A Bug's Life

I'm not entirely sure where or how /Film dug up this blog post from last summer about the lack of proper female characters taking the lead in Pixar's productions to date, but it's certainly made those of us on Twitter all... a-buzz.
Think about it: Toy Story had Bo Peep and Mrs. Potato Head serve as love interests; A Bug's Life had a princess love interest and spunky tot; Toy Story 2 can claim Jessie as a proper heroine; Monsters, Inc. is back to love interest and spunky kid; Finding Nemo does give Dory a fairly prominent and helpful presence; and The Incredibles has both Helen and Violet as prime role models. Cars and Ratatouille once again reduce the gals to objects of affection, while Wall-e falls for one admittedly assertive robot.
(In fairness, Dreamworks seems to be batting a similar average: for every Princess Fiona or Rita, there's either
William Goss

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It would not be inaccurate to call Galaxy Quest slight, airy, and lacking in ambition, but it would be beside the point. Like with most mainstream comedies, your ability to buy into it depends greatly on how generous you're feeling when you're watching it; but unlike most mainstream comedies, Quest makes no apologies or excuses for what it is, wholeheartedly buying into its own vindication of fandom while still lampooning with great accuracy.

Galaxy Quest is a television show that has been off the air for twenty years, but still maintains a huge, devoted fan base that continuously organizes conventions devoted to memorabilia, re-enactments, and greeting the original actors (think it's a reference to any other show). These conventions would be the absolute bane of the existences of the lead actors, being James Nesmith (Tim Allen), Gwen DeMarco (Sigourney Weaver), Alexander Dane (Alan Rickman), and Fred Kwan (Tony Shalhoub), were
Anders Nelson

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Cannes kicked off with a gentle, sweet even sublime film: Pixar's Up. As I've written before, Pixar is on a streak of critical and commercial successes (10 and counting) that is simply unparalleled in Hollywood history. No star, no director, no studio has ever accomplished what Pixar has wrought with its first ten movies. They range from pretty good to good to great to classic. And every single one has been a major commercial success. Just listing them is impressive: Toy Story A Bug's Life Toy Story 2 Monsters Inc. Finding Nemo The Incredibles Cars Ratatouille (now That should have opened Cannes!) Wall-e and now Up. It has some fine action scenes and witty banter involving dogs equipped with hi-tech collars that let us hear their thoughts. ("Squirrel!" is a big favorite.) But the lasting impression of this gem is gentle and sweet. No wonder the filmmakers genuflected at the...
Michael Giltz

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