A Bug's Life

Rating: 9/10 (8 July 2005)

I thought that Antz was really good because of the number of good actors, but this rival film from Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar did better business. Basically ants pick food for greedy grasshoppers, and disaster happens when Flik (Dave Foley) is responsible for ruining the offering. The grasshopper leader, Hopper (Kevin Spacey) with his gang give them till the end of summer to try and gather food again. Flik decides to leave the island, with Princess Atta's (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss) permission, to find warrior bugs to fight the grasshoppers, and to his disbelief, what he brings back is a bunch of circus clowns. These are Slim (David Hyde Pierce) the stick insect, Heimlich (Joe Ranft) the fat German caterpillar, Francis (Small Soldiers' Denis Leary) the ladybird, Manny (Jonathan Harris) the magician bug with assistant Gypsy Moth (Madeline Kahn) and Rosie (Jumanji's Bonnie Hunt) the black widow spider. Anyway, they end up proving themselves when they build a bird, and after this fails they do succeed in scaring off the other grasshoppers, and Hopper gets what's coming to him. Also starring Tom and Jerry: The Movie's Richard Kind as Molt, Toy Story's John Ratzenberger as P.T. Flea and Fright Night's Roddy McDowall as Mr. Soil, his last film role before his death of lung cancer. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score for Randy Newman, it was nominated the BAFTA for Best Special Visual Effects, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Original Score. It was number 84 on The Ultimate Film, and it was number 65 on The 100 Greatest Cartoons. Very good!