a great movie for bugs and people everywhere

Rating: 10/10 (14 December 2002)

Everything that was great about Toy Story, Pixar's first feature (and the first-ever all-computer animated movie), is even greater in A Bug's Life. Visually, this movie is leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessor. Its environments are far more ambitious than Toy Story's, and they deliver with far more nuance and texture. There are more characters in this movie, and they're a little better played. And the story is cute-- it deals with Flik, an outcast ant (Dave Foley) who is sent away by the colony's princess (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) to find some "tough bugs" to fight off the oppressive grasshoppers, led by Hopper (Kevin Spacey), who steal the ants' food. Flik finds a bunch of circus-performer bugs, and mistakes them for fighters, and takes them back to the colony to save the bugs from the grasshoppers. Humor follows. Humor for the whole family. This film has great moments, like when the ants can't figure out how to get around a leaf that has fallen in front of them(although I didn't quite get that, since I would think the ants could see over the leaf, but I guess I was putting too much thought into it.) As many great visual moments as the film has, I just couldn't help feel that it's trapped by the Disney formula of one unlikely hero rising above "it all" to save the day. Again, the animation is wonderful and, to be honest, although it's more safe feeling than "Antz", "A Bug's Life" does do a better job at providing the scope of this miniature world, from the leaves and grass to the stones and ant tunnels. I did like the fact that the film is in the wide 2.35:1 ratio, making the wide spaces of the grassy colony and the insect city more fascinating to watch. High marks once again. The Dolby 5.1 soundtrack never misses a beat. All of the dialogue comes from the position of its speaker on screen. Sometimes stereo effects are very hot or cold-- they're either all the way right, all the way left, or straight center. Not the case here. If a character so much as turns his or her head while speaking, it's reflected in the sound field. Excellent. And the score by Randy Newman sounds great and never overpowers the dialogue or sound. Above all, this movie is visually stunning. STUNNING. It is amazing to watch. 9 out of 10