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avaford2009 · 2 days ago

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So I rewrote A Bug's Life...

We are introduced to Princess and Grand Duchess Alicia, who was reading the history of Ant Island to her friend and ant colony worker, Flik. Several books are surrounding her at home, one of which Flik is trying to work. Through talking to the small goat the audience learns more about Alicia, while intelligent and hard working, she is shy and a workaholic, always studying and offering tours to visitors. Today is the day she applies to be the apprentice to Hopper, like the rest of Ant Island she idolizes him and believes following in his footsteps will give her a sense of self. She will look at a picture of her late grandfather who raised her, promising that she will help make wishes come true in honor of his that was never granted.

She goes to guide the newest tour (Welcome to Ant Island, with an added on segment talking about the love the king and queen share) where we learn of how Hopper and Zing benevolently rule the island. When citizens turn 15 they offer their wishes to Hopper who will protect the wish until it is time for it to be granted.

After the tour Alicia goes to the royal kitchens were her best and only friend Princess Atta is a royal baker. They talk about Alicia’s application. Princess Atta reassures Alicia that she will get the job, and admits she hopes it’ll give her a boost of confidence to maybe make some new friends. Alicia says she already has Atta and doesn’t need anyone else. It is then Zing arrives to escort Alicia to the king.

Alicia is then left in a study where she notices a peculiar door, but Hopper arrives before she could examine it. He is a charming man, his presence seeming to fill the room as he carries a staff with an emerald tip. Alicia is clearly intimidated but he’s polite as he introduces himself, even offer his condolences for her grandfather’s passing-knowing she’s an orphan. Trying not to trip over herself Alicia praises the king for his hard work and shows off her knowledge of magic and Ant Island. Hopper is impressed. And after Alicia passionately tells him how her ‘wish’ is to help protect Ant Island, it’s people and wishes, Hopper decides she’s worthy to be his apprentice and they’d have the announcement that night.

The people crowd before the castle that night, Alicia hurries to tell Princess Atta the good news. But Francis overhears her announcement and makes a snide remark about her overworking and ‘sucking up’ to the king and queen. He is quickly shushed by Manny who looks almost afraid of Alicia now that she has such a high status. But she returns to the stage to witness Zing whisper in Hopper’s ear. He then announces the person to have their wish granted that month; a woman who wants to be a professional dress maker. After using the staff to grant the wish he makes a joking comment that she can now make his wife hundreds of beautiful dresses.

He then summons Alicia forward to announce her as his new apprentice. Alicia happily exclaims how excited she is to help the people, but she is given a frosty reception, murmuring about how they find her weird, are resentful for failing their own applications, and don’t know how this shy girl who never engages with the locals outside tour duty, could become someone as great as their king.

Alicia takes the doubt but once she can she leaves the stage, tripping in the process and embarrassing herself further. She runs off with Flik into the forest (This Wish (More For Us)) and ends up noticing one of the brighter stars. She remembers hearing how once upon a time, wishes came from stars. Not seeing any harm to it she wishes to become a wonderful magic user and become as great, if not greater, than Hopper himself.

The star suddenly seems to glow brighter and get bigger, Alicia realizes too late it’s because it’s getting closer. She is knocked into by a human sized ball of light, rolling across the grass before kicking it away from her. It’s to her great shock that the ball of light was…a boy. A handsome boy he glows faintly, his hair a pure golden color that flows like he is underwater, he dusts himself off as he hovers off the ground.

They have an awkward but cute introduction, the Star not understanding personal boundaries and getting right up into Alicia’s face, giving her a too enthusiastic hand shake when offered and floating around as if there’s no gravity.

Alicia quickly deduces he’s a star that came down when she summoned him. Her hypothesis is further proven when he tosses some dust on Valentino who then starts to speak. Alicia asks Star to give her the same dust so her wish will be granted, but Star shakes his head.

He is mute and tries to explain using sign language, but that’s one book Alicia hasn’t read yet. She decides to call him Star before leading him back to the city, he can stay at her house until she figures out what to do with him. On the way he fonds over the animals, hitting them with a few clouds of golden dust.

The next morning Alicia brings Princess Atta over and shows her Star. Atta is at first concerned her friend has a man hidden away, but after Alicia explains they agree to take him to Hopper to see what he has to say. However they want Star to stay under the radar and not get noticed by the townspeople. This is when Star reveals he’s a shapeshifter, transforming into a copy of Flik, the only different is his eyes are still gold.

The four arrive into town and while things go to plan at first, Star’s natural curiosity has him running off to explore the town, Alicia and friends trying not to lose him. He comes across Dim who looks cool and awesome at an outside table. Empathetic, Star discreetly puts some star dust in his cup of tea. When he drinks it he’s suddenly energized and is flabbergasted. He turns around just as Alicia appears and picks up Star, he asks her if she’s already learned magic from Hopper, even stating he had just been wishing he could take something that would make him less tired.

Alicia is awkwardly silent, not wanting to take credit but also not wanting to reveal what Star is. But Dim pays no mind and drags her to his friends so he can show them he’s no longer tired. There is then a montage of the circus bugs showing off their problems and Star uses his abilities to grant these small unspoken wishes. Throughout this scene we see Alicia opening up a bit more to the characters, starting to form friendships.

While in Gypsy’s new hideout they talk of having a little party with dancing and treats and in his excitement Star accidentally drops his disguise and reveals his true form. The group is shocked and Alicia is forced to explain who he is, though when Francis tries to accuse Alicia of tricking them Star immediately puts himself in front of her, defending her from the accusation. The other characters also come to Alicia and Star’s defense and Francis relents, though snarkily asks if they should tell Hopper there’s a wish granting, shapeshifting guy from space in Ant Island. Alicia will go alone to ask, leaving Star with the others.

She arrives at the castle, Hopper and Zing are surprised to see her so soon as he hadn’t summoned her but lets her in. Alicia, feeling uncomfortable to just out and say what had happened, asks Hopper what he knows about stars.

The king looks momentarily surprised but quickly shrugs it off, he tells Alicia that many years ago stars would grant peoples’ wishes, but only so they could have the human indebted to them. They were malicious creatures pretending benevolence so they could control the masses, one of the worst things was granting evil wishes and having people turn on the ones who wouldn’t make wishes. Zing retells her how her parents were oppressed by stars after merely asking for food and a roof.

Eventually it was decided that the newer generations would never wish on another star, and Hopper dedicated himself to learning magic so he could help good people have their wishes granted without having to pay him back. And, unlike stars, he has a moral compass, so he would not grant any wishes that would harm people. He then looms over Alicia and asks her if there’s something she needs to tell him. Alicia looks visibly torn, her respect and admiration for Hopper clashing with what he told her. Star is not at all like he had just told her, and Alicia ends up reassuring him that no, she has nothing to tell him.

She returns to the hide out feeling like a traitor, wanting to talk to Star alone. But the group is already starting their party, dancing and making music. Star, spotting Alicia, immediately pulls her onto the dance floor. The group cheers her on as they dance around, and Alicia’s anxieties melt away as she’s swept up into the dancing. A spark is lit.

Alicia, Star, and Flik return to her house and this time the two go to her living room where he admires all her books and notices the picture of her grandfather. She tells him how much she loved the man, how he had taken care of her after her parents died, how much she missed how, how she wished his wish could’ve been granted. Star comforts her in her grief and she feels safe enough to tell him about what Hopper said.

Star reassures her the king is lying and Alicia finds herself believing him, and yet the King is a great man who has done so much for Ant Island-why would he lie to her? It is Flik who suggests they go do some snooping (not him though, he’s going to eat a cook book as soon as the two leave).

Star carries Alicia into the sky, unable to resist showing off to her first. Alicia let’s herself enjoy the feeling of being in the air, feeling like she could reach out and touch the star or hold the moon. They slip inside via the highest balcony, Star transforming into a mouse and riding on her shoulder as Alicia sneaks through the castle.

Said study is empty and at first Alicia thinks to skim through the books for answers but Star notices the door. Transforming into a flea he slips under the door and opens it from the other side. It leads down a dark stair case with a golden light at the bottom. The two share a glance before starting to go down-only for green light to envelope them both and drag them back up the stairs into the study.

The King and Queen are standing there, clearly the one who had warned them of the intruders. Hopper tells Alicia she didn’t have to sneak in to deliver them a star, the young girl immediately puts herself between her friend and the king. She tries to tell them he’s not like they think, he’s a good kind person who helped people grant wishes without asking for anything in return. But with his staff Hopper wraps the green energy around Star like chains and Zing drags Alicia away from him. They call Alicia a fool if she thinks they’d let one little star ruin the years of work they’ve put into maintaining their kingdom. That they picked what wishes are to be granted. That the people worshiped them. Alicia is forced to realize the kind rulers she wanted to be like-are a lie. Hopper comments to his wife that Star’s power could be very useful to them.

In an act of desperation Alicia kicks out, knocking the staff out of the king’s hand. Zing, not expecting Alicia to lash out, looses her grip on her. Once the staff hits the ground the green chains evaporate and Star transforms into a giant golden bird, grabs Alicia and flies out of one of the study’s high windows.

Hopper is furious that they got away but Zing calms him down, reminding him that the people of Ant Island would not believe those two over their loving rulers. She remarks that maybe it’s time to grant her wish. Hopper agrees and his magic mutates the cat into a tyrant robber that runs out of the room to go hunt down Alicia and Star. The king and queen reprise the segment of Welcome to Ant Island dedicated to them, now in a minor key with new context.

Alicia and Star escape into the forest, where they first met. Alicia is crying, heartbroken and scared over what will happen next. Her whole goal in life was built around a lie. How will they stop people as powerful as the royal couple?

The two share a romantic scene, flying in the sky, dancing among the clouds and coming this close to sharing a kiss.

Star transforms into a giant cat as well, putting himself between Alicia. But before the wild cat can attack them, Princess Atta and the others suddenly appear via carriage and accidentally knock the giant cat into the lake. Wild cat splutters out of the water and runs back to Island.

The gang tells the two they saw Star flying away and then the king and queen made an announcement that Alicia is a traitor and trying to usurp them and ruin Ant Island. The news not sitting right with the group they decided to follow, worried for the two. Alicia is grateful for their help and touched when they point out its what friends are for. But now they must go hide because the whole town will be looking for them.

On the way back Alicia tells them what had happened. Like her they are shocked the king and queen could be villains, but they also don’t think Alicia and Star are liars. So they have to make a plan to figure out what the two are hiding and, if necessary, defeat them. (Knowing What I Know Now, which adds in a segment for the king and queen ‘lamenting’ that their people don’t know what’s best for them). There is a short moment during this song where it’s revealed Flik knows sign language, having learned to read from Alicia reading to him-and making a point to read books before he eats them. Alicia tells him there’s a saying she’d like to learn but the scene cuts before we learn what it is.

The plan is that Star will dash the group with some dust to make them glow and they’d run through the town and forest ‘pretending’ to be Star. This would serve to distract the king and queen long enough for Alicia and Star to go back to the study and go through the door. Star also gives Alicia a stick and blesses it with his magic for her use. The plan is going off without a hitch, Alicia while trying to find information in the study comes across a small journal. She reads it aloud as they open the secret door and go down the stairs: Years ago, Hopper wished for magic. A star came down to grant his wish, admiring his ambitions. However Hopper turned on the star and trapped her, now absorbing her power to grant peoples’ wishes. They reach the bottom of the stairs to see an older woman chained to the ground; the star from the journal. Alicia and Star are horrified by this revelation, but before they could free her Hopper appears having expected them to come back.

Alicia accuses him of lying about the stars being malicious, and the king instead says the stars were too scared to risk coming down to grant a human’s wishes. “Except that one, it seems.” He glares at Star and tells him that he would be his new battery and help lead Ant Island to even more triumphs. In fact, why stop at Ant Island? He could grant wishes of people all over the world, they’d be so grateful they’d do whatever he asked.

Furious Alicia lunges at him but Hopper stops them with his staff and drags them back upstairs to where Zing is waiting. He offers Alicia to his queen, not needing her. Zing then reminds the young girl of the history of Ant Island, how there was a monster that terroized the people…Alicia watches in horror as Zing transforms into a large wasp-esque creature. She is able to escape the study and Alicia chases after her. Star, furious and terrified transforms into his own version of a golden dragon-esque creature and manages to escape Hopper’s grasp.

Alicia is chased outside, nearly killed by Zing before Star arrives and knocks her away. While the two giants fight Alicia hurries back inside to deal with Hopper.

We cut to a scene of Princess Atta and co being surrounded by the villagers, but the townsfolk are starting to waver having seen how much happier the group is thanks to Star granting their wishes. Disillusioned the townsfolk follow Princess Atta, Flik, and co back into town to witness the rest of the battle.

Alicia, still brandishing the wand Star gave her, witnesses Hopper dragging the star out of her cell and absorbing so much of her magic that the woman loses the rest of her glow and falls to the ground. Alicia tries to attack him but the king teleports the two of them to the roof, ready to throw Alicia off and strike Star with his magic. Alicia is able to use her wand to keep him from hurting her or Star, but eventually he is able to snatch the wand from her and break it. Desperate, Alicia tries to physically wrestle the staff away from him.

Suddenly there’s a scream, Zing having bit down on Star’s neck. Hopper moves to fire at Star to finish him off, but Alicia with her own hands still on the staff is able to redirect it and the blast hits Zing instead. She is evaporated and Hopper cries out in horror and rage. However the damage is done for Star, transforming back into human form he floats up to Alicia slowly losing his golden glow. He holds her cheek for one moment before falling on the roof, completely gray and presumed dead. Alicia cries and hugs him, unable to believe this is how the story ends. But then Hopper grabs her with his magic and drags her away, Alicia desperately trying to fight against it, only able to hold onto Star’s hand. The king summons storm clouds to completely cover the sky, vowing revenge against the entirety of Ant Island, against the entirety of the world for killing Zing.

All seems lost, yet Alicia starts to softly sing (This Wish (More For Us) (Reprise)), and after a few moments her friends and everyone below start singing along, wishing for Star to be revived. We have a short scene of the star woman waking up and hearing the singing from outside. But everyone's sincerity in the wish allows Star to be revived, glowing brighter than ever. Alicia, relieved and full of hope, gets up to face against Hopper. He tries to shoot her with magic but Star’s glow serves as a wall of protection for her, and as she slowly walks toward the man he gets more frantic and desperate, unable to see because of Star’s bright light. He continues to step back until he reaches the edge, loses his balance and starts to fall, Alicia grabs his staff as the grasshopper vanishes into the roiling ocean below. She then shatters the staff on the roof. The magic shoots out into the sky, wishes given to Hopper returned to its owners and the star woman brought back to her full strength.

Star is flying around the sky, ecstatic. Alicia calls his attention and we see her sign/say the words: “I love you.” (having learned them from Flik). It is like a firework goes off as Star happily picks her up and twirls through the sky with her, Alicia laughing gleefully before finally kissing him.

When the two return to the ground they receive a group hug from their friends. They find the broken stick Hopper had tossed and Alicia apologizes to Star for breaking it, but he simply puts it back together. Princess Atta comments that her magic use was pretty impressive considering she had had no real experience. Flik smugly saying she was greater than the former king. It’s then Alicia realizes that Star had helped grant her wish-she just needed to meet him halfway. He winks at her when she makes this realization.

The star woman then appears, stepping out of the castle, looking poised and formidable. Alicia tells everyone what Hopper and Zing had done to her and the people are filled with shame that she had suffered right under their noses. Alicia gives her a formal apology and after a moment the star woman nods and smiles kindly, having been impressed by the goodness in these humans. She had thought they would all be vile like the king and queen.

She starts to float, planning on going back to the sky. She looks expectantly at Star, expecting him to come with. Alicia is stricken at the thought but reassures him she wouldn’t be like Hopper and force him to stay. In response Star holds Alicia’s hand and gives the star woman a resolute look. She blinks, looking a bit surprised, but then nods and even gives them a small curtsy as if they were royalty. She then shoots upward to become the brightest star in the sky.

At the epilogue Alicia, Flik and Star are learning all they can on how to lead Ant Island, the town wanting them to be their new king and queen. She is getting better at her magic and signs fluidly. They have Princess Atta and co be a sort of council for them. With Star’s encouragement people are doing their part to make their wishes come true. Flik is in charge of The Queen Ant who is going through a program to be nicer, it’s a work in progress.

The final shot is Alicia and Star standing at the balcony, sharing a true love's kiss as the scene pans up to show the night sky. The stars look brighter than ever.

Featuring six songs written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, the music score by Randy Newman, and the aspect ratio 2.39:1 is used same as A Bug's Life.

See those sneak peeks: https://www.tumblr.com/avaford2009/766075869745872896

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