A Bug's Life (1998)
Today we return to CGI films, beginning with Pixar's A Bug's Life.
The Movie:
A Bug's Life is the 2nd movie from Pixar. Notably, the movie was caught in the feud between Disney and Dreamworks, as Jeffery Katenzberg, who had still been at Disney while A Bug's Life was still in production, pushed the movie Antz as the first CGI film from Dreamworks. Dreamworks even pushed the release date of Antz to before that of A Bug's Life, but A Bug's Life ended up crushing Antz at the box-office. The movie received positive reviews from critics and audiences.
A Bug's Life is an original story inspired by the Aesop fable of The Ant and the Grasshopper. A colony of ants led by the Queen and her daughter, Princess Atta, are preparing an offering of food for the grasshoppers. Flik, an inventive but awkward ant, tries to help by creating a device to harvest grain faster, but he inadvertently knocks the entire offering of food off their island. The grasshoppers, led by Hopper, arrive to no offering, and they threaten the ants with harm if the offering is not doubly replaced by the end of summer. Flik leaves the island to find help, and run's into a group of circus bugs. Flik, believing them to be warriors, recruits the circus bugs to come to ant island and help the ants.
A Bug's Life is a good movie. Though it is just the second Pixar movie, the animation still looks good today. The characters are likable and the voice acting well done. Dave Foley voices Flik, and his portrayal makes you really root for the guy. Kevin Spacey is appropriately menacing as Hopper, giving him the presence of a mob boss. Though it tends to be forgotten among the later Pixar films, A Bug's Life still holds it own.
Randy Newman provided the score for A Bug's Life, which was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe and won a Grammy. For a movie with such small characters, the main theme is very grand and sounds almost like something out of a western. Newman also sings one song, "The Time of Your Life," over the credits, and it is a typical Newman song, though I find it slightly annoying.
Presence in the Parks:
Most Disney parks have a central landmark, or "weenie," that serves as the park's icon and symbolizes the theme of the entire park. And if that landmark has an attraction in it, that attraction tends to be central to the theme of the park. The Magic Kingdom has Cinderella Castle. Epcot has Spaceship Earth. Hollywood Studios has the Chinese Theater (though not used as much as the icon, it is centrally located and ties the original theme of the park together). Meanwhile, Animal Kingdom has the Tree of Life. And inside the tree is a theater which houses the show It's Tough to Be a Bug!
Tree of Life, Animal Kingdom, April 1999
Tree of Life, Animal Kingdom, July 2000
Tree of Life, Animal Kingdom, July 2002
Tree of Life, Animal Kingdom, March 2007
Tree of Life, Animal Kingdom, March 2007
Tree of Life, Animal Kingdom, May 2015
The show was replicated in California Adventure when that park opened in 2001. There the show was located in the Bountiful Valley Farm area, which was part of the much larger Golden State section. In 2002, a collection of children's rides based on A Bug's Life called Flik's Fun Fair was opened next to It's Tough to Be a Bug, and the entire area, including Bountiful Valley Farm, was rebranded as A Bug's Land. Bountiful Valley Farm closed in 2010 and the area was used for A Car's Land, which opened in 2012. It's Tough to Be a Bug closed this past March, and the rest of A Bug's Land will close at the end of summer to make way for a Marvel-themed land.
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