The Ant Bully

My wife and I watched this animated movie last night. It's hard not to be entertained by it, I must admit. The pros are: very good animation, excellent voice casting, and an interesting story with lots of action.

However (admit it, you saw it coming), I took issue with three aspects of the project:

1. Notwithstanding the "PG" rating, this was targeted to kids; yet it offers three or four crude episodes for your child's edification. It's amazing; we once had films that attained classic status, like Pinocchio and Snow White, with nary a flatulence joke, lovingly detailed vomit scene, or zoom-in shot of a brat digging in his nose with a grimy finger. But Walt Disney had nothing on the new breed of kiddie producer. Now, if a cartoon doesn't depict someone falling face-first into a cowpie, it's just not living up to its true potential. These modern filmmakers seem physically and psychologically incapable of omitting such references. We've come a long way, baby.

2. A major theme is the "animals are people, too," mantra we expect at PETA rallies or at Brahmin's Vegetarian Grocery. A kid in the flick is bullied by a neighborhood punk. The victim, in turn, tortures ants and destroys their nests. The two acts are portrayed as synonymous in nature and degree, which is absurd. In reality, ants are mindless, instinctively-driven organisms.

3. Now we've come to the worst part. Two characters compare and contrast human society with that of the ants. This is not a throwaway aside, but a major scene in the movie. The message conveyed is that ant society is superior to that of humans, and is something to which we should aspire.

Why is this problematic? It's disturbing because the ant civilization is a communistic one, with a bright, sunny face painted on it. In fact, the only facet that differs markedly from Communism is the ants' belief in a deity--who is, of course, a goddess. In every other respect, we have a sanitized, bowdlerized vision that would make Karl Marx cheer, in his best impression of Will Smith:

"Now, dass whut I'm tawkin' 'bout!"