(A Bug's Life) Ultimate Pixar Tribute- Movie #2: A Bug's Life

by Nick DeVito

Plot: Taking place on Ant “Island”, an ant colony is being overrun by evil grasshoppers as they force them to harvest food for them every year. When Flik (the misfit ant voiced by Dave Foley) accidentally loses all of the food, the grasshoppers invade the ant hill and force them to harvest double the food before winter, or else they will all be killed.

Flik is “banished” from the colony, and is sent on a suicide mission to find warrior-bugs in order to fight against the grasshoppers; this way the ants can harvest the food without Flik being an annoyance. He does find these bugs, and while the colony is both surprised and relieved, Flik finds out that these warriors are actually circus performers (and bad ones at that).

After rescuing a little ant from a monster-like bird, the bugs devise a plan to stop the grasshoppers once and for all by building a giant bird to scare them away. When the plan fails, Flik sacrifices himself for the colony enough for him to lead the grasshopper leader (Hopper voiced by Kevin Spacey) into the bird’s nest where he is eaten alive. It’s like “The Magnificent Seven”… with bugs!

Well: I actually saw A Bug’s Life before Toy Story, making this the first Pixar movie I ever saw. It was also a movie that gave me nightmares for years. Sure A Bug’s Life is one of Pixar’s funniest movies, but it’s also, without a doubt, one of their darkest. There’s betrayal, starvation, murder, attempted murder, sacrifice, blood, brutality, tyranny, attempted murder on children, and of course, the end in which Hopper is eaten alive. He’s not just eaten; he’s torn apart by three young chicks (off-screen of course, but being off-screen makes the event more terrifying).

I know that they didn’t want a movie with Disney all over it to be PG, but if The Incredibles and Up were PG, than there’s no excuse. Certainly though, it’s one fun movie, it’s like a Shakespearean tragedy for kids! Once again we have controversy, but this time it’s not about Pixar itself, but for DreamWorks.

One month before A Bug’s Life was released, Pixar’s biggest competitor released Antz: a movie about a misfit ant who gets himself into a war with the evil termites, and manages to save the colony, meet new bug-friends, and earn the love of the soon-to-be Queen ant. Sound familiar?

Pixar came up with A Bug’s Life’s story before Toy Story was even released, and worked on the movie for about two and a half years, while Antz took about one year to make. The added effort shows, making A Bug’s Life the superior film. The best line would probably have to be Hopper’s “bug eat bug world out there” speech. While most people would chose Heimlich or Francis as the best character, for me it would have to be Hopper himself.

By far one of Pixar’s best villains (only to be rivaled by Syndrome and Lotso), you can’t get much better than Keyser Söze himself, Kevin Spacey (spoilers much?).

Easter-Eggs:
• John Ratzenberger: the voice of P.T. Flea.
• Pizza Planet truck: seen next to the trailer with the dumb mosquitoes.
• A113: Seen on the box next to Flik when he fist enters the city.
• The “Wilhelm Scream” is used by an ant when the grasshoppers first invade the ant-hill.
• The two dumb mosquitoes are voiced by John Lasseter, and Andrew Stanton (who directed Finding Nemo and Wall•E).
• The paper cup on top of the soup can “bar” is the same one Woody hid under in Toy Story.
• When the circus bugs fly away at the end, it might be a reference to Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
• Woody from Toy Story is seen in one of the outtakes.

Final Thoughts: Once again, Pixar was nominated for a bunch of awards, and with bugs as the main characters, they had to create hundreds of ants on screen at the same time. It was mind-blowing in 1998 and the outtakes during the credits became a Pixar tradition for the next two movies. Pixar was ready for their next feature, but that movie would have to wait for about four years. I give A Bug’s Life three matches out of four. ***