Bugging Me

Anyone who reads here often knows I'm a pretty big fan of Pixar's films. But in talking about their films with a friend after seeing the studio's latest, Up, I realized that one had somehow slid through the cracks. I'd never actually seen A Bug's Life. So I bumped that up to the top of the list and decided to correct the oversight.

It's another piece of quality work from Pixar, but I'd have to put it on the lower end of their spectrum, just above my least favorite of theirs, the still mostly good Cars. It certainly looks fantastic, even after the advances in computer animation in the last 10 years.

But it doesn't quite have the heart of the truly touching films Pixar has made -- the aforementioned Up, Finding Nemo, Wall-E, or even Toy Story 2. It isn't quite as fun as Ratatouille, The Incredibles, or the first Toy Story. It has plenty of good moments, but they just don't seem as full as the studio's other releases.

Still, it does have one of the more impressive ensemble casts of any of the Pixar movies. Dave Foley strikes the right balance for an unlikely hero you want to root for. Kevin Spacey is a slick villain. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is the strongest dramatic presence in the cast, perhaps surprising if you just think of her for her clear comedic talent. Phyllis Diller, David Hyde Pierce, and Denis Leary are all well cast for moments of comic relief.

It's still a movie I'd rate a B and, overall, recommend. But if one Pixar film was to have slipped by me all this time, it probably wasn't so bad that it was this one.