 A Bug's Life (1998) Their tone of indignant pride and self-gratifying superiority belies the simple truth of the matter, regardless of which film wins the all-important box-office war: Antz is a good film; A Bug's Life is a complete piece of crap. I shouldn't say complete, since the star attraction, and the real reason anyone over the age of six who hasn't yet birthed a litter of screaming Disneybots would bother with this film, is the computer animation itself –and the visual work, as with Antz, is breathtaking and surreal. Sadly, the film suffers in all other respects, those crazy hazy things called story and character. I'll be the first to admit I was suckered completely by the previews, and was very much looking forward to some feel-good Disneyana with lots of stupid humor, etc. But A Bug's Life is so childish, is so obviously pandering to the youngest members of the audience (who admittedly deserve good entertainment, and look no further than Sesame Street to see that even kiddie-tainment can have intelligence and wit), it seems insulting to toddlers. Put simply, cuz there ain't any other way to put it, the ant colony toils all year and gathers the food, and then the evil overlord grasshoppers come and take it. No problem there. Enter Flik (Dave Foley), the omnipresent Disney outsider with "ideas," who manages to f-up this year's harvest. The grasshoppers, led by the brilliantly-named Hopper (Kevin Spacey), demand a double harvest in a few weeks' time "or else," and the ants get to it. But Flik has ideas, see, and suggests getting help from other, larger bugs to fight off the grasshoppers once and for all. Assuming it's a wild goose chase, and wanting to get rid of the irksome ant, Princess Atta (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss) sends him packing. Flik finds a troupe of circus entertainer bugs he mistakes for great warriors, etc., etc., etc. Since I already saw the same Davey and Goliath plot done thrice as smartly just a few weeks ago, it was a crushing bore. How many times can Disney spoon out the same tired formula, sprinkle in a few cutesy stuffed-animals-to-be, and plop the whole mess on our collective plate like month-old monkey shit before we all move on to another section of the buffet in hopes of something better? Probably the saddest part is that, most parents looking for reasonably safe movies for their young children have no other choice – Antz and Babe: Pig in the City are both PG. Remember when pretty much everything was rated G? (I don't either, but I did hear about it once.) The point is that it is possible to make interesting films for children that adults won't be embarrassed to watch, or chagrined that their children are being systematically dumbed-down by a corporation that is more concerned with profiteering than imagineering. The original Babe is a perfect example, as is the loony classic Willy Wonka or several dozen other good to great G-rated films (the best of which, sadly, were made long before the current era). A Bug's Life doesn't even bother taking the low road – that would take effort – instead they recycle a lot of boring old characters or invent new kinds of boring characters. If there wasn't a "name" associated with the "script," I'd have to assume the computer came up with the story as well. Of course, anyone, man or machine, can invent a pseudonym – as proven in the classic tale of the wag who allegedly circulated Casablanca under a fake name and title, only to see it rejected by everyone in Hollywood (which doesn't really say anything about the supposed greatness Casablanca or the supposed stupidity of Hollywood). These problems are only compounded by the bargain-bin cast, consisting mostly of second-rate television "stars" who are entertaining in their home medium, but are insufferable as animated voices. Dave Foley is about as bland as humanly possible in his "starring" role as Flik; it is humiliating to think that the guy who once wrote and performed for The Kids in the Hall is reduced to this pathetic burlesque. Equally so for Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, who is completely unrecognizable (I had no idea who the voice was until the credits), and almost as annoying as the final season of Seinfeld. David Hyde-Pierce is workable in a supporting role, but every time he over-enunciates or acts prissy it's hard not to think of Kelsey Grammar's superior brilliance on "The Simpsons." And any film in which the old guard is represented by Phyllis Diller – who's not even worth making fun of anymore – drops even further down the crap scale (or would it rise on the crap scale?). The best and funniest part of the film comes after it's over, during the end credits. If they had shown half as much humor and ingenuity in these few minutes as they didn't during the rest of the film, you might be reading the tail end of an entirely different kind of review.
Review by Crimedog |