DreamMachine Episode 1: Antz

Welcome to DreamMachine, the podcast where Arun and Patricia discuss about every Dreamworks theatrical movies, shorts, specials, and direct to video movie leading up to How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. They discuss about their first movie, Antz, which debuted on October 2, 1998. The plot is about an ant named Z who wishes to be an independent ant after being being sick and tired of being a worker in his colony. He then meets Princess Bala in a bar and instantly falls in love with her. To get closer to Bala, Z impersonates as a soldier without realizing that his mission is fighting in a termite war. Returning home as a war hero, his rank as a worker ant has been discovered and takes Bala hostage to not get arrested. With both of them out of the colony, Z and Bala search for the legendary paradise Insectopia. Meanwhile, the colony's general named Mandible is making a huge plan behind the queen's back involving with wiping away the "weak ants" and making a stronger colony.

When the movie premiered in theaters, it made $174 million dollars in the box office and had gotten positive reviews from critics and fans kickstarting Dreamworks' animation company. It came out a few weeks before Disney's A Bug's Life where it had a similar concept about a colony of ants. How well does this film hold up after 20 years later? Listen and find out!