Several big pluses but a few minuses

Rating: Null/10 (20 September 1999)

In the battle of the Bugz, I preferred this Pixar/Disney version to the weightier, more adult Antz. Antz seemed to be reaching too far to be sardonic, whereas A Bug's Life is lighter and the conflict within less pretentious.
A Bug's Life succeeds at almost everything it does. The animation is gorgeous, and the characterizations are wonderful. Aside from the German caterpillar, who thankfully isn't overplayed, the circus performers are a hilarious group, totally dysfunctional but memorable. And John Ratzenberger as PT Flea has a voice that begs to be used in animated films. David Foley's Flik is a bit bland, and it's not easy to become involved in his fate. He's earnest, but the wackiness of the character never really comes across. Some of the comic pieces, especially the pageant for the warriors done by the ant second graders and the circus performance of 'flaming death' absolutely slew me. The depiction of the bug city to which Flik journeys to find the warrior bugs is worth the price of admission on its own. The film is full of wonderful throwaway lines and scenes that kept me interested and entertained.
If the film has a weakness, it is that the grasshoppers just don't seem that threatening. Deep down I continued to wonder why the ants just didn't do away with them. They work their butts off to pick food for the grasshoppers when it is apparent that they should simply fight them off. I also agreed with the grasshoppers who didn't want to go back to Ant Island from Mexico: it didn't seem necessary. I think more needed to have been made of this conflict, and that the grasshoppers should have been played less for laughs. Kevin Spacey as Hopper just never comes across as sufficiently evil.
I gave it 8 out of 10, which is a bit generous for this film, but I liked it in spite of its flaws. Lovely animation, and you can even forget the anatomic mistake of four-legged ants.