John Perrucci Reviews...A Bugs Life

This article was written by reader and contributor John Perrucci

John Perrucci- Flik is an individual ant and would-be inventor, who lives in an ant colony, led by Princess Atta and her mother, the Queen. Flik is different and always unappreciated because of his problematic inventions. The colony is oppressed by a gang of marauding grasshoppers led by Hopper who arrive every season demanding food from the ants. When the annual offering is inadvertently knocked into a stream by Flik's latest invention, a harvester device, the grasshoppers demand twice as much food as compensation. 

Given a temporary reprieve by the grasshoppers, the ants trick Flik into accepting his plan to recruit "warrior bugs" to fight off the grasshoppers. While Flik actually believes in the plan, the other ants see it as an opportunity to get rid of Flik and save themselves trouble. Making his way to the "big city" (a heap of trash under a trailer), Flik mistakes a group of circus bugs, who have recently been fired by their money-hungry ringmaster, P.T. Flea, for the warrior bugs he seeks. The bugs, in turn, mistake Flik for a talent agent, and agree to travel with him back to his home, at Ant Island.

My favorite character is Flik, because he is a likeable character. My favorite parts, or at less some of them, are when Flik flies through the air on a small piece of dandelion, and when the ants make and use a fake bird to scare the grasshoppers away later on in the film.

The cast brings great life to the characters, with Dave Foley playing Flik, as well as the cast of Julia-Louis Dreyfus, Kevin Spacey, Joe Ranft, and John Ratzenberger.

It is similar to the Dreamsworks film, Antz, and both films's bad guys are voiced by actors who have played Lex Luthor in live action Superman films. Gene Hackman as General Mandible in Antz, and Kevin Spacey as Hopper in a bug's life.
The final product of both films are generally perceived to contrast one another in tone and certain plot points. Antz carries a dark tone, featuring moderate violence and death, as well as social and political satire, geared more towards teenagers and adults, while A Bug's Life is more family-friendly and lighthearted.

Antz was moved from March 1999 to October 1998 to compete with Pixar's release of A Bug's Life.


The movie is has some fun moments, great animation, with some good quotes being heard here and there, and a really good story, which is why I give it 4 stars.

Top Ten Toy Story Moments

Includes minor spoilers from the Toy Story films. 

Mark Hansen- I love the films of Pixar. Each one, to varying degrees, contains heart, humor and adventure. In particular, I love the Toy Story films. I cannot think of a trilogy that improves, one film to the next, the way these do. And in every possible way, from the quality of animation, to the story, to the performances. Now that I’ve seen each of these movies approximately 65 billion times (one the perks of parenthood), I’ve decided to list my favorite moments from each. Some of these are favorites for personal reasons, and I can’t really say that they’re in exact order, so keep that in mind when judging me harshly. Also, spoilers are present, so read with caution (or go watch the movies, seriously!)

10. “You are a toooooy!” The gas station showdown between Buzz and Woody really showcases the bravura performances of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen. Allen’s Buzz is terrifically committed to the Space Ranger bit, but it’s Hanks that really sells the scene here. His manic frustration, in a futile attempt to convince Buzz he is a child’s plaything calls to mind his early, more purely comedic performances. This is also one of three or four moments from the Toy Story films I like to reenact with my son. 

9. Buzz Lightyear Dies! Spoiler! Another spoiler- he actually doesn’t. But the whole intro to Toy Story 2, with Buzz landing on an alien planet and having the kind of adventures toy Buzz dreamed of in the first film is a blast. And while you know this isn’t going to be the true direction the film is going to take, it’s a fun reveal when you realize we’re watching a videogame that Rex is losing. And Buzz’s death is one of those shocking moments where you don’t know whether to gasp or laugh. So you do both.

8.  Playtime with Bonnie Mr. Pricklepants has the right idea, I think. Playtime for toys is like acting. The child is your director, and each one has their own unique directorial style. While Andy seems to have scenarios pretty well planned out, Bonnie’s style is looser and much more stream-of-conscience. Or, as Buttercup says, “We do a lot of improve here. Just stay loose, have fun, you’ll be fine.”

7. Sid’s Comeuppance I feel slightly bad for Sid. Only slightly, mind you, because he does seem like a jerk. But look at all those crazy hybrid toys he created! There must have been some former Sid’s at Pixar. Babyface, Legs, all those guys are really creative. This scene is a terrific showcase for them, just a bit creepy and hilarious. And Woody’s speech is fun to recreate, spinning head and all, with your Woody doll. Take it from me.

6.  Woody’s Round-Up Reportedly, all of Woody’s dialogue about the various Woody’s Round-Up merchandise was improvised by Hanks. I’m not sure if this is true, but it certainly feels like it. Plus, this scene gave us the line, “Hey Howdy Hey, I’m on a yo-yo!”

5. Woody’s Nightmare Another great fake-out moment from Toy Story 2, and another scene that’s lots of fun to recreate with your Woody doll. All those arms pulling Woody back into the trash can is a thing of nightmares!

4. I Will Go Sailing No More Buzz’s realization that he’s just a toy is perfectly scored by Randy Newman’s song. For a brief moment, you almost believe he can fly, and then your dreams are smashed on Sid’s steps. This scene has most definitely been recreated over and over again as well.

3. Buzz Vs. Zurg The climactic elevator showdown between the Evil Emperor Zurg and the Wrong Buzz is both harrowing and hilarious, and provides some much-needed closure for Rex. Thankfully, Zurg isn’t killed by his fall, so that Buzz can catch up with his dad. As it turns out, Zurg’s a great dad. Yippee!

2. The Last Five Minutes of Toy Story 3 By far the most moving moment in the entire series, we watch Andy grow up before our eyes and pass the toy torch on to the deserving Bonnie. The moment he’s deciding whether to give up Woody never fails to get me, and watching them play together is such a satisfying conclusion to the series.

1. The First Five Minutes of Toy Story 3 No kidding, despite what a great film follows, if all of Toy Story 3 were in the same vein as the first five minutes, I would’ve been utterly delighted. I mean, you’ve got it all: karate potatoes, orphan trolls, force field dogs, pigs in monocles, death by monkeys. The prime ingredients for a blockbuster! I seriously love this scene, and even though the rest of the film is amazing, I’m sad this scene had to end.

And I’m sad this list had to end. But end it must. Cue Randy Newman.

The Mickey Mindset: mickeymindset@gmail.com

GIVEAWAY: The Pixar Character Encyclopedia

Just a couple of day ago, we reviewed Disney and DK Publishing's latest wonderful book, The Pixar Character Encyclopedia, which you can read right here. The book is apart of DK's Movie Maniacs boutique, featuring character encyclopedias and guides to over a dozen films, including the Muppets, Marvel, Frozen, Star Wars and many other Disney franchises. Make sure to check out their entire movie section right here.

Today we're super excited to announce that we'll be giving away one special copy to one lucky winner, courtesy of the good folks over at DK Publishing. All you have to do to enter is by following one of the steps in the Rafflecopter link below. You can enter by liking our Facebook page, following us on Twitter, and other easy tasks that will give you more entries to win this wonderful new book.

We'll also be posting games and trivia on our Facebook page and Twitter this week, so make sure you follow to learn how you can earn more chances to win!

RULES AND CONDITIONS:

No purchase necessary. Contest is open to all residents of the United States and Canada. Must be 12 years or older to enter. Winner will be announced on Facebook and Twitter on May 5th 2014. Winner will have one week to respond for shipping info. If no response is received in that time, another winner will be chosen.

Now that you got the rules, make sure to enter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Mickey Mindset: mickeymindset@gmail.com

Retro Review: Buzz Lightyear of Star Command

Mitchell Stein- Out of all the Disney direct-to-video films throughout the decades, I would have to say Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins is one of my favorites.

The film begins with Andy’s Toys, Woody, Buzz, Rex, Hamm, Jessie etc. waiting for their VHS copy of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command to arrive, being delivered by the green army men, as usual. Rex is too excited and nearly faints as the group continues to mess with him, such as the VHS is broken and the box not opening. Finally, once they pop it in and the film gets rolling is where our adventure begins.

The film transforms into the CGI 3D animation in Andy’s Room to the traditional hand-drawn 2D animation seen on screen. The entire screen becomes filled with the 2D animation and we are filled in with our first Star Command mission: Locate the three missing “Little Green Men” (the aliens from the Toy Story franchise). 

After a sad series of events, Buzz decides to never work with a partner again. Star Command disagrees and pulls out the Star Command regulations which clearly state that every Space Ranger must be teamed up with an assistant. He is first teamed up with Princess Mira Nova, a new cadet who seems to be just as self-centered as Buzz. She’s come a long way to her position and would do anything to get the respect she deserves, even if it means breaking the rules. 

Next, he’s teamed up with XR, a robot built by the Little Green Men to assist and learn from Buzz. After being destroyed, XR is rebuilt as a much smarter, quirkier robot, who easily steals the show and provides most of the film’s comedy relief. As well as that, there’s Booster, a big red creature (species unknown) who works on the Star Command janitorial staff and has always wanted to be a Space Ranger like Buzz.

Evil Emperor Zurg (voiced by Wayne Knight, strangely enough) is a perfect villain. His self-centered evil plans are so diabolical and he’s willing to crush anyone in his way and provide some hilarious moments while arguing with his moronic staff. He places his trust in “Agent Z” to exterminate Buzz Lightyear, as Zurg moves onto the Little Green Men planet to steal the UniMind, which is ultimately a way for the L.G.M to communicate with one another through mind powers. Zurg plans to use this for his own benefit and to control everyone’s minds, in true super-villain fashion. 

Actor Tim Allen, well known for his work as the voice of Buzz in all three Toy Story films returns to voice Buzz in this exciting story, along with Nicole Sullivan (Meet the Robinsons) as Mira Nova, Larry Miller as XR, Adam Corolla as Commander Nebula and Stephen Furst as Booster. The voice actors are great and they all give life to every character, and really add to each scene. It’s also good to see Allen back as Buzz, as things are always better with the original voice actors, even though they usually cost a lot of money.

Overall, I love this film, especially as a fan of the Toy Story franchise, and it puzzles me why Disney hasn’t re-released this movie on DVD and Blu-Ray. The Toy Story franchise has proven to be a big money-maker for Disney and Pixar, and I can only see money signs coming out of this re-release. If they’re going to release it, I hope they do it soon. I would love to own this on high-definition. It would definitely look a lot better than my current copy on VHS.  

Disney and the Academy Awards

Mitchell Stein- Once again, it's time for Hollywood's Biggest night. The night where millionaires stand up on stage and present tiny golden statues to other millionaires, people analyze what some celebrity is wearing, and why their favorite movie didn't win the award for "Sound Mixing".

Today as we prepare for the 86th Academy Awards, we take a look back at Disney's most significant history at the Oscars and Disney's biggest and greatest wins, from the beginning up until today.

Even since his death in 1966, Walt Disney still holds the records for the person with the most Oscars won in a lifetime with 32 awards. Becuase it would take over a week to list every nominee, let's take a look at some of the Disney Company's biggest wins from the beginning.

The Three Little Pigs: This film won Walt his second Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, previously earning an award for Flowers and Trees the year earlier. 

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: While Walt's first animated 

film did not actually win an Oscar, Walt received an honorary Oscar from the Academy for his first full-length feature film. The Oscar include one, full sized Oscar figure along with seven smaller Oscars, in honor of the film. This award was on display at Disney's Hollywood Studios for a short time and is now on display at the Walt Disney Family Museum. 

Pinocchio: Pinocchio was Walt's first feature length film award, but not for best animated film, rather for Best Score and Best Original Song ("When You Wish Upon A Star"), as did Dumbo the year later. 

The beloved film, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea won the significant awards of Best Art Director and Best Visual Effects, along with The Vanishing Prairie, which won an award for best Documentary Feature. The Vanishing Prairie was a part of the nature documentary features that Walt produced in the 50s and 60s. 

Then, in 1964, Mary Poppins flew in and swooped up five Academy Awards, including Best Actress (Julie Andrews) Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Original Song (Chim-Chim Cher-ee) and Best Special Effects! Mary Poppins remains a legendary film for the Disney Company until today, and more info about the film can be found in Saving Mr. Banks, available on Blu-Ray on March 18th

2014!

Another very important film in Disney history was of course, Who Framed Roger Rabbit which took in Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Visual Effects, which it clearly deserved. The movie was unlike anything else seen at the time, blending live-action with hand-drawn animation. The movie was released under Disney's Touchstone Pictures banner, but the award of course went to the Disney Company. 

Beauty and the Beast was the first animated feature to ever be nominated for the Best Picture category, but sadly did not take home the little golden statue in that category, but it did win Best Song and Best Original Score. Other winners in that category for that decade include The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, and Tarzan. 

Pixar then stepped into the picture and snagged a whole bunch of awards for their short films, Tin Toy, Geni's Game and For the Birds. Pixar won awards for Best Animated Feature throughout the years for their work on Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up, and Toy Story 3. 

Finally, in 2011 The Muppets won their first Oscar for Best Original Song for "Man or Muppet". The Muppets have been nominated for various different categories since the 1966, but always got snagged, finally they got the honor they always deserved. 

Last year, Pixar's Brave took home the award for Best Animated Feature, other Disney nominees included Wreck-It Ralph and Frankenweenie. Disney's Paperman was awarded for Best Animated Short Film as well, which was well deserved once again. 

Now we reached the 86th Academy Awards hosted by Ellen Degeneres. Watch it all tonight to cheer on Frozen, Saving Mr. Banks, The Lone Ranger, Iron Man 3, and The Wind Rises for those awards. Go Disney! 

News Update: February 21st 2014

Mitchell Stein-Big news these past couple of weeks! First off, taking place just yesterday, popular pop culture rendition group The Piano Guys released their latest video, which is a brand-new beautiful instrumental rendition of Frozen's "Let it Go", which is also nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song. If you haven't seen it yet, watch it right here:

Also new in Frozen news, it was officially confirmed that Idina Menzel would in fact be performing "Let It Go" live at the Academy Awards on March 2nd. The Oscars will be hosted by comedian Ellen DeGeneres, who has quite a few Disney connections in her career. Make sure to watch and to cheer Disney on during Hollywood's biggest night.

 Also, reportedly a new TV spot for Muppets Most Wanted will air during the Oscars. Be on the lookout for other movie TV spots, and possibly a Muppet cameo (hey, it's possible!). 

In Star Wars news, it was announced that the sixth and final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars has been produced, and it's heading to Netflix on March 7th 2014 in both Canada and the U.S. 

The Clone Wars has been running on Cartoon Network since 2008 and then Disney XD before being cancelled without a season finale. The ending will now be finally available to fans, as they get ready for the next new Star Wars TV series, Star Wars Rebels. 

As you probably read elsewhere online, there is a brand-new (Disney-Pixar's) Ratatouille themed section coming to Disneyland Paris summer 2014, which is only a few months away. They teased the internet with this video, as well as a piece of conecpt art as to what the finished project will look like. The attraction seems to be currently going under the name of Ratatouille: The Ride, which seems kinda bland if you ask me. I hope they have another name for the attraction in the park, but either way, the ride looks like it'll be a lot of fun. Now all I have to do is catch a plane to Paris this summer....

This isn't an official Disney released video, but AVbyte released this fun video, showing Disney princesses taking things into their own hands and being tired of being "damsels in distress". 

When Queen Elsa is tired of hearing how all the princesses are waiting for a prince to come and help them, she convinces them that they can handle things on their own and they sing "I Don't Need A Man" with music and lyrics by Anontius Nazareth. 

Watch it here, and then make sure to watch some of their other pop-culture videos, such as "Doctor Who: The Musical" and "Harry Potter: The Musical". 

Besides Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Marvel has a brand-new film being released this summer, named Guardians of the Galaxy. Marketing for the movie has been rather quiet, but now with the release only a few months away, Disney/Marvel aired the first official trailer during Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC on Tuesday night. The movie is released in North America this August. 

As well as the trailer, they released the new poster for the movie, which reveals the movie's tag line "You're Welcome" which is quite an amusing one in my opinion. This movie looks like it'll be playing more for the comedy with a large dash of action. The trailer is interesting, but the movie is sure to be promising.

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Blank: A Vinylmation Love Story was released online for free and is available for free on the Google Play store. It's free to make an account, so make sure you sign up and download this truly amazing feature. 

The Academy Award nominated film, The Wind Rises, from Disney and Studio Ghibli opens nationwide tomorrow! The film marks the last directing job of award-winning director Hayayo Miyazaki. It gaining tremendous reviews and from what we hear, it's pretty good. I suggest checking this one out as well. 

In sad news this week, John Henson, late son of Muppets' creator Jim Henson has passed away. Read our tribute to John here and then take a look at how some Muppet magic happens every day with Chase Beecher's new article, Our Friend Kermit. 

For the last bit of news this week, Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade which has been performing for the past 13 years in Animal Kingdom will close to make way for 2017's Avatar-themed area. The last parade show will be in June, Inside the Magic reports. No new parade has been announced yet, but we bid a farewell to Mickey's Jungle Parade as that area gets lots of construction walls placed around it in the coming months. 

That's all for this week's news! Have a magical week! 

The Mickey Mindset: mickeymindset@gmail.com

Reaction: Disney's Oscar Nominations 2013

Ryan Dosier - The Academy Award nominations for 2013 films were announced today and Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Marvel all received some great nominations. Check them all out below:

Animated Feature Film
   - FROZEN
     Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, and Peter Del Vecho

Makeup and Hairstyling
   - THE LONE RANGER
     Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua-Casny

Original Score
   - SAVING MR. BANKS
     Thomas Newman

Original Song
   - "Let it Go" from FROZEN
     Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Bobby Lopez

Animated Short Film
   - GET A HORSE!
     Lauren MacMullan and Dorothy McKim

Visual Effects
   - IRON MAN 3
     Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash and Dan Sudick

   - THE LONE RANGER
     Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams and John Frazier

As with every year, there were some major snubs as well. Here are the (Disney-related) snubs that shocked me completely...

• Emma Thompson not nominated for Best Actress - Emma Thompson received NOTHING for her role as P.L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks. This is just an egregious error that I completely don't understand. Shutting out the strongest part of Saving Mr. Banks and one of the finest performances by an actress this year? Baffling. Many critics agree with me that Meryl Streep's performance in August Osage County does not merit a nomination. How she won out on a nomination over Emma Thompson I will never know.
• Monsters University not nominated for Best Animated Feature - What?! I just... HUH?! Nominating The Croods over Monsters University is just unbelievable. I'm stunned to see Pixar shut out of the Oscars completely for the first time since 2001. I never thought I'd have to say this, but Pixar was robbed.
• Tom Hanks not nominated for Best Supporting Actor - The fact that Tom Hanks wasn't nominated for Best Actor (Captain Phillips) is one thing, but to see him snubbed for Supporting Actor as well is crazy. I'm very disheartened to see that no one is awarding--or even nominating Tom Hanks for his turn as Walt Disney in Saving Mr. Banks. Incredibly disappointing.

I could go on, but these are the biggest snubs that completely infuriate me this year. Seeing Saving Mr. Banks only receive one nomination is also ridiculous... but maybe I'm biased.

Nonetheless, huge, huge, HUGE congratulations to everyone at Disney for their nominations. Especially the folks at Walt Disney Animation, who have elevated the studio back to where it belongs. To my friends at the Animation Studio who worked on Frozen and Get a Horse!, I'm so proud to know you!