Ranking Pixar: Number 16

It was a pretty rough call on whether to put this or Monsters University higher. Honestly, I’m not even sure I made the right call because A Bug’s Life is probably the Pixar movie that I remember the least about. Being the well-researched individual I am, I of course decided not to re-watch it prior to doing this list. That being said, there are plenty of Pixar movies that I remember vividly after long stretches without viewing them, so that should already give you a good idea of the impression that A Bug’s Life left on me.

I do remember liking A Bug’s Life somewhat. I definitely remember it being funnier than Monsters University, and having a pretty solid villain (MU had a few antagonists, one of which was extremely intimidating, but no real “villain”). It had more colorful and interesting characters, the setting was much more interesting, but for the real reason, we’re going to have to go back to what I’ve been talking about: taking advantage of your theme.

As I said in the MU video, MU didn’t take good advantage of its theme. A Bug’s Life, however, took decent advantage of its theme. Jokes centered around not just bugs, but the bug culture that they set up for the film, more creative use of the characters designs, etc. The good themes in the movie are what hold is above MU. MU’s ending was definitely stronger than A Bug’s Life, but A Bug’s Life takes a much more important advantage by being an overall more entertaining movie.

Also, I really love the music in A Bug’s Life. For the record, Randy Newman wrote the music for both films, but I think A Bug’s Life is better. Music where Randy Newman sings is always hit and miss for people, but his musical scores are always great, and I think they were far better in A Bug’s Life than MU. The Bug’s Life Suite and the Flik Machine in particular deserve attention for giving the movie much more life. I didn’t really take much time to talk about the music in MU because it was somewhat forgettable. Looking back, it had some decent music (as expected from Randy Newman), but little of it stands out like the Bug’s Life OST.

It’s a bit unfortunate that I can’t be more specific than that, but neither of these movies ever made much of an impact on me, which is a big reason why they’re as low on the list as they are. So, with that being said, all I have left to say is that A Bug’s Life is a decent movie that gets buried below a mountain of far superior movies, but it’s still worth a watch for a cool world, great music, and some decent comedy.

A Bug’s Life takes my Number 16 spot.