A Bug's Life

Everyone anticipates the second product of a successful business. People have had high expectations for movies like “The Empire Strikes Back”, "The Dark Knight" or, in the world of technology, the iPad. In 1995, Pixar created the first fully computer animated motion picture to world acclaim. When “Toy Story” was nearing completion, John Lasseter pitched “A Bug's Life” to Disney and they approved. Jeffrey Katzenberg had left the Disney studio the day before and he was the one who wanted “Toy Story” to be aimed more at adults than children. His desire for what he called more “edge” in Disney films was never fully satisfied. Coincidentally, after joining DreamWorks, Katzenberg and that studio started to make “Antz” and it became apparent that these two films would be in direct competition. Now Pixar was under additional pressure to succeed. The end results would show that “A Bug’s Life” did succeed. As with Pixar’s first film, the story of “A Bug’s Life” was given lots of attention. The characters in this film also appear to be important aspects of the finished movie. The studio pushed technology forward with the film as well. With this original film, Pixar wanted to have the same fun that they had working on “Toy Story”. They wanted the same level of energy and excitement at the workplace so that their second film would be just as good. This desire to find that same magic was key to the success of “A Bug’s Life”. Lasseter wasn’t cocky at all because he knew that “Toy Story” was a lot of hard work. He felt the pressure and so did the rest of his team. They faced it head on.

I should clarify firstly that the story was not completely original. Ideas were drawn from movies such as “Three Amigos” and “Seven Samurai” (and by extension, "The Magnificent Seven"). As a fun fact, composer Randy Newman, who wrote the score and song from "A Bug's Life", wrote the songs and received screenwriting credit on "Three Amigos". This Pixar film is not a complete copy of those movies though because of the important changes that the story team made. Where as “Avatar” did not make enough changes to separate it enough from past movies, “A Bug’s Life” did make effective changes such as putting an underdog as the star of its story. Pixar did not just rely on the fact that their film was in a different genre than “Amigos” and “Samurai”. The film does quite well at introducing all the characters. The circus is a wonderfully planned introductory scene. I also love the moment when the circus bugs realize the misunderstanding on Ant Island. You are almost done laughing at one gag when another funnier one comes along during the children's play. The scene with the grasshoppers in the desert is very important to the story. We must know what they have been doing this whole time. We also need to be acquainted with Hopper’s motivation. We realize that he is aware of the colony’s numerical advantage over his gang and therefore we understand the reason for his intimidation. The grasshoppers become more villainous because they don’t need to go back to Ant Island for food at the end of the season. Hopper is only doing it to maintain supremacy. If they slack up once, the usual offering that they get every year may be denied them and their easy life will eventually be gone. I like how the bird reveals itself at the climax of the film. It is a good use of cinematography. The bird’s design contrasts its purpose in the story but that doesn't destroy its purpose thankfully. It is very dangerous but it looks beautiful. The chicks are also very cute which makes Hopper’s demise very ironic. Another way that this film separates itself from other similar stories is Lasseter’s desire to make “A Bug’s Life” feel like an epic. The cinematography of the movie is proof of this as are the crowd shots that we see of all the ants. Lasseter was always pushing for more ants to be shown in shots and those in charge of creating these crowds became heroes by the end of production because of how they stepped up to the challenge. Other technological advancements include that of grass & leaves and the way they move independently. The settings in “A Bug’s Life” still feel real today to some extent. The bird and her chicks not only look quite real but they act like real birds too. Just like the climax of “Toy Story” occurred amidst many houses and million of leaves on trees, “A Bug’s Life” concludes in a rainstorm. The raindrops behave quite well and the use of lighting is what makes the scene feel realistic. Lightning flashes and the complexity of the climatic scene causes the audience to loose sense of the fantasy and things start to look even more realistic for a change. In future Pixar films, we have many of these kinds of climatic settings, which I like to call “wow moments”. You can identify such a moment when there is a pause in the story so as to take in the new setting or circumstances.

The characters and casting were well done in this film. While “Antz” relied upon sheer star power, “A Bug’s Life” also used famous actors but only to make their characters come to life for the sake of the story. Also, Pixar used famous TV stars as opposed to Hollywood superstars. DreamWorks seemed to look at a character and think of the biggest possible star that they could to play that character. Pixar on the other hand, just like on "Toy Story", looked at a character and tried to think of an actor that could fully bring that character to life. A few of the actors in "A Bug's Life" landed their famous TV roles in between the recording process and the release of the finished film. This proves that Pixar was not necessarily looking for famous actors. We have Julia Louis-Dreyfus from “Seinfeld”, David Hyde Pierce from “Frasier”, Richard Kind from “Mad About You” & “Spin City”, Brad Garrett from “Everybody Loves Raymond” and of course John Ratzenberger from “Cheers”. I didn't even recognize Michael McShane's name until 15 years after the release of "A Bug's Life". I first saw him on "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves". This movie introduced me to Hayden Panettiere and Kevin Spacey. Hopper is one of my favourite Pixar villains. Joe Ranft, one of the story men at the studio who has since passed away, came up with such an amazing and funny voice for Heimlich the caterpillar that Pixar couldn't find an actor to match his performance. I like another use of irony in the character of Thumper. This vicious grasshopper shares his name with another Disney character that is one of the cutest that came out of a Walt Disney film. My favourite moments of David Hyde Pierce are his lines as Francis’ sword and as the temporary ringmaster. Pixar made the characters in the film even more real with the outtakes during the credits. It is such a brilliant idea and it came out of watching dallies. The creators of the film were watching a silent loop of a shot of Hopper & Molt and all of a sudden, Molt knocks the “camera” over (an animator had snuck it in). Everyone was on the floor laughing and thus the idea was born. This was such an effective surprise for the audience. The outtakes are hilarious but this kind of gag was not as feasible with traditional animation. The outtakes of “A Bug’s Life” changed end credit sequences of animated films from that time forth in the same way that Marvel later changed the end credits of superhero movies. As you watch the end credits of many animated films today, you get to enjoy the characters from the movie one last time before you leave the theater. “A Bug’s Life” also appears to take place in the same universe as “Toy Story” due to the cameos of the Pizza Planet cup and delivery truck. Pixar also made advancements in the home experience of the film, as “A Bug’s Life” is the first film to be restaged for a 4:3 aspect ratio. Also, the home video and DVD were created from the digital source for the first time in Hollywood history instead of from a film reel. Even as a teen, I could subconsciously sense the difference in the video quality.

DreamWorks pushed their release date of “Antz” one month ahead of that for “A Bug’s Life”, which I believe effected the production of “Antz” negatively. Katzenberg thought the formula of using big stars like on "The Lion King" would bring financial success. The success of "Toy Story" might also have given him reason to go with a huge cast. “A Bug’s Life” however did better at the box office as the number one animated film of 1998. It my favourite animated film from that year. The competition between “Antz” and “A Bug’s Life” kicked off the rivalry between DreamWorks and Pixar that still continues today. I am happy to report though that only the first “Shrek” movie has given Pixar any real competition. Only later with "Kung Fu Panda", "Madagascar" and “How to Train Your Dragon” did Dreamworks let up on “edge” and found a good balance between heart and grown-up humor. However, Pixar found this perfect balance way back in 1995 and then again in 1998 with “A Bug’s Life”. This movie has a good story with funny and entertaining characters. Technology was enhanced for future films as well. When I first saw this film as a teenager, I thought it was better than “Toy Story”. Even though my mind has changed, I still love this movie very much. Today when I think another computer animated film may be better, I am proven wrong after I rewatch "A Bug's Life".

4.5 Stars