Why is A Bug's Life so underrated?

Pixar's Feature Films A Bug's Life
#21

As for the discussion that considers ABL the

“worst” of Pixar’s films, if you’re constantly scoring 100’s, to score an 80 would make that your

worst score. It’s still an amazing score when everybody else is scoring 60s and below, but comparatively, it’s

your worst.

Phoenician: “Incredi-plosions” - I love that! That

could indeed be a reason why ABL isn’t thought of very much… nowadays, action equals explosions and killing

sprees, fast cars and fast music. ABL doesn’t have any of these. Like you said, ABL’s story is a very deep one,

talking about the most basic rights of man (or ant, in this case). Yes, it’s still funny, but it’s the story of

freedom vs. oppression on a kid’s scale. There’s even a chance (albeit a slight one) that the story could have

been over the heads of the little kiddies.

#22

When I think

about it more maybe it’s down to the fact it’s stuck in between Toy Story 1 and 2, so possibly people wouldn’t

even think A Bugs Life was by Pixar.

To make that clearer, they might think the list goes Toy Story 1, Toy

Story 2 Monsters Inc…

That would make more sense to some. But then it is still not a good enough

arguement for underating an amazing movie.

#23

[size=92]Hmm, that’s a good question.

I must say I agree with the people

who said it was because it came between Toy Story and its sequel. But I reckon it’s also because this movie came

out so long ago, and Pixar has built plenty of interest since then, thus giving more attention to their more

recent films.

In my opinion, A Bug’s Life was spectacular and unique - Pixar was the first to make an

animated feature about insects. [/size]:slight_smile:

#24

My belief is

Antz stole a bit of A Bug’s Life’s thunder and made

it pixar’s “bad” movie. If you look on the special edition dvd release, you’ll see all kinds of cool

technology going into the animation. So I don’t think the animation was the problem. Also, at least to me,

talking insects aren’t as cute as toys or fish. Not to say I thought it was bad, don’t get me wrong, just not

as… I don’t know… heartwarming I guess.

#25

A BUG’S LIFE is a 'really

good’ movie… (i don’t throw around ‘great’ willy nilly)

i openly admit it is not a ‘great’

movie–ya know, a ‘perfect’ one a la TOY STORY 2, which hands down, imho is Pixar’s masterpiece–but it is

superior to other Pixar efforts, namely last year’s CARS and yes, TOY STORY.

With all that it has to

offer it’s a wonder to me that it is not more revered. the ‘gang’ of bugs Flick encounters and brings back is

terrific! each member is entertaining in their own right, and as a group as well. Heimlick and Francis are my

personal faves.

the celebration for the ‘warrior bugs’ is priceless as well…

i could go on

the humour in this flick is top notched

from the failed circus act
to the ‘shoe fly’

showdown in the bar
to the rubdown scene under the sombrero
to the canasta scene
to Heimlick getting

his wings
and so on

the message is terrific

the moral of the story is
one needs to stand

up to evil (bullies)

and as for the money thing
i know it is the lowest ranking Pixar flick when it

comes to bucks BUT…

in 1998, the year of it’s release…
A BUG’S LIFE did very well

the

top flick that year was a little flick called SAVING PRIVATE RYAN

a BUG’S LIFE was 4th that year

beating out
such flicks as GODZILLA which opened on 137 million screens or something
RUSH HOUR

YOU’VE GOT MAIL
MASK OF ZORRO
LETHAL WEAPON 4
DOCTOR DOLITTLE
THE WATERBOY
THE PRINCE OF

EGYPT
WEDDING SINGER
X-FILES
ENEMY OF THE STATE
TRUMAN SHOW
MULAN
RUGRATS MOVIE

STEPMOM
CITY OF ANGELS
BLADE
ANTZ
and the movie of the year SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE

so i

think it did well in a ‘crowded’ year
–a situation Remy/RATATOUILLE find itself in this year

if

you haven’t seen it before
or even in a while
i strongly recommend taking in a viewing

#26

Ratzenberger No Onion:

Correct me if I am wrong, but haven’t you posted this same exact post before? It looks odly familiar.

#27

You have some very good points there,

Ratzenberger! :smiley:

#28

I think is a funny and nice movie, the render is good and the character are cool.
Is 95 times better than Antz, and the princess Atta (Bug Life) not is plenty of cliches like the classic conceited princess of Antz.

#29

I seriously support underrated films I mean Cars is my 1# movie and i’m proud to be a die hard fan forever and always. I love bugs life the message was great it was entertaining and overall a good movie not the best but good :slight_smile: I just wasn’t crazy about it,but I belive all pixar movies are classics.
please don’t kill me finding nemo fans but that movie I think is a bit overated sorry I still love it but to me it almost ties with bugs life maybe a little more for the heart. Just opinion I like that movie at the end with all the heart.

#30

Yeah, I also wondered why AB so underrated even by pxar itself. I Love ABL…

#31

I DO like the film. It’s superior to (I would say) any CG film made by any other animation studio. It’s just that if I were forced to rank them ABL would be near the bottom. I can appreciate the animation, the humor, and the parallels between their world and ours…but for some reason I just don’t find ABL as engaging as their other movies. I feel bad that I can’t really explain why, but I’ve always felt that it was lacking something.

Really the only thing I can come up with is that the movie had too many characters. There were so many characters that it almost seemed like there wasn’t enough time for the audience to really get attached to them. Sure some of them got some nice character development, but most of them are just kinda there. I am NOT trying to insult Pixar. Lord knows they are capable of making fun loveable characters…(I’m downright obsessed with some of their characters) I just think that there were too many characters in this particular film for them to conceivably develop each one in an interesting way.

I for one, can’t think of a character from ABL that I liked more than everyone else. I kind of feel like Slim (I’m a big David Hyde Pierce fan) would have been my favorite if he’d had more screen time, but honestly he wasn’t in the film enough for me to really “get to know” him.

It’s NOT a bad movie by any stretch of the imagination…it just doesn’t grab me like their other movies do. (I felt the same way about Cars…in the sense that there weren’t any characters that I particularly liked although I like ABL more than Cars)

#32

I don’t understand why A Bug’s Life is so underrated. It’s such a good movie. The story and the way they told that was pretty good and the characters are likeable. Besides this movie shows us to stand up against bullies and help each other. And, it’s a funny movie :slight_smile:

And for 1998, the graphics looks really good and the music is pretty nice. But I think the movie is not so popular because the main characters are bugs and bugs aren’t popular among people, especially among the girls. But that doesn’t hinder me to love this movie :smiley: I don’t care that all of them are bugs as long as the characters are likeable/loveable and the story is good.

A Bug’s Life might not be the best movie ever, but it’s not the worst. At least that’s what I think.

#33

I guess the majority of the Pixar fans have a tendency to like more of the later films cause Pixar just keeps getting better and better.

#34

So true, TSS. That’s why I can’t wait for WALL•E! :smiley:

#35

Me too, but this is ABL A113. :unamused:

#36

I think you can blame some of that underrating on DreamWorks Animation, Ltd. They quickly produced Antz right before A Bug’s Life came out, even though work on A Bug’s Life was started WAY before the first work on Antz. :angry:

#37

And ABL was so much better than Antz. I watched one, than the other and ABL was 10X better than Antz.

#38

Huh? :confused:

#39

Oops on my part. I meant ABL was so much better.

#40

YES!!!

(sorry, Brad Bird)