Review: A Bug's Life (1998)

A Bug's Life AKA Bugs

The State of Movie-going in Late 1998: A Review of A Bug's Life and the Theater Showing It

November 26 - Thanksgiving Day. On a visit to my in-laws', we drive out to the Showcase Cinemas, a ten-plex in the wilds of western Cincinnati. In the lobby the ticket counter seems to be closed, but I'm told to go to the one clear on the other side of the lobby. It's a big place, with mammoth hype displays for A Bug's Life and the Rugrats movie, arcade games and ripoff fish-for-a-dinky prize games. There's even a "Customer Service" counter that doubles as an outlet for movie merchandise, trinkets and polyester caps and twenty-dollar t-shirts.

We're here for the 2:10 show, and I'm thinking good: bargain matinee prices, when I see the sign for $5 each. That's OK, it's a family outing, my wife and I and our two kids, the first day of a four-day weekend from school.

We opt not to visit the array of refreshment counters: this is a short film and, besides, we must save our appetites for my mother-in-law's 80 pound turkey. So the wallet does not take another hit for popcorn, or worse, 6-dollar-a-pound candy from plexiglass bins mounted on the wall. The carpet that covers the acreage of lobby and corridors leading to the auditoriums is gaudy, stuff you would never want in your house, even in the 1970's. Outside each screen there's an electronic message board with abbreviated titles: Enemy of State, Pig in City, Bugs Life (not only the syntax ruined, but the punctuation shot as well). Ushers with tiny brooms and dustpans hang around the doorways and call to each other, occasionally eyeing the patrons suspiciously. In our theater we are pleased to find the newer generation of chairs, ones that rock and hold your cup and pad your back and seat. We sit on the end of a staggered row, so my daughter cannot be blocked by any tall, hat-wearing man. As the lights dim we can see only the light-embedded plastic stripping that lines the aisles.

Then the previews, at least five of them, the last one the trailer for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, the one my son has been longing to see. (After this last, Billy and his mother both get up as if to leave, the best part of their viewing over!) Oh, and before the film starts, we are treated to that most rare aperitif, a cartoon! It's Pixar's "Geri's Game," an award-winning animated short about an old man playing chess, against himself, on a table in an otherwise deserted park. It's a delightful and sweet story, uncomplicated but thick with imagination, the kind of story Chekov or O. Henry would have loved to watch.

A Bug's Life is an entertaining film with a decent story and astounding computer-generated animation. This is the best animation yet of this sort - the facial features of the ants and their rival grasshoppers possess the elasticity of real faces, and the expressions and body movements mimic actual motion without a hint of choppiness or other animated fraud. It's quite an accomplishment for Pixar and all the women and men who worked on it.

Down to the slightest swaying of the trees, the animation is the real star of this show. Everything is fun to look at, and I imagine one could pay to see A Bug's Life many times before taking in a good deal of the panorama of action and detail in every shot. The colors are artfully chosen (even though it's unclear to me why the ants' bodies are bluish gray); they are tones that occur in nature, with a few bright bugs and a bird thrown in for vividness. Even though I saw Toy Story twice at the cinema and countless times on video, I am still getting used to viewing this type of animation: I feel like turning to my kids and saying, "In my day we were lucky to have color in our cartoons, and your grandpa was lucky to have sound!" In short, the film gives us a visual banquet of images, and I wouldn't be averse to returning for more helpings.

John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton are the directors, and they have done a fine job with perspectives and pace. Lasseter and Don McEnery wrote the screenplay, which includes generous amounts of humor. What's cool is that you can pick and choose among the humorous moments, according to your age. There are takes on all the bug jokes you can think of, there's plenty of slapstick (literally!), and there are even a few cerebral pokes, such as the shtick involved with German accents (the caterpillar Heimlich) and with a queen ant assisted by Phyllis Diller's entire routine - a "Fang"-like old guy, a small dog-like aphid, and Diller's precious voice and laugh.

The plot is successful but not as strong as other aspects. We see the independent thinking Flik (voice of Dave Foley), an ant who has broken away from the ranks and invented a device to make harvesting easier. Although he is sharp and well-intentioned, Flik is also dense enough to repeatedly endanger the colony. He is known to the royal family, and quickly falls in love with the queen's daughter Atta (voice of Julia Louis-Dreyfus). When Flik accidentally ruins the food the ants have gathered for the mean grasshoppers, the colony is faced with gathering twice as much food, or facing the wrath of the larger insects as soon as the last leaf falls. When autumn comes we are set up for the showdown, and it is an engaging one to watch.

If you saw even a trailer for DreamWorks' Antz, do the plot elements of A Bug's Life seem nearly identical? I have purposely forgotten many of the details surrounding the genesis of Antz, the premise perhaps coming along with an executive from Disney to the newer studio. But Disney has a right to be upset at the derivative nature of the film that was begun later but released earlier. It is difficult to say which is the better film. I have already declared Pixar's animation superior. As far as target audiences, A Bug's Life is more appropriate for children. Not that Antz doesn't work for kids - it's just that in many ways it is a vehicle for Woody Allen, who does the voice of an neurotic ant who bucks the system, falls in love with the princess, and saves the colony. Antz has a greater number of jokes that Mom and Dad would enjoy.

My call is that Antz owns the edge for voices. Gene Hackman, the inimitable Christopher Walken, Sylvester Stallone, Allen - these actors lend their character voices that are quirky, unique and memorable. Outstanding talents in A Bug's Life include Diller, David Hyde Pierce as Slim the walking stick, and John Ratzenberger as the circus-owning flea. Other actors do a very adequate job, but fail to go over-the-top in a way that makes you chuckle just to remember the funny dimension to a voice itself. For instance, why didn't Lasseter have Louis-Dreyfus to an Elaine-ism, crying, "Get out!" and pushing Flik backwards? Where are Andy Devine, June Foray and Sterling Holloway when you need them?

An aside: you must stay for the closing credits. Randy Newman sings one of his funky songs (why didn't you do more with lyrics, Randy?); and there are belly laugh-inducing outtakes that are well worth being last to leave the theater.

My children claim not to like one film better than the other. I would as soon sit through Antz a second time. But for pure visual enjoyment, A Bug's Life is beautiful. I recommend you find a reasonably priced theater, smuggle in Reese's Cups and Twizzlers, and share an afternoon with the kids in your life.

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An epic of miniature proportions.

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