Movie Review: 'A Bug's Life'

Pixar and Disney have turned in a second likely hit in a five-picture computer-animated deal, following 1996's "Toy Story."

But far from being the sophomore slump, "A Bug's Life" has more textures, sweeping landscapes and well-cast vocal talent.

Dave Foley ("News Radio," "Kids in the Hall") stars as Flik, an ant whose colony is under constant harassment from a band of grasshoppers led by Kevin Spacey's ("The Usual Suspects") Hopper. The movie is loosely based on the fable "The Ant and the Grasshopper." Flik is an ant who just does not want to accept his lot in the life, namely doing things the way ants have done them for ages. That, and the requisite screw-ups such a social deviant is bound to make in a Disney film, give the film its fire.

Flik, given permission to leave the colony to find a band of warrior bugs, brings back a downtrodden flea circus, complete with thespian-in-waiting David Hyde Pierce ("Fraiser"). Flik misunderstands the nature of the troupe after ladybug member Francis (voiced by Denis Leary) gets in a row with some dung beetles.

The film includes great one-liners, designed specifically for the adults who are attending the film with their kids, including a sign beside a destitute fly that reads, "Kids pulled my wings off."

The lines are applied to everyone, including Hopper. After crushing two subordinates to get the rest of his entourage to return to the movie's primary setting, Ant Island, his brother quips, "He's quite the motivational speaker, isn't he?"

While placed as a children's film with a PG rating, there is a good deal of sophisticated humor and scenery to keep parents or animation junkies entertained. The movie absolutely nails second grade drama productions, something younger viewers are not likely to catch. Don't count on seeing everything on the first viewing, either. Stay for the credits.

"A Bug's Life" follows "Toy Story" in terms of release time but the production values are better.

Compare this; Woody and Buzz Lightyear's residential adventure, used flat textures that used 25 processors per frame to render. "A Bug's Life" uses very few smooth textures, replaced by branches, dirt, grass and dandelions, much more difficult items to render. Pixar used 100 machines tied together to render each scene from the movie.

"A Bug's Life" is part of a renaissance in animated films. A late 1980s Don Bluth film this is not. Instead, what was started with "The Lion King," continued by "Anastasia" and "Mulan," is advanced by the second bug movie of the season. Disney has seen the writing on the wall. They are not the only studio putting out quality animated features any longer. Fox's "Anastasia" made that distinctly known.

But Disney, driven by Pixar, has shown it is up to the competition. No longer are animated features limited to static camera shots with infinite depth of field. Instead, Disney and Pixar took a large hint from "Anastasia," which used dolly style shots and selective focus to great effect.

"A Bug's Life" uses the standard cinemagraphic toolbox to great effect, often encouraging the audience to forget they are watching a computer-generated film.

"A Bug's Life" gets four out of five stars.