Everyone has a movie that emotionally destroys them. And Audrey Nuna, who provides Mira's singing voice in the 2025 Netflix animated film KPop Demon Hunters, is no different. Speaking to JustWatch about her guilty pleasure movies, the actress didn't shy away from sharing the effect the 1998 Pixar movie A Bug's Life has on her.
WATCH: KPop Demon Hunters' Audrey Nuna Reveals Her Favorite Guilty Pleasure Watches!
"I think that A Bug's Life is one of the most emotional films of all time," Nuna admitted, which is a bold statement for a brightly colored animated movie about ants, but she doubled down on the sentiment. "I cry every time I watch A Bug's Life. I don't know why." And then came the explanation that suddenly makes everything click.
"I just feel like it's so deep," Nuna continued. "When he keeps messing up, and his whole colony thinks he's useless, and he just wants to help. I think that whole concept gets me." That's the secret of the film. You remember the jokes and the animation as a kid, but as an adult, you start recognizing something else entirely, which is a story about trying, failing, and still wanting to belong.
'A Bug's Life' Carries An Unexpectedly Deep Message
It's not the usual tragedy tropes that make A Bug's Life feel like it sucker-punched you in the feels. And Flick, the lovable, clumsy inventor ant, isn't a very traditional hero either. He's anxious and constantly getting things wrong. Even when he's genuinely trying to help, his inventions fail, and his plans go sideways. Every mistake reinforces the colony's belief that he's a problem instead of an asset.
That dynamic feels super familiar because it holds a mirror up to reality. People are quick to support your efforts, but most of the time, that support is conditional on success. The second good intentions result in failure, the encouragement from friends and even family quickly becomes frustration or dismissal. And suddenly, the person trying the hardest becomes an easy target for blame.
A Bug's Life examines this very concept. Flik isn't rejected because he lacks care. He's rejected because his ideas are a little chaotic and disrupt what feels safe. That's likely why Nuna has such a strong reaction to the movie. Because watching someone try to do good things while being misunderstood taps into a universal fear that says effort alone might not be enough to earn acceptance.
But the movie's deeper message isn't only about rejection. A Bug's Life argues that failure shouldn't define who you are. Everyone deserves room to experiment and try again. If we permanently wrote people off after their worst moments, we'd eventually have no one left to believe in. Progress, both personal and collective, depends on second chances.
Maybe that's why the movie makes adults cry. Because you realize how often people (including yourself, dear reader) have been judged mid-try instead of at the finish line. Flik eventually gets a happy ending. But it isn't because he suddenly becomes perfect. He just refuses to stop believing that his contributions are not valuable, even when nobody else does. And that message is basically a blueprint for surviving life.
Why To Watch 'A Bug's Life' (And What To Watch After)
Released during Pixar's early creative era, A Bug's Life follows Flik (Dave Foley), an inventor ant who tries to improve food collection but accidentally destroys an offering meant to appease an evil grasshopper named Hopper (Kevin Spacey). He is sent away to find warrior insects to defend the colony. But Flik accidentally recruits a group of circus performers who are misunderstood in their own ways.
If A Bug's Life leaves you wanting more animated stories about purpose, 2007's Bee Movie is worth checking out. The story follows Barry B. Benson (Jerry Seinfeld), a bee who questions hive society after finding out that humans have been exploiting bees for honey. So he launches a legal battle against humanity. Beneath the silliness is a story about refusing predetermined roles and asking bigger questions.
There's also 2007's Ratatouille, which follows Remy (Patton Oswalt), a rat with refined culinary talent, who teams up with awkward kitchen worker Linguini (Lou Romano) to chase an impossible dream inside a Paris restaurant. Like Flik, Remy succeeds not because others believe in him, but because he keeps going long enough to prove he belongs.
