Woof, this movie has not aged well. This was back in the day when DreamWorks was still struggling a bit competing with Pixar. A Bug's Life came out the month after this and everyone promptly forgot it existed. I had it on VHS and finally transferred to DVD back in like 2012, so this is the first time I've watched it in years. Z (Woody Allen) is a worker ant who dreams of something more. A chance encounter with Princess Bala (Sharon Stone) impels him to try and change his life, first by becoming a warrior, then leading an ill-fated expedition to the fabled promised land of Insectopia. Along his personal journey, he runs afoul of General Mandible (Gene Hackman), who believes in a rigidly stratified society and who will stop at nothing to achieve his ends.
It's a very straightforward narrative and it could have worked. It just didn't know if it wanted to be geared towards children or adults and couldn't find that balance. Also, the animation betrays it nowadays. It doesn't look nearly as sleek or polished as its Pixar counter and doesn't hold a candle to the animation being churned out by DreamWorks today. This is another one for the ash heap of history.
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