A Bug’s Life opened on this day 25 years ago. It was the second film from Pixar Animation Studios, and following the blockbuster success of Toy Story, expectations for it were through the roof. Despite the stars of the movie being quite small, the marketing campaign was anything but, as you couldn’t get away from A Bug’s Life when it was new. It was absolutely everywhere! And yet A Bug’s Life, fairly or not, was viewed as a slight disappointment because it wasn’t as good as Toy Story and didn’t make nearly as much money, but hey, it still got overwhelmingly positive reviews and was a healthy box office hit (it also opened against The Rugrats Movie, which brought in millions, and Babe: Pig in the City, which…didn’t).
Is A Bug’s Life underrated? I dunno. You tell me. After a certain point, a film can only be called “underrated” so many times before it stops being just that, and for me, that’s kind of where A Bug’s Life stands in the grand scheme of things (then again, for my money, Antz is arguably the superior insect movie of 1998, but A Bug’s Life is obviously more accessible). It’s a perfectly solid Pixar outing, even if it’s doomed to remain the forgotten middle child of the studio. Call it The Incredible Hulk of Pixar movies.
Anyway, as I alluded to earlier, the film had a lot of merchandise, including an expanded action figure line that made all of the cute insects look a lot more badass than they were in the actual movie. Like, Flik’s whole thing was that he wasn’t very physically imposing, but these toys sell him as someone who is ready to kick some serious ass. This commercial is the only one I could find, and it tries to hide the fact that there were only two grasshopper figures you could get by having them get knocked over again and again and again (including Molt, who was like the least threatening character in the film! Also, I’m required by Avocado law to mention he was voiced by Richard Kind). As an aside, I had the hang glider Flik and Battle Bird (and got both of them before I even watched the film), but have a sad memory of returning the Ant Hill playset to the store. If I recall correctly, it was broken when I opened it. Wait, why does this still make me upset?
Have a great day, y’all! Also, I hope you like bugs, because you’re getting more of them in the night thread!