One of the perks of having someone to watch films with is that I’m getting a chance to watch films that I’ve not seen for a while and relive some of the magic that they cast. This weekend’s film of choice took me back to 1998 when 6-year-old me had become obsessed with this film, leading to my parents promptly only buying me its memorabilia for my birthday. I’m, of course, talking about Pixar’s second feature film!
‘A Bug’s Life’ tells the story of an ant colony who repeatedly year after year pick food for a group of grasshoppers, claiming to be providing the colony with protection. Enter our protagonist, Flik, an ant who likes to think outside of the box. When one of his inventions causes the colony to lose all the food they’ve gathered for the grasshoppers, Flik finds himself in trouble with the ant in charge, Princess Atta. As punishment, she sends Flik off, letting him believe that she’s approved his plan to find warrior bugs to fight off the grasshoppers. Flik leaves his home for the city where he runs into a group of circus bugs. After watching them in action, Flik mistakenly hires them believing that they are a group of fighters. Upon landing back on Ant Island, Flik presents them to the rest of the colony, and despite their initial surprise, they’re filled with hope for a better future. Unfortunately, when it appears that the circus bugs have figured out what they’ve been hired for, they immediately attempt to leave but when Flik comes up with a plan that will spare them a fight, they stick around pretending to play the roles that they were originally hired for. Can this group of determined insects repel the greed of foreign invaders? And can Flik finally earn the trust of his colony?
Voice acting is usually quite a difficult aspect to assess, but I honestly did not feel that with this film. If we start with the main roles; Flik and Princess Atta were voiced by Dave Foley and Julia Louis-Dreyfus respectively. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Dave Foley in anything else, but Flik was an iconic character for me with some awesome lines. I don’t think I’ve seen Julia Louis-Dreyfus in very much, but I honestly couldn’t put her voice with Princess Atta together, so kudos to her. Supporting cast included Denis Leary as Francis the ladybird, David Hyde Pearce as Slim the stick insect, Joe Ranft as Heimlich the caterpillar, Bonnie Hunt as Rosie the spider, and Brad Garett as Dim the beetle. There was of course a role for John Ratzenberger, who has over the years voiced a number of Pixar characters. There was, however, one standout vocal performance. I’m talking about Kevin Spacey, who voices antagonist, Hopper. I know in the last few years, Spacey has been the subject of many investigations etc, and I’m not in any way forgoing opinions and facts about them. However, given this was the first role I heard his voice in, I remember years later watching him in other productions such as ‘House of Cards’ and ‘American Beauty’ and instantly be taken back to the moment I first saw that villainous grasshopper!
Look, I don’t need to beat about the bush. This is my favourite Pixar film of all time and my second favourite Disney film. I’m sure that nostalgia probably does play a part in it, but having rewatched it this past weekend, I realised that once again, my tastes haven’t changed. ‘A Bug’s Life’ perfectly captures what it’s like when someone who has the ability to think outside of the box is forced into conforming with everyone else. I’d be lying if I said that I couldn’t relate to Flik in a lot of ways. Another thing that was pointed out to me, was that the dialogue was fantastic, and my wife stated, ’They really don’t make films like this’. The more I thought about it, the more I realised that in a world now where originality is fading and AI has started to take over, films like this are becoming a rarity!
Pixar has always been known for its ability to create fantastic animation, and its second film ever doesn’t disappoint in that regard either. The character models were very good, and I genuinely the various emotions that were expressed on the faces of these characters were phenomenal. I even really enjoyed the bloopers at the end of the film. When it comes to music, it was Randy Newman who was responsible for the soundtrack. Newman’s work in this film and a lot of the Pixar films is excellent and I often like to have ‘A Bug’s Life’ musical suite on when I’m driving. Overall, a really good film and arguably one of Pixar’s best. Sometimes I wish we could revisit that world, but in a way I’m glad it’s not been touched!
Rating:
Story: ★★★★½
Voice Acting: ★★★★
Cinematography: ★★★½
Music: ★★★★
Enjoyability: ★★★★★