SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

THE DESIGN SCHOOL

FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT

NAME: SOO YON LI

STUDENT ID NO: 0322821
FILMS SELECTED: TOY STORY AND BUGS LIFE
WORD COUNT: 843
ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE CONTRAST ESSAY
LECTURER: MISS CASSANDRA WIJESURIA
SUBMISSION DATE: 1ST OCTOBER 2015

Compare or Contrast Essay

Movies analysing is what I usually do after spending time after

watching them. It has been one of my hobby since young. The reason Ive
enjoyed figuring out the differences is because I am a judgemental person.
The movies that I always enjoyed watching are Toy Story and Bugs
Life. Both of these movies are animated films. I have chosen these two
films because I believe that these two films are my most played films in
my life. For so many times that I have watched these two movies, I
realized there are some similarity between these 2 movies.
In the movie Toy Story, Woody, which used to be Andys favourite
toy. But at Andys 8th birthday, his mom bought him a fancy toy, a space
ranger called Buzz Lightyear. Woody wasnt happy about Buzz because
most of the other toy of Andys were paying attention more to Buzz.
Woody was jealous so he decided to gain their attentions back, but it
backfired when he accidentally knocked Buzz off the window ledge.
Everyone blames Woody for pushing Buzz out of the window, but it wasnt
really his fault. Later, Buzz and Woody reluctantly team up to get back
home, however, they are found by Sid, Andys horrible neighbour in a
game called The Claw.
This goes the same in Bugs Life. This movie is about how ants
survive and work together as a whole. At first, the ants were all attacked
by the evil grasshoppers. The grasshoppers threaten them that they will
kill the ants if the ants dont supply food for the grasshoppers. Flik went to
seek for help from other bugs to help defend their home. Few days of
searching, finally he saw a group of circus bugs that can help the ants. At
first, the bugs agree to help, but they are under the impression that Flick
is a talent manager and they are supposed to perform at his island. They
later realise that they are supposed to be warriors to fight the
grasshoppers. As they are trying to leave, they end up rescuing the
Queens daughter, Dot, from a menacing bird. The colony of ants are
witnesses to this, and this further cements their trust in the bugs,
believing them to be warriors.
Characters in both movies, Woodys friends, the toys, are usually
very cooperative and they help each other out when they can. Although
they had their misgivings when they assumed that Woody had killed

Buzz (Woody was accidentally waving Buzzs detached arm, hence the
death assumption), they realised that Woody did not kill Buzz when the
two toys were trying to catch up with the moving van. The ants and bugs,
from A Bugs Life, on the other hand were also doubting to help Flik and
the ants because they had no confidence. The primary reason was they
were just circus bugs, how could they keep harm from the grasshoppers.
Not only that, the circus bugs accidently showed Flik the image of
warriors. And due to some circumstances, they have accepted the request
from Flik not by giving an affirmative answer but without shouting a word,
pulling Flik onto the transport and flew away. They did it in a nick time
because the flies were soon going to attack them.
The next similarity between these two movies that I have
discovered after analysing is the style that the way Woody and Buzz get
back to Andys house and how Flik and the ants build the birds to avoid
the grasshopper from attacking them. In Toy Story, when Woody got out
of the box by Buzzs help, Woody also got help from Sids toy. Every toy
owned by Sid has mixed body parts which one and another. Woody told
the toys his plan to escape. Fortunately, all of them are so understanding
and cooperating that they follow what Woody said. At last, they escape
away from Sids house successfully. As for Bugs Life, Flik has
requested to build the big bird which is made out of leaves and
branches to prevent them from threatening. The ants were so cooperative
that everyone of them was so persevere to complete the task assigned by
Flik. Lastly, they have accomplished their mission to turn the grasshopper
out of their home.
In these two movies, Toy Story and Bugs Life, I realised that
some plot in the storyline are quite similar and I do enjoy comparing
movies which ever they have the almost identical plots or totally different
story. I personally adore spending time watching Toy Story. One of the
reason behind it is when I was at the age of 4, my mom started educating
me about the values in Toy Story. I couldnt lie that at this age, Im still
entertained by this movie. Now, Toy Story has more elaboration towards to
the next episode which are Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3. Sooner or later,
there will be Toy Story 4 and I can hardly wait for it to be screened in the
cinema.

References :-

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114709/plotsummary
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120623/plotsummary