A Bug's Life
A Bug's Life is a 1998 movie made by Pixar. It follows the conflict between ants and grasshoppers in the world of insects. It is a retelling of a fable by Aesop, The Ant and the Grasshopper.
| A Bug's Life | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | John Lasseter |
| Produced by |
|
| Screenplay by |
|
| Story by |
|
| Starring | |
| Music by | Randy Newman |
| Cinematography | Sharon Calahan |
| Edited by | Lee Unkrich |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution |
Release date |
|
Running time | 95 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $45 million |
| Box office | $363.3 million |
Voice cast
- Dave Foley as Flik, a brave but accident-prone inventor ant wanting to make a difference.[2]
- Kevin Spacey as Hopper, the leader of the grasshopper gang oppressing the ants.[2]
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Princess Atta, the nervous queen-in-training of the ant colony and Flik's love interest.[2]
- Hayden Panettiere as Dot, Atta's younger sister Flik's friend.[2]
- Denis Leary as Francis, a hot-tempered male ladybug clown in the circus, who is frequently mistaken for a female.[2]
- Joe Ranft as Heimlich, a large, gluttonous caterpillar clown with a German accent in the circus who desires to be a butterfly.[2]
- David Hyde Pierce as Slim, a walking stick clown often use as a stand-in for stick-like props in the circus.[2]
- Jonathan Harris as Manny, an elderly praying mantis magician with an English accent in the circus.[2]
- Madeline Kahn as Gypsy, a colorful gypsy moth who is Manny's wife and assistant in the circus.[2]
- Bonnie Hunt as Rosie, a black widow spider and Dim's "tamer" in the circus.[2]
- Michael McShane as Tuck and Roll, two twin[3] acrobat pillbug brothers from Hungary and act as cannonballs in the circus.[2]
- John Ratzenberger as P.T. Flea, the ringmaster of the circus troupe.[2]
- Brad Garrett as Dim, a rhinoceros beetle that plays the "ferocious beast" in the circus.[2]
- Richard Kind as Molt, Hopper's dimwitted younger brother.[2]
- Phyllis Diller as The Queen, an elderly ant who is Atta and Dot's mother.[2]
- Roddy McDowall as Mr. Soil, the ant colony's resident thespian.[2]
- Edie McClurg as Dr. Flora, the ant colony's doctor.[2]
- Alex Rocco as Thorny, a small, deep-voiced ant and Atta's grouchy assistant[2]
- David Ossman as Cornelius, a very old ant with a walking stick.[2]
- David Lander as Thumper, Hopper's insane "enforcer" grasshopper.[2]
- Rodger Bumpass as Harry Mosquito[2]
- Ashley Tisdale as the leader of the Blueberry Scouts, a troop of ant children that Dot belongs to.[2]
- Jan Rabson and Carlos Alazraqui as Axle and Loco, a duo of grasshoppers from Hopper's gang.[2]
- Bob Bergen as Aphie, the Queen's pet aphid.
Soundtrack
- Roll to Me by Del Amitri
- Basket Case by Green Day
- Loser by Beck
- Love in an Elevator by Aerosmith
- Baba O'Riley by The Who
- I Want It That Way by Backstreet Boys
- La Cucaracha by Santana
- Hey World! by Ziggy Marley
- Blister by Jimmy Eat World
- Born to Be Wild by Bruce Springsteen
- The Time of Your Life by Lionel Richie
Release dates
| Country | Release date |
|---|---|
 |
November 20, 1998 May 18, 2001 (re-release) June 20, 2003 (3-Movie Theater Pack with Toy Story & Toy Story 2) June 16, 2006 (4-Movie Theater Pack The Incredibles / Monsters, Inc. & Toy Story) September 28, 2007 (re-release) April 19, 2013 (IMAX release) |
 |
November 25, 1998 (premiere) March 17, 1999 (NTSC) December 25, 2000 (English Copy) May 12, 2001 November 7, 2003 August 31, 2007 March 3, 2013 (IMAX release) |
Home media
This released on VHS and DVD on November 13, 2001.
Production
A Bug's Life was first considered in 1988, as a short movie to be based on Aesop's fable, but it was delayed by Toy Story. Almost a year after its release, Disney made an agreement with Pixar to make movies together. John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Doctor, and Joe Ranft brought up the project idea, A Bug's Life in late 1994.[4] The ideas for Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo and WALL-E were also brought up and the three decided to have the grasshoppers demand food instead of begging for it, as it is in the fable. Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai helped influence the project. A basic story treatment was completed in 1995, and production began soon after. The movie had many technical challenges. One of the biggest technical triumphs was the simulation of crowds of ants. It would be impossible for an animator to animate every single ant in a crowd of thousands. So the technical supervisors came up with a computer program that would make every single ant in the crowd different in small ways; for example, different eye color, skin color, weight, or height. They would also build several ants that could be animated. When randomly distributed through the crowds, these ants appear to be blinking, talking, or looking in different directions.
Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score | Academy Awards | Nominated | [5] | |
| 2000 | Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects | British Academy Film Awards | Nominated | [6] | |
| 1999 | Best Fantasy Film | Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films | Nominated | SA Website does not go back that far and is not in archives either | |
| 1999 |
|
Annie Awards | Nominated | [7] | |
| 1999 | Favorite Animated Family Movie | Blockbuster Entertainment Awards | Won | IMDb is the only reference as Blockbusterawards no longer exists, and no archives prior to 2006. | |
| 1999 | Bogey Award in Silver | Bogey Awards | Won | IMDb is the only reference, I was able to find mention of it in German, but I do not understand the site and how it is laid out | [8] |
| 1999 |
|
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards | Won | Tied with The Prince of Egypt for Best Animated Film | [9] |
| 1998 | Best Animation | Los Angeles Film Critics Association | Won | [10] | |
| 1998 | Best Musical or Comedy Score - Randy Newman | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences | Nominated | [10] | |
| 1999 | Animated Voice-Over Casting - Ruth Lambert | Casting Society of America - Artios Award | Won | [11] | |
| 1999 | Best Original Score — Randy Newman | Chicago Film Critics Association Awards | Nominated | [12] | |
| 1998 | Special Notice to 1998 animation features | Florida Film Critics Circle | Won | [13] | |
| 1999 | Best Score Motion Picture - Randy Newman | Golden Globe Awards | Nominated | [14] |
A Bug's Life Media
John Lasseter, the director of A Bug's Life, at the Austin Film Festival in October 2011
A Bug's Life crew in the Oval Office
References
- ↑ "A Bug's Life". bbfc.co.uk. British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on March 2, 2016. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 A Bug's Life. Behind The Voice Actors[dead link]
- ↑ Sterngold, James (December 4, 1998). "At the Movies; Bug's Word: Yaddanyafoo". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/04/movies/at-the-movies-bug-s-word-yaddanyafoo.html. Retrieved February 19, 2017. "Tuck is older by a few milliseconds,...".
- ↑ Price, David (2008). The Pixar Touch. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-307-26575-3.
- ↑ "The 71st Academy Awards | 1999". Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 21 March 1999. Archived from the original on 17 July 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
- ↑ "Film in 2000 | BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org. Archived from the original on 17 July 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
- ↑ "49th Annual Annie Awards". annieawards.org. Archived from the original on 17 July 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
- ↑ "Bogey Awards, Germany (1999)". IMDb. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
- ↑ "Movie Reviews". The New York Times. 14 July 2022. Archived from the original on 24 January 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140124131526/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/174122/A-Bug-s-Life/details. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Movie Reviews". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 4 March 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
- ↑ "1999 Artios Awards". www.castingsociety.com. Archived from the original on 21 June 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
- ↑ "Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 1999". MUBI. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
- ↑ "1998 FFCC Award Winners". Florida Film Critics Circle. 16 November 2013. Archived from the original on 10 January 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
- ↑ "A Bug's Life". www.goldenglobes.com. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
Other websites
- A Bug's Life on IMDb
- A Bug's Life at AllRovi
