A BUG'S LIFE: Ant-i-climactic

Twenty years ago Pixar Animation Studios revolutionized cinema with the first full length completely computer-generated film. Two decades later and Pixar is still one of the most consistently groundbreaking studios in the business. Leading up to the release of their new film The Good Dinosaur, I will be going through Pixar's entire filmography at the rate of two movies a week. Here we tackle A Bug's Life and wrestle it to the ground and ask it why it isn't better and then apologize for being harsh.

Other Reviews in this Series.

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Directors: John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton (co-director)
Writers: Andrew Stanton, Don McEnery, Bob Shaw, John Lasseter, Joe Ranft, Geefwee Boedoe, Jason Katz, Jorgen Klubien, Robert Lence, David Reynolds
Cast: Dave Foley, Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Hayden Panettiere, Phyllis Diller, Richard Kind, David Hyde Pierce, Joe Ranft, Denis Leary, Jonathan Harris, Madeline Kahn, Bonnie Hunt, Michael McShane, Brad Garrett, John Ratzenberger
Runtime: 95 mins.
1998

Three years after the release of their defining creation, Pixar released the film that would solidify the company's patterns: anthropomorphic creatures made sympathetic, extensive sight gags and character humor, a star-studded voice cast, state of the art visuals, a rogue's gallery of creative writers and directors shuffled into different roles from movie to movie... A studio's second movie allows it to either make a creative departure, or define itself, and Pixar chose the latter. A Bug's Life represents everything that Pixar is and has become, with one exception: it is standard.

I enjoyed A Bug's Life as a kid, and returning to it now is mildly disappointing. There's nothing wrong with the movie, and it all functions as it should, but that's really the problem. It functions as it should, not as it could. The whole movie feels sadly typical.


The narrative is a story that we see in 95% of children's movies. Our hero is a bit of a weird guy (but not so weird as to be off-putting in any way--perhaps slightly eccentric is a better descriptor) living in a society that praises fitting in and following orders. He is ostracized for being different, but eventually learns the lesson that his differences make him special, and they will save the day. It's a fine lesson, overdone to a crisp. The stand-in for generic hero here is Flik, performed by Dave Foley in a Tom-Hanks-as-Woody impersonation that ends up being far less charismatic. Flik accidentally destroys his colony's food offering with one of his inventions. Without that offering, they are at the mercy of the despotic grasshoppers, led by Hopper (a basic but pleasing Kevin Spacey performance). So Flik sets off to find warriors to fight the grasshoppers, but accidentally brings back circus performers instead. But hey, wouldn't you know it, each of their quirks and special talents ends up coming in handy for defeating the grasshoppers once and for all. There are a few twists along the way, and they build a bird.

Actually, the bird was my favorite part. Both the real and the fake version. Really beautiful coloration.

The effects in general are impressive. Ant Island (come on...) is a luscious creation. Pixar flexes the muscles of its new technology by creating massive crowds of ants, which is neat. Unfortunately, the kid-friendly ant designs are uninteresting to look at, and the sameness of all the characters is pretty grating. That may have been an unavoidable problem, but it makes one miss the simpler yet far more interestingly designed Toy Story character models. The flora are beautiful, but the fauna do feel, again, rather typical.

The jokes and gags don't do anything special, either. I can't remember laughing less during a Pixar movie (maybe Brave?). Pixar gets in all the obligatory, "I'm this sort of bug, look at the crazy thing I can do!" sight gags, and it all functions, though none of it is especially inspired. Much like Toy Story all the characters have one-off traits that define their physical language (he's a stick bug that does stick jokes, he's a potato head that does detachable-facial-features jokes), but the cast of A Bug's Life feels decidedly more gimmicky. There are moments of real emotional heft for most of the characters in Toy Story, but A Bug's Life doesn't go that deep.

I realize that most of this review is complaining about a movie for working properly, and that isn't exactly fair. Pixar has just set up such high expectations for itself in its two decades of existence. When most of your movies press the boundaries of what is possible, is your audience allowed to feel disappointed with mere competence?

2.5 / 5  BLOBS

The Short: Geri's Game

A Bug's Life was the Pixar film to kick off the grand tradition of coming packaged with a short film in front of it. The film in question is Geri's Game, a strange little piece created for the purpose of testing subsurface scattering light effects. It shows an old man's chess game with himself. Director Jan Pinkava uses camera angles, character postures, different piece colors, and different background foliage colors to highlight the two different characters. The result is a delightful pre-Gollum portrayal of zany schizophrenia.

I'm favorably disposed to Geri's Game because of its love for chess, and the more specific culture of old men who play chess in parks. It's also very weird, and kind of soothing. For all these reasons I find it a good deal more entertaining than the movie it precedes.

4.5/5