Hoping to end the tyranny of a bullying grasshopper named Hopper (Kevin Spacey), an industrious--and slightly ne’er-do-well--ant named Flik (Dave Foley) leaves his colony behind and sets out to find a bug big and brave enough to scare off Hopper and his gang. Mistaking a troop of circus bugs for a band of fearless warriors, Flik talks them into accompanying him home; the circus bugs believe they’ve been hired to entertain, so they’re quite shocked when they realize they’re expected to fight. As the day Hopper and his thugs are scheduled to return draws near, Flick, his fellow ants, and the circus troupe feverishly work to concoct a plan that will save their hides.

CRITIQUE

Their sophomore feature offering, a bug’s life (that’s the way it’s spelled in the main titles, so I’m sticking with it), has proven to be a bit of an oddity in the Pixar canon. Unlike, say, The Incredibles, which everyone seems to love (and with good reason), or, say, Monster’s Inc., which everyone seems to realize is the studio’s weakest effort (albeit still a good movie), this movie has caused something of a split.

Many people think it’s great, while an equal number see it as something of a disappointment. I think it’s near-great. It doesn’t have the brilliance of Finding Nemo or Toy Story 2, nor is it in the same league as Ratatouille or the original Toy Story (which gets a nice reference here).

I’d say a bug’s life is third-rung Pixar, meaning it belongs on the same shelf as Cars. Oddly (or maybe not so oddly) enough, the one thing preventing this movie from being truly great is the same thing that prevents Cars from being truly great: a lack of a strong, memorable main character.

Here’s the problem--Flik, both in terms of his arc and the way he’s generally portrayed, isn’t that interesting. Everything about him is too ordinary, too cliché. That’s fine for the kids, and there’s still a nice message at the heart of the character’s story, but there’s no color to him, nothing to really distinguish him from so many similar heroes from so many similar tales.

Virtually everything about him, from his inventions to his clumsiness to his anxieties to his relationship with the future ant queen (a character named Atta, who’s voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfuss) is just this side of perfunctory. (Much of this is likely due to the fact that until late in the game, Flik wasn’t the main character. He was a supporting player in the original version of the story, while the lead was an ant named Red, who was a member of the circus troupe.)

Everything else about the movie, though, is fantastic. The world directors John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton have constructed is rich and beautifully realized, overflowing with clever details. I love everything about the circus, from the fact that they travel around in a wagon made from old animal crackers boxes (check out the fat content on the nutrition grid!) right on down to the fireflies utilized as spotlights.

There are also many terrific gags and jokes; especially funny are the bit where that ant freaks out after finding the line has been interrupted (funny because it’s true) and the failed attempt to pull of the “Flaming Death” routine. And the entire final act, which starts off great and only gets better, is gangbusters; the passage that begins with the arrival of the rainstorm and climaxes with the startling dark exit of a character is simply excellent filmmaking.

The voice acting, as it always is in Pixar flick, couldn’t be better. Foley is good, Louis-Dreyfuss is good, and Phyllis Diller, voicing the queen of the ant colony (and Louis-Dreyfuss’s mother), is good. Even Hayden Panettiere, who voices Diller’s younger daughter and couldn’t have been more than seven years old when she recorded her work, is good. Spacey is very good, as is Richard Kind, who voices Spacey’s dimwitted brother.

Even better are the members of the circus. Casting Denis Leary as an acerbic ladybug was inspired, and Pixar favorite John Ratzenberger is hilarious as P.T. Flea, the troupe’s money-grubbing ringmaster (his hyping of the “Flaming Death” act is classic). But best of all is the late Joe Ranft, voicing Heimlich, an obese German (or is he?) caterpillar who longs to be a butterfly. Were it not for Ranft’s tragic death, I’d be all for another go-round with these characters, but there’s no way anyone could possibly replace Ranft.

THE VIDEO

In a shocking turn of events, the 2.35:1/1080p transfer--ripped straight from the original digital files and encoded with AVC onto a 50GB disc--is flawless.

I can remember being knocked out by the old standard-def disc (which was the first DVD release to feature a straight digital-to-digital transfer) and I had a similar reaction when I first glimpsed the image on this disc. Depth and clarity are breathtaking, nuance and detail stunning.

This is a reference-quality transfer from beginning to end.

THE AUDIO

The DTS-HD 5.1-ES Master Audio track is also without fault. The movie’s sound design is expansive and airy, with a wonderfully enveloping quality.

Ambience is sustained throughout, and discrete effects are seamless and completely convincing; the mix also offers the most aggressive use of the center surround channel I’ve ever heard. Dialogue sounds fantastic, as does Randy Newman’s score; the low end rumbles and booms.

French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks are also included. English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles are available.

THE EXTRAS

The DVD releases of a bug’s life came stacked with extras, almost all of which have been carried over here. You don’t get the full frame version (or its accompanying featurette), the isolated score or effects track, or the “A Bug’s Land” interactive game. Everything else, though, is here, and you also get a couple of new features.

Exclusive to this Blu-ray disc are the following two features, both of which are presented in high-definition video:

a bug’s life: The First Draft (10 minutes) is a pseudo-storybook take on the original version of the movie’s story treatment. It’s narrated by Dave Foley and is comprised of storyboards and production paintings/drawings.     

Filmmakers’ Round Table (20 minutes) is a retrospective chat with John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and producers Darla K. Anderson and Kevin Reher. Much of the talk focuses on the challenges of going from the smaller Toy Story to the larger, wider, more epic scale of this movie.

Carried over from the earlier releases (and presented in a mix of standard definition and HD, the latter of which have been indicated) are:

The commentary by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich, in typical Pixar fashion, eschews technical talk in favor of a discussion of the movie’s story and characters.

The movie’s creation is documented in the following:

Pre-Production (34 minutes total)--which is split into Fleabie Reel (I’m won’t explain it--you’ll just have to see it), Story & Editorial, Storyboard-to-Film Comparison, Abandoned Sequences, and Research Documentary--covers the conception of the movie, including another look at the original plot, the planning and evolution of a few key sequences, and a glimpse at some sequences that were dropped early on.

Production (26 minutes)--which is split into Behind the Scenes of a bug’s life, Voice Casting, Early Tests, Story Reel, Layout, Animation, and Shades & Lighting--covers the standard topics of casting/recording voiceovers and charts the evolution of the animation.   

The Sound Design Documentary with Gary Rydstrom (13 minutes, HD) is an exploration of the creation of the movie’s sound design and final mix. Skywalker Sound genius Rydstrom details how the various sounds in the movie were created, demonstrates how they were layered into the mix, and then plays a few finished mixes alongside their accompanying film footage. (A few seconds of high-def footage from Toy Story can be glimpsed here, the quality of which only serves to make the already long wait for that movie’s Blu-ray release seem that much longer.)

Finally, there’s Release, which offers a look at poster concepts, the movie’s teaser and theatrical trailers, and a brief animated interview short the Pixar team created for exhibition in foreign markets.

Geri’s Game (5 minutes, HD), which ran before the movie during theatrical screenings, is Pixar’s 1997 Oscar-winning animated short. (Although the video has been given an upgrade, the audio is presented in lossy Dolby Digital.)

Two sets of outtakes (5 minutes total, HD) offer both the original credit cookies and the batch created for the second half of the movie’s theatrical run.

Design Galleries contain many, many still images in the following categories: Character Galleries, Location Galleries, and Concept Art.

Grasshopper and the Ants (8 minutes, HD), which (along with Seven Samurai) served as an inspiration for the movie, is a classic Walt Disney Silly Symphony cartoon.

Standard Disney BD-Live content includes access to Movie Chat, Movie Challenge, Movie Mail, and Disney Movie Rewards Live.

A second disc contains a DisneyFile Digital Copy of the movie.

FINAL THOUGHTS

If you think I’m not going to tell you to pick this one up as soon as is humanly possible, you’re obviously some sort of crazy person.