Dave Foley, Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Phyllis Diller, David Hyde Pierce, Denis Leary, Bonnie Hunt, Mike McShane, and John Ratzenberger
As I said in my review of Mulan, I LOVE DISNEY!!! So you can probably imagin how much I was anticipating A Bug's Life... especially after the visual muscle that Pixar showed with Toy Story. Although this second computer generated movie by Disney and Pixar wasn't as good as their first, it still delivered enough to be very, very enjoyable. In short, it was typical Disney.
The Circus Bugs return to the colony
Every year the busy little ants on Ant Island pick all the food... half of it goes to them, and the other half goes to the grasshoppers so they don't squash the ants. Usually they just pick one kernal of grain at a time and get in a line to march it to the pile, but one ant name Flik (Dave Foley, TV's News Radio) is unconventional and invents a machine to help him do it faster. Unfortunately, Flik is very clumsy and by accident his machine destroys the grasshoppers' share of the food just before they arrive to pick it up. Of course the grasshoppers' leader Hopper (Kevin Spacey, L.A. Confidential, The Usual Suspects) is very angry with the ants but he gives them until the end of the summer to pick twice their usual payment. The ants are terrified because there is no way they can pick enough food and still have food for themselves to survive the long winter. Flik volenteers to go and search for other, bigger bugs to help defend against the grasshoppers and the Queen Ant (Phyllis Diller) and her daughter Princess Atta (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Seinfeld) agree to let him go (mostly to get him out of the way while they try to pick the food for Hopper).
Kevin Spacey as the voice of Hopper
So Flik goes off to the "city" (a bunch of boxes and cans underneath a trailer where a bunch of bugs live). Here he runs into a bunch of circus bugs who have recently been fired from P.T. Flea's (John Ratzenburger) Flea Circus. Anyway, these circus bugs are pretending to be warriors when Flik sees them so he mistakes them for real warrior bugs and asks them to help his colony. The circus bugs think he is a talent scout offering a job so they take it. I should point out that the circus bugs are they team that provide almost all of the comedy in A Bug's Life from Slim (David Hyde Pierce, TV's Frasier) the stick bug, to Heimlich (Joe Ranft) the German caterpiller aching to be a beautiful butterfly, to Francis (Dennis Leary, Wag the Dog) the manic lady bug (and if you don't think the idea of Dennis Leary as a lady bug is funny then you need to check you funny bone). Anyway, Flik brings back the circus bugs thinking they are warriors to the colony to protect them from Hopper and his gang. When both the circus bugs and Flik realize the mistake it is too late... luckily Flik comes up with a plan to scare off the grasshoppers, and the circus bugs agree to stay for the fight.
Flik
Princess Atta
Hopper
Francis
Heimlich
I definitely had mixed feelings about this movie. For the most part I was very pleased because it had the typical formula for a great Disney film... silliness, funny characters, a villian, and a good plot (by animated standards). The problem is I was spoiled by Toy Story. Pixar and Disney's first joint movie was so good (visually, comedically, plotwise [if that's a word] etc.) that I was expecting A Bug's Life to be at least as good. If this movie had come out first then I would have no complaints, so I will try to judge it alone. The comedy of this movie was great, as I said especially with the circus bugs. Each one has their little quirks, like Heimlich who is obsessed with food and becoming a beautiful butterfly (I don't know why, but a caterpiller with a German accent is hysterical), or Slim the stick bug who is tired of only playing the role of a tree or a broom or a sword simply because he is long and, well, stick like... and the best of all, Francis the guy lady bug who goes ballistic if you call him cutie or something like that. There is a great scene where all the little ants make him the den mother of thier blueberry girls troop. But the funniest part of all is the credits... make sure you stay through them, I guarentee you will enjoy them. Another great thing about this movie was the villian, Hopper. He had those quirks and that look that reminded me a lot of Jafar from Aladdin. And Kevin Spacey did a great job with his voice to make Hopper sound evil and sinister. Anyway, it was business as usual for Disney, as they cranked out another great movie that I will be sure to buy the day it comes out on video.
