A Bug's Life (G, 1998)
common sense media says
Cute animated tale with some mild peril and scary bugs.
parents & educators say
- 44% say violence is an issue
- 31% say language is an issue
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that there’s lots of "good bug-bad bug" cartoon action and some images that could be scary to very young children who have not yet differentiated make believe violence from real violence, or to sensitive kids who are not comfortable with suspense or jeopardy. Scowling, threatening grasshoppers loom over and swarm toward a colony of vulnerable ants, the heroes of the story. The insects contend with fire, rain, predatory birds, as well as the power hungry grasshoppers. Older kids will enjoy the clever humor and the unique view of the insect world, as well as the interspecies conflicts.
Educational value:
A very elementary look at insects: each species has a purpose and a place in the circle of life. In this film, individual bugs are given personality, identity and purpose, which may help engender kids’ respect for nature.
Positive role models:
Family relationships are important and special even in the insect world. Mothers provide for and protect their offspring. Flick, the hero ant, is smart, caring, loyal, and so brave that he’s willing to sacrifice all for the sake of his colony. At first he faces ridicule and self-doubt, but ultimately he saves the day, and everyone learns to value and respect him. Other species rise above their fear and join the team in order to survive.
Violence & scariness:
In cartoon terms, there are scary, intimidating bugs and birds, as well as some jeopardy to the film’s heroes involving fire, rain, falls, and capture. A troop of grasshoppers led by the fierce Hopper threatens the ant queen’s life, bullies the ant colony, swarms menacingly several times, and captures key ant players. Birds, looking for food, are enemies to all the insect species and swoop down perilously close to those most vulnerable. Flick, the bravest ant of all, is set upon by lots of other characters. He’s hit, captured, and nearly killed. There are numerous clever, nail-biting rescues, and the chief baddie is the only fatality.
Sexy stuff:
Not applicable.
Language:
A few instances of "poo-poo," "butt," and "damn."
Consumerism:
Not applicable.
Drinking, drugs, & smoking:
Not applicable.
More on A Bug's Life
Review It
Based on 16 parent & educator reviews:
- 44% say violence is an issue
- 31% say language is an issue
Most useful reviews by all members
benjaminb
parent of 6 year old
parent of 6 year old
unworthwhile
The creators of this movie could have accomplished far more in making a worthwhile children's movie if they omitted all the unnecessary violence, humiliation, name calling, hostage taking of a child bug, reference to suicide, etc.. How removed these movie makers are from what childhood is about. Just another typical bad modern kid's movie.
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rockmonster
adult
adult
classic
great for kids, they'll love it! a classic pixar.
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Dr.Pepper
adult
adult
Plenty of frightening and intense scenes such as one where an ant gets beaten by a grasshopper. Other than that it's good stuff.
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Jessatay
teen, 15 years old
teen, 15 years old
After the success of Toy Story, they take another interesting chance, fantastic till the end.
A Bug's Life is the 2nd installment in the Pixar history. It is memorized for its ENTIRELY non-human cast. Though released after Antz, it was more successful in reviews and box office. This is actually the parody to The Ant and the Grasshopper, an Aesop fable. It is about a misfit ant recruiting for soldiers to wipe out greedy grasshoppers out of his colony, only though finding a circus troupe. With unique characters and places, with funny lines to keep the movie going on, it is incredible from start to finish.
Princess Atta: "You see Hopper, Nature has a certain order. The ants pick the food, the ants keep the food, and the grasshoppers leave!" is a very memerable quote in this movie, reflecting that the ants need to stand-up to themselves from the grasshoppers. John Lasseter, the director of this film, is known in Disney and Pixar for his story plots, animations, and more, and its no surprise this is one of his most memorable directing moments in history. It reminds me of Seven Samurai, with the plot almost the same. From watching Toy Story I knew this would be good, and boy was I right : ^ ).
There is a vast set of characters, from a caterpillar, spider, praying mantis, and grasshoppers, each with unique personalities. From the Las-Vegas style "city" to the ant hill, you can tell it took a lot of time to come up with these ideas. And definitely the funny lines help the movie go on strong with the plot. For a family-movie, this may be one of the most promising ones.
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Yangy
teen, 15 years old
teen, 15 years old
Not my favourite pixar movie, but good nevertheless. Good morals and good role models, another creative movie.
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kid, 12 years old
Astonishing! Pixar follows up 'Toy Story' with another HIT!
Parents should know that the grasshoppers can be quite scary for young, particularly one of them. There are also moments of peril, including getting chased by a bird. There is talk of "Sqishing" the queen ant. Aside from that, I highly reccomend this film to anyone and EVERYONE 6 and older.
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Astonishing! Pixar follows up 'Toy Story' with another HIT!
Parents should know that the grasshoppers can be quite scary for young, particularly one of them. There are also moments of peril, including getting chased by a bird. There is talk of "Sqishing" the queen ant. Aside from that, I highly reccomend this film to anyone and EVERYONE 6 and older.
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kid, 11 years old
Astonishing! Pixar follows up 'Toy Story' with another HIT!
Parents should know that the grasshoppers can be quite scary for young, particularly one of them. There are also moments of peril, including getting chased by a bird. There is talk of "Sqishing" the queen ant. Aside from that, I highly reccomend this film to anyone and EVERYONE 6 and older.
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Poison Ivey
teen, 17 years old
teen, 17 years old
it's good I'm 14 and I loved it
I watched it all the time when I was little. It was my favorite pixar movie and still is. It's kind of violent or scary though, I really think it should be PG. There is blood when there is a picture of the caterpillar cute in half and it made me wince. The queen says it's suicide to go away from the island and the bird catches on fire, and the grasshoppers can scare little kids. Thumper scared me a little when I was little, and I wasn't easily scared. But it's a really good movie, you cant miss it. It's good for adults, too, not just kids. You have to get past the fact that they're bugs and be open with it.
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zelita
parent of 6 year old
parent of 6 year old
would never 5-8 year olds see this
If you remove the little bug creatures, this movie becomes an adult movie, with all its ingredients of violence and language abuse. The gang mentality to squash or diminsh other groups; the beating up; the threatening. Replace Hoper and the little ant heroe during his beating by Hoper for human beings, try to imagine it as you hear the sounds, and then decide for yourself you if would ever want your young children to see this. When we start at such early age to expose our children to such level of aggression, we are actually working towards disensitizing them.
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4kidshater
teen, 14 years old
teen, 14 years old
the funniest movie of all time
This is a funny movie. this is a cool movie. It's fun. It's cool. I like it. I highly recommeded it
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wlcook
parent of 6 year old
parent of 6 year old
Suicide?!?!
If your child is curious about language, brace yourself to explain this line...
"Oh, because it's suicide" - Queen ( A Bug's Life)
Perhaps it's just me, but I don't think the word suicide should be in a child's vocabulary.
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dan4
adult
adult
Cute movie, some iffy language
We have a two daughters - a 5 year old and a 2 year old. Obviously there are certain words & phrases that we do not use in our house - two of them are "stupid" and "shut up", both of which were used quite a bit in this movie.
The movie is very cute - our girls loved it, but they, especially the 5 year old, caught every "bad" word and pointed them out to us each time they were mentioned. I probably wouldn't have let them watch this movie if I known ahead of time that these words would be used.
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Rey0399
kid, 12 years old
kid, 12 years old
hopper is maybe a little sadistic and make young kids and toddlers scary.But the positive messages is like
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movieman4
kid, 12 years old
kid, 12 years old
Violence (G): The evil grasshoppers may seem scary to little kids.
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HughHarper
adult
adult
Nothing bad
There is nothing that parents should find offensive in this movie other then the grasshoppers who might frighten young children.
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rebma97
teen, 14 years old
teen, 14 years old
Not the best Pixar movie, but okay
It was overall an okay movie. For a G rated movie there are some pretty intense scenes (just the violence) that may scare kids under 7.
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DonkeyKongGirl
kid, 13 years old
kid, 13 years old
My Rating: B
I have had this movie since I was 3! I loved it then and I love it now!
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perfectionist
teen, 15 years old
teen, 15 years old
it was an okay movie; a little overrated
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Jeusus-Christ ...
teen, 17 years old
teen, 17 years old
There are some scary bugs
I saw this movie in theaters when I was 4 and I had to leave the movie theater early because I was really scared of some bugs. Yes I was crying when I was scared. It was still a great film, sometimes the language isn't right for a rated G movie. Anyway it was really good actually when I saw it on Blue-ray. So now I like it. It's just that sometimes in a movie theater the movie has really loud sounds so if you see a scary movie, it gets even scarier.
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