- "Why go back to Ant Island at all? I mean, you don't even like grain."
- —Molt, to Hopper
Molt is a supporting character in A Bug's Life. He is Hopper's younger brother and a former member of the grasshoppers.
Official Description[]
"Sometimes it's hard to believe that Molt is Hopper's brother. Hopper always think before he speaks, but Molt's mouth doesn't seem to be connected to his brain at all (if he has one, that is). Molt never knows when to shut up, and he can be swayed into thinking just about anything."[1]
A Bug's Life[]
When the grasshoppers first invade Ant Island, Molt interrupts Hopper's threatening speech to Atta, loudly telling everybody about a bird that once nearly ate Hopper. Infuriated, Hopper memorably tells Molt that if their mother hadn't made him promise never to kill Molt, he would kill him. He then vents by decking another grasshopper. Shortly afterwards, the grasshoppers leave.
Later back at the grasshopper headquarters, Molt's "friends" Axle and Loco tell him that it's pointless going back to Ant Island, since they believed they had enough food, and the rain could come when they least expect it. When Molt agrees, they convince him to put the idea to Hopper as his own, in the hope that if Hopper doesn't like it, Molt will be the one who gets into trouble. When the idea infuriates Hopper, Molt frantically admits it wasn't his idea, and that Axel and Loco suggested it. Realizing there is dissent in his gang, Hopper subdues Axel and Loco to point out the possible danger of the ants before heading with the rest of the gang back to Ant Island.
Near the end of the film, Molt is seen eating, enjoying and encouraging the circus. When the ants charge at the grasshoppers, Molt sheds his peeling skin all at once in fright at the mass of ants, charging at his fellow grasshoppers, but rather than fleeing the island and abandoning Hopper like the others, runs and hides in the grass.
Molt survives the ants' rebellion, and in the end, he joins P.T. Flea's circus as a strongman, with a new nickname: "Tiny." When he climbs into the circus wagon, Molt expresses his thankfulness towards Flik for giving him a fresh start, until Manny and Gypsy close the wagon with Molt saying, "Shutting up," one last time.
Personality[]
Molt is Hopper's younger brother and the self-proclaimed Vice President of the grasshopper gang - although nobody believes that but him. Chubby, credulous, and boisterous, but essentially good-natured and sincere, Molt got his name due to the fact that his chitlin armor molts off in flakes. He regularly infuriates Hopper to the point that Hopper told Molt early in the film that if he hadn't promised their mother on her deathbed that he wouldn't kill Molt, he would do so.
Molt often tries to be intimidating, but he's never taken literally, partly because he is so docile to the genuinely terrifying Hopper.
Molt started out as a supporting antagonist, but in the end he reformed and joined the circus.
Trivia[]
- Molt was created for the film to provide some comic relief out of the more uncomfortable moments with Hopper, but it was decided to make him his brother when it was realized that Hopper would never allow somebody as foolish and irritating as Molt to stay with the gang otherwise.
- In one blooper, during the credits of the film, when Hopper gains closer on him, Molt accidentally backs into the camera and messes up the crew's equipment. Additional bloopers show Molt acting silly when Hopper shakes him angrily.
- Despite Molt being Hopper's younger brother, Richard Kind (Molt's voice actor) is actually three years older than Kevin Spacey (who voiced Hopper).
- Molt is the first Pixar character voiced by Richard Kind.
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