Movie #173 - A Bug's Life

Title: A Bug's Life

Director: John Lasseter & Andrew Stanton

Release Year: 1998

Plot Summary: A misfit ant, looking for warriors to save his colony from grasshoppers, recruits a group of bugs that turn out to be an inept circus troupe.

Thoughts: Ah, the forgotten Pixar movie of the bunch - inevitably the one that people either haven't seen, don't own, or just plain didn't think was all that great. As for me, I'd probably rank it around the bottom of the Pixar pile... but that leaves it miles above the vast majority of the competition.

I don't think you can help but cheer for Flik, the little ant with big ideas who just wants to help, but usually ends up bungling things somehow or other. But to me the star of the show is Hopper, the leader of the grasshoppers, who manages to emanate this aura of menace and total command - no mean feat for an animated bug. (Of course Kevin Spacey's voice doesn't hurt much... ~wink!~) Everyone else is pretty forgettable, though, which is probably the main reason this film suffers in comparison to other Pixar offerings.

All that said, I quite enjoy A Bug's Life whenever I sit down to watch it - it's just not one I feel compelled to return to with any regularity.

Recommendations: It's Pixar! You gotta watch it at least once. You'll probably enjoy it more than you remember.