Review: A BUG'S LIFE
Voices: Dave Foley [Flik], Kevin Spacey [Hopper],
Julia Louis-Dreyfus [Princess Atta],
Phyllis Diller [Queen], David Hyde Pierce [Slim],
Joe Ramft [Heimlich], Madeline Kahn [Gypsy].
Jonathan Harris [Manny], Bonnie Hunt [Rosie],
John Ratzenberger [P.T.Flea], Brad Garrett [Dim],
Roddy McDowell
Review by: Joy Wyse
Disney Studios' latest full-length animation film is delightful. It tells the story of a colony of ants that work and slave to provide food for the dreaded grasshoppers that descend upon them each year and take their harvest. Then, after the grasshoppers have left, the ants can gather the remaining food for themselves. Unfortunately, as the grasshoppers arrive, their food is accidentally destroyed by Flick, a well-meaning but accident-prone ant.
Flik ventures off the `island' to look for other bugs who can help the ants defend themselves against the `hoppers' who have promised to return for their allotment.
He goes to the Big City where he finds a group of circus bugs, from a Flea Circus, who agree to go with him thinking that it is a booking to entertain the ants. The theatrical troupe is almost as inept as Flik, but somehow they manage to pull it all together.
When I was a child, there was a Disney comic book that featured the lives of the Bug family. This movie reminds me of it. They use the discards of human beings to furnish their homes. An animal cracker cookie box becomes the circus wagon. It's fun to watch for those treasures in the background.
There is humor for everyone. There are jokes aimed at children, and others aimed at the adults, but none of them are improper for the kids. It was wonderful to hear the children laughing out loud and then, to hear adults catching a clever double entendre.
Identifying the voices is a game unto itself. Some belong to old, familiar actors, others to total unknowns, and some in between. Most of us had to watch to see who they were.
Some of the cleverest footage comes at the end of the film as those credits roll by. There are some very enjoyable `out takes', even more so when you realize that there's no such thing as an animated `out take'.
I do want to see this again, probably with my grandchildren. I give it a solid B.
SEE YOU AT THE MOVIES.
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