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Movie Review: "A Bug's Life" Getting a good buzz from 'Bug's Life' Wednesday, November 25, 1998 By Barbara Vancheri, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Antz" was clever. "A Bug's Life" is cute.
Starring: Voices of Dave Foley, Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Director: John Lasseter.
Critic's call: 3 stars
The buzz about "Bug's Life" was that it would be more family-friendly than "Antz," and it absolutely is. The movie is brighter in every sense of the word: Much of the story takes place outdoors, rather than in the shadowy labyrinth of an underground colony, and the ants are blue and pale purple instead of coffee-colored.
In a sure bid for kiddie attention and affection, "Bug's Life" even has a troop of young ants who help to save the day. And only one creepy critter bites the dust and, frankly, he deserves it. By comparison, almost a whole bug battalion was wiped out in "Antz."
"A Bug's Life," done in the computer-animated style of "Toy Story," opens with the residents of Ant Island collecting food for the grasshoppers. "They come. They eat. They leave. It's our lot in life," the queen (voice of Phyllis Diller) explains to her anxious daughter, Princess Atta (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who is being trained to take over the colony.
The food is like protection money, with chief grasshopper Hopper (Kevin Spacey) the muscle and collector. The ants plug away as always and prepare a mound of food for the grasshoppers. But then the creative but klutzy Flik (Dave Foley), this movie's version of the Woody Allen character in "Antz," accidentally knocks the whole thing over and into the water.
When the grasshoppers show up and find no food, the humorless Hopper is hoppin' mad. "Do I look stupid?" he asks, raising his sets of arms. "It's a bug-eat-bug life out there, one of those circle of life things," he reminds, in a sly but obvious reference to another Disney movie. Hopper gives the ants one more chance. He will return when the last leaf falls, and he expects a double order of food. That means the ants will have no time to stockpile their own provisions.
Flik suggests the ants do the unthinkable by leaving the island and getting help, and his colony mates agree - the better to get him out of the way, so he can't foul up anything. With one leaf doubling as a hat and a second as a bedroll, he sets off for the great unknown. When Flik encounters a circus troupe, a ragtag bunch that includes a ladybug, caterpillar, gypsy moth, mantis and others, he mistakes them for warriors and invites them to Ant Island. Then, they brace for the return of the grasshoppers.
This bug's-eye view of the world is fun, with three-leaf clovers looming like trees in a forest and a dandelion going to seed doubling in a pinch as a puffy parachute. A homeless bug begging for food in the big city - a teeny, teeming version of Times Square - has a sign that reads, "Kid pulled my wings off."
In addition to Foley, Spacey, Louis-Dreyfus and Diller, the voice talent includes David Hyde Pierce as a walking stick insect called Slim; Denis Leary as a ladybug who's no lady; Jonathan Harris as a praying mantis magician; Madeline Kahn as a gypsy moth; Bonnie Hunt as a black widow spider; John Ratzenberger as P.T. Flea, owner of the circus; Brad Garrett as a rhino beetle; and the late Roddy McDowall as Mr. Soil, a member of the colony's ruling council. In other words, there are enough characters to keep you buying Happy Meals from now till Christmas. A couple of the supporting bugs, in fact, look like they were designed with molded plastic in mind. And no, that's not a plus.
Adults may miss the sophistication of "Antz," but they won't feel some of the jokes are zooming over their little ones' heads. And the animation is wonderfully inventive.
"A Bug's Life," the first feature from Disney/Pixar Animation Studios since the breakthrough "Toy Story," saves the best for last. Very last. Don't leave the theater until the credits finish rolling. Just trust me on this one.
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