A Bug’s Life (1998) Review

Posted on the 07 April 2020 by Caz @LetsGoToTheMov7

Flik is a misfit ant within his colony and must go looking for warriors to help protect them from the grasshoppers who order than to collect enough food for them as well. The group he recruits turns out to be a circus!

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Flik seems to be the most unlucky of ants and nothing works out for him at all, he comes up with all different inventions that he wants to use within the colony but they never seem to be the best. When he destroys the food that the colony had collected for the menacing grasshoppers led by Hopper, they threaten the ants to gather more food in a short amount of time. With this bad move Flik offers to go to the city and find other insects or warriors who can help them defend themselves.

Obviously with Flik not having a very good track record in terms of his plans coming off, ending up with the circus insects wasn't really what he intended to happen. Especially considering he didn't even find out himself until it was too late. I found the sense of adventure very impressive in the film and something that I really enjoyed watching from start to finish. Flik is a big underdog and that is something that we like to watch, considering he was eventually going to prove everyone wrong!

Princess Dot was someone who always believed in Flik and I think that just showed that the innocence of a child can see that someone really is worth something more. He does try to impress Atta a lot and she does not really have much time for him as she is getting ready to take over from her mother the Queen of the colony.

I'd never actually seen this film before so it was a first time watch and that is something that I now quite regret considering it is a another very good Disney Pixar collaboration. Some good messages along the way and that is very reassuring to be able to compare to life, sometimes I think we forget to do that from an animated film as they still often have the stigma of being just for kids. Going back through and watching some of them now it is clear to see that is not the case at all.

The animation is lovely to look at considering the high level of detail given to each ant and insect, plenty of colour involved in this and I feel that is something Pixar does in the best possible manner. Visually lovely films that you cannot help but to just love looking at, I feel that makes the characters even better because of the different features. Making sure even the ants had different features and weren't just all the same or anything.

The voice acting is very good as well and I immediately recognised Kevin Spacey as Hopper, doesn't he do the bad guy very well? Even when it is voice work as well, we have seen him do that in live action films before as well. Another I really enjoyed was Hayden Panettiere as Dot who was easily one of the best characters in the whole film. Dave Foley as the leading role of Flik is very impressive as well.

Overall, the adventure side of the film is very impressive and showing that you can do anything when you work hard to protect those you care about. People can change and impressive themselves as well.