If a character had died in A Bug's Life, it probably would be a really sad scene and maybe even bring tears to some people. However, in real life killing a bug is no big deal, amirite?

Well, yeah, those characters are humanized. Of course people would be more inclined to feel empathetic towards them.

When those kid-bugs in that movie almost died I laughed.

The movie would have been so much better if right at the end they all got squashed by someone yelling "DIE YOU LITTLE BITCHES, DIE."