with Toy Story being kind of a surprise
monster head it was no wonder that here
was a big rush to get out their next
film a bug's life and in talking about
this film it's probably fair to give a
little background about this as well in
fact I dare even say it's inevitable
Katzenberg one of the huge names at
Disney left very shortly after Toy Story
premiered and apparently Disney and
Pixar were already working on their next
CG animated film about bugs well
Katzenberg left to start up DreamWorks
and guess what he thinks he owned that
great idea about CG animated bugs so it
was a giant race to see who could get
their CG family-friendly bug movie out
first that's right that summer only
within weeks away from each other we had
the movies ant and a bug's life it was
very bizarre so kind of harsh to say it
does make sense to actually compare
these movies just a little bit ant came
out first
he starred Woody Allen playing big shock
an ant he befriends a princess ant and
he leaves the colony in search of
adventure which ultimately ends up with
him saving the day then you have a bug's
life this also stars an ant who
befriends a princess who leaves the
colony in search of adventure and what a
shock saves the day they sound pretty
similar but in reality they actually
aren't pretty different
ants was a little bit more like a Woody
Allen film except mixed in with some
adventure action and so forth a bunch
life was much more family-friendly and
colorful now I personally think ants is
the better story I like the characters
more I think visually is a little bit
more interesting and the idea was a
little bit more creative and the moral
was sort of fun at the time but let's be
fair to a bug's life and just judge it
on what it is we have an aunt named flip
he's part of a colony of ants that
constantly uses a lot of their food
rations to feed the grasshoppers they're
led by a Meany played by Kevin Spacey
essentially they're just bullies that
like to take advantage of the fact that
they can push around the ants and they
can get them food but Flik doesn't like
that so he ventures off and tries to
find a group of warrior bugs to come in
and fight the grasshopper
what he finds is a group of circus
performers that are confused for warrior
bugs the circus bugs in turn confuse the
fact that they think they're getting a
job to perform once they find out the
truth they inevitably try to flee only
to discover that actually they can put
together a decent plan to get rid of the
grasshoppers so the race is on to put
their plan in motion put together a
device that would stop the grasshoppers
forever and return peace to their colony
and stop being bullied around as a
follow-up to Toy Story this one's pretty
weak
I guess it's bright and colorful but the
characters just aren't as strong as they
were in Toy Story and on top of that the
elements that make Toy Story so good
like say a very simple setup but the
very complex relatable characters is now
thrown away for a kind of complicated
setup with very black-and-white
characters there's an obvious villain
there's an obvious hero the hero is
awkward but not really that memorable in
fact most of the ants aren't even really
that memorable
I don't remember identities or names or
really anything about them that is
except for the circus bugs these are the
highlight of the film that's Dennis
Leary as a ladybug who's constantly
mistaken for a woman this david Hyde
Pierce has the stick bug who's
constantly used as well a stick you have
a group of acrobatic bugs who can't
speak any English in fact I might mature
what language that is you have a ditzy
Black Widow a fortune-teller who can't
see two feet in front of him a giant
caterpillar with a super thick accent
the list goes on
the way these characters work off each
other and the constant one-liners are
just hilarious the point where they
finally figure out that they're supposed
to be warriors and not performers is one
of the highlights of the film look how
cowardly they suddenly all turned
anything with these characters is great
but sadly as I said before the rest of
the film is kind of bland is it terrible
not really let me it's a standalone film
it's kind of just your generic story of
mistaken identity but sadly that leads
to the generic consequences as well the
liar reveal which as most of you know I
hate God I despise this part in movies
where you know the hero is just gonna be
taken back but because they found out
the person was a liar they have to throw
him out and act like he's not part of
the
grupe what hey wait a minute this is
actually a good idea and it turns out to
kind of work in the end it's not funny
it's not suspenseful it's not dramatic
because we know everything that's going
to happen maybe if the main characters
were a little bit more engaging but
they're not they're just kind of generic
- but to be fair for a lot of people
they don't mind this kind of story they
enjoy this kind of story they like
watching it they like seeing the hero go
through this journey where they're cast
out only to get the nerve to come back
and be strong again and you know what if
it doesn't for you great because really
in the end of the day a bug's life
doesn't have anything terrible in it
it's just stuff we've seen before but if
you don't mind seeing this stuff it
still has a few good highlights like it
said the circus bugs and the colors but
for me both as a standalone film and
especially as a follow-up to Toy Story
this one seems pretty weak I don't hate
it I just don't think it's especially
strong the circus bugs are great
sometimes the grasshoppers look cool but
the story and characters for me are
sadly ministry
you