Miniscule: Valley of the Lost Ants Trailer (2016)

Trailer for Miniscule: Valley of the Lost Ants, now being distributed domestically by Lionsgate.

In a peaceful little clearing, the remains of a picnic hastily abandoned spark a standoff between two tribes of ants. A bold and brave young ladybird finds himself caught in the middle of the battle but, having befriended Mandible, one of the black ants determined to protect their haul of sugar cubes, sides are picked. With the safety of the black ants’ nest at risk, our plucky ladybird helps take on the aggressive red ants, led by the evil Butor, and must use all his ingenuity and resolve to win the day.

Miniscule uses both live-action environments blended with CG animation. The film was originally released in 2013, only to find distribution in the States three years later thanks to Lionsgate.

While I like the look of mixing live-action environments with CG characters, the CG characters are er, made for TV quality. In short, I can see why Miniscule took a couple years to find a distributor.

Hoping entirely on the demand of younger audiences, the Miniscule trailer pitches something that looks very child-friendly with characters that look sub-par to the quality we've grown used to.

Again, a nice idea that does result in some very pretty visuals, but I'll leave this film for my nieces and nephews.