the better film.

So A Bug's Life has been somewhat overshadowed, and already looked jaded on its release. But now the dust has settled, and we are all watching it on video, it is actually a gem of a film, fantastic in its own right.

It's about an ant called Flick who has ideas - already the similarity to Z in Antz should warn you to expect a similar(ish) plot. He isn't a team player, a colony ant. When his ideas get the colony in trouble with their grasshopper enemies he suggests that he should leave the island and find some warrior insects to fight on their behalf. The princess allows it simply as a way of getting rid of him. Much to the surprise of the colony he returns with a band of warrior insects. Much to the surprise of Flick, it turns out there has been a massive misunderstanding, and he has hired a troop of circus insects who thought they were going to perform to the colony.

The plot revolves around his attempts to simultaneously hatch a plot to defeat the grasshoppers, and hide from the colony his latest blunder.

It is a very funny film. The animation is superb - it would have been the best there had ever been if Antz hadn't surpassed it and got there first. In fact several moments from Antz are stolen from Bug's Life, such as the bit where two ants get trapped in a drop of water. Even the design of the ants themselves is used in Antz as the design for the worker ants. And the plot would have been totally original.

There is nothing for ad
ults in it. Whereas Antz has some fairly sophisticated humour, courtesy of Woody Allen, Bug's Life works all on one level. If you have children you should definitely watch this with them. If you are watching for yourself then plump for Antz.

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