A technically adroit but aesthetically offensive and philosophically dubious look at the world of insects by French biologists Claude Nuridsany and Marie Perennou, given an intolerable wall-to-wall score by Bruno Coulais and a minimal English voice-over by Kristin Scott Thomas to match the French narration. Making this 1996 film purportedly took 15 years of research, 2 years of designing the camera and lighting equipment, 3 years of shooting, and half a year of editing; how much time the filmmakers spent thinking about what they were doing isn’t noted. The footage is often fascinating, but when it comes to anthropomorphism I prefer the Disney live-action adventures. Made in the 70s and never exported, Michel Fano’s French nature documentary La Territoire des Autreswith its sure sense of soundputs this film to shame. 77 min. (JR)