Princess Bala

“	Oh, please! I was slumming it. Don't you get it? The only reason I chose you, is because you were the most pathetic bug in the joint.	„
	~ Bala to Z

Princess Bala is the deuteragonist of the 1998 DreamWorks/PDI animated film Antz, its 2003 DreamWorks/PDI animated sequel film Antz 2, and the protagonist of the 1999 DreamWorks/PDI animated short film Basic Insect. She is voiced by Sharon Stone in all of her appearances. The daughter of the Ant Queen, and is expected to follow royal responsibilities but wants to be free. When she comes across Z, they don't get along well. As soon as their relationship blossoms, Bala is given the courage to stand up to her evil fiancé General Mandible and help Z save the colony.

History

Bala was committed to marry General Mandible's of although she thought was a harsh militaristic. She is bored with being a member of the royalty life already often wanted to have fun scammers workers. She sings her song playing with her harp. She decides to go to the bar and dances with Z who instantly falls in love with her.

When a successful lone survivor "soldier" Z is brought before Bala and the queen, Bala recognizes Z as the worker she danced with, unwittingly blowing his cover.  After Z was nearly arrested for impersonating a soldier and dancing with General Mandible's fiance, he held Bala captive and escaped through a trash chute. She was nearly rescued by soldier ants but their rescue attempt was interrupted by a boy burning ants with a magnifying glass. She resisted Z but eventually joined his quest to Insectopia after Z was nearly eaten by a Praying Mantis. After Z rescued her from the boy's shoe, she fell in love with him after he reached Insectopia. However while Z was getting fire wood, she was kidnapped by Colonel Cutter and taken back to the Colony. Z follows after them on the back of Chip, the wasp they met earlier who lost his wife, Muffy, to the boy's fly swatter.

Taken into Mandible's office, Bala demands him to tell her what he truly has planned for the colony. When Mandible dismisses her, Bala bravely states to Mandible that she never liked "the way you think, or the way you run this colony, or YOU" and calls off the wedding. Mandible nonetheless explains that he plans to drown every ant in the colony with the MegaTunnel and imprisons her in his office.

As Bala throws a chair out the window to make her own escape, she spots Z right beside the window. Overjoyed that Z had come back for her, Bala pulls Z inside and thanks him for coming back after quieting him the two kiss which he soon returns. Z prepares to take Bala out the colony asking for some fun later, but Bala tells him that they can't leave: when she was brought back to the colony, she discovered that Mandible has sinister ulterior motives, and believes that he will attempt to kill her mother. When examining the schematics of the megatunnel, Z discovers to his horror that Mandible plans to seal the queen and all the worker ants in the tunnel, where they will drown once the diggers break through to the lake where the MegaTunnel leads to.

Z and Bala quickly leave the office and rush down into the MegaTunnel, making it inside just as the soldiers seal up all the exits. While Bala runs to her mother to warn her, Z runs into the tunnel to stop the diggers from breaking through. When he reaches the end, he reunites with Weaver and Azteca and yells at the diggers to stop. Despite Z's warnings, the Foreman is determined to follow orders, and he grabs a pick and strikes it into the wall. It is this final blow which sends the water crashing through, and Z and the others flee into the main tunnel, and the rapidly rising water traps all the workers on a hill in the middle of the tunnel. Spotting several workers helping each other onto a branch, Z gets an idea. As Weaver holds him up on his shoulders, Z yells for everyone to listen. The workers almost immediately recognise Z who quickly tells the workers to make a ladder out of ants to reach the ceiling, and they set to work at once. Bala is forced to seperate from Z in order to help her aged mother, and the two share a loving embrace before Bala climbs up the tower with the queen, while Z remains at the base with Weaver and Azteca to serve as support.

By the time the water is up to their chests, the tower of ants has fully formed, but is a couple of ants short of the ceiling. While Weaver uses all his strength to hold up the tower, Z and Azteca climb up to the top, and Z succeeds in reaching the ceiling, and quickly claws through to the surface where Mandible is giving a speech about his vision to his soldiers. Z's hand breaks through the surface, causing a collapse which forms a huge hole in the ground. Mandible is shocked and furious when he recognises Z, and grabs a spear. Barely clinging to the edge, Z is helpless as Mandible raises his spear to kill him, but is suddenly punched away from him by Cutter, who has grown tired of the general's cruelty. Cutter helps Z up from the hole, but an enraged Mandible snaps and charges at Z, as Z pushes Cutter out the way at the last second. Mandible runs into Z and the two of them fall back into the megatunnel. While Mandible is killed falling on an exposed tree root, Z falls into the water and is knocked unconscious by the impact.

When Cutter arrives with seemingly dead Z, Bala begs for him to awaken. She uses CPR and Z revives! On awakening, Z utters 'yowch', and Bala climes on top of and kisses him passionately. Z is lauded for his heroism and marries Bala. Together they rebuild the colony, transforming the colony from a conformist military state into a community that values each and every one of its members.

Gallery

coming soon

Trivia

• In the original script for Antz, Bala was engaged to an ant named General Formica (whereas Mandible was a major). However unlike Mandible in the final film, Formica would have left Bala to die alongside the Queen and the workers, claiming that there were plenty more princesses where Bala came from.
• In Basic Insect, it is revealed that Bala is shown smoking a cigarette. It is unknown whether or not she is a smoker, or not.
• In the uncut version of Antz, there are some scenes that are not shown in the cut version, one of which shows Bala out in the Wilderness, as she leaps up into the air, and lands onto a purple flower petal to take a rest.
• Bala seems to somehow know CPR as she gave Z mouth to mouth resuscitation.
• He is the fourth main antagonist of a computer-animated Dreamworks film in a row to be the master of his movie's heroes after Tip from Home, Mei Mei from Kung Fu Panda 3, and Poppy from Trolls, DreamWorks' three previous computer-animated films.