The Ant Bully

Post by **Ben** » August 20th, 2006, 11:06 am

Bee Movie is actually taking a giant leaf out of the 1941 Fleischer feature Mr Bug/Hoppity Goes To Town if you look at the designs.

I like the way DWs have gotten away from trying to be hyper real with the Shreks to present a more cartoony view of CGI with Madagascar, Over The Hedge and now Bee Movie.

I think Ant Bully came so close to Antz it almost hurt, there's no way these were a cross between the pastel colored bugs from Pixar's movie.

Post by **ShyViolet** » August 21st, 2006, 1:32 am

I agree, there was way more Antz in there than anything else.

Your avatar's very cool Ben, but I still have to get used to it!

Post by **Ben** » August 21st, 2006, 10:14 pm

Thanks Vi...so am I!

But then, I'm still getting used to your topless Ariel shot.

Post by **Dacey** » August 23rd, 2006, 2:21 pm

She's topless?

Post by **ShyViolet** » August 23rd, 2006, 2:32 pm

Nah, it just looks like she is.

The light is obscuring her image...it's an early poster from the first release.

(although originally she was only supposed to have only clam shells but they made the animators add the seaweed strap as well, so it's clear what's, uh, holding them up.

)

Post by **Dacey** » August 23rd, 2006, 2:34 pm

Oh, wow. Hopefully they'll have that footage on the DVD.

Post by **ShyViolet** » August 23rd, 2006, 2:38 pm

I think that at the time there was even a "naughty" picture of Ariel completely topless at the WDFA studio, just for laughs...

Post by **Ben** » August 23rd, 2006, 7:29 pm

ShyViolet wrote:...it's an early poster from the first release.

Actually, I think that's from the 1997 reissue Vi.

Code Horror · Post by **Code Horror** » August 24th, 2006, 4:00 pm

Was anyone surprised that The Ant Bully lost to Miami Vice? I wasn't, I knew The Ant Bully will flop.

Post by **Dacey** » August 24th, 2006, 4:39 pm

Look, CH, most people thought that "Miami Vice" would beat "The Ant Bully". Okay?

Post by **ShyViolet** » August 25th, 2006, 5:22 pm

Back in 1994, I think Disney was going to a theatrical version of Hawaii Five-0 (however you spell that) But then Katzenberg left the studio and the project pretty much fell apart.

Interesting; Disney beat the old TV show/film revival trend by more than ten years!

Hey WJ....I love your vegetables!

But they're making me hungry.

Post by **Christian** » August 25th, 2006, 8:31 pm

Disney beat the old TV show/film revival trend by more than ten years!

That trend has been around for a while.

Post by **Ben** » August 26th, 2006, 8:54 am

Indeed. Apart from feature versions of radio shows in the 1940s, we Brits had a questionable record of producing feature versions of all of the top TV properties of the 1970s.

For those of you who may know some titles, Dad's Army, Rising Damp, Are You Being Served, Till Death Us Do Part, George And Mildred and many more were fine tuned and given budget boosts to fill 90 minutes on the big screen.

On The Buses was so successful they managed three of them (On The Buses, Mutiny On The Buses and Holiday On The Buses), which were among the top grossers of the year - the first even beat out The Godfather here!

Don't forget that Dr Who and the Thunderbirds each made a couple of feature outings too!

Also, for those who know the Carry On series, the first of those, Carry On Sergeant, was an unofficial transfer of the TV show The Army Game (The Old Amry Game, possibly?) and there were many comedians who took their TV personas to the theaters in transfers of their shows, so it's been going on a looong while.

Post by **ShyViolet** » August 26th, 2006, 1:26 pm

Indeed. Apart from feature versions of radio shows in the 1940s, we Brits had a questionable record of producing feature versions of all of the top TV properties of the 1970s.

One exception, I think, is All Creatures Great and Small, which I think was a movie first, wasn't it...?

Post by **Ben** » August 26th, 2006, 2:53 pm

Well, we weren't talking that way round were we?

Technically, All Creatures was a book and the movie was a version of the book, with Anthony Hopkins as Siegfried Farnon and Simon Ward as James Herriot. The TV show was a totally unreleated alternate version of the book stories, with Christopher Timothy as Herriot and Robert Hardy as Siegfried, so it wasn't really a connected spin off at all, just different versions of the source material.

MASH started off as a movie that later spawned a TV show, and there are countless others and those that became animated spin offs on TV.