A Bug's Life

A Bug's Life
Animated film logo
Directed by	John Lasseter
Screenplay by	Andrew Stanton Donald McEnery Bob Shaw
Story by	John Lasseter Andrew Stanton Joe Ranft
Produced by	Darla K. Anderson Kevin Reher
Starring	Dave Foley Kevin Spacey Julia Louis-Dreyfus Hayden Panettiere Denis Leary Joe Ranft David Hyde Pierce Joe Alaskey Madeline Kahn Bonnie Hunt Mike McShane John Ratzenberger Brad Garrett
Cinematography	Sharon Calahan
Edited by	Lee Unkrich
Music by	Randy Newman
Production companies	Walt Disney Pictures Pixar Animation Studios
Distributed by	Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Release dates	November 14, 1998 (1998-11-14) (Hollywood) November 15, 1998 (1998-11-15) (United States)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$45 million
Box office	$363.3 million

A Bug's Life is a 1998 movie made by Pixar. It follows the conflict between ants and grasshoppers in the world of insects. It is a retelling of a fable by Aesop, The Ant and the Grasshopper.

Plot

Flik is an individualist and aspiring inventor in a colony of ants living on a small island in the middle of a stream. Flik is different and always causes trouble with his inventions. The colony is constantly oppressed by a band of grasshoppers who arrive each season demanding food from the colony. However, when the ants were preparing a food offering, it is accidentally hit by Flik's latest invention, a harvester device. Hopper, having become aware of what had happened, demands double the food ration for the next season. The ants are willing to punish Flik for the accident, but he thinks that other insects in the "big city" should be asked for help. The colony sees this as a good option to get rid of Flik while paying off Hopper's debt, so they allow him to go.

Flik finds his way to the "big city" (which is actually a garbage dump), where he becomes confused when he sees a group of circus bugs who were previously fired due to an act that went wrong and nearly killed the ringmaster P.T. Flea the circus bugs manage to defeat some flies, so Flik thinks they are the warrior bugs he was looking for, and the bugs believe him to be a talent scout and agree to go with him to the island.

Once on the island, the bugs are horrified to learn that they will actually have to fight the grasshopper gang to the death, and reveal to Flik that they are actually circus bugs and blame him for not telling them the truth, so they leave the island, but just as they are about to leave, a bird arrives with the intention of eating the bugs. With Flik's help, the bugs manage to save the queen's daughter, Dot, from being eaten by said bird and earn the respect of the ants in the colony. Flik tells the bugs to continue pretending to be warriors in exchange for enjoying the ants' hospitality. Also, the bird's attack inspires Flik to build a fake bird to scare Hopper, Molt, Thumper and company, who carry a fear of birds, in order to scare them away and so the ants will not find out about Flik's mistake. While the Fake Bird was being built, the grasshopper group was living happily in the desert with plenty of food for the winter, but Hopper, very seriously, tells them that the ants greatly outnumber them and then they worry that the ants will one day revolt against them, so they decide to return to keep them at bay. Finally, the circus ringmaster, P.T., arrives looking for the circus bugs as they were celebrating having built the bird. He tells his circus bugs that the act that went wrong ended up being a hit with the public and hires them back, at the same time revealing to the entire ant colony that they are actually circus bugs. The ants are shocked by Flik's deception, believing that he did it on purpose, so Princess Atta banishes him and the bugs from the island.

The next day, the ants desperately try to gather enough food to meet Hopper's demand, but are unable to complete the task due to the onset of winter. Very abruptly, Hopper, Thumper, Molt and the others arrive on the island, and upon seeing the meager offering of food, they begin to take over the island and eat every last grain available. And on top of all of the above, they decide to secretly kill the queen. Just as he is about to do so, the queen's little daughter, Dot, manages to find out about his evil plan, so she goes out to find Flik and convinces him to return and develop a plan to save the queen. Flik and the bugs use the fake bird to scare away Hopper and his minions. The plan almost works, but P.T. Flea believes it was a real bird and incinerates it. The bird is destroyed and Flik is discovered. Hopper orders Thumper to attack Flik, ​​and then begins to scare the ants by claiming that they are losers and that they came to Earth to serve them, but Flik, ​​in an act of bravery and courage, stands up and claims that the ants have accomplished things that the grasshoppers will never be able to do and of his fear and dependence on the ants, due to their sheer numbers (and that he is aware of this). Flik is nearly killed by Hopper, but Princess Atta intervenes and defends him to the latter. Flik's words manage to inspire the rest of the colony to rebel against the grasshoppers and fight them back. In the midst of chaos and rain, Hopper kidnaps Flik to take him to the other grasshoppers and kill him, the circus bugs and Atta chase Hopper, the latter saves Flik and then Flik tells her to go in the direction of a bird's nest to set a trap for Hopper, after hiding Atta in a rock, Flik confronts Hopper again, and he begins to choke him, telling him that he will return next season with more grasshoppers, and that Flik will no longer be around to tell the tale and then a bird appears, who at first Hopper thinks is another fake bird, but then realizes that it is real (It is the same one that had tried to eat the circus bugs and Dot). Then, Hopper tries to fly to escape, but it is too late, the bird grabs him with its beak and takes him to its nest where its hungry chicks are, Atta goes for Flik and takes him to the rock to hide from the bird, while they watch in horror, how the bird's chicks eat Hopper alive.

The next day, Flik is welcomed back, and the circus bugs join in the celebration. Everyone now respects Flik and treats him very well for his excellent feat, and he is also chosen by Princess Atta as her partner. The queen gives Atta her crown and she becomes queen of the colony, at the same time when the latter throws her princess crown to Dot. After this, the circus bugs begin to leave the island, saying goodbye to the colony and Flik, ​​but almost forgetting about Heimlich, who was finally turning into a butterfly. The movie ends with Flik, ​​Atta and Dot saying goodbye to the circus bugs as wheat bursts like fireworks.

Voice cast

• Dave Foley as Flik, a brave but accident-prone inventor ant wanting to make a difference.
• Kevin Spacey as Hopper, the leader of the grasshopper gang oppressing the ants.
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Princess Atta, the nervous queen-in-training of the ant colony and Flik's love interest.
• Hayden Panettiere as Dot, Atta's younger sister and Flik's friend.
• Denis Leary as Francis, a hot-tempered male ladybug clown in the circus, who is frequently mistaken for a female.
• Joe Ranft as Heimlich, a large, gluttonous caterpillar with a German accent in who desires to be a butterfly.
• David Hyde Pierce as Slim, a walking stick clown often use as a stand-in for stick-like props in the circus.
• Joe Alaskey as Manny, an elderly praying mantis magician with an English accent in the circus.
• Madeline Kahn as Gypsy, a colorful gypsy moth who is Manny's wife and assistant in the circus.
• Bonnie Hunt as Rosie, a black widow spider and Dim's "tamer" in the circus.
• Michael McShane as Tuck and Roll, two twin acrobat pillbug brothers from Hungary and act as cannonballs in the circus.
• John Ratzenberger as P.T. Flea, the ringmaster of the circus troupe.
• Brad Garrett as Dim, a rhinoceros beetle that plays the "ferocious beast" in the circus.
• Richard Kind as Molt, Hopper's dimwitted younger brother.
• Phyllis Diller as The Queen, an elderly ant who is Atta and Dot's mother.
• Roddy McDowall as Mr. Soil, the ant colony's resident thespian.
• Edie McClurg as Dr. Flora, the ant colony's doctor.
• Alex Rocco as Thorny, a small, deep-voiced ant and Atta's grouchy assistant
• David Ossman as Cornelius, a very old ant with a walking stick.
• Rodger Bumpass as Harry Mosquito
• Ashley Tisdale as the leader of the Blueberry Scouts, a troop of ant children that Dot belongs to.
• Jan Rabson and Carlos Alazraqui as Axle and Loco, a duo of grasshoppers from Hopper's gang.

Soundtrack

1. Roll to Me by Del Amitri
2. Basket Case by Green Day
3. Loser by Beck
4. Love in an Elevator by Aerosmith
5. Baba O'Riley by The Who
6. I Want It That Way by Backstreet Boys
7. La Cucaracha by Santana
8. Hey World! by Ziggy Marley
9. Blister by Jimmy Eat World
10. Born to Be Wild by Bruce Springsteen
11. The Time of Your Life by Lionel Richie

Home media

This released on VHS and LaserDisc on April 4, 1999.

Production

A Bug's Life was first considered in 1988, as a short movie to be based on Aesop's fable, but it was delayed by Toy Story. Almost a year after its release, Disney made an agreement with Pixar to make movies together. John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Doctor, and Joe Ranft brought up the project idea, A Bug's Life in late 1994. The ideas for Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo and WALL-E were also brought up and the three decided to have the grasshoppers demand food instead of begging for it, as it is in the fable. Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai helped influence the project. A basic story treatment was completed in 1995, and production began soon after. The movie had many technical challenges. One of the biggest technical triumphs was the simulation of crowds of ants. It would be impossible for an animator to animate every single ant in a crowd of thousands. So the technical supervisors came up with a computer program that would make every single ant in the crowd different in small ways; for example, different eye color, skin color, weight, or height. They would also build several ants that could be animated. When randomly distributed through the crowds, these ants appear to be blinking, talking, or looking in different directions.

Awards

Award nominations and wins for A Bug's Life

Year	Category	Institution or publication	Result	Notes	Ref.
1999	Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score	Academy Awards	Nominated
2000	Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects	British Academy Film Awards	Nominated
1999	Best Fantasy Film	Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films	Nominated	SA Website does not go back that far and is not in archives either
1999	Outstanding Individual Achievement for Production Design in an Animated Feature Production Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature Production Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Theatrical Feature Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Feature Production	Annie Awards	Nominated
1999	Favorite Animated Family Movie	Blockbuster Entertainment Awards	Won	IMDb is the only reference as Blockbusterawards no longer exists, and no archives prior to 2006.
1999	Bogey Award in Silver	Bogey Awards	Won	IMDb is the only reference, I was able to find mention of it in German, but I do not understand the site and how it is laid out
1999	Best Animated Feature Best Family Film	Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards	Won	Tied with The Prince of Egypt for Best Animated Film
1998	Best Animation	Los Angeles Film Critics Association	Won
1998	Best Musical or Comedy Score - Randy Newman	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences	Nominated
1999	Animated Voice-Over Casting - Ruth Lambert	Casting Society of America - Artios Award	Won
1999	Best Original Score — Randy Newman	Chicago Film Critics Association Awards	Nominated
1998	Special Notice to 1998 animation features	Florida Film Critics Circle	Won
1999	Best Score Motion Picture - Randy Newman	Golden Globe Awards	Nominated

Other websites

• A Bug's Life on IMDb
• A Bug's Life at AllMovie