No way A Bug’s Life is Pixar’s worst film. It was the first Pixar movie I saw, and I don’t think it’s underrated, but when your one of the little brothers in Pixar’s 11 movie profile, I guess you can get a little overlooked from time to time. 
I never get why people don’t like A Bug’s Life either. If you ask me, it’s my 3rd favorite film! The story and characters are spectacular! 
It’s great. The kids have been watching it this morning for the gazillionth time! And I absolutely love Randy Newman’s music in this film.
Me to Deszo i love the film! and i think has one of the best soundtracks! 
It’s really overrated because it’s about bugs and people are ignorant and close-minded. Plain and simple.
I just watched ABL the other day, and I liked it a lot more than I remembered. I hadn’t watched it in forever, so I was impressed. However, just think that most of Pixar’s other movies are greater, so it sort of slips down to near the bottom of my list. Not to say it’s bad in any way.
Yeah, when I saw it this year, it was better than when I was little. Maybe I just…got it and related more this time around. It’s my second least favorite, but for Pixar, that means nothing. I love them all
I am just so impressed by this movie. It is easily the most important movie Pixar ever made, because it proved that they were a good and intelligent film studio that really could produce excellent films. Not only that, but I love how A Bug’s Life honors The Magnificent Seven and The Seven Samurai, two excelent films. All three are critical successes!
I quite like A Bug’s Life, so I’m a little annoyed that it desn’t get much attention. I can think of a few reasons why though-
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It was released at the same time as Antz, so some people assumed it was a rip-off, or ignored it because it looked like “kiddie fare” comapred to its rival. It’s probably also why A Bug’s Life made the least amount of money compared to other Pixar films.
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It was released between the two Toy Story films. Both of these films are highly regarded, and when people remember one they are likely to remember the other. A Bug’s Life was unfortunate in that by being squished between two films from the same series, it gets overlooked in some people’s memories.
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Unlike Toy Story, Monster’s Inc. and Finding Nemo etc., it wasn’t about two characters doing stuff together. I mean, it didn’t really have the buddy comedy element. As much as I love Flick, he isn’t as funny as, say, Mike, Dory or Buzz/ Woody. When I was a kid the most popular Pixar characters tended to be the funny protagonist- alot of the humour in A Bug’s Life comes from a wider range of sources, and mostly not from Flick. I know that most Pixar film’s have lots of humourous moments from the secondary or minor characters, but they also have a very funny main character too. Flick doesn’t fufill this role, and neither does any other specific character in the film. I’m not bashing the film or anything, I’m just saying that the dynamic is different and that in my experience a lot of people tend to remember the funniest main character.
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For some reason, in Pixar’s teasers they tend not to mention this film. Possibly as a result of it being so underrated, but it doesn’t help stick it in people’s minds.
It’s hard to pin down a reason why. Maybe because less people saw it, although it still did well. Maybe because it doesn’t come across as “original” as other Pixar movies do? Then again, the film has a lot of fun playing with background bug jokes etc, just like Toy Story had a lot of background jokes about toys. I dunno. I think it deserves some more recognition.
um i really dont see any reason why ABL is so underrated i think one reason is because it was smashed between TS&TS2 like many people have already stated but other then that a bug’s life is one of my fave my least favorite is Cars sorry cars fans…
Interesting comments here…never knew that ABL was “underrated” in any way. It was always a favorite and IMO is an improvement over Toy Story, as well as being “better” than Monsters Inc. and certainly Cars. Always thought Cars was Pixar’s “worst” effort, although it was certainly enjoyable and worthwhile.
i think cars was ok i think it may have suffered a bit because joe ranft died while the movie was in production. so yeah…
I think what I like/ amuses me the most about ABL’s underratedness was back when Circle 7 (remember those guys- yeah the original Toy Story 3 people) were thinking of creating dozens of sequels to Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo and Toy Story, they purposely excluded Bugs Life. Kind of a double edged sword, huh?
I really hate Circle 7. And I mean that. 
It had been such a long time since i’ve watched ABL, a little less longer playing the game. I can’t remember much from it, how it ended (usually it ends as a happy ending), and barely even the characters.
But, looking at it now, I can say that it was probably underrated because of the current successes with the Toy Story franchise and box office, as well as it being the major turning point for one of Pixar’s more darker films. It was hard for people to not only turn away from the lighthearted humor of Toy Story, but also turn away from what people once thought was a lighthearted film company.
Also, being a little less serious, looking at the characters, i’m a little embarrassed by it. 
Here’s something else I should probably address now after watching the roundtable discussion for the film on Blu-Ray. At the time Pixar was making A Bug’s Life they were going through the “2nd product syndrome” of business (as I’ve heard it said in The Pixar Story), where they had an enormously successful film with Toy Story and realized that if they were going to have any kind of future as an animation studio rather than only be remembered for one film and five shorts, then they had to make something that could be just as good or better than Toy Story or else they’d die out as a company. It’s arguable whether it’s really a better film than Toy Story (I don’t really think so myself), but as I’ve said before on this topic it’s ambitions really showed at the time when those were the only two Pixar films, and I do think it was Pixar’s determination to stay alive that drove that film’s ambitions and story even into the more darker parts of it. That’s really the reason they gave it the tagline “An epic of miniature proportions”. Frankly, it seems like it was successful enough for Pixar to still be around. When you look at it that way, all of their following films really owe some thanks to A Bug’s Life for being made first, just as that film and all other CGI films owe their existence to Toy Story.
Considering how limited CGI was at the time, a film about bugs seems like it was a natural next step anyway. I know the idea came from the same lunch as Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, and Wall-E, so I guess they chose to do bugs first cause it would be the easiest. It also follows perfectly after doing Toy Story from a toy’s point-of-view to do a film from a bug’s point-of-view, as both are kind of about characters in a much larger world.
I bought the DVD about six months ago, and I see nothing wrong with the movie, aside from people’s opinions of it. I mean, I find movies like Toy Story and MI more fast-paced and nostalgic, but this movie is really good. I honestly wasn’t annoyed by any of the characters except for Atta for a few minutes, and that means a lot to me. It’s not the best, but it’s definitely ignored way too much.
i’ve FINALLY got to watch it for the first time after, oh say 9 years, and right now, it’s my Second Favorite of them all. I like the compelling drama of survivalism kept in place on the film, as well as a little insect bonding too. But Still Wall-E remains as one of my favorites from Pixar’s line of work, but i give credit to A Bug’s Life for redeeming it’s more darker side of it’s filmography.
I think many loyal Pixar fans (including myself) will agree that A Bug’s Life is one of the most unappreciated Pixar films, if not the most. I think the main reason for this is because A Bug’s Life is not only followed by a Toy Story film, but it’s also preceded by one.
Pixar was just starting its successful business as a producer of feature length films, and the public/moviegoers were absolutely thrilled with [b]Toy Story[/b] – the first fully-ever computer animated feature film of all time! I was only 5-6 years old when [b]A Bug’s Life [/b]was released, so I don’t know firsthand how popular it was in theaters. Yet, here’s the real unfortunate kicker for [b]A Bug’s Life [/b]– [b]Toy Story 2[/b] was released a year later, and everybody soon “forgot” about the fantastic world of bugs when a new tale asbout Woody, Buzz, and the toy gang suddenly emerged.
I think, sadly, [b]A Bug’s Life [/b]really didn’t have a chance to blossom and establish its genuine quality and special “magic” because it was crowded by the first two [b]Toy Story [/b]films on both sides. Now, don’t get me wrong! I’m in no way whatsoever criticizing the [b]Toy Story [/b]Trilogy, because I love it! But it’s such a shame when I watch [b]A Bug’s Life [/b]and realize that hardly nowadays appreciates its artistic talent, heart-touching story, hilarious characters, and overall uniqueness like say [b]Finding Nemo [/b]or [b]The Incredibles[/b] have been. I guess you could say [b]A Bug’s Life [/b]was released just at the wrong time, because here’s something to think about: If [b]A Bug’s Life[/b] was released NOW or perhaps during 2001-2006, it would be a universal hit and have a huge recognition!
But there is one triumph [b]A Bug’s Life [/b]can boast of, despite its unfortunate placing in movie history. Pixar’s second film easily won the box office competition against Dreamworks’ [b]Antz[/b], a fact I’ve discovered in Pixar’s in-depth “history” book – [b]The Pixar Touch[/b]. To have [b]A Bug’s Life [/b]conquer over a disgusting imitation like [b]Antz [/b]is a major trophy Pixar should be proud of.
I have always considered [b]A Bug’s Life [/b]one of my top favorite Pixar films because not only did I grow up with it as a little girl, but Flick’s character is a lot like my own. I’ve always ranked [b]A Bug’s Life [/b]as my second Pixar film of all time ([b]WALL-E[/b] claiming first place). I have grown to love and cherish [b]A Bug’s Life [/b]unique charm, its microscopic/mindboggling world, and the tremendous heart it carries through every scene. Whether or not [b]A Bug’s Life[/b] will ever receive the recognition in truly deserves, I will always applaud and cheer John Lasseter on for creating such a great film! BRAVO!!!
You make a lot of interesting points, Blessed Light! I love reading what you have to say. Anyway, I think you’re completely right. ABL is a great movie, caught between the Toy Story fandom. I’m glad to know they crushed Antz, though. <3