A Bug

’s Life: Entomological View Essay, Research Paper

A Bug’s Life: Movie Review

A Bug’s Life was a full-length computer animated movie released in 1998 by Pixar. The film dealt with an inside look at the lives of arthropods, specifically ants. The film was fictional with the insects each having their own personality along with voices and human hands.

The plot of A Bug’s Life surrounds its star who is Flik, an inventive ant whose antics always land him into trouble. Flik manages to foil his colony’s harvest by accidentally knocking it over a cliff. The harvest which was meant for a band of bullish grasshoppers is now gone and the grasshoppers aren’t pleased. Hopper the leader of the grasshopper gang orders the colony to double its efforts for the next season, which is almost impossible for them. Flik is sent away to recruit “warrior bugs” to combat the angry grasshoppers the next season. Unfortunately he finds his “warrior bugs” turn out to be cowardice circus performers.

The film has 11 main characters that include Flik, Atta, Queen, Rosie, Gypsy, Francis, Slim, Heimlich, Dim, and Hopper. Flik, Atta, and Queen are ants. They are represented almost human-like, having legs and arms as well as feet and hands. However they did have a pair of antennae. Ants have three pair

of legs, one pair of antennae, and don’t have feet or hands. Rosie is a black widow spider who has four pairs of legs and no antennae which make her anatomically correct. Gypsy is a butterfly who is represented as having only two pair of legs along with one pair of antennae. Again this insect is not anatomically correct because she should have three pair of legs. Francis is a male ladybug who is not anatomically correct. He has two pair of legs but he does have a pair of antennae. Slim, a walking stick is anatomically correct because he has three pair of legs along with a pair of antennae. Heimlich is a caterpillar with five pairs of legs and two antennae. This doesn’t make him anatomically correct because he needs at least one pair per segment of his body. Dim is a dung beetle that is represented with three pair of legs and rhino horn that makes him anatomically correct. Hopper is a grasshopper that is anatomically correct having three pairs of legs along with a pair of antennae.

The movie made the arthropods as human as they could by giving them eyes, hands, and feet. There were some insects that were anatomically correct but most were represented with only two pair of legs. Behaviorally the insects acted like humans. The ants were portrayed correctly in the way that they gathered food and made trails.