Cinema: The Wizard Of Pixar

John Lasseter put the joy in Toy Story and the kicks in A Bug's Life

John Lasseter arrives for his interview in a big red bug with metal eyelashes. "Come see my bug!" he yells, grinning and waving from down the street. Wine connoisseurs in town to tour Sonoma's vineyards turn to stare. Kids point and giggle. The "bug" turns out to be a Volkswagen painted as a lady bug to promote the Oscar-winning director's other "bug"--Pixar's computer-animated film A Bug's Life. Lasseter's tale of greedy grasshoppers and anxious ants broke the Thanksgiving holiday box-office records with $45.7 million in ticket sales and slaughtered its main competitor, Babe: Pig in the City. Hollywood, skeptical before the...

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