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Flik (played by Dave Foley) is a hard-luck freethinking
ant. He's always trying to think of a better way to do
things, but is played by two major problems. His colony-
mates hate new ideas and something usually goes wrong.
Both are apparent early as his mistake at the offering
time (eerily similar to April 15th, except we know that
the government comes far more often than once a year)
spoils the 'protection money' annually 'donated' to the
grasshoppers, led by Hopper (Kevin Spacey) to insist on a
double-sized order in the near future.
The ants allow Flik to leave the island to 'find help' in
hopes that he gets lost, dies, or something else that
won't ruin their servitude to the grasshoppers. Only one
of the youngest ants, Dot, believes that Flik will return
safely with help, which he does. Only the 'Warrior Bugs'
he brings back look meaner than they are.
In the process of creating a defense against the
grasshoppers, the ants realize it is "going to take
everyone's involvement to make this plan a reality,"
according to Atta (Julia-Louis-Dreyfuss), heir to the
throne of the queen (Phyliss Diller). On the other hand,
a few grasshoppers tell Hopper to relax and not bother to
return to Ant Island. Hopper barks back, "those puny ants
outnumber us 100-to-one, and if they ever figure that
out, there goes our way of life. It's about food, it's
about keeping those ants in-line." Sounds like my idea of
what goes on at Democrat and Republican headquarters.
I'll leave the rest pretty much undisturbed as to not
give away the ending, but when a battered and bloodied
Flik verbally responds to a Hopper tirade toward the end,
if you aren't encouraged to help out a local Libertarian
campaign, I guess you are not as annoyed about government
confiscation as I am. The first time I heard Dot say,
"No, bad grasshopper. Bad grasshopper. Go home!" I knew I
had to see the entire movie.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, which was aided
greatly by watching it with my favorite five-year-old, as
she helped me identify characters. And when you think
about your political activity, "pretend it's a seed." As
with a Dennis Miller sub-reference, you won't get it
unless you watch. It must be a Libertarian thing.
Tim Huwe is the Secretary of the Rockford Area
Libertarians