Yes, it’s been almost a year since I wrote about Toy Story, but that’s because I’m not a professional writer, and I started to feel overwhelmed about the project. I would have taken the blog down if I didn’t want to complete the project anymore, but I’ve chosen to take a different approach from now on. Piece by piece we’ll go, and I won’t waste time giving a synopsis. At least not with A Bug’s Life. Everything I want to address really touches on the story, So if you haven’t seen a movie and don’t want to piece it together, movies are made for watching, anyway. We’ll start with an overall look at each movie, and then follow up later with looks at their more specific aspects.
“You’re wrong, Hopper. Ants are not meant to serve grasshoppers. I've seen these ants do great things. And year after year they somehow manage to pick enough food for themselves and you. So who’s the weaker species? Ants don’t serve grasshoppers. It’s you who need us!”
As I began watching A Bug’s Life I realized a few things. This movie is probably the least-talked about movie Pixar released, perhaps next to Ratatouille. I may have seen the movie twice before I began this blog, and I still have difficulty keeping every character’s name straight. When I brought the movie up with my friends, some of us confused it with Antz, that infamous rival and flagship CGI movie produced by Dreamworks Animation. For those reasons I approached A Bug’s Life with less of a bias than any other Pixar movie. Coming off a Toy Story high, it has been easy to find fault with A Bug’s Life, but it has also been easy to find Pixar’s warm, understated style throughout the film.
“A Bug’s Life” has a similar ring as a title as “Toy Story,” but this is clearly not the same movie. For one thing, we see no people, ever. You couldn’t make a long film about toys without explaining where the people are, but insects can go their whole lives unaffected by humans. People don’t serve the story at all, so it serves no purpose to see them. In fact, the only evidence that people exist lies in the background of the Big City, and we see just enough garbage and houses to see how humans affect the City bugs. Pixar extends the no-humans joke by featuring other insects manning the cameras during the outtakes.
You may have heard its story borrows from other sources. The Seven Samurai, or The Three Amigos. There’s even a hint of An American Tail—seeing them construct a robot bird I couldn’t help but think of the robot mouse the immigrant mice made. (“Wewease za secwet weapon!”) That’s perhaps one reason A Bug’s Life isn’t as popular as other Pixar works. On the other hand, the unoriginal story lets us focus on the other qualities Pixar puts into their films.
So why else would A Bug’s Life not work? No action figure potential. No, really! Watch Toy Story, Monsters Inc, The Incredibles, and think of how fun it would be to recreate the movies with toys like the cartoons. With A Bug’s Life, There wouldn’t be a reason to buy more than one ant. A bucket o’ soldiers would be just as effective since they all look alike. Movies are always more fun if you wish you could take the characters home with you.
Randy Newman’s soundtrack for this movie is much tighter and less distracting than Toy Story. Unfortunately, the song “Time of Your Life” at the end credits just doesn’t work. A whole movie of sweeping, adventuresome soundtrack and we close with a rip-off of “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.”
It’s the time of your life so live it well.It’s the time of your life so live it well.You may only go ‘round this one timeAs far as I can tell.It’s the time of your life so live it well.
Great. Thanks for that. Like I said, though, the soundtrack itself is mighty nice. He uses definite themes for different stages in the movie and manipulates them to reflect the mood of the scenes. If he had set words to the opening melody of the movie it could have rivaled “Seize the Day” from Newsies.
The movie definitely “feels” like Pixar. Very vibrant colors in the environment, even in the rocks and sand. The opening shot is very majestic and panoramic, compared to the sharp polygons in Andy’s little room in Toy Story. The landscape is far more detailed as well. The ants work with smiles on their faces when we first see them and it warms us up to them. The humor is high-brow, and we can see how most of the jokes make sense in the ant world. (I’ll take it on faith that “BYOB” actually means something to ants.)
My favorite aspect of the film is the characters. I’ll go into more detail later, but the heroes and villains all have more than one side to their personalities. Flik is a nerd and an outcast but he loves his colony. Hopper may be one of the meanest mustache-twirling foes in Pixar history, but he still begrudgingly obeys his mother’s wishes. Even Dot the junior princess plays out as live bait but still manages to offer wisdom without getting cutsie.
The last thing I want to bring up for now is the light and subtle way A Bug’s Life presents its themes and motifs. Referring to the Old and the New, metamorphosis plays a role throughout the movie. Heimlich laments that he is but a caterpillar. Dot’s wings haven’t developed yet, either. Princess Atta nervously trains to take over as Queen. The first image we see in the film is that of a falling leaf, because autumn is giving way to the rainy season. These motifs all reflect Flik’s metamorphosis from timid inventor to a leader in a revolt against tyranny. When he finally gives the line I quoted above, he shows amazing determination.
I’m grateful that the movie never stops to give any speeches about change. Flik tries to give an object lesson about seeds taking time to grow, but it doesn’t become a moment where the movie stops so kids can hear the Moral of the Story.
Flik: Pretend that that’s a seed.Dot: It’s a rock.Flik: Oh, I know it’s a rock. I know, but let’s just pretend for a minute it’s a seed, alright? We’ll just use our imaginations…Dot: This rock will be a tree?Flik: Seed to tree, you’ve got to work with me here…Dot: But it’s a rock.Flik: I know it’s a rock! Don’t you think I know a rock when I see one? I spend a lot of time around rocks!
Now that we’ve looked at the movie as a whole, we’ll look at the characters, music, and visuals and how they contribute to the movie. End of part 1.
