Antz was better
Check it out sometime.
shareI've always preferred ANTZ as well but I know I am in a minority in saying that and can understand why. Apart from the fact they came out virtually at the same time and are both primarily about ants they are very different films really. I think A Bug's Life is a bit more mainstream and targetted at younger audiences but with enough nice puns and visual flair to keep the adults entertained. ANTZ is a more mature and slightly darker tale and might even be an adult film in disguise? Also A Bug's Life is a bit more of a familiar storyline whereas it's a bit more difficult to see where the story arc is going with ANTZ which may sub-consiously annoy some viewers.
I definately liked the character designs in ANTZ more, a little bit more intriguing and edgey whereas PIXAR went more towards friendly and cute-sy looks. The exterior environments are pretty similar (big leafy plants and stalks, clumpy dirt, rusty tin cans and such) but I definately liked the ant colony of ANTZ compared to the under-designed aesthetics of the Bug's Life hive. (The grasshopper's (mexican?) bar was a bit closer to what they were doing n ANTZ I will admit.) I preferred the music in ANTZ as well, the bouncy motifs suited the busy hive activity of ants and the rest of the score was very "lounge-y" which suits my personal tastes, compared to the Lassetter go-to guy Randy Newman whose music always ends up making my eyes roll.
So to each their own, but I personally find myself pulled more in favour towards the creative decisions that the Dreamworks artists went for than the PIXAR guys and preferred the story that ANTZ told.
Not essential to enjoying the films but another thing I recall is it was one of the very few times PIXAR was beaten in the technology stakes; the water fx displayed in ANTZ by PDI were far superior to the liquids in A Bug's Life - at least I thought so at the time.