A Bug's Life is a 1998 Pixar animated film centered on the unbalanced relationship between ants and grasshoppers. The ants being viewed as inferior creatures are forced to harvest grain continuously which the majority of it was given to the grasshoppers as offering before the raining season began. This has been a generational long tradition that has subjugated the ants for as long as the oldest can remember and would have stayed that way until actions of one ant changed everything.
Flik is an ordinary worker ant with a dream of creating innovations that will help improve the life's of ants using automatons to harvest instead of the usual manual labor. During harvest on the day the grasshoppers are meant to collect their offering, Flik's invention accidentally knocks off the entire bounty into a pond spelling danger for the colony. The grasshoppers arrive the home of the ants only to discover and empty podium. Angered by this, they confront the ants telling them to harvest more offerings with limited time threatening to wreck havoc if they don't before leaving.
Devastated by this, every ant blames flick for this as his inventions has caused more harm to colony than it's intended purpose. Trying to make amends for his actions, Flik suggests he leaves the colony in search of strong bugs to fight off the grasshoppers- a terrible plan but this idea changes the lives of the ants entirely. The ant council comprising the queen, her daughter and other reputable ants agree to this just to get rid of Flik to focus on the hard task ahead.
Flik heads off to bug's city where he comes in contact with a bunch of failed circus bugs. Convinced they looked heroic, Flik solicits for their help defeating their oppressors, another mistake and terrible choice that proves to be a turning point in the movie. The bugs agree to help Flik as they were also running away from a bunch of angry flies they offended earlier and off they go to the island the ants live.
Life on ant island has taken a turn for the worst as the ants were collapsing from exhaustive labour and worse there was not enough grain for the ants and the grasshoppers. However Flik arrives the island with his supposed heroes to end their predicament once and for all. The entire colony hosts a welcome party for their rescuers and it was during the festivities it became clear to Flik that they were failed performers and not the heroes he thought they were.
As they were about leaving, the second princess of the ants is attacked by a bird but they work together to save her from its beak. Moved by this, Flik convinces them to build a bird that will scare of the entire grasshoppers when they arrive for their offering and seeing that the plan does not put them in any lethal danger, the bugs agree to build the bird. They made use of sticks, leaves, pebbles and anything they could get their hands on to build the fake bird with help from the colony of course.
The grasshoppers arrive just immediately the last leave on the tree falls demanding their tribute. While they waited for the grain, the ants put their plan in motion and at first the grasshoppers were convinced that it was a real bird running for their lives. The plan was accidentally sabotaged by a flea who was the manager of the circus bugs and on the realization of the whole event, the header of the grasshoppers HOPPER decides to punish the ants singling out Flik as the mastermind behind it all .
During the beating session Flik was receiving, he is able to convince the ants that they are stronger than the grasshoppers because of the large population size and it was the grasshoppers who needed them and not the other way round. The ants stood up to their oppressors, sent them fleeing from the island with their leader eaten by a bird as he was trying to kill Flik.
In the end the ants were finally free of the grasshoppers, took control of all their affairs all thanks to a series of choices that looked like terrible decisions but ended up liberating the colony. This goes to say that sometimes the most logical decisions may not be the best choice and mistakes might just be the path that takes one up the ladder of Sucess. Just ask Flik the ant, he knows a thing or two about what I am saying.
PS pictures are screenshots from IMDB
