Princess Atta

"You see Hopper, Nature has a certain order. The ants pick the food, the ants keep the food, and the grasshoppers leave!"

- Princess Atta to Hopper after the ants realize that they are strong in number and begin to rebel against the grasshoppers.

Atta is the Princess (later Queen) of the Ant Colony and the main female protagonist and the deuteragonist of A Bug's Life. She is the daughter of the Queen, the older sister of Dot and the love interest, later fiancée/wife of Flik.

She is voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who also played Elaine Benes.

Background
Atta is a beautiful crown princess ant, the eldest daughter of the Queen of the Ant Colony, the older sister of Dot and heir to the throne of Ant Island. During the opening of the film, she is close to inheriting the crown from her elderly mother. She is very nervous throughout the film, regarding her new-found responsibilities, and often worries about what the rest of the colony thinks about her and loves Flik.

Role in A Bug's Life
During the film, it is shown that she has a small crush on Flik, whereas at the beginning of the film, she does not show much appreciation for him at all, especially when she gets crushed by a stalk that Flik has cut down with his latest invention. When Flik accidentally destroys a pile of food gathered for the grasshoppers, causing Hopper, leader of the grasshoppers, to double the amount of food offering the ants must gather before the next autumn, Atta initially sentences Flik to dig in the tunnels for one month, but comes to accept his decision of going to the City to recruit some warrior bugs (assuming that Flik will not be around to cause any more trouble). When Flik returns to the island with the circus troupe he has mistakenly recruited, Atta becomes suspicious of the circus bugs and demands Flik to tell what is happening about them. However, after witnessing a nearly deadly bird attack in which Flik and the circus bugs save the life of her little sister Dot, Atta sees that the circus bugs may be warriors and warms up to Flik (and the circus bugs) as she apologizes to him for mistreatment. When Atta tells Flik that Hopper is afraid of birds, Flik kisses her and she gets touched.

When the circus bugs present the plan to build a makeshift bird that can be controlled from the inside (an idea passed from Flik), Atta takes this plan and announces to the ants that they will work together to scare away Hopper should he return to the island. While the ants build the bird model, Atta's feelings for Flik seems to grow slightly stronger, and she later thanks Flik for finding the "warrior bugs," getting her antennae tangled with Flik's in the process. However, when P.T. Flea arrives and exposes the truth about the circus bugs, Atta becomes upset with Flik, and seeing him through his craziness and lies, she has him banished for good. After that, she orders the ants to put away the bird model and gather up whatever food they can find on the island, but they are unable to satisfy the quota demanded by Hopper, which leads to him taking control of the island proving that Princess Atta made a fatal mistake, she puts herself and the entire colony in danger.

That night, Flik, who has returned to the island upon hearing from Dot that the grasshoppers are going to squish the Queen after all the food on the island has been gathered, exposes the truth behind Hopper's need for the colony. Atta and all the other ants listen to Flik's monologue, and they all become awestruck to realize Flik is not only telling the truth but also intelligent and strong-minded, something she hasn't seen inside him before. When Flik is beaten up by Hopper thanks to P.T. Flea, she rushes in to protect Flik, orders Hopper and the grasshoppers to leave, and commends Flik for his courage as she helps him up. When Flik is kidnapped by Hopper, the circus bugs attempt to give chase, but it is Atta who rescues Flik from Hopper. Under Flik's instruction, she takes him across the stream where the bird's nest is located and watches worriedly as Flik deals with Hopper. When the bird catches Hopper, Atta pulls Flik to safety and they hide as the bird lowers Hopper into its chicks' beaks.

Atta later makes up with Flik and allows him back into the colony. At the conclusion of the film, when the circus bugs are about to leave the island, she thanks them for giving back the colony's hope, dignity and lives and receives a rock, which has magically appeared by Manny's tricks, as a gift. When the ants laud Flik for his heroism, Atta returns her love for Flik by kissing him. The Queen then gives her crown to Atta as she is made the new Queen. Atta tosses her own tiara to Dot. As Flik says good-bye to his friends, Atta and Dot fly him to a tree root for a better view. There, Atta hold hands with Flik, her chosen mate, as they, along with Dot, wave good-bye to the departing circus troupe.

Trivia

 * Atta is perhaps most notable for breaking a very, very long-standing stereotype of a princess getting kidnapped and having to be rescued by a prince; in her case, she does the rescuing, her 'prince' being Flik.