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.