Well here is a review written by a fella that really knows his craft. Trust me, there's a good 7k worth of text that isn't being printed here, at the scooper's request, that details exactly what the scooper has been working on and how uber-freaking cool it is. And I have to admit... It is uber-freaking cool. I just feel lucky to be watching a part of animation history right now. I mean really folks. Between Pixar and PDI and Warner's IRON GIANT and Dreamwork's PRINCE OF EGYPT, not to forget Disney's on-going work... oh and Nick Parks and the AARDMAN crew with CHICKEN RUN... well it's an animation fans dream. Imagine if in the golden age of animation if the WARNER crew of Avery, Clampett, Chuck Jones, etc had a chance to do a feature. Or if George Pal had done a feature length Puppettoon. If FLEISCHER had a chance to continue past HOPPITY GOES TO TOWN. If more support had been in place for Harryhausen and Willis O'Brien.... God, some massively cool stuff could have been done. Oh heck, I forgot to mention Henry Selick and his MONKEY BONE (aka DARK TOWN) feature. I'm so excited by all this stuff. It's too cool! Well read the scooper's review and know that he didn't work on ANTZ or A BUG'S LIFE, I can safely vouch for that.
You can call me The Entomologist:
I wanted to e-mail you is that I was lucky enough to see A Bug's Life the last Thursday night at test screening in Westwood at the Crest.
Now, over the past couple of months there has been a lot of comparison between Antz and Bugs. I have now seen both and let me tell they are both great films. I am an animator in the industry and have friends at both studios so I truly have no bias either way and want to see both films succeed. All I was hoping for was two great films from two great studios. And let me tell you all that is exactly what you've got!
One of my co-workers and I showed up at the Crest as members of a test audience. Of course if you are in the industry you are not supposed to go to these test events. So after claiming I worked at McDonald's my buddy and I made our way into the theater looking for a great seat. What we found was a whole bunch of reserved seating in the "choice" section. By seeing this my friend and I figured were in for a special treat that night because we figured that meant a lot of the Crew would be there along with a few of the Disney Execs. Sure enough after waiting quite a while the show to get on the road in walked what appeared to be the lead animators, some of the voice talent and the man himself, John Lasseter. The funny thing was only myself and the other guy I work with knew who he was. After BSing with all the Disney Soldiers, He finally came walking down to the front and and grabbed the microphone. He introduced himself and the crowd went nuts when they figured out who it was. He told us that he had no more excuses that we were the first audience on the planet earth to see the final cut of A Bug's Life. He also assured us that if we stuck around that there was a treat for us in the final credits. I figured that was his way of getting the audience to stay so they could get us to fill out the BS surveys.
So the artistically hand painted curtains drew (by the way the Crest is an amazing work of art in and of itself. Check it out if ever visit LA or if you live here and have never been ) and the show began...
My first impression in the first sequence was that the it was lit a little flat. This is what bummed me out a little bit about the trailer is that it led me to believe I was going to see a flat and pastelly Bug's Life. Like I expected the animation was amazing though. But let me tell ya what from the second sequence on, It literally blew me out of my seat! The animation was mind boggling, the lighting was amazing, the cinematography was incredible, as was the sound, art direction and voice acting. And more importantly the story was fucking awesome. It was one of those films that you just do not want to end. I kept waiting for scene that did not meet all 12 principles of animation but I could not. Even from character to character the animation never slipped whatsoever. Even in Toy Story every now and then you would see a scene that did not quite match the quality of the rest. Not the case in Bugs. Every scene was masterful. There is a Bird in the film that was animated very realistically, almost scary how good it looked. Totally made up for the bad human animation in TS. The only other negative thing I can squeeze out of this experience is that like in Antz the hero was a not as memorable purely on design alone. Meaning, due to his design being very close to his fellow ants he does not stick with you like say Buzz or Woody. His voice and acting though were still phenomenal. But unlike ANTZ, the rest of the the secondary characters where very memorable. The circus bugs were impeccable from design to final animation. As a matter of fact some of my favorite stuff came from the secondary characters. I can not say enough good about this film. Being a CG animator at one of the "other" companies in town I can not stop thinking about the film. If I could have stayed there and watched it a second time I would have done so. I can not wait to see it again November 25th.
As far as the treat John promised at the end...I am not the spoiler type but, I will say tell you to stay in your seats. We did not half to fill out the questionnaires either. Since the film was in the can I think they just wanted to see the audience reaction. And reaction they got. The crowd was going nuts!
As for all of you comparing the two films I liked them both. Antz was a great first film for PDI. I can not say I am a big fan of the Disney "Machine" and also not a big fan of their formulaic traditionally animated films either but, I will go out on a limb and say that A Bug's Life is one of the better animated films I have seen. I think animation fans are truly in for a treat from here on out with these two films as well as films breaking the mold like Prince of Egypt, Iron Giant, and Aardman's Chicken Run. If Antz is making the money it has made I can not imagine what Bugs will do. It's a great thing for the Animation Industry. All the anticipation of the two films are over for me. They are both very entertaining and I am sure Bugs will make Antz kind of dollars or more. I hope you all enjoy Bugs as much as I did!!
PS- just a little Geek Info... we got to talk to John after the show he said he did the voice of the bug that is "drawn to the light" If you have seen the trailer there is a bug that flies helplessly into the Bug Zapper. the question was also asked what he thought of Jeffery moving up the release of Antz and he replied classfully that they expected it and he thought Bugs would speak for itself..............Believe me it did!
