Good evening everyone! First off, I want to wish you all a merry Christmas. Hope that you all have enjoyed today, and had a merry holiday today. Second, tonight, we are reviewing a rather underrated Disney/Pixar film that was released just a couple years after Disney/Pixar came out with Toy Story, and computer animation was still a newer form of animation in the mainstream media. Why this particular Disney/Pixar isn’t talked about as much as others in that film library, I’m not sure. Well, let’s all talk about Ant Island, and it’s civilization that consists of ants that are in involved in Disney/Pixar’s A Bug’s Life, which was released twenty-two years ago, in 1998.
Plot: A colony of ants on an island, called Ant Island, gather different foods in their land for a colony of grasshoppers, led by the tyrannical Hopper (Kevin Spacey). But when certain mishaps occur that prevent the grasshoppers from having their “offering,” Hopper orders that their order of food be doubled. Seeing as this may starve the ant colony in the end, an ant named Flik (Dave Foley) decides to be the first ant to leave the island in an attempt to find some bigger, and hopefully friendlier bugs to rid them of Hopper, and his army of grasshoppers once and for all. Atta (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), the Princess of Ant Island, her mother (Phyllis Diller), and the Royal Council agree to this decision. With that being the case, can Flik find the bugs that he, and his colony need to exile the grasshoppers from the ant’s lives for good?
Now, I watched this film quite a few times as a kid. However, unlike movies like Mulan, and Quest For Camelot, I didn’t watch this one as frequently going into the 2000s, and on. In fact, this is a film that I have rewatched for the first time in years. Now, for me to talk about how A Bug’s Life turned out so many years later! I must say that, for the most part, this is a really good film. The only thing that seems to keep this film from a perfect score would be that there were one, or two lines that could potentially sound awkward, if not cringeworthy. Sure, those moments may go over most kid’s heads. Still, it wouldn’t be surprising if some adults were bothered by those one, or two moments.
Besides that, however, this film is really well done. Granted, some people might like other Disney/Pixar films like Toy Story, Finding Nemo, or some of those films a little more. Nevertheless, Disney/Pixar showed that even when their studio was newer to the world of animation, they knew how to make a story that’s inventive, imaginative, and very heartfelt. It almost makes you wonder if maybe Disney/Pixar took notes with how Disney made their animated films in their earlier films such as Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs, Pinnochio, Dumbo, and some of those films, and then took it a step further with their films. Even if that wasn’t the case, films like Toy Story, and A Bug’s Life show that that could have easily been the case.
With that said, what makes A Bug’s Life worthwhile? First off, even if this film may have been loosely based off an Aesop’s Fables story by the name of The Ant & The Grasshopper, the story seems to be it’s own film in terms of being more it’s own thing. The acting is also top notch. I was surprised by some of the people that were cast for these characters. In addition to Dave Foley as the main character, you have some other voice actors, and actresses, that I was surprised to find in this film. For instance, who would have guessed that Hayden Panetierre, who was also in Disney films like Dinosaur, and Remember The Titans, was in this film, voicing Princess Atta’s younger sister, Dot? I was also surprised to find that Denis Leary was in this film as the ladybug, Francis. There’s also Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David Hyde Pierce, Madeline Kahn, John Ratzenberger, and evening Brad Garrett, who’s seemed to play some interesting roles over the years in both Disney, and non-Disney films. Also, unlike the DreamWorks film, Antz (which was released almost a couple months before A Bug’s Life), A Bug’s Life doesn’t have cuss words, and doesn’t seem to drag the story much, if at all. Sure, it may feel slow at times, but only because it’s supposed to. It’s like this. If some of us needed to slow down to either help someone, hear an important speech from an import person, or something like that, then so be it! All to say, A Bug’s Life seems to have that kind of feeling. When the film needs to stop to take a breath in order to develop it’s story, characters, and things like that, it does so to near perfection. Speaking of the characters, they all stand out so well, particularly the ones that this film needs to shine the light on. First off, how many of us couldn’t relate to characters like Flik, or maybe even Princess Atta from time to time? As for the rest of the cast, they all stand out so well. For a movie’s that’s around an hour, and a half long, that says a lot, especially with this movie that has quite a few side characters. Oh, and that reminds me, the side characters really stand out, and are really likable. In fact, if you like Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs, or even some of the side characters from Atlantis: The Lost Empire, you’ll most definitely find these side characters memorable too. Next, there’s the jokes! Now yes, a lot of these jokes can be more for the adults than for kids. However, kids are bound to love the jokes, and belly laugh at certain ones too. Still, one can easily be amazed by how adults will love the jokes, and laugh really, really hard at them too. Not to mention that the jokes may be more appropriate than say some of the jokes in DreamWork’s Antz. Of course, I still have yet to rewatch Antz to make a better judgment on that. I guess we’ll see. The music by Randy Newman is also fantastic. Now, for those of us who are hardcore Disney, and/or animation fans, some of us may recall that Disney/Pixar used Randy Newman rather frequently until 2003’s Finding Nemo, when the company would still use him, but also start using other composers as well. But I digress. Newman’s song, “The Time Of Your Life,” is very catchy as well. In addition to this, the movie does great tackling the idea that new ideas may not always be bad ideas, especially when those ideas may be in the best interest of others around us. Also, there’s the whole thing about how people must be willing to stand up to tyranny when necessary. Yes, the characters in this movie are bug’s and not people, but you hopefully still get my point. Lastly, the animation seemed to progress little by little with films like this one, and others that would follow A Bug’s Life, and Toy Story.
Well everyone, that concludes my review for A Bug’s Life. Looking back, do I think that this film should have had a sequel, like a lot of other Disney/Pixar films have gotten over the years? part of me actually wished that had been the case years ago. In fact, supposedly there was supposed to be a sequel to this movie that was scrapped. Who knows? Maybe there will be a sequel around four to five decades from when the original A Bug’s Life was released. You know, like how Mary Poppins got an unexpected sequel over fifty years after it’s release with Mary Poppins Returns. I’ll just say this, though. If a sequel to A Bug’s Life is made in the end, be sure to wait until you have a really good follow-up. However, if this remains a stand alone film for good, then so be it! With that said, A Bug’s Life is creative, charming, and knows how to have the right type of comedy. If you haven’t seen this film, definitely make it a point to. Also, know that if you consider yourself a Disney/Pixar fan, you will truly feel that way even more after you watch this film. So there you have it!
Final Grade: A
Matthew’s Animated & Live-Action Movie Reviews 