A Bug's Life
A Bug's Life is a 1998 American animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's second feature-length film, following Toy Story (1995). The film was directed by John Lasseter, co-directed by Andrew Stanton (in his feature directorial debut), and produced by Darla K. Anderson and Kevin Reher, from a screenplay written by Stanton, Donald McEnery, and Bob Shaw, and a story conceived by Lasseter, Stanton, and Joe Ranft. It stars the voices of Dave Foley, Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Hayden Panettiere. In the film, a misfit ant named Flik, looks for "tough warriors" to save his ant colony from a protection racket run by a gang of grasshoppers. However, the "warriors" he brings back were a troupe of Circus Bugs. The film's plot was initially inspired by Aesop's fable The Ant and the Grasshopper.[5][6]
This article is about the film. For the video game, see A Bug's Life (video game). For the soundtrack, see A Bug's Life (soundtrack). For the Farscape episode called "A Bug's Life", see List of Farscape episodes.A Bug's Life
- Andrew Stanton
- Donald McEnery
- Bob Shaw
- John Lasseter
- Andrew Stanton
- Joe Ranft
- Darla K. Anderson
- Kevin Reher
- November 14, 1998 (El Capitan Theatre)[1]
- November 20, 1998 (United States)[2]
95 minutes[3]
United States
English
$363.3 million[2]
Production on A Bug's Life began shortly after the release of Toy Story in 1995. The ants in the film were redesigned to be more appealing, and Pixar's animation unit employed technical innovations in computer animation. Randy Newman composed the music for the film. During production, a controversial public feud erupted between Steve Jobs and Lasseter of Pixar and DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg due to the parallel production of his similar film Antz, which was released the month prior.
A Bug's Life premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on November 14, 1998, and was released in the United States on November 25. It received positive reviews for its animation, story, humor, and voice acting. It became a commercial success, having grossed $363 million at the box office. It was the first film to be digitally transferred frame-by-frame and released on DVD, and has been released multiple times on home video.
Plot
A colony of ants, led by the elderly Queen and her daughter Princess Atta, live in the middle of a seasonally dry creekbed on a small hill known as "Ant Island". Every summer, they are forced to give food to a gang of grasshoppers, led by Hopper.
One day, Flik, a courageous but clumsy inventor ant, inadvertently destroys the food offering with his grain harvester. Hopper discovers this, and demands twice as much food as compensation. When Flik earnestly suggests the ants enlist the help of bigger bugs to fight the grasshoppers, Atta sees it as a way to get rid of Flik and sends him off.
Flik travels to "the city", a heap of trash under a trailer. Flik mistakes a troupe of jobless Circus Bugs for the warrior bugs he seeks. The bugs, in turn, mistake Flik for a talent agent, and agree to travel with him back to Ant Island. During a welcome ceremony after their arrival, the Circus Bugs and Flik discover their mutual misunderstandings. The Circus Bugs attempt to leave, but are pursued by a nearby bird; while fleeing, they rescue Atta's younger sister Dot from the bird, gaining the ants' respect. At Flik's request, the Circus Bugs continue the ruse of being "warriors", thus enabling them to continue enjoying the ants' hospitality. Learning that Hopper fears birds inspires Flik to build a crewed ornithopter disguised as a bird to scare away the grasshoppers. Meanwhile, Hopper reminds his gang of the ants' superior numbers, warning them the ants will rebel if not kept in line.
The ants finish constructing the fake bird. During the subsequent celebration, the Circus Bugs' old supervisor, P.T. Flea, arrives, seeking to rehire them and blowing their cover; the ants exile Flik and the Circus Bugs, and desperately try gathering food for a new offering. Hopper returns, sees the mediocre offering, and takes over the island. He then demands the ants' own winter food supply, planning to execute the Queen afterward. Overhearing the plan, Dot persuades Flik and the Circus Bugs to return to Ant Island.
After the Circus Bugs distract the grasshoppers long enough to rescue the Queen, Flik deploys the bird. It initially fools the grasshoppers, but P.T., who is also fooled, sets the bird on fire. Realizing the deception, Hopper has Flik publicly beaten and proclaims the ants are lowly life forms who live only to serve the grasshoppers. Flik asserts Hopper actually fears the colony, because he has always known what they are capable of. This inspires the ants and the Circus Bugs to fight back against the grasshoppers, driving all but Hopper and his brother Molt away.
The ants shove Hopper into the circus cannon to shoot him off of the island, but rain suddenly begins to fall. In the ensuing chaos, Hopper frees himself from the cannon and abducts Flik. The Circus Bugs and Atta pursue, with the latter catching up to Hopper and rescuing Flik, who lures Hopper to the real bird's nest. Believing the bird is another fake, Hopper taunts it, until it grabs him and feeds him to its chicks.
With the anthill now at peace, Flik improves his inventions to help gather food for the ants. Flik and Atta become a couple, and proceed to send Hopper's affable brother Molt and a few ants to help P.T. and the Circus Bugs on their new tour. Atta and Dot become the new Queen and Princess. The ants celebrate their victory and congratulate Flik as a hero. They then bid a fond farewell to the circus troupe.
Reception
Box office
A Bug's Life grossed $371,940 at the El Capitan in its first five days before expanding nationwide.[2] The film grossed a record $45.7 million during the five-day Thanksgiving holiday weekend,[46][2] including $33.3 million for the three-day weekend,[47] ranking first at the box office, beating out Babe: Pig in the City and The Rugrats Movie.[48][49] Its five-day Thanksgiving opening gross surpassed the previous record holder held by 101 Dalmatians.[50] This record was surpassed by Toy Story 2 the following year.[51] With a total gross of $12.5 million, A Bug's Life achieved the second-highest first two-day Thanksgiving gross, behind Back to the Future Part II.[52] It managed to retain the top position in its second weekend, making $17.1 million and outgrossing Psycho.[53] During its third weekend, the film's number one spot was taken by Star Trek: Insurrection, but it still overperformed Jack Frost while earning $11.1 million.[54][55]
In its first international weekend, the film grossed $3.2 million from 5 countries, setting record openings for an animated film in Australia ($1.6 million) and Thailand ($400,000), with the latter surpassing Mulan.[56] Furthermore, it made $2 million during its opening weekend in Mexico, which was the country's second-highest at the time, after Godzilla.[57]
By late December 1998, A Bug's Life had earned over $100 million. Altogether, several in-year 1998 films combined with Titanic pulled $7 billion in North America, propelling the film industry to a record year at the box office.[58]
In February 1999, the film also had a record opening for an animated film in the United Kingdom with an opening weekend gross of £4.2 million ($6.9 million).[59] In Japan, the film ended Armageddon's 13-week-long run in the number one spot, earning $1.7 million.[60]
At the end of its theatrical run, the film grossed $162.8 million in the United States and Canada and $200.4 million in foreign countries, pushing its worldwide gross to $363.3 million, surpassing the competition from DreamWorks Animation's Antz,[2] which earned $171.8 million worldwide.[61]
Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 92% based on 91 reviews and an average rating of 7.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A Bug's Life is a rousing adventure that blends animated thrills with witty dialogue and memorable characters – and another smashing early success for Pixar."[62] Another review aggregator, Metacritic, gave the film a score of 77 out of 100 based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[63]
Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote, "Lasseter and Pixar broke new technical and aesthetic ground in the animation field with Toy Story, and here they surpass it in both scope and complexity of movement while telling a story that overlaps Antz in numerous ways."[64] James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave the film three and a half stars out of four, saying "A Bug's Life, like Toy Story, develops protagonists we can root for, and places them in the midst of a fast-moving, energetic adventure."[65] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three and a half stars out of four, writing "Will A Bug's Life suffer by coming out so soon after Antz? Not any more than one thriller hurts the chances for the next one. Antz may even help business for A Bug's Life by demonstrating how many dramatic and comedic possibilities can be found in an anthill."[66] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times gave the film four out of five stars, writing "What A Bug's Life demonstrates is that when it comes to bugs, the most fun ones to hang out with hang exclusively with the gang at Pixar."[67] Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle gave the film four out of four stars, stating "A Bug's Life is one of the great movies – a triumph of storytelling and character development, and a whole new ballgame for computer animation. Pixar Animation Studios has raised the genre to an astonishing new level".[68]
Richard Corliss of Time magazine wrote, "The plot matures handsomely; the characters neatly converge and combust; the gags pay off with emotional resonance."[69] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B, saying "A Bug's Life may be the single most amazing film I've ever seen that I couldn't fall in love with."[70] Paul Clinton of CNN wrote, "A Bug's Life is a perfect movie for the holidays. It contains a great upbeat message ... it's wonderful to look at ... it's wildly inventive ... and it's entertaining for both adults and kids."[71] Michael Wilmington of the Chicago Tribune gave the film three and a half stars out of four, and compared the movie to "Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (with a little of another art-film legend, Federico Fellini, tossed in)," where "As in Samurai, the colony here is plagued every year by the arrival of bandits."[72] On the contrary, Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post wrote, "Clever as it is, the film lacks charm. One problem: too many bugs. Second, bigger world for two purposes: to feed birds and to irk humans."[73]