A Bug's Life

The Basic Plot in the Form of a Haiku:

My Basic Ramblings: Today is a significant day here at Three Faces of Whitney. "Why?" I can imagine you asking.

Well, as we all know, seasons change. Time passes. Styles and fads jump into existence and fade just as quickly. We all grow older and our passions ebb and flow.

What does this have to do with anything? Well, the mantle must be passed. The old must step down and the new must be welcomed with open arms.

And, thusly, Harrison Ford graciously steps down from the #1 spot on my List O'Crushes and is replaced by Kevin Spacey.

How did I determine this? Well, I had little to no interest in seeing Six Days, Seven Nights, yet I dragged my entire family to see A Bug's Life simply because Kevin Spacey played the voice of Hopper. His face didn't appear in the entire film, and yet I felt compelled, drawn to the movie. Sigh.... (I have to go watch L.A. Confidential a few thousand times now.)

Anyway, A Bug's Life is the latest film from Pixar, part of the corporate conglomerate known as Disney. Do you think Walt realized, when he drew that little mouse in Steamboat Willie that it would blow up into what it's blown up into? (Speaking of Walt Disney, my Dad has his autograph. Wahoo.) Everything's part of Disney these days. Miramax, ABC, and lots of other stuff. Eventually, the world will be owned by Disney and Microsoft, and Chris's head will explode. (He's very very happy that I got an iMac.)

My dad was quite bummed when he learned he was going to see a G-rated film. (it was Mom, Dad, me and Erin - Chris and Chuck didn't want to go.) When he paid for the tickets, the cashier asked him if any of the tickets were for children. "Yeah," I can imagine him saying. "I'm taking my 25 and 28 year old children to see A Bug's Life." Probably would've still had to pay full price.

It was a surprisingly child-free screening, though it might have been because it was 6:30 at night and past most children's bedtimes. We saw a bunch of previews (all for Disney flicks; so much for seeing The Trailer. My mother asked "What's 'The Trailer'?" I think she's one of the only people left in the US who hasn't seen any of the Star Wars movies.)

Then, it was time for the movie.

It was cute, but could've used more Kevin Spacey. (But then again, every movie could use more Kevin Spacey. Don't get me started about how much better Titanic would've been...) I was going to say that the plot was a little thin, but I have to remember I was not the target audience for this movie. The target audience for this movie was probably about twenty years younger than I. We spent most of the movie whispering back and forth "Whose voice is that?", "Is that....", "Where do I know that $%*@$ voice from?" (well, maybe not the last one).

There's lots of Girl Power in the movie too, as Princess Dot and her cute little Blueberry Troup help save the day from Evil Hopper. Kind of a change from the early Disney movies, where all the women did was sing and scream and hope to be rescued. Yay Dot. (Though it's kind of hard to tell the gender of an animated ant just by looking at it.)

The best part of the movie is the end credits. They animated the outtakes from the vocal tracks, so it looks like the bugs themselves are screwing up the lines. I knew about this from various reviews, and when people started to leave the theater right after the film proper ended, I wanted to say "Wait! Come back! There's cool stuff coming!" But I didn't, and the people left. Their loss.

So this was a good, cute movie, and it made lots of money this weekend, so I will (hopefully) do well in the Mr. Showbiz Holiday Box Office Challenge.

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