Bugs

Pixar Week Wednesday: A Bug's Life

(Note that the following article includes plot spoilers. You have been warned.)

A Bug's Life is the sophomore film effort by Pixar. Having had plenty of success with Toy Story, the computer animation studio was more than happy to make another film. Unfortunately, what they came up with was a movie about bugs that wasn't as strong as the first story.

I'm not alone in believing A Bug's Life is the weakest movie in the Pixar library, but I am aware there are those who disagree. I should note that I don't think it's a bad movie, just that their other work is stronger. They would follow up with a sequel to Toy Story that restored faith in the studio for strong and unique storytelling, and go on to other great movies.

So why wasn't it as good? Well, at the time, I'm sure the release conditions had something to do with it. Toy Story was almost universally loved (despite some rather disturbing elements in Sid's house), and was easy to relate to - nearly every kid has toys of some kind that they pretended were alive to some degree, and the adults who took them to the theater had fond memories of the same. The new movie was about the crawling things you try to whack with a shoe. Your pre-existing condition influenced the expectation of the movie. It also suffered from a bit of the Second Movie Syndrome. People will generally forgive the first movie of little quirks if the overall movie is good. That forgiveness disappears for subsequent movies, and in fact, tends to lead to overcritical responses for a second movie.

And in a supreme bout of poor planning, they released the movie in the same year as Antz, a competitor's movie with the same general setting. I personally haven't gotten around to seeing Antz, but it engendered a sort of "didn't we already see this" feeling in moviegoers. And oddly, that's really one of my problems with the movie, too.

I have two main dislikes of the film. One of them is sort of trivial, but you'd be amazed how it affects a movie. I really didn't like Dave Foley's voice as Flik. The funny part is that I was a huge Kid's In The Hall fan, so I really don't have a problem with Foley himself. It's not so much that you can identify the main character from the voice (that's always been an issue with every Pixar movie), but rather, I think his voice is somewhat grating without the context of his physical presence. As a minor character, that's not a big deal. But on the main character who appears in most of the scenes - it can get annoying whenever I notice it.

The biggest problem, though, is that there isn't really anything significantly new brought to the plot of the movie. This is essentially The Seven Samurai or The Dirty Dozen redone in animated insect form. While other Pixar films fit into certain storytelling categories, the story itself is typically unique. Not so much in A Bug's Life - since this style of story has been adapted to other settings, it feels like we've already seen this before and know where it's going. Even though we know Hopper cannot possibly win the day by the end of the movie, there is no point where we are surprised by what happens. If anything, it's almost a disappointment that the villain is defeated by Deus Ex Machina (the appearance of the real bird), not the direct actions of the heroes themselves. In both Toy Story films, the toys rescue themselves, in Monsters, Inc. Sully and Mike defeat Randall and Waternoose, and in The Incredibles, it's the actions of the Parrs and Frozone that defeat the robot and Syndrome. In A Bug's Life, though, we are left wondering what would have happened if the bird hadn't shown up to save the day.

I've spent a lot of time the last two days discussing messages in the Pixar films. It would be remiss of me not to at least cover the ones in A Bug's Life. The most obvious message is a suggestion to be yourself and not be afraid to try something new. It's a good message for kids as they enter the world of peer pressure and conformity. There's nothing wrong with marching to your own drummer, or thinking outside the box when you get to the 'adult world'.

There's another strong message in the film - namely, to stand up for yourself and your family/friends. I've never been the target of a bully (in itself, that's pretty weird - an overweight kid who never got picked on?), but I did have a friend who was constantly picked on in elementary school. At one point, I had had about enough of it, and exploded in rage on the playground at the bully. I didn't lay a hand on him, but I don't think he (or anyone else in the radius of the school, to be honest) was confused as to my meaning. He left my friend alone from that point on. I think it's an important message for kids - we constantly tell our kids to stand up for themselves. But we generally tell our kids to not get involved in the squabbles of others. There is a certain train of thought that suggests this is a good directive, but I think we end up fostering a sort of isolationism and selfish behavior. Now, that isn't to say we want our kids to be vigilantes - but we do want them to value their friends and to speak up when something isn't right.

(Humorous aside - the bully I screamed at later talked to me and pretty much told me that if I ever needed something taken care of, to just let him know. I never did take him up on the offer, but it was a nice trump card to have up my sleeve.)

So, while A Bug's Life isn't really a bad movie, it's more that Pixar has made better movies before and since. Interestingly, the previews before Cars has a short advertisement for their next film, Ratatouille. I have some reservations on this one, but I'll give it a chance. Cars exceeded my expectations. I wonder, though, if Pixar movies about animals just don't work as well?

If it wasn't already obvious, I rate A Bug's Life as my least favorite Pixar film.

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Link of the moment: Wanna kill some bug-like aliens in a side scrolling action game? Then maybe you should click here.