Friday 26 September 2014

COMPETING FILM SHOWDOWN - A Bug's Life vs Antz

Looking at film and television. Sometimes two very similar films come out close together, let's see which one is better...

Animated Insects Showdown

In 1998 two animated childrens films about insects were released:  Antz in October and A Bug's Life in November... which is better?


HOW DID IT HAPPEN?

Depending on who you believe, it's either a coincidence that both insect films or revenge by Jeffrey Katzenberg after he left Disney to co-found Dreamworks SKG.



Round 1
TITLE
"I'm a beautiful butterfly." ~ Heimlich, A Bug's Life.

Antz - Generic, obvious name with cutesy misspelling.
A Bug's Life - A dull name.

I'd give it to Antz but I don't think children's films should have cutesy misspellings in their title.

TIE

Round 2
PLOT
"There you have it: your average boy-meets-girl, boy-likes-girl, boy-changes-the-underlying-social-order story." ~ Z, Antz
"Aw, come on! It's a great story." ~ Molt, A Bug's Life.

Antz - A dystopic film about the futility of war, individuality and redemption.
A Bug's Life - Seven Samurai/The Magnificent Seven/Three Amigos! meets the fable of the ant and the grasshopper.

WINNER - ANTZ

Round 3
ANIMATION
"Do I look stupid to you?" ~ Hopper, A Bug's Life.

Antz - Rushed to beat A Bug's Life into cinemas.  Dark.  Made the mistake of trying to include humans.
A Bug's Life - Early Pixar goodness, although ants look weird with 4 limbs instead of 6 and a strange bright colour.

WINNER:  A BUG'S LIFE

Round 4
CHARACTERS & ACTORS
"Oh, good. Because, you see, when you first brought them here, I'd thought you'd hired a bunch of clowns!" Princess Atta, A Bug's Life.

Antz - Has bigger name stars pretty much playing themselves as insects.  The naming was better.
A Bug's Life - A variety of characters (especially the variety of insects with the circus performers.)

WINNER:  A BUG'S LIFE

Round 5
KID'S VIEW
"My children's children will walk down the street and people will point and say, 'Look, there goes the spawn of Flik the Loser'!" ~ Flik, A Bug's Life.

Thomas (6) - A Bug's Life: "I love it when is says 'I'm a butterfly.'  He isn't."
Olivia (4) - "A Bug's Life is great."

WINNER:  A BUG'S LIFE

Round 6
FAMILY FRIENDLY
"Your majesty. Ladies and gentlemen. Boys and girls of all ages. Our troupe here guarentees a performance like no other. Why, when your grasshopper friends get here, we are gonna knock... them... dead!" ~ Francis, A Bug's Life.

Antz - Is actually a PG and a darker movie.
A Bug's Life - A bit more fun for kids.

WINNER:  A BUG'S LIFE

Round 7
ADULT FRIENDLY
"You know, I was going to let you become a part of my most erotic fantasies, but now you can just write it off."  ~ Z, Antz

Antz - A darker more complex story.
A Bug's Life - An overly simple story.


WINNER:  ANTZ.

Round 8
TESTS
"It's a bug-eat-bug world out there, princess."  ~ Hopper, A Bug's Life.

Antz.
  • Bechdel Test - Some interaction between Princess Bala and the Queen about duty, depends on whether you think "the Queen" counts as a named character with no arc.
  • Mako Mori Test - The Princess is a standard rebellious princess, Azteca is just a secondary character with no arc.

A Bug's Life
  • Bechdel Test - Some interaction between Princess Atta and the Queen about duty, depends on whether you think "the Queen" counts as a named character.
  • Mako Mori Test - The Princess is a standard rebellious princess with no arc, There are a number of other secondary female characters with no arc.

TIE.
  
Round 9
MORAL VICTOR
"This is just a lawsuit waiting to happen." ~ Z, Antz

Depending on whether you believe that it was a coincidence of revenge by Jeffrey Katzenberg for being mistreated by Disney and whether you believe that the revenge is fair (or that he was mistreated).  So many variables I'm not going to call it.

TIE.

Round 10
BOX OFFICE
"I'm gonna be rich, rich, rich I'm gonna be rich, rich, rich I'm gonna be the richest flea in the land, ka-ching! The streets will be paved with golden retrievers..." ~ P.T. Flea, A Bug's Life.

Worldwide Gross (Box Office Mojo):

    Budget (Box Office Mojo):

    WINNER:  A BUG'S LIFE

    Round 11
    RATINGS
    "Boy, these folks are sure hard up for entertainment." ~ Slim, A Bug's Life.


    IMDb user rating:
    Rotten Tomatoes - Tomatometer
    Rotten Tomatoes - Audience (Want to see it)

    Metacritic (critics)

    Metacritic (users)

    WINNER:  A BUG'S LIFE

    Round 12
    SHOWDOWN REVIEWS
    "You listen to me, my boy. I've made a living out of being a failure, and you, sir, are not a failure." ~ Manny, A Bug's Life.

    Online Reviews

    Podcasts
    Vodcasts

    WINNER:  A BUG'S LIFE

    Round 13
    READER'S POLL
    "All we are saying is give Z a chance." Azteca, Antz.

    Even if you haven't seen both films, do the survey.






    RESULTS SO FAR
    "I hate it when someone gives away the ending." ~ Hopper, A Bug's Life.


    ANTZ:  3.5 (2 win, 3 ties)

    A BUG'S LIFE:  8.5 (7 wins, 3 ties)

    Antz has a deeper story, but the dullness of just ants is mitigated in A Bug's Life by having the other insects.

    ~ DUG.

    Future Competing Film Showdowns

    Announcing Showdown #7

    1996: High School Witches Showdown

    Little Witches vs The Craft


    Do the current poll to help determine the subsequent showdowns with the new entries:


    2006:  19th Century Prestidigitation Showdown - The Prestige vs The Illusionist.

    2010:  Post Apocalyptic Showdown - The Road vs The Book of Eli.

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