Parent Movie Guide, Parental Site.com

	Film Title: A Bug's Life		Best for ages: 6 and up.

	Movie Website: Click Here	Year Released: 1998	Rated: G (US)

SYNOPSIS
Click Here A Bug's Life is the second film that Pixar animation studios has produced under it's label. The film was originally released in theaters in 1998 and has made it's way on to DVD a few times and is now being released for the first time on Blu-ray. A Bug's Life is about a young ant named Flik whom is sick and tired of working so hard every year just to give the colony's food to a army of mean grass hoppers whom threaten to destroy the ant colony if their demands are not meet. Flik, accidently drops the next offering of seeds to the grass hoppers in a river, and when the grass hoppers arrive, although angered, they give the ants a second chance. Flik, then goes out on a journey to find bugs that are willing and able to fight the grass hoppers. He comes across a traveling group of circus bugs, whom under a miscommunication with Flik return to the colony and the ants think they are there to help fight the grass hoppers. After the Miscommunication is all figured out, there is not much time left, as the grass hoppers are due to return. Will the circus bugs help Flik and the colony out? Or will the Grass Hoppers come and destroy the colony for not doing what is asked of them.
VIOLENCE/GRAPHIC CONTENT/language
There is a war in the film between all the bugs that are different and the grasshopper clan that seem to be the most powerful of all bugs in the movie, when Flik meets up with the circus bugs and they decide to to take their lives back from the grasshoppers. A war breaks outs, during the scenes leading up to the war and during it we see a lot of animated violence that might not be suitable for younger children to view. Things that happen in the movie include, Flik getting hit by a grasshopper a few times and is shown all bruised and beat up. Hopper the lead grass hopper in the movie beats on Flik a few times in the movie, in particular when Flik tries to fool him by pretending he's a bird. During this fight scene Hopper tries to end Flik like by choking him and trying to stomp on him. The other grass hoppers, when they invade the ants territory and fight with the other bugs, comes off as a scary approach, as we see the war begins and things get a little hairy. There is a scene where a bird chases the bugs that is also intense, but probably the best thing about the bird is that he does get his claws on Hopper and feeds him to it's babies. This of course implies that Hopper is eaten by the baby birds, which implied that he's dead, but Disney does sugar coat it a bit to not make graphic. While there is really no bad language in the film there is a scene which it is implied that some of the bugs are drinking alcoholic beverages, it's not really said that they are, as they call it bug drinks or something like that in the film, but one bug, a mosquito asks for a "Bloody Mary, O positive" and then passes out after drinking it fast. There is also a bunch of flies who yell at Francis, the male ladybug thinking he is in fact a lady. they make a pass at him, and he tells them he's a man.
OVERALL VIEWS
I can remember within a month of one another both A Bug's Life and Antz were released in theaters. I can remember many people being confused about the two films. But they made for healthy competition of the animated Bug films that year. Well in the long run A Bug's Life turned out to be the better film, winning a ton of awards and was even nominated for an Oscar for best music. I was in film school at the time and I remember people arguing over which film has the best animation. Personally I think A Bug's Life did have the better animation, and the better storyline. With Disney behind the story its always better to put your money on their films over the competition. A Bug's Life has some really good animation and features voices of some very well known talent which includes Dave Foley as Flik, Kevin Spacey as Hopper, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Atta, a young Hayden Panettiere as Dot, Dennis Leary as Francis the lady bug, Richard Kind as Molt, David Hyde Pierce as Slim and Phyllis Diller as the Queen. There are also addition voices for the characters which include talent such as Bonnie Hunt, Roddy McDowall and Lost in Space's Jonathan Harris. The Blu-Ray disc comes with a Digital copy of the film and includes features such as "A Bug's Life - The First Draft" an all new never before seen, original animation sequence from the original story treatment with an introduction from director John Lasseter. There is also a filmmakers round table where the creators of A Bug's Life reflect on the process of creating the animated movie. The Disc also includes Geri's Game - The Academy Award winning short animated film, Audio Commentary with the movies director. Behind the scenes of A Bug's Life, Outakes, and a feature titled "Walt Disney Silly Symphony: Grasshopper and the Ants" round out the rest of the disc. The Blu-Ray disc also comes with a free movie ticket to see the next PIxar feature "UP" which will hit theaters on May 29th, 2009. Overall, I recommend that A Bug's Life be a movie that parents test out and see if they want their younger children to see it. I think it's best suited for children ages six and up, although there are a few things that might be of concern, it's really a fun movie with a great storyline. My daughter is two years old and I know from experience that she does not like watching other animals fight one another so the fight scene may be too intense for young ones, no matter how animated and sugar coated they might come off as. A Bug's Life is a fun film, but it's best recommend for older children.
BUY THIS MOVIE.