A Bug's Life

(USA - 1998)

by Vanes Naldi
6/1/01

Cast: (Dubbing) Dave Foley, Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Phyllis Diller, Denis Leary
Genre: Animation
Director: John Lasseter, Andrew Stenton
Screenplay: Andrew Stanton, Donald McEnery, Bob Shaw
Cinematography: Sharon Calahan
Composer: Randy Newman
Runtime: 95 minutes
Buy at Art.com

Coming from Pixar and Lassiter (who brings the great Hayao Miyazaki films to the US), I expected something at least close to Toy Story. No sir. A Bug's Life is certainly a joy to watch, boasting some of the most impressive CGI I've ever seen, but after about 30 minutes you always forget about the graphics and what stands in your mind at the end is usually the story or the characters.

The story is "cute," containing a good amount of funny moments, but overall doesn't stand out. The most charismatic character is Hopper, and obviously, Kevin Spacey gives it life. The rest of the "cast" ranges from silly to useless. The soundtrack by Randy Newman is adequate, but given the usual high standard of Disney & Pixar productions, it's not up to par.

This is a spectacular movie, but lacks some "spark," some excitement to make it better. Antz, which had a similar premise, was much more interesting because of better character development, better dialogue and more "adult" themes whereas A Bug's Life is more geared toward "family." It's time Pixar and Disney try something new rather than the age old "young hero combats the evil to save princess" leit motif or variations of it. I'd like to see more adult themes and some more "freedom" to the Disney format. The closing credits are very funny, and like The Nutty Professor, might be one of the funniest moments of the movie.

RATING:
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