Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Embark on an incredible journey with one little ant as he searches for a brave band of warriors to help him battle the bullying grasshoppers who threaten his home. When he stumbles on a bumbling troupe of circus bugs instead, their only hope for victory is the bond of friendship and the awesome power of imagination.

Pixar’s second feature film finds its way to Blu-ray in stunning form. A loose adaptation of Seven Samurai, A Bug’s Life is often pandered as one of the weaker Pixar films. I’ve never understood this standpoint as the film showcases an amazing sense of story, character and animation. Pixar continues to be one of those rare studios that just always seem to amaze and each story stands strong on its own. This Blu-ray also comes with some movie money toward the admission of their upcoming theatrical release of Up.

Pixar continues to deliver pristine Blu-ray presentations for their films and this one looks like it got a bit of a facelift since its DVD. Detail is razor sharp here and the sense of depth is incredible. But the biggest improvement is the colors, which are eye popping in saturation and hue. Some of the greens really pop on the screen and I don’t recall this film looking this eye catching the first few times around. Dimensionality is strong and like all of Pixar’s films there is an uncanny sense of realism to every object. They simply set the bar for computer animation.

The soundtrack is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio and is a lot of fun. The sound design was done by maestro Gary Rydstrom and is actually pretty action heavy with remarkable dynamic range and some pretty intense sequences. The film has a very open spatial design with plenty of body and seamless imaging from front to back. The voice work is outstanding and I especially enjoyed Kevin Spacey’s turn as the villain, Hopper.

Disney continues to support their Disney File feature and include a portable copy of the film for use. This new Blu-ray has some features not previously found on the previous DVD releases including some never used animation sequences from the film and a director’s roundtable on the film itself. You also get both sets of outtakes from the film, the Academy Award winning short Geri’s Game, plus an audio commentary and lots of production features. Disney has also included one of their early Silly Symphony shorts Grasshopper and the Ants, which was one of Lasseter’s inspirations for the film.

Pixar continues to deliver top notch Blu-ray releases and this one is a must own for any film lover’s library. It is too bad the originally announced Monster’s Inc. couldn’t accompany it.