A Bug's Life Movie Plot:
A Do-Gooder Who Does Nothing Quite Right

In A Bug's Life movie, there is a colony on Ant Island where an ant named Flik lives, and he is one of only a few ants who can think for himself. Flik is quite creative and always invents new contraptions to make life easier - except he's either ridiculed or his invention backfires and causes more problems than it solves.

At the beginning A Bug's Life movie, the ants are gathering seeds from around the island and depositing them on a broad leaf set on a pile of small stones as an offering to the bullying gang of grasshoppers who torment them every year into giving them food.

Flik, being resourceful and thinking of ways to be more productive, uses a new contraption he's invented to harvest the entire blade of grass, then squeezes out the seeds from the top. His new contraption goes haywire later on though, and accidentally knocks over the huge pile of seeds the colony worked so hard with harvesting into the stream in A Bug's Life.

The ants are freaked out, scared and angry at what Flik did. They are terrified at what the grasshoppers will do when they come and see that there is no food offering for them. The ants give the grasshoppers food every autumn in return for "protection" from bigger bugs in a mafia-like threat.

Then the grasshoppers arrive with the sound like a mix of motorcycles and war planes in A Bug's Life. It's a bit of a scary scene in this movie if you've got really little kids watching with you.

Hopper is the leader of this grasshopper gang. He's huge and mean and threatening and he throws a fit when he sees there is no food. He's probably the worst bad guy of any Pixar film! What do you think?

Hopper tells the Queen, Princess Atta and all the other ants to double the amount of food by the time the last leaf falls on the big tree and they will be back.

Flik feels terrible about what he did and the royal council roundly criticizes him for his foolishness. They are at a loss as to what to do, though. But in A Bug's Life movie, Flik has an idea. He offers to go out in search of other "warrior bugs" to bring back with him to Ant Island and fight the grasshoppers. Since Flik is known for his off-the-wall ideas, the council agrees with his idea, but only keep him out of the way of the food gathering activities.

A Colorful Mix of Circus Stars!

Flik makes his way to a bug city, which is actually a bunch of garbage underneath a trailer. You get a real sense of the fast pace and impatience of the city bugs compared to idyllic Ant Island. One of the sort of funny characters is a poor old cricket beggar whose sign says "Kid Pulled My Wings Off".

The circus troupe in In A Bug's Life movie is a mix of different types of bugs; there's a walking stick, a male lady bug and a big, fat caterpillar- my favorite circus bug. A butterfly, a pair of pill bugs, a black widow spider, a big rhino beetle and a praying mantis round out the group. The characters page describes all of our circus troupe friends in more detail.

While sitting around their table lamenting their lack of employment, they spot Flik going around the tavern, asking for warrior bugs to join him to fight on Ant Island. However the circus troupe bugs think that Flik is some sort of talent agent and they do an impromptu warrior bug performance for Flik and all the rest inside the bar and of course, Flik is very excited that he's found his warrior bugs and together they all make the journey back to Ant Island.

Are They For Real or Not?

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Much to the surprise of Princess Atta and the rest of the ant colony, Flik made good on his word and returned with other bugs who would help them fight the tyranny of the grasshoppers. The circus troupe and Flik are given the hero's welcome.

However, the circus bugs only then realize why they're there. Unfortunately, Princess Atta almost overhears the conversation between Flik and the troupe as they discuss their mistake and she's suspicious.

In A Bug's Life movie, Princess Atta's suspicions are soon laid to rest when her younger sister, Princess Dot gets into trouble. The circus bugs band together with Flik to rescue Princess Dot from a hungry bird. This part of the movie is really neat to see the little bird from the perspective of an ant. It's a thrilling chase and rescue scene. Maybe these circus bugs CAN help after all!

What Scares a Grasshopper the Most?

Knowing he couldn't rely on the circus bugs to come through for the colony, Flik had to come up with a different plan to defeat the grasshoppers. Dot's rescue from the bird gave him an idea for another invention: Why not build a fake bird to swoop down and "attack" the grasshoppers when they return for their food? Flik knows that Hopper is terribly afraid of birds after Hopper was nearly eaten by one in the past.

The ants like Flik's idea and they put off food gathering and set out to create a realistic looking bird that can be steered by some ants from the inside. The ants hoist the fake bird up into a tree hole, poised and ready to "fly" when the time was right.

In the meantime at the grasshoppers' hideout inside an old sombrero somewhere in the desert, Hopper's brother Molt tries to talk Hopper out of going back to Ant Island to get their food. He felt comfortable where he was and didn't think it was worth it to return. Hopper got hopping mad at Molt's suggestion saying that it was thousands of ants against their small group and they had to keep those ants in line or they would run them out of the colony for good. And with that, they begin their flight back in A Bug's Life.

The Ones You Think You Cannot Depend on Come Through

Back at the colony, PT Flea comes by with his caravan and finds his circus troupe. Flik's deception is discovered and Princess Atta, feeling betrayed and following her duty, banishes Flik. With nowhere else to go, Flik joins in with the circus caravan feeling worse than ever. He tried so hard to do the right thing to save the colony and he had the best intentions all along.

After the circus troupe leaves, the grasshoppers arrive in A Bug's Life movie. Hopper is very angry that there is so little food in the offering and he and his gang take over the anthill and demand that all the food on the island be collected.

While this is going on, little Dot overhears a plot to kill the Queen after the food has been collected. She rushes out and catches up to the circus caravan and tells Flik the grasshoppers' plan and talks them into returning to help.

While there is mayhem below, Flik, Dot and the circus bugs get the fake bird to launch and it succeeds in scaring the grasshoppers. The gang is almost ready to abandon the colony when PT flea catches the bird on fire and the grasshoppers discover it's not real. Enraged, Hoppers sets the crazy grasshopper Thumper on Flik, injuring him.

But Flik manages to rally the colony of ants saying, "Ants don't serve grasshoppers! It's you who need us! We're a lot stronger than you say we are...and you know it, don't you?"

Hopper knows this is true in A Bug's Life, and he knows he is defeated when he sees the looks of determination in all the ants' faces. They know they will not stand for this oppression any longer. The ants swarm the grasshoppers, driving them out. It starts to rain, causing panic with the ants as enormous raindrops come down like bombs onto the dry ground.

Hopper grabs Flik to get his revenge on him, but Princess Atta rescues him. With some clever thinking on Flik's part, Hopper is lured near a nest and the bird picks up Hopper and feeds him to her chicks.

At the end of A Bug's Life movie, all the ants begin using Flik's grass seed harvesting invention. Atta becomes the queen and she chooses Flik as her mate. After much celebrating, the circus troupe bids farewell, but not before Heimlich, the enormously fat caterpillar, changes into a butterfly with wings far too small.