after the recent animated debacles of , " a rugrats movie , " and " a bug 's life , " i am seriously considering raising my highly negative rating on dreamworks ' other insect film from october , " antz .
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i hated that movie , and yet , it is so much better than these latest two excursions .
" a bug 's life , " is the second animated insect film in the last two months , and i hoped for the best , considering it was done in the wonderful style of pixar 's last film , 1995 's " toy story , " but in no way does , " a bug 's life , " even remotely match up to that .
flik ( david foley ) , an ant , who along with his many comrades , has the job every year of gathering up the seasonal harvest , only to have to give half of it away to the dominating grasshoppers , led by hopper ( kevin spacey ) .
flik , however , feels all alone and unwanted in the world , especially after he accidentally loses all of their food , and the ants are threated by hopper to gather up a whole other season 's load by the time the last summer leaf falls from the trees .
banished from ant island , flik leaves the colony in search of some strong reinforcement to help out , but through a misunderstanding , returns with a handful of helpless circus bugs , including a walking stick ( david hyde pierce ) , a dung beetle ( brad garrett ) , a gypsy moth ( madeline kahn ) , a male ladybug ( denis leary ) , and a caterpillar ( joe ranft ) .
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a bug 's life , " has one thing going for it .
only one thing .
with its glorious , bright colors , the computer - generated animation is a spectacle to look at .
the film itself , unfortunately , is a lifeless , unamusing contraption without any of the flair or excitement of , " toy story .
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the characters in , " a bug 's life , " are an assortment of either unlikable or dull insects without any charm or personality , other than to stand around and recite arbitrary and thoroughly unfunny one - liners .
the thin story was also stretched out to a nearly unbearable 94 minutes , and it often felt as if they ran out of ideas throughout , and so they made up pointless scenes to pass as time - filler .
after giving such scathing reviews to the animated films from this year , i was beginning to think that i had simply outgrown them , but then i realized this is just not so .
i still adore almost all of the older disney films , and many of the newer ones , such as 1989 's , " the little mermaid , " 1991 's , " beauty and the beast , " 1993 's , " the nightmare before christmas , " and yes , 1995 's , " toy story .
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maybe this has just been a bad year for children 's films , and hopefully , the upcoming , " the prince of egypt , " will not be a disappointment .
as for , " a bug 's life , " i did not enjoy anything about it .
not the story , not the characters , and not even the voiceover work , which was far more lively in , " antz .
" " a bug 's life , " goes down as yet another failure for disney , and it is a sad state of affairs when their best film in the last two years has been the minor jonathan taylor thomas picture , " i 'll be home for christmas .
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i did not enjoy anything about it arbitrary and thoroughly unfunny one - liners the film itself , unfortunately , is a lifeless , unamusing contraption it is a sad state of affairs even remotely match up goes down as yet another failure an assortment of either unlikable or dull insects without any charm or personality nearly unbearable