Let's Review: A Bug's Life
Okay. Let's see if I can do this without sounding like a bitter tantrum-throwing manchild.
As a kid, I loved bugs. I loved reading about them, watching them, and lamented that there wasn't much movies about them. So when they showed the little teaser of "A Bug's Life" in theaters, I became ecstatic. I was convinced that this was going to be the best damn movie in the entire world. A year and a half is a long time for a kid to wait, and "A Bug's Life" was all I ever thought about. Before a showing of "Sleeping Beauty" on TV, there was a "Making of 'A Bug's Life'" short, which my parents recorded for me, and I gobbled it up like a flock of seagulls at a McDonald's. Finally, the big day came. I wanted to be there the very first day with the best seat possible. Stoked, psyched, excited, any positive adjective you could think of.
After the credits rolled, I was in tears. I had never been so let-down, betrayed, and disappointed by a movie in my entire life.
As one would expect, I was and am a complete oddball. Many ideas that made perfect sense to me flew over the heads of my peers. No matter how hard I tried to explain or prove myself, kids didn't care and ignored me, sometimes even laughed when they were sure I wasn't paying attention. Go figure, my heart went out to Flik, the smart and creative weirdo that the ants wanted gone. It was uncomfortable watching him make mistakes that would cost him all respect and trust (it wasn't like he hired circus bugs on purpose) and I crossed my fingers in hopes that something good would finally happen to him, that he wouldn't be rejected... then he was.
When Atta told Flik that he "must leave the colony and never come back," I felt that she was also speaking directly to me. I didn't belong in their world and I never will. At least that was the impression I think my kid self got. I sobbed endlessly in my Dad's office, and the biggest hatred for Atta and the ant colony (minus Dot and the Queen, 'cause nobody can hate Phyllis Diller) festered in my little broken heart. I filled notebooks with torture methods and punishments, including the ants getting beaten up by Zelda "Ocarina of Time" bosses. I started stepping on ants IRL and feeding them to spiderwebs, believing them to be part of the colony on Ant Island.
I didn't have to words to describe the scene of Flik's banishment, and similar scenarios showed up in other Disney movies, which made me leave the room and bawled my eyes out. I often called them "the blame" scenes, even making up a song about how much I hated them. But today, I've learned from the Nostalgia Critic exactly WHY that scene bugged me (no pun intended) so much... the "Liar Revealed."
So, the Liar Revealed trope works like this:
- Guy tells a lie, intentional or not.
- Guy keeps it secret as long as possible.
- Guy gets found out.
- Regardless of any progress made for the people, everybody automatically hates the Liar and banishes him forever.
- Guy angsts, then has epiphany that he has to go back.
- People immediately brush aside feelings of rancor and cheer for their new hero.
Remember kids, you can be a rapist or a murderer, but if you tell a single lie? Heaven help you, you sack of shit.
Also, some commenters for Doug's Disneycember review touched upon some issues better than I did:
"The "Liar revealed" moments can be clever if implemented properly or if they have any lasting effect on the story. But has become a cliche for heroes. I'll agree Doug, those moments just were never that fun, entertaining, or interesting. It is the moment in movies noone likes and some people skip over. It is a "feel bad" moment that is supposed to make the "feel good" moments to come seem better. But when it has become a predictable cliche and the effect of a low low to make the high seem better just doesn't seem to have the same effect anymore.
Unless the villain was revealed as the liar, and then he/she gets what is coming. That can be satisfying."
~
"I'm not much for the Liar Reveal either. I know that the idea they're trying to get across is that lying is bad and it's best to be honest, etc, but when they put it near the end where the protagonist has gone through character development and helped the townspeople and things are looking up for everyone, it just looks bad on the townspeople for kicking out the guy who's done so much for them, because reasons.
I'd just like to see one movie where they DO find out that the hero lied in the beginning, but then they stack it up against all the GOOD things he's done since then, and then just forgive him."
~
"The reason why I hate the Liar Revealed part in this particular film is because Princess Atta banishing Flik seems like the worst idea possible. I wouldn't mind, except Atta is supposed to have matured into a good leader. I mean, she can just banish him later, after they chase away the grasshoppers. But no, she kicks out the only chance they have for freedom and dooms her entire colony, simply because she was pissed off at her boyfriend."
brb wiping a happy tear from my eye.
But let's be a little more fair. What would happen if I've seen "A Bug's Life" without all the emotional childhood baggage? What would I think?
I'd probably see it as a "meh" film and wouldn't think much of it at all.
"Seven Samurai" with bugs would've been a friggin' awesome idea. If that had been executed better, I would've totally geeked over it. But the storytelling itself in "A Bug's Life" is pretty... bland. It feels like your basic safe Disney plot. As a kid, I thought the ant colony was a bunch of jerks I couldn't feel sympathetic for. Childhood grudge aside, they're just... there. They're your mildly unpleasant Average People Who Don't Believe in the Misfit Hero's Abilities TM, and they're just dull and forgettable and I feel no attachment to them. The closest I've cared for about the ants were the Queen (again, Phyllis Diller) and Dot. I liked her a little bit, though her side-plot (being too young to fly) isn't that interesting. More on her later. I like Flik and all (and I confess that I had a childhood crush on him) but let's face it. Johnny Depp as Ed Wood did the "Bizarre Inventive Optimistic Misfit" thing better. :P
I didn't think much about the Circus bugs either, though I guess I liked Francis and Slim was awesome. Slim is easily my favorite character in the movie. He had all the best lines and he appeals to my sense of humor best. XD ("I am the stick with EYEBALLS!") P.T. Flea was annoying and he kept fucking things up, so it was nice when he got his comeuppances (being set on fire, getting ambushed by the circus bugs. "Hey look! Money!"). Hopper was great and I wish I could've seen more of him and the grasshoppers (though Molt was only okay, but that's comic relief for ya). He was damn intimidating and he knew better than to underestimate Flik and the colony. Hell, you know the scene in the beginning where he was talking to Atta? ("Are you saying I'm stupid?" "No..." "Do I *look* stupid to you?") Someone on TV Tropes pointed out that the dialogue reads like an abusive boyfriend scaring his girlfriend, and holy shit, I can believe it. D: So yeah, less circus bug antics and ants groaning over Flik's mistakes, more evil grasshoppers plz.
Princess Atta was bland. I don't think she progressed much aside from finally standing up to Hopper. The romance between her and Flik was bland too. What was much more interesting was the friendship between Flik and Dot. Dot was the only one who believed in him, even going so far as to break him out of his BSOD. I dunno, if I was the writer, I would've aged Dot up and made her the love interest. Atta and Flik honestly don't seem to have much chemistry together, and Atta often feels nervous, uncomfortable, and frustrated around him. While both sisters aren't afraid to confront Flik, only Dot genuinely enjoys being in his company.
My favorite scene in the movie has to be when the Blueberries were performing the play in honor of the "warrior bugs." The gory "tribute" painting, the circus bugs watching in horror at the graphic performance, and finally Francis fainting at the end. Hysterical. XD
I like the world developed for the bugs. Ant Island was pretty and I liked the tribal glowy look inside the colony. I loved that the ants used seashell horns to alert everyone of important events. That is awesome.
I also liked Francis being a softie and making friends with the Blueberries. Aw.
But overall, the best part of the movie isn't actually part of the movie at all. The bloopers were superior to the story in each and every way. "Geri's Game", the animated short before the movie, also PWNS "A Bugs Life" the way the old chessplayer PWN'd himself. Watch that instead. :P
So yes. Whenever people complain about "Cars" and call it the first "sucky" or "mediocre" Pixar film, I shake my head and point them to "A Bug's Life." It's an okay movie and while I'd prefer it over the likes of trash like "Cool World" and "Shark Tale", it's ultimately forgettable. And looking at it through the lens of nostalgia? Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate.
Someday I'm gonna make my own ant story, and it'll take after real life biology and have the ant colony be a matriarchal society. Fuck yeah. 8)
This post has been crossposted with Dreamwidth at http://shamanicshaymin.dreamwidth.org/43740.html. Pick your poison. Mwoiiiiiiiing~!
As a kid, I loved bugs. I loved reading about them, watching them, and lamented that there wasn't much movies about them. So when they showed the little teaser of "A Bug's Life" in theaters, I became ecstatic. I was convinced that this was going to be the best damn movie in the entire world. A year and a half is a long time for a kid to wait, and "A Bug's Life" was all I ever thought about. Before a showing of "Sleeping Beauty" on TV, there was a "Making of 'A Bug's Life'" short, which my parents recorded for me, and I gobbled it up like a flock of seagulls at a McDonald's. Finally, the big day came. I wanted to be there the very first day with the best seat possible. Stoked, psyched, excited, any positive adjective you could think of.
After the credits rolled, I was in tears. I had never been so let-down, betrayed, and disappointed by a movie in my entire life.
As one would expect, I was and am a complete oddball. Many ideas that made perfect sense to me flew over the heads of my peers. No matter how hard I tried to explain or prove myself, kids didn't care and ignored me, sometimes even laughed when they were sure I wasn't paying attention. Go figure, my heart went out to Flik, the smart and creative weirdo that the ants wanted gone. It was uncomfortable watching him make mistakes that would cost him all respect and trust (it wasn't like he hired circus bugs on purpose) and I crossed my fingers in hopes that something good would finally happen to him, that he wouldn't be rejected... then he was.
When Atta told Flik that he "must leave the colony and never come back," I felt that she was also speaking directly to me. I didn't belong in their world and I never will. At least that was the impression I think my kid self got. I sobbed endlessly in my Dad's office, and the biggest hatred for Atta and the ant colony (minus Dot and the Queen, 'cause nobody can hate Phyllis Diller) festered in my little broken heart. I filled notebooks with torture methods and punishments, including the ants getting beaten up by Zelda "Ocarina of Time" bosses. I started stepping on ants IRL and feeding them to spiderwebs, believing them to be part of the colony on Ant Island.
I didn't have to words to describe the scene of Flik's banishment, and similar scenarios showed up in other Disney movies, which made me leave the room and bawled my eyes out. I often called them "the blame" scenes, even making up a song about how much I hated them. But today, I've learned from the Nostalgia Critic exactly WHY that scene bugged me (no pun intended) so much... the "Liar Revealed."
So, the Liar Revealed trope works like this:
- Guy tells a lie, intentional or not.
- Guy keeps it secret as long as possible.
- Guy gets found out.
- Regardless of any progress made for the people, everybody automatically hates the Liar and banishes him forever.
- Guy angsts, then has epiphany that he has to go back.
- People immediately brush aside feelings of rancor and cheer for their new hero.
Remember kids, you can be a rapist or a murderer, but if you tell a single lie? Heaven help you, you sack of shit.
Also, some commenters for Doug's Disneycember review touched upon some issues better than I did:
"The "Liar revealed" moments can be clever if implemented properly or if they have any lasting effect on the story. But has become a cliche for heroes. I'll agree Doug, those moments just were never that fun, entertaining, or interesting. It is the moment in movies noone likes and some people skip over. It is a "feel bad" moment that is supposed to make the "feel good" moments to come seem better. But when it has become a predictable cliche and the effect of a low low to make the high seem better just doesn't seem to have the same effect anymore.
Unless the villain was revealed as the liar, and then he/she gets what is coming. That can be satisfying."
~
"I'm not much for the Liar Reveal either. I know that the idea they're trying to get across is that lying is bad and it's best to be honest, etc, but when they put it near the end where the protagonist has gone through character development and helped the townspeople and things are looking up for everyone, it just looks bad on the townspeople for kicking out the guy who's done so much for them, because reasons.
I'd just like to see one movie where they DO find out that the hero lied in the beginning, but then they stack it up against all the GOOD things he's done since then, and then just forgive him."
~
"The reason why I hate the Liar Revealed part in this particular film is because Princess Atta banishing Flik seems like the worst idea possible. I wouldn't mind, except Atta is supposed to have matured into a good leader. I mean, she can just banish him later, after they chase away the grasshoppers. But no, she kicks out the only chance they have for freedom and dooms her entire colony, simply because she was pissed off at her boyfriend."
brb wiping a happy tear from my eye.
But let's be a little more fair. What would happen if I've seen "A Bug's Life" without all the emotional childhood baggage? What would I think?
I'd probably see it as a "meh" film and wouldn't think much of it at all.
"Seven Samurai" with bugs would've been a friggin' awesome idea. If that had been executed better, I would've totally geeked over it. But the storytelling itself in "A Bug's Life" is pretty... bland. It feels like your basic safe Disney plot. As a kid, I thought the ant colony was a bunch of jerks I couldn't feel sympathetic for. Childhood grudge aside, they're just... there. They're your mildly unpleasant Average People Who Don't Believe in the Misfit Hero's Abilities TM, and they're just dull and forgettable and I feel no attachment to them. The closest I've cared for about the ants were the Queen (again, Phyllis Diller) and Dot. I liked her a little bit, though her side-plot (being too young to fly) isn't that interesting. More on her later. I like Flik and all (and I confess that I had a childhood crush on him) but let's face it. Johnny Depp as Ed Wood did the "Bizarre Inventive Optimistic Misfit" thing better. :P
I didn't think much about the Circus bugs either, though I guess I liked Francis and Slim was awesome. Slim is easily my favorite character in the movie. He had all the best lines and he appeals to my sense of humor best. XD ("I am the stick with EYEBALLS!") P.T. Flea was annoying and he kept fucking things up, so it was nice when he got his comeuppances (being set on fire, getting ambushed by the circus bugs. "Hey look! Money!"). Hopper was great and I wish I could've seen more of him and the grasshoppers (though Molt was only okay, but that's comic relief for ya). He was damn intimidating and he knew better than to underestimate Flik and the colony. Hell, you know the scene in the beginning where he was talking to Atta? ("Are you saying I'm stupid?" "No..." "Do I *look* stupid to you?") Someone on TV Tropes pointed out that the dialogue reads like an abusive boyfriend scaring his girlfriend, and holy shit, I can believe it. D: So yeah, less circus bug antics and ants groaning over Flik's mistakes, more evil grasshoppers plz.
Princess Atta was bland. I don't think she progressed much aside from finally standing up to Hopper. The romance between her and Flik was bland too. What was much more interesting was the friendship between Flik and Dot. Dot was the only one who believed in him, even going so far as to break him out of his BSOD. I dunno, if I was the writer, I would've aged Dot up and made her the love interest. Atta and Flik honestly don't seem to have much chemistry together, and Atta often feels nervous, uncomfortable, and frustrated around him. While both sisters aren't afraid to confront Flik, only Dot genuinely enjoys being in his company.
My favorite scene in the movie has to be when the Blueberries were performing the play in honor of the "warrior bugs." The gory "tribute" painting, the circus bugs watching in horror at the graphic performance, and finally Francis fainting at the end. Hysterical. XD
I like the world developed for the bugs. Ant Island was pretty and I liked the tribal glowy look inside the colony. I loved that the ants used seashell horns to alert everyone of important events. That is awesome.
I also liked Francis being a softie and making friends with the Blueberries. Aw.
But overall, the best part of the movie isn't actually part of the movie at all. The bloopers were superior to the story in each and every way. "Geri's Game", the animated short before the movie, also PWNS "A Bugs Life" the way the old chessplayer PWN'd himself. Watch that instead. :P
So yes. Whenever people complain about "Cars" and call it the first "sucky" or "mediocre" Pixar film, I shake my head and point them to "A Bug's Life." It's an okay movie and while I'd prefer it over the likes of trash like "Cool World" and "Shark Tale", it's ultimately forgettable. And looking at it through the lens of nostalgia? Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate.
Someday I'm gonna make my own ant story, and it'll take after real life biology and have the ant colony be a matriarchal society. Fuck yeah. 8)
This post has been crossposted with Dreamwidth at http://shamanicshaymin.dreamwidth.org/43740.html. Pick your poison. Mwoiiiiiiiing~!