A Bug's Life

1998 Comedy

John Lasseter, director of Pixar's movie phenomenon Toy Story, has set new standards in computer animation with this effort, another Disney-released children's epic entitled A Bug's Life. Blending classic Disney storytelling characters and the mysterious underground world of bugs, Lasseter has created a film that can be enjoyed by all audiences, and another franchise in the process. A Bug's Life is a computerized retelling of the Aesop fable The Ant and the Grasshopper, made as a cartoon-short by the one-and-only, Walt Disney, in the mid-'30s. However, A Bug's Life has modernized the story with many new twists and celebrity voices. The story focuses on a colony of ants who seasonally gather food for themselves and a wild gang of rowdy grasshoppers. When bumbling worker ant Flik (David Foley) destroys the food supply, the angry grasshoppers, lead by the maniacally warped Hopper (Kevin Spacey), threaten to kill the ants if they don't produce a new supply of food by the time they return -- an impossible feat. Flik leaves the anthill in search of help in the form of bigger bugs, and to wage war against the grasshoppers. What he doesn't know is he has actually discovered a group of down-on-their-luck traveling circus insects in need of a job. When the ants realize that their heroes are really circus performers (and the circus bugs realize these grasshoppers are really big and mean), the situation goes from bad to worse. Ultimately, the ants use their large numbers to overcome the grasshoppers. more..

Director: John Lasseter

Starring: Dave Foley,Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Hayden Panettiere, Phyllis Diller

Reviews

  • One of the great movies -- a triumph of storytelling and character development, and a whole new ballgame for computer animation. Pixar Animation Studios has raised the genre to an astonishing new level.

    Peter Stack - The San Francisco Chronicle

    29 November 2012

  • Makes jaunty, imaginative use of both extraordinary technology and bold storytelling possibilities within the insect world.

    Elvis Mitchell - The New York Times

    29 November 2012

  • What A Bug's Life demonstrates is that when it comes to bugs, the most fun ones to hang out with hang exclusively with the gang at Pixar.

    Kenneth Turan - Los Angeles Times

    29 November 2012

  • The story, about an ant colony that frees itself from slavery to grasshoppers, is similar in some ways to the autumn's other big animated release, "Antz," but it's aimed at a broader audience and lacks the in-jokes.

    Roger Ebert - The Chicago Sun-Times

    29 November 2012

  • So obsessed with wowing you, in every corner of every frame, that as a movie it doesn't quite breathe.

    Owen Gleiberman - Entertainment Weekly

    29 November 2012

Awards

  • Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score

    Academy Awards (1999)

     
  • Best Fantasy Film

    Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (1999)

     
  • Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Theatrical Feature

    Annie Awards (1999)

     
  • Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects

    BAFTA Awards (2000)

     
  • Favorite Animated Famliy Movie

    Blockbuster Entertainment Awards (1999)