Deep Dive Pixar: Wes Looks at A Bug's Life

Welcome back Deep Dive Disney, or rather, Deep Dive Pixar, where today, we’ll be looking at A Bug’s Life. Despite Pixar’s second major motion picture often being overlooked compared to other films in Pixar’s filmography, I still feel that A Bug’s life is a very good film with likable characters, an excellent villain and a pretty strong message. It’s also one that holds a special place in the heart of yours truly. I fondly remember going with a bunch of friends from school to go see this movie on my ninth birthday, and later, it became the very first filmed that I owned on this then exciting new home video format known as “Digital Video Disc.” So, what are we looking at this time around? Well, drawing inspiration from Aesop’s fable of The Grasshopper & The Ant as well as the Akira Kurosawa film Seven Samurai (which also served as the inspiration for The Magnificent Seven) A Bug’s Life tells the story of a hard-working colony of ants who find themselves oppressed and exploited by a gang of thuggish grasshoppers and their ruthless leader, Hopper. When well-meaning inventor and resident colony screw-up, Flik, accidentally ruins the annual tribute of food for the grasshoppers, Hopper tightens in his iron grip on the colony and demands the tribute be doubled, meaning the ants won’t have any food left for themselves. Having had enough of being under Hopper’s tyranny, Flik ventures beyond the colony in search of tough warrior bugs to help them fight off the Grasshoppers. However, when Flik ends up mistaking a bunch of circus performers for warrior bugs, Flik devises his own idea to fight off the grasshoppers and has the circus bugs pass it off as their idea to save face. That idea, build a giant robot bird out of sticks and leaves. Well, no one said this movie was grounded in realism. It’s a great story about. Working together and battling against oppression and I’m excited to get into it. Let’s dive right into, A Bugs Life.

Main Character:

Like I said, Flik is a well-meaning inventor who’s always trying to find ways to improve the colony. Given how Flik is perceived, one might think that he’s an incompetent inventor, but I honestly don’t think he is. It’s more that since Flik’s mentality often involves going against the grain and the ants are very much set in their ways, Flik is dismissed as a screw-up and his innovations, most of which we see really do work, are written off. Because of this, Flik, while still persistent and optimistic, has developed something of an inferiority complex over time. This, in my opinion, ties into the greater theme of the film but we’ll discuss that later. Flik may not realize it, but he actually brings out the best in those around him. He inspires the circus bugs to be more than what they are and regain a sense of self-worth and later does the same for Princess Atta and ultimately the entire colony. He’s a great character.

Villain:

Out of all the villains who ended up with a spot when I was putting together my often discussed Top 20 Disney Villains list, Hopper, voiced by Kevin Spacey in a rare instance of the voice actor being more evil than the actual villain, was the one I was least sure about at the time. Now, after having re-watched the film all these years later, I honestly believe that I should have ranked him way higher because Hopper is a seriously nasty bug. Hopper is a tyrant, plain and simple. He has been running an oppressive protection racket on the ants for who god only knows how long loves to make others feel inferior and keep them under his heel. And this isn’t some misplaced belief in his own superiority but rather, a survival tactic on Hopper’s part. See, Hopper isn’t stupid, he knows if the ants ever rise against him and his grasshoppers, they’d be overwhelmed by their sheer numbers, so, he takes every opportunity to convince the ants that they are, in his own words, “mindless, soil shoveling losers put on this earth to serve us,” in order to make sure the ants stay in line, don’t question his authority and maintain what he sees as the circle of life. By the way, even if it wasn’t intentional, nice touch having the villain of this film twist one of the positive themes of a previous movie in one of his big villain speeches. Hopper’s game is that of intimidation. Any time Hopper enters a scene the mood changes. Normally, all Hopper needs is a menacing look and a cold-hearted stare from his one good eye to get someone to shrivel up in fear. However, for when he really needs to lay down the law, he calls on his top enforcer, a monstrous feral grasshopper named Thumper. When he gets really mad, he forces the ants to work until they collapse and even plans to murder the queen in cold blood just to remind the ants who’s in charge. However, intimidating and imposing as he is, Hopper’s power is only a façade that he perpetuates to maintain his position of power. Once the ants realize that they don’t need him he’s easily overwhelmed, hence his need for them to believe they’re worthless in the first place. Still, Hopper is one hell of an scart customer, especially to a certain nine year old who had nightmares about an elaborate movie poster in the local theater that featured him prominently, and he’s always stuck with me as one of the best of Disney’s worst.

Side Characters:

There is no way in hell I’m going to be able to discuss all the side players in this film in great detail since there seems to be enough to fill an entire anthill, so I’ll simply discuss the characters whom I find to be the most interesting. Something I also found quite interesting was that a lot of the cast seems to be filled with popular sitcom stars of the 90’s. We’ve already discussed Flik, who’s voiced by Dave Foley of News Radio fame, but we also have Julia Louis Dreyfus, Brad Garrett, John Ratzenberger, Bonnie Hunt, Richard Kind and my personal favorite David Hyde Pierce, who plays Slim the Stickbug. This isn’t a dig at the man by any means, I just couldn’t unhear Niles Crane. That doesn’t bother me because I love Niles Crane. I actually found Slim to be my favorite character. I love how he clearly wants to be a respected thespian but still makes the most of the clowning gig he’s been saddled with.

Fellow Clown to Slim is Francis, voiced by Dennis Leary. Francis is constantly irritated when others mistake him for a girl due to the fact that he’s a ladybug. As a result, in scenario very similar to the Johnny Cash song A Boy Named Sue, Francis has developed a bit of a nasty chip on his shoulder. What Francis learns overtime, particularly through his time with the young girls of the colony, is that there’s nothing wrong with being in touch with one’s feminine side.

Princess Dot, voiced by a very young Hayden Panettiere, is a really sweet character. Initially, she’s the only one who truly believes in Flik and helps give him the confidence to see things through to the end.

I want to give a brief shoutout to the minor character of Dr. Flora, just because she’s voiced by Edie McClurg, who you my recognize as the car rental agent who Steven Martin said fuck at a lot in Planes, Trains and Automobiles. That’s not really important, but I really wanted you guys to know that.

Finally, we should probably discuss Princess Atta. Though, Atta is Flik’s harshest critic, she actually learns overtime that she and Flik are very much alike. See, as heir to the throne, soon to take over for her aging mother, the Atta feels pressure from all around and people are almost expecting her to screw up, which is sort of how she’s been treating Flik this whole time. I actually really like how this revelation brings them closer together.

So, normally we talk about songs here, but the thing is, the majority of Pixar films tend not to be musicals like their Disney siblings. So, unless there's a song sequence worth discussing, we'll be skipping this section for Deep Dive Pixar going forward, so let's move on.

Memorable Scenes:

My favorite scene actually comes right before the climax. Flik’s cockamamie bird idea actually works for a little while until someone lights it on fire, revealing it as a fake. Hopper is pissed that the Ants would have the gall to do something like this to him and starts threatening the Princess. Flik stands up to him and for his troubles, Hopper has Thumper beat the living shit out of him. It’s pretty brutal actually as we see Flik all bruised up and even sporting a black eye. When Flik looks to be down for the count, Hopper gives a speech about how ants should only exist to serve grasshoppers, but Flik gets back up and gives a speech of his own. Flik reminds Hopper of the amazing things that the ants are capable of, asserting that it’s the grasshoppers who need the ants, not the other way around. Flik’s last line is especially telling. “We’re a lot stronger than you say we are, and you know that, don’t you?” With that revelation, Hopper’s stranglehold over the ants vanishes as Hopper’s greatest fear comes to pass. Flik’s speech has rallied the colony to stand together against the grasshoppers and Hopper knows it’s over. This of course reads into a great and action-packed climax but it’s this scene that has stuck with me as the best in the film.

Story:

As I see it, the theme of A Bug’s Life is one that we could really use in the real world today. If we build each other up rather than tear each other down then together we can accomplish great things. As I said, the ants remind Flik that he’s a screw-up every chance they get, so much so that even he starts to believe it. However, here’s the thing. Flik is way smarter than he’s given credit for. All of his inventions are shown to work in spite of his own occasional clumsiness and his ideas, such as searching for the warriors and building the bird are all really good ones. However, after being told he’s a loser so often, it beats him down and eventually causes him to give up. What the Ants don’t realize is that Hopper had been doing the exact same thing to them on a much larger scale, remind the ants that they’re “worthless” to quell any sort of rebellion against his tyranny. However, when Flik rallies the ants, they’re able to rise up and overwhelm their oppressors. As I said in the Lion King II, we live in a world full of hate, but I know that we as human beings have just as much potential as the ants if we choose to stand together instead of apart.

The Dark Disney Factor:

Well, when you’re the size of an ant, the entire world around you is a nightmare. A simple rainstorm becomes like a thousand tidal waves falling from the sky. A falling leaf could be a death sentence. It is a horrifying world for a bug and the movie does a good job of showing it. There’s also this weird scene where Flik actually asks one of the bugs to squish his head so the others won’t know he screwed up. It’s played for laughs, but I honestly thought it was pretty dark. Finally, there’s the way in which Hopper meets his ultimate demise, being fed to a baby bird. Not only is this horrific played as such, there’s also the idea that baby birds don’t chew their food so it is a very real possibility that Hopper was fully conscious as he was slowly and agonizingly digested. I’d say this is one of the darkest Disney Villain deaths, but honestly, we have Tarzan coming up and we all know what happens in that movie.

Final Thoughts: This movie is awesome and brought back a lot of great memories. The fact that it's gotten lost in the shuffle of Pixar's pantheon is nothing short of a tragedy since this film has a compelling story, stunning and creative visuals, likable characters, a truly sinister villain and a message that still rings true today. I think this one is worth a second look if you ask me. Next time, Deep Dive Disney will tackle the final film in the Disney Renaissance when we look at Tarzan.