A Bug's Life

Since Toy Story was such a success, Pixar decided to keep making films. Their next project, A Bug’s Life, retold Aesop’s fable of The Ant and the Grasshopper. Starring Dave Foley, Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David Hyde Pierce, Denis Leary, Bonnie Hunt, Brad Garrett and Mike McShane, the film made over $300 million worldwide. It was also nominated for Best Original Score, but lost to Shakespeare in Love.

Yearly, a peaceful ant colony is terrorized by a biker gang-esque group of grasshoppers, led by Hopper (Spacey). The ants are forced to give them an offering of food. But one year, and and named Flik (Foley) accidentally destroys the offering and Hopper forces the ants to create a replacement that is twice as large. He give them until the last leaf falls. The ants fear that the demand could ruin the colony and Flik volunteers to redeem himself by recruiting tough bugs to fight the grasshoppers. Princess Atta (Louis-Dreyfus) sees it as a way to get him away so she gives him her blessing.

Flik travels to the city and meets a bunch of recently fired circus bugs (Pierce, Leary, Hunt, Garrett, McShane, Joe Ranft, Jonathan Harris, Madeline Kahn), who he mistakes for warriors. He takes them back to the colony to prepare for the grasshopper’s arrival.

The Seven Samurai meets The Three Amigos with insects. For such an odd idea, this is actually a really good film.

Flik starts out as a complete loser. He’s got great ideas, but implements them terribly and is treated with contempt by everyone around him. And he’s either oblivious to that fact or just doesn’t care, believing his next thing to be what people love. In other words, he’s your average inventor who just wants to make his world better. And he’s so determined that he’ll risk his life to do it.

And it’s not that the other ants are bad for disparaging him. They’re just wary and weary of him. They’re tired of having to deal with all the stuff that hasn’t worked out and they don’t know what he’s going to do next. Atta and the royal council are actually quite justified.

Hopper is also a very intimidating villain. His only justification for what he does is that he feels insignificant to the ants and wants to be lord over them. Problem is, one ant has now realized Hopper is not as superior as he makes out to be. So he turns the screws and becomes even more threatening. But that’s his downfall when the ants realize he’s just someone projecting his own inferiority onto someone that can’t do anything but continue to defy him and stand.

The chemistry between the circus bugs is also really good, especially with Francis, Slim and Heimlich. The provide most of the comedy in the film and it never comes off as trying too hard or not trying at all.

It’s also got a great score.

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