You gotta remember: in battle the termites may ACT like savage beasts, but earlier on it was established they were peaceful neighbors to the ant colony and the general used them as a ploy to wipe out the ant soldiers loyal to the queen. The termites were only defending their home and people from an unprovoked attack, and were completely exterminated for it. The final shots of the aftermath of the battle don't just show the countless dead ants, but all the TERMITES who were killed unjustly as well. Both sides were innocent pawns of a corrupt and selfish political figure who manipulated the masses into dying for his own agenda and taking out an enemy that didn't even really exist. Frankly, I've never seen a better allegory for war in any other film.

This is basically the kid's version of Starship Troopers

Fun Fact: the longest-lasting and most catastrophic conflict in Earth’s entire history is between rivaling ant colonies.

It's easy to forget that the termites were actually just defending themselves from an unprovoked attack.

so you're telling me theres been thousands of wars in my back garden

"Don't make my mistake, kid. Don't follow orders your whole life. Think for yourself." - Barbatus

Ladies and gentlemen, a 90s kids' movie. Nothing today's kids' movies can compare to. The brutality is spot on.

"Our platoon has the best assignment of all - we're the first into battle!" -true warrior's wisdom

Let's be real, Barbados is one of the best minor characters in an animated movie ever

This movie is waaaaaay darker than i remember

A Bug's life: 😊😊😊😊 Antz: 💀🪖🔫🗿

Barbatus was such a badass. Gives his spear to Z and climbs up the termite, attacking either barehanded or with a knife of some kind.The after the battle scene is just amazing too.

This is basically "A Bug's Life" meets "Saving Private Ryan".

Holding friends decapitated head while the head is saying it's final will. *kids movie*

"It was a brutal war." "It was a bitter war." "And most importantly, it was a visually spectacular war."

Antz in my opinion is a perfect depiction of war for a young adult, z was Practically a teenager sent into a violent battle completely unprepared and Barbados was the only ant to have his back and treat him like a friend and died before he did and Z had to be with him in his dying moments. in only knowing him a few short hours Z trusted him and survived an apocalyptic battle and watch thousands of his fellow ants and his only friend die it’s a harsh reality of what war really is.

Being a kid is thinking A Bug's Life was better. Being an adult is realizing Antz was.

The general sends forces loyal to the monarch on a suicide war, while keeping forces loyal to him fresh to fight against the monarch.... I was there, when Horus slew the Emperor....

One thing this scene does well is that it definitely has sympathy for both sides, The Ant soldiers are being sent on a suicide mission, just so they won’t interfere with the villains plans, and the termites are defending themselves from and unprovoked attack….. Man this movie goes deep….

“We have the saddest ant death scene in film”- Antman “Hold my beer”- Antz

Everybody gangsta till the walls start speaking termite

The immune system when you get a cut:

When you’re on your first mission as a Helldiver

Commander didn’t even have to look behind him. He just flips and knife hands at the direction his foe was. Truly a badass

"Why dont we just try to influence their political process with campaign contributions?"- I about lost my mind

One like for the troops that died during the battle of central park.

I was amazed by how they really made a personality for each ant soldier, their heights, their faces, their colors, and even their movements when marching aren't synced together

3:25 “ATTACK!” Gives me goosebumps every time. Man I love this movie! I watched this so many times when I was a kid. This came out in 1998. I was five years old. Wow time flies.

When a 90s animated film targeted to kids managed to portray the horrors of war accurately. I remember thinking Barbados’ body was buried underneath all the rubble, but the fact they made it just his head really pushes the dark aspect

"why don't we just try and influence their political process with campaign contributions" As i kid i didn't understand this. Now this cracks me up and makes me sad

Barbatus is really one of my favorite characters of all time . They really put him here being so wholesome and then they rip him away from us 😭

"Don't make my mistake, kid. Don't follow orders your whole life. Think for yourself." Very good life advice.

"Don't make my mistake kid. Don't follow orders your whole life. Think for yourself" Those are deep last words.

“Some of you may die, but that is a risk I am willing to take.”

It's kind of impressive that they wrote the battle like this. Them falling into a ambush instead of swarming the termites like planned makes it feel even more hopeless but even when they're surrounded they still manage to charge and turn it from a ambush into a full on brawl. It makes you bounce between dread and hope and determination and I imagine people have always felt a mix of those emotions in war. Even though he's scared he still tries to help after Barbatus reassures him and he sees him charge off. Unfortunately they don't really show if they really won or not. It's very possible the termites just went back into their colony after the ants were all dead and Z is just lucky he left before they started dealing with the bodies.

Inscet Battles A Bug's Life : Ants vs Grasshoppers Antz : Ants vs Termites The Ant Bully : Ants vs Wasps

Barbatus: “don’t make my mistake, kid. Don’t follow orders your whole life. Think for yourself.” My mom: “GO TO YOUR ROOM!” *7yr old me yelling: “I WILL NO LONGER SERVE YOU!!”

That moment when a family film gives you Starship Troopers flashbacks...

“For the Queen!” - Fellow soldier pierces Termite’s chest with their spear, heroically

The irony is that at the bar, he is a little jealous of Weaver because he gets to "meet interesting insects and kill them", yet when he actually goes to war, he is scared and sees the horror of war.

When your beginning on the game and the max level veteran helps you out

0:58 "don't worry kid, i'll watch out for ya," anyone who has been in the military will know what it is like to say this/receive this message from someone.

"I used to believe that being a good soldier meant doing everything they told ya, that's how they engineered us. But I was wrong, we are not programmed, you have to learn to make your own decisions" - Captain Rex clone wars series

Among all the other great stuff I missed as a kid, I'm so impressed that they managed to insert so many female soldiers without making them sterotypes or sexualised.

I just realized that Z inadvertently saved Weaver’s life by switching with him on the day of a battle he would’ve been killed in

Fun Fact: Ants and Termites are natural enemies, and termites are in fact a heck of a lot larger than ants but in battle, ants annihilate termites. The Ants are a lot more aggressive than the termites and have strength in larger numbers. Ants are also known to raid termite nests and even eat them sometimes

Staff Sergeant Barbados, April 17th 1973 - November 8th 2004. May we never forget the antz that died in the battle of Fallujah.

"Why don't we try to influence their political process through campaign contributions" Lmaooo oh man, as a kid I had no idea what this meant. Now that I've voted a few times and pay attention to politics, this line is absolute genius

Ants : Total War

Honestly one of the greatest war scenes in cinematic history and it is in a kids movie! The march into war, the ambush, the ruthlessness of the action and the aftermath. The dialogue between Barbatus and Z has no business being that good in a kida movie.

2:10 If you think about it, the flying ants are technically all princesses or princes of the queen, and it's common in fiction, both in film and mythology, for royals to be absolute badasses in combat. So technically these guys are the elites of this army, you'd think at least a couple would survive to return to the colony after the battle. EDIT: Also shouldn't there be maybe a few times as many workers following in a sort of wagon train behind the army to collect the dead from both sides, seeing as all of those dead would probably serve as a great source of food for the colony for a while?

This scene sort of messed me up when I was a kid. I remember thinking..."Where's Barbatus body? Why is he buried?" When Z picked up his head is when I realize his body is separated/chopped clean off from his head.

Speaking as someone who grew up watching this movie, and then served in the Army for 8 years; I can definitely say that Barbatus' last advice still strikes a cord with me to this day.

Antz was pretty damn brutal. Also the scene with the ants destroyed by a magnifying glass was like some sci-fi alien invasion attack.

*Order 66 Outside Jedi Temple* We clones go marching one by one Hurra Hurra! We slaughter Jedi just for fun Hurra Hurra! Shiny 501 Clone: So theses Jedi, they're not gonna put up a fight. I mean, talking about shooting them right? Veteran 501 Clone: Not really Kid, they have light sabers and The Force. ARC behind: Hey! Keep It moving Shiny! We clones go marching two by two Hurra! Hurra! We all be dead before we're through Hurra! Hurra! Shiny 501 Clone: Say, exactly what does our Platoon do? Do we service beverages or require paperwork? Veteran 501 Clone: Our Platoon has The Best assignment of all, we're The first in to battle! We Clones go marching three by three Hurra! Hurra! *Hurra! Hurra!* We're of to face our destiny Hurra! Hurra! Shiny 501 Clone: Hey wait a minute, we're being too nasty over here. I mean how are you guys beating them? Veteran 501 Clone: Superior numbers Kid! Overwhelm defenses, Kill The Council. We Clones go marching four by four Hurra! Hurra! You'll find that there's a million More Hurra! Hurra! Shiny 501 Clone: Hey that being too serious, why don't we do some political poll on the Senate? Veteran 501 Clone: I like you Kid! You have some Sense of humor! Anakin: FORWARD!!! Veteran 501 Clone: Come on! Let's kick some Jedi Butts!

"I can't feel my legs" I should probably find that funny but the death of Barbados is just so sad.

"Why don't we just try and influence their political process with campaign contributions?" This cartoon literally spelled out american corruption on the dot.

I remember watching this on VHS when I was a kid, time flies 😂

Here after Helldivers 2

The animators and story writers were able to comment on the horrors of war in 6 minutes and 35 seconds, Impressive.

3:46 in case anyone’s wondering: yes, termites actually can do that. It’s called the fontanellar gun, and can “fire” bursts of a glue-like substance over a distance of centimetres. The force with which the substance is launched is often enough to kill whatever poor insect it hits with just the sheer impact, but if they survive, the substance itself will kill them over a span of 24-48 hours. Nature is so cool!

FOR SUPER EAAAAAARTH!!!!

Still one of the greatest scenes in an animated movie ever

"We are going in with the first wave. Means more bugs for us to kill".

"Don't follow orders your whole life" ..! "Barbados"..

Ngl I couldn’t stop hearing “Klendathu Drop” this entire scene

I remember always covering my eyes and trying to find the remote to skip the war, it used the scare the absolute hell out of me, and even now it's still surreal and gory lol

You’re a Hero, Z. Not because you survived gruelling combat or made it home, but because you held a dying comrade in your arms and let him give his final words amid a battlefield of his fellows who went on ahead.

The Ants from a bug's life should really take note to this shit. If they did the grasshoppers wouldn't have been a problem.

Anyone here after Helldivers 2 ✊🏽😎

I was 7 when I saw this movie and I feel like it impacted me in a way that made me think about actions and their consequences; kids this days need to watch this masterpiece. This movie inspires.

"Sheer numbers." "Overwhelm their defenses and kill their queen." Hmmmmmm... *Casually flips on the Soviet National Anthem*

Barbados, the death of a fucking Legend..

Barbatus's death is the heartbreaking 💔 part of this movie. He and Z just meet for 3 minutes and then fight in the same battle where one of them dies while the other lives. But Barbatus kept Z safe like he had promised. ❤ 💙 💜 💖 💗 💘 ❤

Can we just take a second to admire how intense and well put together of a battle scene this was for a animated kids movie... That was made over 20 years ago.. Lol 😂 the music, the build up and the fluctuating levels of intensity are spot on. Modern movies and shows struggle to get battle scenes that hit like that which is hilarious! 😂

Saving Private RyANT

Fun fact. This was rated “G”.

"Why don't we just try to influence there political process with campaign contributions" I never realized what he meant by that until I was older.

This is so NOT a kids movie, and I love it!

Rare footage of deleted scenes from the bee movie.

Finally manned up and rewatch the scene that traumatized me as a kid. I'm proud of myself.

All these years later, this scene still goes hard

Damn, and he was 3 days from retirement too.

More enjoyable and tense than Game of Thrones's "battle of Winterfell".

War is hell.

"Believe me, nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won." -Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

The “over the top” reference was genius, referring back to WW1 where going over the trenches and charging forward against fortified enemy lines almost always meant death,

*They really should make a stand-alone movie about a the insect war with a young barbatus as the main character 😢*

Everyone you can’t lie, the marching song sounds so heart warming.

Ants killed the remaining termite soldiers (and workers), then the few remaining ants surrounded the termite queen whom exploded with acid which in turn killed the last of the ants - nobody wins

My mom randomly picked up this film when I was 10, and I remember watching it and being surprised at how dark it was. But I think I actually appreciated the maturity.

0:59 I was a little guy myself when I first saw this in elementary school. Just hearing that line warms my heart. I have a good friend who was big and strong and always looked out for all of us.

God this movie was so much better than A Bugs Life.

*A US soldier, lost in the Ardenne, searches for his allies* 1945, colorized

That really sad that Barbados died he was really nice i was hoping that he survive

One detail I appreciate is the different shades of Ants and the Female Ant that calls Z “Shorty”. It Shows the variety of people the Military actually has. The Marine Corps is the most diverse environment I have ever been a part of. We look different but share the same culture. It’s a beautiful Place

I love Danny Glover, I'm glad he's still around

Barbados: "Don't be scared kid." Me: "Their just Termites what's so scary." Termites appear Me: "Damn those guys are scary up close."

Z: *brings up a peaceful political solution* Barbatus: "I like you, kid! You got a sense of humour!"

Garden Troopers.