A Bug’s Life (Randy Newman)
(1998)
Pixar’s 1995 release of Toy Story had revolutionized animated films forever, and, three years after its huge success, the film was followed up with the equally entertaining A Bug’s Life. In the same year, Dreamworks released its first animated film, Antz, which has since resulted in endless comparisons between virtually every element of each film. Though Antz wasn’t as phenomenally successful as A Bug’s Life was, it is an equally enjoyable film. Much the same can be said for the scores of each.
All films from Dreamworks Animation have been the musical domain of Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control, and the score to Antz was written in a collaboration between Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell, the two most successful composers to come from Zimmer’s organisation, with fantastic results. Similarly, Pixar has been very consistent in its choice of composers, with six of their twelve productions to date scored by Randy Newman, two by Thomas Newman, and the other four by Michael Giacchino.
Randy Newman returned to score A Bug’s Life after earning two Oscar nominations for his score and song compositions for Toy Story. His orchestral score for A Bug’s Life would earn him an Oscar nomination, whilst his score for Pleasantville and his song “That’ll Do” from Babe: Pig in the City also earned nominations in their respective categories, making Newman the first, and to date, only person in Academy Awards history to be nominated for three different films in three different categories. Ultimately, neither entry won the award, and it wouldn’t be until 2002 that Newman would finally take home his first Oscar for his work on another Pixar production, Monsters Inc.
Probably Newman’s best score for Pixar, A Bug’s Life is a wonderful score, both in the film and on album. As usual, Newman contributes an original song, in this case the immensely enjoyable “Time of Your Life”, the theme of which is also used in the orchestral score later on. “The Flick Machine” introduces the scores first theme, a great jazz-styled piece that you could hum for hours after hearing it. The next theme appears in “Red Alert”, a great action cue. “Flick Leaves”, after an orchestral rendition of the melody from the score, the best theme is introduced, a heroic trumpet led March piece – easily one of Newman’s most memorable and enjoyable themes. “Dot’s Rescue” is a four minute long piece of crazy orchestral playing, making an excellent piece of action music and probably the best track on the album. Immediately following this is “Atta”, a lovely string arrangement of yet another theme. Other highlights of particular note are the tracks “Robin Hood” and “The Bird Flies”, both of which feature several great heroic fanfares.
The album concludes with a great arrangement of several of the score’s main themes in “A Bug’s Life Suite”. A Bug’s Life is arguably the best score Newman has written for Pixar, and remains a definite highlight of scores for animated films. Highly recommended.
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Track Listing
1. “The Time of Your Life” (3:16)
2. The Flik Machine (2:54)
3. Seed to Tree (1:01)
4. Red Alert (1:49)
5. Hopper and His Gang (3:21)
6. Flik Leave (2:37)
7. Circus Begins (1:27)
8. The City (2:35)
9. Robin Hood (0:59)
10. Return to Colony (1:33)
11. Flik’s Return (1:24)
12. Loser (2:43)
13. Dot’s Rescue (4:00)
14. Atta (1:08)
15. Don’t Come Back (1:07)
16. Grasshoppers’ Return (3:01)
17. The Bird Flies (2:38)
18. Ants Fight Back (2:14)
19. Victory (2:33)
20. A Bug’s Life Suite (5:12)
Total Time: 47:32
Credits
Music Composed, Conducted & Produced by Randy Newman
Orchestrations by Don Davis, Jonathan Sacks & Ira Hearshen
“The Time of Your Life” – Written & Performed by Randy Newman
Awards
Academy Award for Best Original “Musical or Comedy Score” (nominated)
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score (nominated)
Grammy Award for Best Score (won)
Grammy Award for Best Song (nominated)
Insert Notes
The liner notes contain lyrics to the song, as well as a plethora of advertisements for Disney products.
All artwork and images are Copyright © Walt Disney Records
